I need to know which is better. (Buying Computers)

[CodeBrain]

HP Pavilion Elite m9426f Desktop or your computer of choice (Which can beat this)

Specs:

8GB of DDR2 memory (Ram)
640GB hard drive
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Built-in wireless 802.11bgn
ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics

Suggestions? Its at 999.99 at Circuit City. It was at a price of $1200 before :P

Im guessing thats the computer Im getting :D Unless you can suggest better!

[BobtheGreatII]

You could always build your own...

[CodeBrain]

Thing is everytime I do that (On any online website, Alienware, HP, Dell)

I always use too much money. On Alienware, I was making a desktop computer, priced at 10,850 dollars. >_<

I seriously want the best stuff, but TEN THOUSAND WTF.

If your wondering why I want a new computer, this is why:

Dell Inspiron 9300 (5-7 year old laptop)
ATI Radeon X300 (Somewhat ok graphics card, old)
Sigmatel C-Major Audio (Ok, WORST SOUND CARD ON THE GRIGGEN PLANET.)
56 GB Hardrive (...What the fuck is this?)
1 GB of memory (Ok, thats fine. Just not enough for other high-end games.)

Seriously, what kind of shit is this laptop made out of? :P

[Snowy]

build your own computer through Newegg.com

[BobtheGreatII]

Woah, woah, I'm saying, don't buy some brand computer. Actually buy your own parts, buy the case, and build it. You usually wind up paying for the brand name more than you actually do for quality.

Now I'm not gonna back that up with any facts or anything... but in my opinion, I will never invest in a brand name computer.

Edit:
*shakes fist at snowy*

[Phopojijo]

Thing is everytime I do that (On any online website, Alienware, HP, Dell)
Yea that's not building your own computer.

Check locally to see if you have any small computer stores and check their prices.

There are reasons why small computer stores are still in business...

It's not customer service... geeks are the ones who shop there... they don't use service generally...

It's prices... they take small markups. Generally the shadier the better.

Used to go to a computer store while I was in Halifax that was a converted mobile home in the parking lot of a diner. Seriously... they had like, zero overhead... guess what? Their prices reflected that.

Often small businesses will even build your PC for you free of charge... the max I've ever seen was 35$.

Also, parts manufactures offer their own warranties... if you find a good store they'll typically deal with the manufactures for you.

Typically Motherboards and stuff have a 1 year replacement, hard drives typically have 3-5 years replacement, videocards 1-3 year replacement... things like that.

Just make sure to keep your invoices... in order for the store to do returns for you, you need proof of purchase of course. It's not like Walmart where you can just say you lost your receipt and whine to a manager.

So yea:

Small businesses are much much cheaper... manufacturers provide 1-5 year warranties often on parts... and often assembly is free. (Though frankly lately I just assemble everything myself)

Oh, and unlike the Factory computers (Dell and such) -- your warranty is still valid if you assemble the computer. No "licensed technician" bullcrap.

[InnerGoat]

1 grand and all you get is a 3650? It would be alright if it was a 4870 at least... :raise:


You're better off building your own, as other have said...

[CodeBrain]

Thats another issue. I am clueless in buying just parts, and worse, I cant put a computer together myself. Im clueless on it because I refuse to buy parts and build, and then realize that they are the wrong parts AFTER I build it, and then it melts everything. :(

See, Thats why I kinda like Sites like Alienware, HP, Dell, they offer already made computers but you can customize the options for it :P

Not saying Newegg is stupid, just I cant build a computer. Period.

[Phopojijo]

Thats another issue. I am clueless in buying just parts, and worse, I cant put a computer together myself. Im clueless on it because I refuse to buy parts and build, and then realize that they are the wrong parts AFTER I build it, and then it melts everything. :(

See, Thats why I kinda like Sites like Alienware, HP, Dell, they offer already made computers but you can customize the options for it :P

Not saying Newegg is stupid, just I cant build a computer. Period.Look for small local businesses, they often assemble for you for cheap/free.

... or learn o.O

[Bodzilla]

8gb of ram :S

chances are it'll be WORSE for your performance, 4 is a ridiculous amount as is, so why not get 4 and get a 4850 instead.

it buys the 4850 or else it gets the hose again >:(

wait a minute... your paying people like alienware to build it for you?

why on earth would you do that.... Building Comps is not that hard, it's all pretty colour coded and socket coded these days so it's not alot harder then say... plugging a DVD player into your Tv :s
if it dont fit it wont fit, keep a hand on the case at all times to prevent static, make sure you dont leave any screws in the case.

[InnerGoat]

8GB of ram costs under 100 bucks here man, you can find sticks laying around the floors of bestbuy

[Rook]

4gb (2x 2gb) sticks on newegg! 45 dollars, all the ram you'll need.

[Bodzilla]

i hate you amerifags :smith:

granted it is cheap here but i thought once you passed a certain threshold and you whernt running insanely draining programs the ram actually began to work slower, due to it have ass loads of shit to work through :/

[flibitijibibo]

wtf how is that setup only $1000? And for an HP? It must be made out of... bread, or something...

[Sel]

Why would you need 8 GB or ram.

The most you need right now is 4 :|

[Warsaw]

Lies. Vista takes more RAM in proportion to the amount of RAM in your system...if you have 6, you'll likely have 4 for use in other things (assuming 64-bit). :-3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229038R

Or if you want an Intel/nVidia combo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229051

And then there's this one, though for the price you might as well get one of the above ones:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113080

[Cortexian]

1) Look at these pretty pictures (http://techreport.com/articles.x/13671/1).

2) Come up with a parts list and post it here so we can have the "compatibility" talk (In contrary to popular belief, AGP, PCI, and PCI-E are NOT interchangeable).

3) Order your parts (http://www.newegg.com).

4) Look at previously mentioned pretty pictures, and post here if you have any questions.

Seriously, I let my friend build his PC and all he had was an article similar to the one I linked you. He had a couple of questions that he phoned me to answer, but other than that he did it all himself. Plus you'll be way more satisfied with the end result once you build a PC for yourself, I think I polished my case for a month or so after I build my first PC because I was so gaw-gaw for it.

[legionaire45]

I've been using 4 gigs of ram in Vista Ultimate x64 for a long ass time now and I've never actually run out of ram.

In fact, the most I've ever used is like, 80% for Crysis while I was doing something in the background.

So for most people 4 gigs will probably be fine. If you want more then sure, now is a good time to get it. But focus on other stuff (like a better graphics card) first.

The rig you posted up there has a shitty GPU compared to the current generation of stuff. Build something on your own and save a lot of money. There are a lot of threads around here that have lists of recomended parts, just search for one of them, use that as a baseline, make some modifications and then post your updated list here. We will comment, rinse, repeat, etc.