computer comparison?

[subzero4101]

I am trying to get a new pc for christams and have to that is picked out . i wold jst like to know which is one better her are the links. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8532581&type=product&id=1186008216833 this is acer aspire 440 desktop and heres the link to the other one http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Compaq-Presario-Desktop-PC-SR5250NX/sem/rpsm/oid/192795/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do a compaq presario 5250 nx

please help me with this

 

[Kamrooz]

Both really aren't that great, the first one would be better. But considering you're nabbing a 500 dollar budget computer without a monitor, would you feel comfortable going a custom computer?...do you know anyone that could build it for you if so?...you'd get more for your money out of a custom rig.

 

[rgeist554]

I personally wouldn't go for either one. It's like asking, what's better? HIV or AIDS? (maybe that's a little mean) There are better machines in terms of price vs. performance. That guy in the other thread even offered to build you a vastly more powerful system for $100-150 more than you're planning on paying now. It was even cheaper than your original decision to buy 2GB of RAM, new PSU (which may not even fit the proprietary dimensions of the Compaq case), and GPU.

If you must buy from a retailer, go to the other thread you made and check the links that the one guy made to tigerdirect.com. They had better hardware, included a monitor (LCD), and still came out to be cheaper than either one of those.

My $.02.

Both really aren't that great, the first one would be better. But considering you're nabbing a 500 dollar budget computer without a monitor, would you feel comfortable going a custom computer?...do you know anyone that could build it for you if so?...you'd get more for your money out of a custom rig.

He made another thread. He doesn't know much at all about building computers - just wants to play DoD and COD4. His parents are also buying it for him, and from the sounds of it, they don't want to buy anything else but 'prebuilt' from big name retailers. :/

 

[Kamrooz]

ouch...

 

[subzero4101]

see personnaly i want a custom one.but my parents dont really trust buying electronics off the ebay and the shipping concerns. i mean they arent great computers for much gaming but i just want a pc.if they would let me then i would.

 

[Kamrooz]

Well you don't need to buy off ebay, also tell them this, when you do buy custom, you can pick from a few manufacturers that offer lifetime warranties. Only for the video card and ram though, but those are parts that most often go bad. You get a lot more for your money, and you can upgrade it bit by bit whenever you want without the worries of incompatibility.

I've been building computers for ages, tell your parents to take a look at this response if they can.

With custom computers, you get more for your money, and higher quality parts. Brand names always use the cheaper parts possible to keep costs low. Why do you think most people have issues with a brand name dying within 1-3 years? Meanwhile, all the computers I've built are still alive, I have a 8 year old, 6 year old, and 3 year old rig all next to me up and running.

Custom pc's = longer life span due to quality (if you buy the right parts, and we can recommend all the right ones), upgrade ability so you can make a computer last by just upgrading a few parts here and there, no need to buy a whole new computer, you can just reuse what you have and change out others to make your computer stay up to date.

Overall, you get more for your money out of custom pc's. Show your parents this thread and hopefully they'll change their mind, cause for what your getting for that 500 dollar rig, is unfortunate. In most scenarios, very low budget brand names computers are ok as long as you need a monitor/keyboard/mouse, but if you already have those, and are getting only the tower, it's better to go custom. For middle/high range, it's ridiculous to go brand name, you overpay for the parts, when you can get a much more superior computer that will last longer for lower cost.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Offer is still on the table you cant go wrong with paypal.

I can offer you a, Free Copies of Prey, Pirates and Railroads PC Games, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.20GHz OEM, 1GB DDR2 PC4200, ATX Mid-Tower Case, 450 Watt Power Supply, 80g HDD, DVD burner, Windows Vista Ultimate and Free DVD burning software for::::::::::::::::::::

$380 + $40.00 Shipping= $420.00 and it will play DOD. Limited time offer.

 

[Kamrooz]

that's not worth it imo, you can get better for your money new...no offense road runner..lol

Just tell your parents to read my last post, maybe they will change their mind.

 

[subzero4101]

is ther anyway i can overclock the acer at all?

 

[Kamrooz]

the processor is not the only problem, those systems are inferior, you will not be able to play many games at all, one has a radeon 1250 and the other is a integrated solution.

If you want to be able to game on a 500 dollar budget well, you will HAVE to go custom, I'm sorry there is not much to say. You don't have to buy someone elses rig either, you can order all the parts from www.newegg.com and put the computer together yourself. It's very simple, and you get a LOT more for your money. If you feel uncomfortable building it yourself, see if any of your friends have experience. If not, it's a very simple process still.

Show this thread to your parents, maybe they will change their minds when they hear it from someone who's experienced with computers. It's not for no reason no experienced user buys brand name computers, they are garbage compared to customs.

 

[roadrunner197069]

that's not worth it imo, you can get better for your money new...no offense road runner..lol

Just tell your parents to read my last post, maybe they will change their mind.

Thats the best I can do and make a buck. I got to figure in my $100 build cost. Last one I offered for $650 had 3.3GHZ core 2 duo, ATI 3850, 500g HDD, 2G ram, Vista Ultimate, DVD burner and software. Now thats a deal!!!! But hey you get what you pay for. I can build the system I mentioned above in the other post here for $240.00 parts but i need my profit and Ebay fees. I'd sell for $340.00+ shipping outside of Ebay. Now you cant go wrong for that price but hey, you get what you pay for. Not to mention Vista Ultimate retail is $400 and its included.

 

[roadrunner197069]

When you buy any Namebrand like HP, Dell, Compaq,..... they lock the bios so people dont fry the system and cry warranty. I've been known to lock the ones I sell also.

 

[Shadow703793]

Any one recommended ibuypower yet?

Here's a PC for your price range:
http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=119

Just grab a good PSU and your set. ~$700*. But since you want to go with a manufacture built PC.... the price/preformence is not really good.

*With a liquid cooling kit+ X1950GT+ DVD burner

 

[frozenlead]

You won't be able to overclock any kind of proprietary budget rig; very few of the high-end brand name pc's even let you do it. Overclocking is meant for enthusiasts, and can wreak havoc on budget parts that go into systems like the ones you listed.

Overclocking is a very tight custom-pc pro.

Consider this:
My rig is pretty old, going on 5 years. With upgrades and overclocks, it can outperform/match most of my friends machines who have just recently built their rigs. My computer is a workhorse, and it does its job well. (Crysis medium quality playable!) Why is it able to? I built it.
Custom PC's cost more, (and they DO carry hardware warranties - it's just the manufacturer's warrenty) and don't have nice 24/7 support services, but I can pretty much guarantee that any decently built $600 custom PC will outperform almost any $1000 proprietary PC. And it will last longer. And you have more options to configure it in the future for upgrades/overclocks to make it go even faster.
The only downsides are the cost, and the loss of support.
And, to your parents, trust.

If you want a machine to play games from a real company...you're asking for much more than what those pc's can do. That will probably run you $800-$1000

 

[Kamrooz]

Indeed..

Honestly though, if you don't have a windows operating system as is, 500 is too small of a budget to work with. If you had a OS already, you could put together a decent system for 500 that could play games as well. Considering you were looking at 470 dollars rigs without tax/shipping calculated, then 500 seems to be your budget before tax/shipping. If you don't have a operating system as is, it makes it even more difficult. Those brand names you are comparing, would have a very hard time playing any recent, and even older games.

Honestly, if you have a OS already, 500 would do fine for a budget build, without, you'd need around 600, this is also not including tax/shipping. If you go brand name at that budget, you won't be able to game, they are made for the average joe, web browsing and e-mail, not gaming.

You might not like this advice, but if you can't get a custom in the budget range I explained, you'd be better off getting a xbox 360 or a Wii. That's the honest truth...

Unless you can find some special deal/discount for a better brand name to fit in your price range.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well put. xbox idea made me chuckle but hey its the truth. Obviously he has a PC to surf the net so I think the xbox idea is great.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Honestly though if you are hell bent on getting a PC, and your parents have no faith; I would recommend buying a barebone system like http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3524058&CatId=3446 and add a HDD a PSU fan, maybe 1 more g of ram, and a DvD burner. Then when you get sick of playing DOD down the road you could throw in a sweet graphics card. Plus you would get great accomplishment putting it all together, and with this one you could overclock it to atleast 3.0. W00T.

 

[subzero4101]

i alreadyn have an xbox 360

 

[roadrunner197069]

You got the 360 for games and you obviously can surf the net on a PC. We all are just trying to help you not get ripped off. Ask for cash and save up to get what you want. Don't waste almost $500 only to find out you need a new system the minute you get it hooked up.

My grandma needed help on her HP today. Its close to the specs of the best buy sytems but hers has 2g of ram and a 1.7ghz cpu. Compared to mine it literally drove me nuts how unresponsive it was.

I will tell you imo a $600 custom rig is about like a $1700-$1800 from a major brand. The major brands $600.00 and less is about like a web-tv with a hard drive.

 

[subzero4101]

well the acer is 2.2ghz and im goona have 3gb in it

 

[cnumartyr]

well the acer is 2.2ghz and im goona have 3gb in it

Clock speed isn't all that matters...

That being said, I wouldn't waste the money on a computer like that if I already had an Xbox 360.

Ask for money and start saving up and buy one yourself.

Those 2 rigs are a joke, and as was said, I wouldn't buy my parents one.

 

[roadrunner197069]

I guess dont come to a computer builder forum and ask what Manufactured one is good. Seems like all of us here have agreed those systems suck. One gig for XP is plenty. Two gigs on Vista is plenty. Three gigs on a piece of crap machine is a waste of money.

 

[cnumartyr]

I guess dont come to a computer builder forum and ask what Manufactured one is good. Seems like all of us here have agreed those systems suck. One gig for XP is plenty. Two gigs on Vista is plenty. Three gigs on a piece of crap machine is a waste of money.

It sucks to say but considering that most of us build our own rigs or at the least know enough about computers to know where to buy a good one instead of name brand ones... yea, we all hate Dell. By proxy I also hate Alienware. I hated Alienware before Dell owned them, but now I hate them even more.

I mean I hate manufacturer tech support enough, I won't call Dell. If I can't fix it myself I RMA it. I get tired of "Well reseat the CPU and call back" *click*. Sorry, I don't call tech support unless it's a real issue and I'm not sitting for 30 minutes each time I call for 3 weeks trying to trouble shoot a motherboard that was bad to begin with. RMA IT! RMAing is easier when dealing with parts.

 

[Kamrooz]

Sorry to say, none of those have 3 gigs, they are all 1 gig.

1 gig installed, 4 gigs maximum...I think you just subtracted 1-4 and got 3. Each of those rigs sonly have 1 gig of ram, not a very powerful cpu, although the x2 isn't bad, but the graphics card is horrible, one is integrated, the other is a radeon 1250. They won't be able to play any games which is obviously what you are buying it for. As soon as you buy it, you'll have to upgrade the video card, and I will bet you the power supply won't be able to handle a new video card, so you'll have to buy one too.

Save up 600 dollars, show your parents this thread, and let them see why we are so negative regarding this choice. You will only be begging them for another 200-300 to upgrade your vidcard/psu/ram as soon as you get that rig, Those are internet browsing machines, not gaming.

 

[roadrunner197069]

If your parents can let you get on newegg or whatever and spend $300 on upgrades why dont they buy you one of the many other systems that have been shown to you.
Do they realize if you pay with a Credit card you are 100% protected?