Hi !
I just purchased Gateway System with AMD Phenom 9600
 
(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8775809&type=product&id=1204331848308)
 
Have a I made a bad purchase, should I have gone with Intel instead ??

You made a bad purchase, but the problem is Gateway, not so much the Phenom.

Can you explain what is the problem with gateway ?

I think you made a good purchase. If you only have $750 for a PC and don't know how to build a PC and don't know how to overclock it and don't intend to play Crysis or other very demanding games, then this is a very good choice for you.  
 
The disadvantages:  
- you can't overclock
- it's hard or impossible to upgrade later, as in adding a high-end video card or lots of hard disks
- performance is adequate for e-mail and WarCraft and Office, but not for games like Oblivion, Crysis or Frontlines
- it comes with crapware installed (i.e. trial versions of software, ads, etc.) You should clean it up before using.
 
Advantages:
-it's already built, it's cheap, it has a warranty and support
 
Edit: Q6600 is faster than Phenom 9600, and it overclocks better. But, in that PC, with that BIOS/RAM/HDD/video card, these advantages are lost. You might as well get the Phenom because it's cheaper. A Q6600 would not really bring you much more speed because the rest of the parts would limit it.
 

What are you going to use the system for?
 
BTW:  BestBuy sucks
 
 
It will be a little slow in gaming.  It will do well with multi-threaded tasks.  Where it will lag is in single-threaded applications.
 
Intel makes better products, but depending on what you want this machine will probably do the trick.
 
Shared video memory - yuck.

Nah man its good.  Pay no attention to the trolling fanboys.  The system is very capable and can run anything you want no problems.  Unless the Intel system was cheaper.  If not then it was a good choice.
 
The video card can be upgraded and thats your only real concern with this system.

 
 
I don't think that's true.  I think he might have some issues with high-end gaming, not because of the processor, but because of the video.

"Anything you want" is a bit of a stretch. It will run almost every game made in 2004 or earlier, I guess. It will run a lot of newer games, on low settings. It will be absolutely fantastic for doing spreadsheets and Web surfing and watching DVDs.  
 
What's wrong with BestBuy? I mean, yeah, their DVD prices are way too high compared to Amazon, but apart from that I have no complaints myself.

 
Well, that's where the problem is. This kind of machines usually come with small PSUs and cramped cases with weak cooling. If you try to put an 8800GTX in there it won't fit physcially, or it will overheat, or it will require a larger PSU, which won't fit physically, etc. Trust me, I've been there with my Dad's HP. OK, I don't know if that's how it works for Gateway, but it's likely.
 
With a little luck, the OP may be able to stick in an HD 3870 or 9600GT and still not need a new PSU. If he does need a new PSU, the StealthXStream 600W will probably fit.

One quick note:  If I were you, I wouldn't ask about whether or not something I bought was a good deal after the purchase.  Why?  If the answer is, "Yes, you made a great purchase" then I would feel good for about two seconds, then move on.  If the answer isn't so favorable, then I'd regret making that purchase (and it's too late to do anything.)

You still haven't posted what you intend to do with that machine, so nobody can say for certain if it was a bad deal.  Since you bought a prebuilt system, it's highly unlikely you wanted to invest the time to build a system, so that's out of the picture.  Stacking that system up against other prebuilt computers, though (by that I mean the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, etc.) I think that for the price, it isn't the worst deal, but neither is it the best deal.

Assuming you're just an average computer user, that computer is way overkill.  In that case, you won't notice anything wrong from using that computer, so why come back to this forum and see your computer getting ripped on by everyone here?

Now, if you try to run any recent game... that's a bit of a different story.  Remember, most people on THG select each component carefully then build their own PCs, then overclock and tweak them.  They also dislike many stores, such as the one from where you bought your computer.  They would never dream of buying a prebuilt computer from Best Buy for themselves.  So, I think you should just use your computer.  If you do not find anything lacking, then I think you should not care what anyone here says.

But do yourself a favor, and uninstall all the crapware.

 
 
bestbuy and AMD need customers like you to make money. i think it is a bad purchase.

 
 
I had a bad experience with them in Madison Heights, MI.
 
I bought a palm pilot for $130 from them.  I get the service plan on it.
 
The Palm Pilot stopped working, so I took it back to BestBuy with all the needed documentation.  They said they don't stock it anymore and it can't be fixed.
 
So I said, fine, refund me my money and I can go buy one elsewhere.  But they say no.  They told me to go find a Pocket PC and I would pay the difference between the price of the pocket PC and the Palm Pilot.  However, at that time the cheapest Pocket PC they had was $300 bucks.  Which means I would need to fork over $170.  That's not acceptable.  I bought the service plan so I could get back up and running in the event the device broke, but instead they're trying to force me to buy a more expensive device.
 
Long story short I started bitching at their service counter and they gave me a gift card.  A gift card did me no good as I still needed a palm pilot, which they did not sell.  I ended up buying a digital camera from BestBuy with the gift card.  But since then, I refuse to shop at them.
 
Also, I feel that everything is overpriced.  I also feel that the sales staff is too pushy on shoving unneeded extras at people and service plans.  For example, they try to sell every moron that's buying a PC a UPS backup unit.

 
 
No kidding.  I hate all the extra crap that they throw on this stuff.

 
Dude you shoulda got a Dell!
 
No really, nice computer for the price.  Crappy memory though. Not bad.

bestbuy also charges you to remove the bloatware... now thats raping the customer.

Looking at the Graphics card, it makes me believe that the motherboard might be a 780/790 chip motherboard, which means he can add an ATI 3450 and do a Hybrid Crossfire setup to boost graphics processing.
 
Correct me if I am wrong here.

 
Hey now, dont hate, thats just how retail works.  Theres almost no profit margin for BB on that PC, so they have to sell a UPS, cabling, new mouse/keyboard, watever they can to make money on the sale.  
 
As to the service plan, yea, avoid those.  Generaly not a good idea.  RadioShack has a good one for cordless phones (you can get a free battery every year, pays for itself every time) but beyond that there pretty shady.

 
Even if you can, the results will be very poor for gaming.
Most of the tests shown were on very low resolution (1024x768) and had very low FPS even on low or medium settings.
 
Phenoms are not bad chips, especially for Retail systems.
The reason being is that OCing is not an option.
While slower than Intel Quads, they are not raped by then until OC potential of both are considered.
 
I don't know about the PSU, but that may determine if a better GPU can be installed.
 
Most Likely you have more CPU than you need and less GPU than you need.
But it all depends on if you are a gamer.

Now, is there way to back off from this deal  ?  
I have already opened the box  
 
Doom 3 performance is very bad in some cases. In some scenes with several monsters, it starts to significantly slows down
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