Good Bang for the Buck System?

[jcorqian]

I love computers and hardware, but I don't think I have enough experience or expertise to actually build my own system. While I know how to do it and what parts I need, all the wiring and other minor details make me want to hold off. As a result, I customized my next gaming PC on Cyber Power and came out to the following. I was wondering what you guys thought about this setup and its price of $2013.50. Personally, I think it's a good deal and I'm probably going for it, but I wanted to get some other feedback. Thanks.

Intel E8500 CPU

EVGA 780i motherboard

4 GB Corsair Dominator Memory DDR2 at 1066 MHZ

2 x 9800 GTX (EVGA)

2 x 250 GB HD Raid 0

LG DVD/Burner with Lightscribe

Apexia? Jupiter Jr Case w/ 250 mm side fan

Thermaltake V1 Cooling Fan

800 Watt Xion PSU

 

[cisco]

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LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail
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-$5.00 Instant


$37.99
$32.99




APEVIA X-JUPITER-JR G-Type X-JPJGT-BK Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

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Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
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$129.98
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EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130339
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-$10.00 Instant


$619.98
$599.98
($299.99 each)




SILVERSTONE ST85ZF 850W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V SLI Certified Power Supply

SILVERSTONE ST85ZF 850W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS12V SLI Certified Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817256007
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$199.99
$169.99




CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF - Retail
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$189.00
$169.00




EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
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$259.99




Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler

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$59.99



Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500
ACTIVISION Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - OEM Intel PC Game Gift

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Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail
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ACTIVISION Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - OEM Intel PC Game Gift - OEM
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Not a bad price you are spending about 200 more than if you built it yourself. I say go for it and people here will help you if you have any problems. If your pretty familar with computers, its pretty easy. The motherboard is where you spend most of your time connecting things, since you bought a good mobo, it should have a great manual that will show you were everything needs to go.

 

[theTHiiiNG]

I personally would not call 2 x 9800GTX's good "bang for buck". Maybe I am just a bum with no money but I think there are better deals out there for graphics cards. Not a huge improvement over the 8000 series cards.

Also I believe the E8400 is better value than the E8500, its only a minor performance increase for a lot more money (at least it is in Australia). You could just do a minor overclock on the 8400 and have the same performance.

Theres no doubt that is an awesome system, but not great value for money IMHO.

 

[theTHiiiNG]

On Newegg.com:

E8500: $279
E8400: $199

Also, the 8800GTS is almost identical to the 9800GTX in a lot of tests and it is selling for around $75 cheaper online.

There is a saving of around $225 on just those parts for very similar performance.

 

[Belinda]

I'm with Thiiing, this isn't a bang per buck machine. It's throw a load of cash on stuff and get a decent PC.

 

[huron]

I agree with what has been said above. 8800GTS (g92) make a lot more sense as well as the e8400 - you'd be paying some serious $$$ for only an extra 0.5 multiplier.

Build it yourself, it's not difficult and would save you a decent amount.

 

[jitpublisher]

You can buy the 8800gts (g92) for as low as $169 after rebates on Newegg.
Most are around $200 right now. Frys has the BFG 8800GTS 512 OC version on sale for $200! That's pretty good retail. And as stated the 8800GTS will run neck and neck with a 9800GTX.
The 9800 series cards are not worth what you pay for them, at all.

 

[elbert]

The E8500 is in no way good bang for the buck. The Q6600 at 1600X1200 can destroy the E8500. The E8500 having 1GHz of OC far less OCing than the Q6600 which can get a 1.4GHz OC. To make matters worse the Q6600 is cheaper than the E8500.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_phenom_9850_black_edition_review/page6.asp

Only buy the E8500 if you want to play a game at 800X600.

Most reviews have been putting down the phenom but seeing it beat the E8500 with every quad but the slowest is eye opening in my opinion. The Q6600 is $214.99 so why on earth would you pay $279.99 for the slower E8500.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

 

[Can Not]

...

Are you silly? You can play 1600x1200 with ANY processor worth more than $50.

 

[Zenthar]

Same suggestions as many people:
■GPU: Go for 8800GTS (G92) instead of the 9800GTX.
■CPU: Go for the E8400 (save money) or Q9300 (much more bang for the buck) instead of the E8500.

In addition:
■MB: Check the EVGA 750i FTW, if it has all the features you need, you can save ~60$ (it costs 200$).
■Case: Check the Antec 900 on newegg, it's about the same price because of MIR right now (probably much better air flow).
■PSU: Check the PC Power & Cooling S610EPS 610W, more than enough for SLI.
■RAM: Plan on heavy overclocking? If not get any good DDR2-800 for 90-100$ (for 2x2GB). You can probably OC them to DDR2-900 without problems anyway (enough to clock a E8400 @ 4GHz).
■HSF: Get the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283, excellent cooling, low noise, better price.

 

[Zenthar]

Only buy the E8500 if you want to play a game at 800X600.

I can play Crysis at HIGH under Vista (DX9) at 1680x1050 with a single 8800 GTS and a E8400 ...

 

[jcorqian]

Sorry, by bang for the buck I meant that the system as a whole as configured is pretty effective for the $2G price, not that individual components are amazing. Also, the price does not include MIR, which should put the bottom line price more in line with cisco said in his second post.

 

[jcorqian]

Also, the decision to go with 2 x 9800 GTX instead of 2 x 8800 GTS (which was my initial thought) was because Cyber Power only charged $2 dollars less for a 8800 GTS than a 9800 GTX, so that was a no brainer. Since I am not going to build my own computer and liked Cyber Power's components/price compared to other vendors, that's why I'm considering this.

 

[Zenthar]

Sorry, by bang for the buck I meant that the system as a whole as configured is pretty effective for the $2G price, not that individual components are amazing. Also, the price does not include MIR, which should put the bottom line price more in line with cisco said in his second post.

It will be a bomb for sure, but I am also sure you could get much more for that price. Anything else that price includes (OS, monitor, ...)? If I was to build myself a system to have nearly identical performance, I would probably be able to do so for ~1500$.

To give you an idea, look at the system in my profile (edited to remove parts I already owned):

CPU: Intel Xeon E3110 @ 3.00GHz [Wolfdale (45 nm)]
MB: Gigabyte P35-DS3L (Rev. 2)
GPU: EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 512 @ 670 MHz Core / 972 MHz RAM
RAM: OCZ Reaper 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Dual Channel [400 MHz (5:6) @ 4-5-4-15] OCZ2RPR800C44GK
PSU: Corair 520HX 520W
HD2: Seagate 7200.11 500GB ST3500320AS

I got all that for 1000$CDN including taxes, MIR and shipping (and back then the 8800GTS was 300$) ... To get something similar to you, I would need a SLI board (+100$ for the 750i FTW), a second GTS (+200), a better PSU (+40$ for a 620HX), a casing (I would go for the Antec 900 ... +80$), a DVD-RAM (~+35$) and a 3rd party cooler (not THAT necessary if not overclocking and have good case airflow, but +40$ for a XIGMATEK). The grand total: +500$ = 1500$.

So, not bad, but could be better. You are paying 500$ for assembly which takes 1-3 hours TOP when you know what you are doing...

 

[jcorqian]

I should add that it does include Vista Home Premium 64 bit, and a couple freebie games (Halo 2, Company of Heroes), CD case, poker set, etc unnecessary stuff.

I guess what I'm really asking is is this system as configured a good deal at 2 g's compared to identically configured systems from other vendors? I know building my own would be a couple hundred cheaper, but although I have taken apart a couple of my computers and put them back together, I'm not comfortable enough with the wiring and other necessities to build my own completely from scratch.

 

[Zenthar]

I don't know much vendors that will sell fully assembled customized systems beside Dell, HP and the like. But from all those, you would probably end-up paying more; at dell, you would pay 1800$ just for a dual 8800GT with 2GB RAM and a E8500 ... no idea on the board, the PSU and other components. So compared to other big companies that sell assembled PCs, yes 2000$ all included is probably a rather good price.

Have you tried looking at local computer shops? Maybe they have comparable prices, wouldn't charge like 100$/hr for assembly, won't have to pay shipping and risk dammage and, if you ever get problems, you can go yell at them directly .

 

[theTHiiiNG]

Sorry I just can't keep a straight face and call 9800GTX's a good deal. You just aren't going to see the performance increase that you should expect when paying so much for a video card. As shown above, there are far better value deals out there.

And the E8500 playing games at 800x600 is just crap. The Wolfdale series has been well proven to be a fantastic performer, even at this very website. Check out this benchmark for proof.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wolfdale-shrinks-transistors,1773-6.html

But I guess if you have the money to pay for it, it is a beast of a system for sure. As long as you're happy with you're own system thats all that matters.

 

[jcorqian]

Guys, thanks for all the feedback. I have upgraded the PSU from the Xion to a Thermaltake Toughpower 850 Watts and ended up deciding to get the system. I certainly agree with all above posters that the 8800 GTS is a much better value than the 9800 GTX (and I have long before posting here), but the GTX's are only $2 more apiece on the site I'm using. And also, no, I didn't believe the guy who said the E8500 had poor gaming performance when every review out there has rated the Wolfdale series very highly, especially in terms of cooling, overclockability, and gaming. Anyway, thanks a lot.

 

[jcorqian]

After further consideration (and taking into account some of the posters here), I have decided to simply build my own system. The main reason was because of the massive weight time for Cyber Power to build as well as their reputed poor customer service, something I absolutely will not stand for and do not have time to mess around with (and saving money is always good).

Anyway, now the price gap between the 8800 GTS and 9800 GTX widens considerably. Any suggestions on which GTS to buy?

I was looking at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127325

Reason being MSI, although not as well known, clocks the card just aggressively and includes a free Witcher game. Two of these should do quite nicely.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127325

I'd also like some thoughts on what PSU and CPU fan/heatsink to buy. Right now I'm looking at two Zalman's, but am open to suggestions. Finally, does anyway know when the Q9450 will be in stock? Thanks.

 

[Zenthar]

I think the MSI card will be good, it is even factory overclocked.

For an SLI PSU, I suggest either the PC Power & Cooling S610EPS 610W or the CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W (if you like modular cabling).

For the HSF, I suggest you go check Frostytech's top-5. Right now, one of the best performance/noise/price is the Xigmatek HDT-S1283, it think you can find some for ~40$.

 

[snajper69]

You doing right by decideing to build your system. But be aware that you will still have to deal with some bad costumer service when you end up with some DOA parts but dealing with new egg will relieve your stress a lot good luck.

 

[jcorqian]

Zenthar: thanks for the suggestions and all your help. I decided to go with the slightly smaller Xigamatek 92 mm cooler, still rated rated extremely high on Frostytech. I am going with the Antec 900 case, so airflow should not be a problem anyway, and I am scared that the HDT-S1283 might be too big to easily install. I decided to go with a Zalman 750 Watt power supply, also modular.

Snajper69: yeah, I think ultimately building myself is the better decision. The thing that was holding back (other than lack of firsthand experience) is my new job, which takes a lot of my time. However, getting it from Cyber Power would take even longer. NewEgg is pretty good with customer service and any DOA parts will be promptly exchanged, right? Also, how is TigerDirect? They have the Q9450 in stock (as of when I checked today) and OEM copies of Vista Home Premium 64-bit, so I am ordering from them as well. I've used them before for some peripherals (excellent), but never any parts this essential.