What budget system to get?

[jaywarren]

Looking at neewegg to find new puter to replace my dead Gateway. All I want from the system is to play WoW well. New egg has

newegg Gamer Power 900X Desktop PCs
Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4 [4N82E16883227121]
iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 900X Core 2 Quad Q6600(2.40GHz) 4GB DDR2 320GB NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Retail for $499 or

iBUYPOWER Gamer 501E-I Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2GB DDR2 250GB NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS Windows Vista Home Premium - Retail $524

Few questions? Is IBUYPoWER any good? Will the systems play wow? and what one is better? thanks for help!!

 

[angry_ducky]

I'd buy a cheap Dell; anything with a dual-core CPU and 2+ GB RAM, and just throw a Radeon HD 4670 in there. That should play WoW nicely.

 

[cadder]

If you are considering cheap Dell, check out their outlet. I was considering a new desktop for my house, I priced components for an E7200 and otherwise a fairly basic machine, came out about $800. A similar machine from the Dell outlet was about $530. One difference of course is that I could overclock mine heavily, not sure if you can overclock the Dell but I wouldn't count on it. The other difference is that a homebuilt would have more video options. A stock Dell might not have enough electric power to run a high end video card.

If you check the newspaper ads on Sunday morning, you can occasionally find some good deals for a basic box from places like BestBuy, OfficeDepot, etc.

 

[stonebattle]

You're asking some tough questions.
It sounds like your budget is around $550.

One of the issues with these low cost systems is the power supply.
If this computer is for gaming, I would suggest you find a system with a core 2 duo, with at least 2G of ram, with at least a 450W to 500W power supply with at least a 24amp 12V output. If you can find one with dual 12 outputs that would be better as long as they are above 24 amps combined. Make sure the motherboard has a PCI Express 16 slot. The cost would have to be in the area of $425 to $450.

You can then buy a GeForce 9600GT or pehaps a HD4830 and put it in.

 

[vouslavous]

Get a dual core system with 2 gb ram and an radeon 4670 or 9600gt and you'll be fine.
Buy a prebuilt and just upgrade the graphic card WoW isn't that demanding.

 

[Noya]

$80 - Intel e5200
$80 - P45 motherboard
$30 - 4gb DDR2-800
$85 - 9800gt 512mb
$20 - DVD/CD burner
$60 - Corsair vx450
$50 - Coolermaster case
$50 - 500gb HD

Any video card less than a 4670 or 9600gt isn't worth buying.

 

[dirtmountain]

Of the 2 systems you have listed the 900X with the Q6600 would be the best choice. As with most prebuilt systems it's using a very weak graphic card (the GeForce 8400GS) and includes a pretty weak power supply (480 watt, but only 18 amps on the 12v) that will keep you from upgrading to a high powered graphic card without changing out the power supply. It would be adequate for playing WoW, but would bog down in high graphic demand areas (Shatt, Dalaran, raids and PvP). A good graphic card upgrade that you could do with the included power supply is add a HD4670 for about $80. The 4670 rates about 15 tiers higher then the 8400GS in Toms graphic card hierarchy chart.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-graphics,2086-7.html

It's not a ripoff deal, and i don't know much about Ibuypower, but it does have some inherent weaknesses. I'd suggest you keep shopping around and keep doing research with an eye on deals...... unless you need the PC right now.

 

[patater]

ok, can you build systems? and the next is how much you want to spend? say about 500 bucks or less, it comes with a dual core, 2gb of ram, 160gb hard drive, case, nice psu, sata dvd burner, and some other junk that will probably be left over form your other machine..pm me and i will email you a wishlist if you want. it has integrated graphics btw (i dont mean junky int..i mean amd 3200 or 3300 one...that is all you need for WoW. it will even run EQ2 no problems...at 1680x1050 at that!!) or, for say about 100 bucks more (what you would spend on another vid card) you can downgrade the mobo a step or two, and then pop in two 3850s. so, all up to you, what you want to spend for what you want to get?

 

[patater]

here is a little flavor...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128075

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102715 x2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115 or use what yo uhave

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231144

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186009

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

just a start, pick what youd like, but its a beginning.

 

[nsimo86]

If you can afford $700, the crysis warhead optimized pc from Ultra is a good option.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4138011&Sku=SYXS-DG-038800

 

[patater]

yeah, you will need an extra 120mm fan for the back..its optional in that case...still an old mobo...

 

[megamanx00]

You're much better off building it yourself and you'll get more satisfaction out of it. Anyway for $500 you can't do too much, but you can afford to build something like an Athlon 5400+ BE with a decent board to overclock it, 2GB of RAM, and a Radeon 4670. Of course if you already have an OS you can probably get something with 4GB of RAM and a better vid card

 

[jaywarren]

I would love to build something just dont know if I am up for it. I would hate to fry $700 of circuits.

If I went the dell route would the Vostro 220 Slim Tower for $420 work? All I would need to do is buy a graphics card?

 

[nsimo86]

I would avoid the slim tower as you might have issues fitting a videocard inside. Stick with a mid tower case and make sure the mobo has a pci-e x16 slot.

What exactly is your budget?

 

[jaywarren]

$500-600 I hope.

 

[nsimo86]

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspndt_530?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~inspndt_530_anav7~~

buy either a radeon 4830, 4850, or a geforce 9800gt from newegg and you are looking at $550-$600

edit: just realized it only has a 300 watt powersupply. thats the problem with OEM pc's.

I'd check out a cheap system builder like cyperpowerinc.com I bought a pc from them a long time ago and it was fine, basically like a homebuilt but someone else is doing it for you.

 

[jaywarren]

What about the Systemax SG 1150 Gaming Desktop Computer - Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200, genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1, MSI G31M, 4GB, 320GB, DVDRW, 9500GT, Flash Card Reader, GB LAN, 500Watts

advised on tiger direct. For $569?

 

[nsimo86]

It would probably work but is not worth the money IMO. Is there anyone you know who could possibly help you build a PC? Otherwise I suggest you do some research and use the forums to build your own, its really quite simple.

 

[jaywarren]

Well I did watch some you tube videos of how to. And I am going to library to pick up some books on it. I guess the big thing in no warranty if I kill it some how. But I am sure i can have you guys walk me though if I get stuck. I guess if you can tell me. all I need to order so all the stuff woks together I will be ok. The only thing I will keep is mouse keyboard and mounter. What else if anything do I need that's not on your newegg list? thanks for all the help Jared

 

[nsimo86]

what exactly died on your gateway? you might be able to salvage some parts like the optical drive, hard drive, RAM, power supply, case and the operating system. also what is the model/serial number, we can look it up and see what the components are.

 

[jaywarren]

its a Intel pentium 4 2.4ghz 1 GB of ram. model #ESX 500x. Last year I put in a PNY g-force 6600 256mb agp graphics card.

About a year ago I had real bad virus and took in to clean it up. When I got it back it would over heat in a few min with nothing running. I took the side off and put a room fan in it to keep it cool.

Buy for the last few weeks it freezes up when my son and I play WoW. But more so at night when the server is busy I think? I also put a DVD r/rw last year. The one fan on the intel chip works but sounds real bad like a train or something.

 

[jaywarren]

Also It has XP on it, Do not have disk. Gateway

 

[nsimo86]

well you can reuse the DVD-RW and maybe the hard drive if you wipe it out and nothing is wrong with it. If you can get a cracked xp disk you can use the old license from the gateway on the new PC.

 

[nsimo86]

If you managed to install a DVD drive and a videocard, you should have no problem building a pc from scratch. Just make sure to pick up a static wristband from radioshack or newegg.

 

[jaywarren]

Ok thank you for all the help! So if I go with everything on your list I will have everything I need but OS? O and one more question if I have a few bucks more should I get a better processor chip to stay current longer?