I7-920 set up now foiled by Refurb box???

[sixeven]

Hey all,

I was about to pull the trigger on a home built i7-920 rig. Had the bits in the ol' cart at Newegg and decided to give one more quick look see at a couple other sites for other 'deals' that may have popped up... i'm a little OCD sometimes

Anywho.. I found this.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Factory-Refurbished+Essentio+Desktop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor/9835964.p?skuId=9835964&productCategoryId=pcmcat200200050002&id=1218181728439

Seems like a good deal but I don't know much about Asus builds and i'm not sure about a refurb rig.
BUT... 9 gb memory, GeForce GTX260, & i7-920 for that price seems solid.

Can someone smarter than me provide some insight on this set up. It looks like the Mobo has limited upgrade slots for instance.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[jack_attack]

I don't believe you could touch that building it yourself, but I could be wrong. You're right about expandability, SLI/CF is out of the question with that current board. But really, a GTX260, i7 920, mobo, 9GB (?) of RAM, would put you over - I think.

 

[coldsleep]

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you're going with the i7-920 instead of the i7-930?

 

[sixeven]

I have a friend who can sell me a 920 for $100 less than new 930

 

[sixeven]

Oh, and jack_attack brings up a good point. What is up with 9 GB memory. It states that even on a CNET review? The Mobo has 6 slots.... 1.5 GB each?

 

[coldsleep]

2 2 2 1 1 1 = 9

And $100 less is an excellent reason.

 

[jack_attack]

Ah yes, that makes sense.

What do you think though sleep? I don't think I'd buy a prebuilt machine, but that is a pretty good price though isn't it?

 

[coldsleep]

Sure, $800 is a good price, as long as you don't mind the refurbished part. And that you don't know anything about the RAM, the hard drive, motherboard, or the PSU.

One might consider it if you really needed a cheap i7 for number-crunching or something, but I wouldn't buy it as a budget gaming rig.

 

[jack_attack]

That's kind of what I was thinking. I wouldn't really mind the refurb part too much, but you know it can't be an 80+ PSU in there.

 

[sixeven]

I decided to let it go.... Too many unknowns. Besides, it looks like it has already sold out.

Great price for a 920 system but who knows what bargain basement PSU and Memory it was built up with.

 

[shovenose]

yep...i wonder though...asus seems quite good. i am always careful with refurbed computers because of the hard drices especially. also, we dont know what those parts have been through.

 

[keithblue2]

I was about to pull the trigger on a home built i7-920 rig.

I agree with coldsleep: you don't know anything about the components the way that BB refurb rig is listed. And personally, I only buy things at "Best Buy" if I absolutely have to. A lot of their computer stuff is marked up so high it's ridiculous. I've spent a little time in there with RedLaser, and it's eye-opening. They'll sell you a $20 ethernet cable if you want...

Also, to your question: the 9GB RAM is most likely DDR3 in three sticks, a peculiarity of the triple-channel memory on X58 mobos.

You don't say what you want to use this system for... that would help us to help you. Unless you're a gamer, the GTX 260 at about $200, give or take a few $$$, is overkill IMHO. It's also slightly dated (2008). For a non-gaming system, the XFX Radeon 4650 ($60) is fine, or the XFX Radeon 4850 ($140) is awesome if you want to kick it up a notch. Both quiet and highly rated on NewEgg.

That mobo also does look like it has limited slots, as you point out. IMHO a lot in this situation depends on whether you really want to build a rig yourself. If you do, then it can be a lot of fun and you can put together a quality, balanced system that will outperform most of the Best Buy retreads. I just did it, building a Core i7-860 system with a lot of reserach, and a few spare parts I had lying around. Here are the components I picked -- and why: New Core i7 PC: Selecting the Components.

My advice is to treat the computer as an investment, and look at it over the time you want it to last. So if a quality home-built rig ends up costing you a grand instead of the $850 or so (with shipping) that BB would get from you, this $150 difference over 5 years is... $30 per year. You could lose more than that sitting on your couch.

Don't forget to include RAID in your build -- at least RAID-1 (mirroring). My $0.02. Good luck & let us know how it goes.

- K