Deciding on a new computer

[rangingwarr]

I am getting ready to purchase a new computer in the next few days, but unfortunately my hands are kind of tied because I have to be able to get financing on it, so I cant really customize it to my liking. I have narrowed it down to 2 choices, but I was hoping for some help in deciding.

#1: i7 2600 (no k); GTX550 Ti 1GB; 8GB RAM
On this one I am a little worried about the motherboard, bestbuy doesn't say what kind it is but from what I can tell it only has 1 PCIex16 port and 1 PCIex1 port, and 2 DIMM. This would leave my options for future upgrades to the system rather limited. I do like that it has an i7, they seem more 'future proof', and if I decide to upgrade something later, it would be a lot easier to swap video cards rather than processors.
Link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPower+-+Gamer+Extreme+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/5036319.p?skuId=5036319&id=1218601980294

#2: i5 2500k; GTX560 2GB; 8GB RAM
With this one, it looks like there is plenty of room for extra ram and an extra video card in SLI if necessary. The video card is the one I would most likely upgrade to if I bought the other one; from the benchmarks I've seen it is a lot better. This one also features a 'k' processor and liquid cooling so I could easily overclock quite a bit.
Link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPower+-+Gamer+Extreme+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/4894194.p?skuId=4894194&id=1218573501669

Anyone have any feedback/advice?

 

[Raiddinn]

I would get the second one.

I wouldn't SLI, though, if I were you. That regardless of which one you get.

I would just buy whatever new card and just ebay the old one.

 

[gary1]

You're paying 1050 for a 560.. Uh...

Just build one yourself, and if you need financing, use Bill me later.

 

[rangingwarr]

You're paying 1050 for a 560.. Uh...

Just build one yourself, and if you need financing, use Bill me later.

I am looking into that now, I used a guide from this website as a starting point and looked around newegg, and this is what I came up with so far: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26942628

Any suggestions?

 

[Raiddinn]

The CPU cooler isn't that great. The Hyper 212 performs better for half the cost and is much easier to install and maintain.

Otherwise, everything pretty much checks out other than the OS. That is just an all around bad option no matter how you look at it.

Are you a student, or do you know one? Are you buying this computer in order to replace a previous one?

It is highly likely that you won't have a legal license if you stick with that OS choice. There are cheaper options that have guaranteed legal licenses if you can answer yes to either of those questions.

Even if you can't, there are still better licenses to pick than that for the same cost.

 

[rangingwarr]

I will definatly look into the other cooler.

As far as the OS goes I am not a student but I am replacing a previous computer. If it matters, it is my current computer and is about 8yrs old and still running XP. What would be my other options for OS?

 

[Raiddinn]

Since you have a legal copy of XP you qualify for a copy of Windows 7 Upgrade.

The licensing of this OS is much less restrictive than an OEM one and it costs basically the same. Anyone who qualifies for it should get that instead of an OEM copy.

The OEM license kinda sucks compared to the upgrade license, if you read the two of them.

I would say that anyone who doesn't qualify equally for both the Upgrade and the OEM CDs should get the Upgrade instead of the OEM, but people mostly don't care about stuff like that.

 

[gary1]

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125419

 

[rangingwarr]

Since you have a legal copy of XP you qualify for a copy of Windows 7 Upgrade.

The licensing of this OS is much less restrictive than an OEM one and it costs basically the same. Anyone who qualifies for it should get that instead of an OEM copy.

The OEM license kinda sucks compared to the upgrade license, if you read the two of them.

I would say that anyone who doesn't qualify equally for both the Upgrade and the OEM CDs should get the Upgrade instead of the OEM, but people mostly don't care about stuff like that.

Ok, i've updated the wish list with the upgrade version, thank you for the help

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125419

I added the PSU, but ive never been a big fan of AMD; any particular reason why you recommended that card?

 

[gary1]

The 7850 is actually better than the 560ti.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148-6.html

 

[rangingwarr]

Best answer selected by rangingwarr.