Where should I buy my new pc?

p1ng1337

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Hello. I am in the market for a new gaming desktop.

I have seen numerous threads on this but I have some direct questions so I hope you guys dont mind.

I am leaning towards buying a prebuilt pc from either alienware.com or cyberpower pc..

now I have been a dell/alienware or even a prebuilt pc hater for about 10 years but..

I am a little under experienced when it comes to builing your own. Also alienware is offering some good,

built comps that are resonably priced unliked in the past. they have a comp offering nice specs also razer

mouse and keyboard included.

I was wondering how u guys felt about going through them

also it seems like cyberpower is looking pretty good and promising but wanted to know everyones oppinions on

that aswell..


I have about 1200 for a desktop, keyboard, mouse, monitor. so I just want the best I can...


some things that are kind of a must for me would be a gtx 555 or compareable, at least 6 gigs maybe 8, and an i7
 

hapkido

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With $1200 you can build a very nice gaming PC (including OS and peripherals). You could probably get an i5, 8GB ram, 120 GB ssd, and med/high level video card. You're not going to get nearly as much value buying pre-built. You could probably get i5, 8GB ram, regular hard drive, and entry/mid level video card. They really skimp on the video cards in these "gaming" desktops.
 

figgyfosta

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Hate prebuilt PC's for 10 years, but have no experience??? Sounds like it's time to learn to build one yourself :) If not, just buy whatever has the best components for the price. As hapkido said though, you're not going to get the most bang for the buck buying pre-built, especially on the GPU side of things.
 

stingstang

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This is nonesense. Most pre-built computers are good deals if you including the warrantee and support. Of course I would suggest building your own, but the components aren't going to be 'way' better as a result.
cyberpowerpc.com and ibuypower.com are my two favorites. One word of advice though is to get the least amount of ram you can, since for whatever reason, companies charge far more than retail for the RAM than for the other components.
Ex: buy 1 4gb stick if you can, and buy another matching one online.
 

p1ng1337

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Thanks for the replies.. Also dont enjoy forums most of the time because people seem to misread text when its sitting there for you to go back over. I am UNDER experienced. i have had custom built pcs my whole life but have had help.

now back to what hap said. ur saying that if i custom built a pc i can get an i5 8 gigs and a entry lvl vid card?

i have found numerous prebuilt pcs that include 6 gigs of ram, i7, gtx555 for that price. so im a little confused.

thanks sting thats exactly the support i was looking for.
 

bsoa

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If you have 1337 in your name, then you must build your own computer. It's the law! That's half the fun anyway! :D

Newegg has a pretty good step by step showing how to build your computer here:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I havnt looked at prebuilt PCs in awhile, but I assume the cost is pretty close to DIY. But building your own let's you customize every single piece of your computer to what you want. You will know no corners have been cut unless you decided to cut them. Not to mention the sense of accomplishment you get every time you turn on a PC you built yourself.

If you do decide to build your own and your in the US I would recommend newegg. You can also save even more if you have a MicroCenter near you, as thier CPU + mobo deals are even better than NewEggs usually.

ex. Here's what I've been working on (price will be less in the end after deals and micro center):

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=23832307
 

p1ng1337

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why is everyone building me with an i5? lol is there something im missing?

and i dont like radeon.

heres the specs on a alienware

Alienware X51 Alienware X51
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i5-2320 3.0GHz (6MB Cache) with Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
CHASSIS COLOR Matte Stealth Black with Dark Chrome Accents
VIDEO CARD 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 555
HARD DRIVE 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache
WIRELESS DW1502 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card
Adobe Reader Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
ALIENFX AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
PRE-INSTALLED SOFTWARE Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed
AUTOMATIC UPDATES 330W External Power Supply
8 GIG RAM

for 949 w/ keyboard and mouse

thats if i wanted an i5


 

pfunkmd

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pfunkmd

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The ones I just listed are a good bit better and new egg is a great company just look around and compare.
 

bsoa

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Im not building you an i5. :pfff:

I was just showing you what I am working on.

Actually... just buy the Alienware if thats what makes you happy. :)
 

futuramafan

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cyberpower seems to be pretty close, to newegg at least in my test build (price wise)
problem with prebuilt is you cant customize entirely, you just pick from what they got,
for instance i dont really like cyber powers cases, but if you can look past that,
they are offering free laser inscribing...so you can get p1ng1337, on your case.

alienwares are really...really cool, i love the x51, but your paying allot,
where as you could more efficiently spend your money, and have room in the future to sli/crossfire
 

jrpatton

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Hey p1ng1337,

"why is everyone building me with an i5"

Just so you know, an i5 will be more than enough for gaming. Gaming is 95% of the time bottlenecked by the GPU. Even if you have a top-of-the-line card. I have a GeForce 680, and the GPU is used to 99% while the CPU stays at 40% on all cores. Save yourself some money and stick with an i5, or even AMD. I was very happy with my Phenom x4 in my last rig.

"and i dont like radeon"

Don't knock it till you've tried it. One company isn't inherently better than the other with graphics (except intel, they suck at graphics). The Radeon 5770 and the GeForce 8800GT were my favorite cards of all time. AMD and Nvidia are usually neck and neck with GPUs, especially in the last generation (5xx Geforce/6xxx Radeon). Just keep an open mind if you want the best and cheapest experience.

"heres the specs on a alienware"

I don't recommend alienware. I've heard nothing but bad things. My college buddy got an alienware laptop, and (while powerful) he has to reset the CMOS (hold the power button for 30 seconds with the battery out) once a week. No idea why, but his GPU slowly stops working if he doesn't.

I've never had a pre-built computer, but I hear good things about ibuypower.
 

daveb83

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Hi

For what its worth I never played PC ever, when I bought my girlfriend a laptop it had a reasonable onborad graphics card so I bought a couple of simulation games and got hooked. I was gonna buy a custom pc but decided to build my own from top to bottom.

Honest to God i hadn't a clue when it came to pc building or at least I didnt until I started reading the fourms and watching the numberous youtube videos. I finally plucked up the courage and bought the parts. I had my components reviewed on this website and was assured they were compatible. If you want ask on the forum for someone to give you a list of compatible components to suit your needs.

My budget was 800ish euro(I'm irish). I bought

ANTI-STATIC WRIST BAND (very important)
Asus P6z68,
i5 2500k,
Corsair vengance 2x4gbs
Seagate 1tb 7200rpm
XFX 650watt psu
Gpu is Nvidia 560ti
Case, keyboard+mouse,cd/dvd drive
I had windows 64 bit.

It was very easy asembling the components as the manuals are step by step, all mobos are clearly marked, and everything has its own home. Sometimes it was scary considering some parts are very delicate(cpu insertion) but with simple care it was easy.

To buy the same system it would have cost me 1300ish euro.

It wasnt all plain sailing as my first MOBO was DOA. At the time i didnt know what was wrong so I clearly explained my problem on the forums and was advised to return it. There has been no issues since then.

The bios on most MOBOs are fool proof now and again the manual clearly explains what to do.

The experience buildin the system is unbelieveable, every time you switch it on you get a little tingle. The excitement opening the boxes when there delivered is ridiculously childish.


If you do some research its definitly worth building yourself. Do trust me you will never regret it.

Regarding the i5 issue. From reading most forums here and on other sites the i52500k is the best option for gaming as most games only use the four cores. If your video editing then a i7 with 8cores is better.( I could be wrong)

God speed.

DO IT, DO IT, DO IT, BACARDI AND COLA. DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!
 

p1ng1337

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Apr 18, 2012
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Thanks again for all the replies.

working together with my friend on finding me a comp. he built almost the same comp as a prebuilt comp and it came out 100 more on the prebuilt. the prebuilt included mouse and keyboard.

also I want the i7 because but a few years when i need to upgrade i can upgrade my graphics card instead of my processor.

smart decision? yeah....

also I will definately spend 4000 more to get p1ng1337 engraved on my $50 case.

also im not "knocking" radeon before Ive tried it though I appreciate ur assumption.

I am loyal to geforce since ive used it about 10 years ago.

also im not going to go with alienware but i did decide to just buy a prebuilt but now im trying to figure out

between ibuypower or cyberpower
 

p1ng1337

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Special-A
1 x Case ( NZXT Tempest EVO Gaming Case - Black )

0 x Case Lighting ( None )

0 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction ( None )

0 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion ( None )

1 x Processor ( Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor (4x 3.30GHz/6MB L3 Cache) - Free Upgrade to Intel Core i5-2550K Processor )

0 x iBUYPOWER PowerDrive ( None )

1 x Processor Cooling ( Liquid CPU Cooling System [SOCKET-1155] - [Free Upgrade] Standard 120mm Fan )

1 x Memory ( 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand )

1 x Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB - FREE Upgrade to GTX 560 Ti EVGA Superclocked - Single Card )

1 x Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA )

1 x Motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 )

0 x Intel Smart Response Technology ( None )

1 x Motherboard USB / SATA Interface ( Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface )

1 x Power Supply ( 650 Watt - Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2 - Free Upgrade to 750 Watt Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2 ($20 Savings) )

1 x Primary Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive )

0 x Data Hard Drive ( None )

1 x Optical Drive ( 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )

0 x 2nd Optical Drive ( None )

1 x Flash Media Reader / Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black )

0 x Meter Display ( None )

0 x USB Expansion ( None )

1 x Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )

1 x Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

1 x Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit )

1 x Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard )

1 x Mouse ( iBUYPOWER Internet Mouse )

0 x Monitor ( None )

0 x 2nd Monitor ( None )

1 x Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )

0 x Video Camera ( None )

0 x Case Engraving Service ( None )

1 x Warranty ( 3 Year Standard Warranty Service )

1 x Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

$1157

How does this look? they are giving me a free upgrade to the 2550k i5 but i heard to just stay with the 2500k

am i missing anything? fans or anything else?
 

zooted

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^The biggest thing I would worry about would be the psu. Anything that just states standard means that it is a ticking time bomb which may take out components of you $1000 investment. If you do go with them see if you can upgrade it to a quality unit from a reputable company such as corsair, antec, seasonic, pc power & cooling etc.....
 

hapkido

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It looks ok, certainly a lot better than that alienware. Again, by not building yourself you're overspending 20% or more. If your friend couldn't price a similar system for less money, he's not very good at picking parts. But if you're not able to build yourself, buying pre-built is your only option.
 

pfunkmd

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I was thinking the same thing but would new egg really put a psu in a 1000 dollar machine that was going to cause a problem?? Dont know I would call first and find out what unit was in it and see how much to upgrade if it is crap.
 

pfunkmd

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This is a good pc I would go ahead and get that
 

p1ng1337

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confused.. the psu is a corsair 750 watt

im sorry i got the price wrong.. the price is 1057 and it was built from ibuypower.com

and thats with professional wiring which was extra.
 

p1ng1337

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yeah and even if it is like 10% more to get prebuilt. thats very cheap considering the labor putting it together. the professional wiring and getting backed by a nice warranty..