Which system to get

[benalt]

I am trying to decide between 2 systems. Gateway vs. Asus. The Gateway has a faster HD (7200RPM) vs. the Asus (5400RPM) though the Asus has more RAM 10GB vs. 16GB. The Gateway I am told by reading reviews seems to only have SATA3.0 for the 1st drive and if you want to add another it will only have SATA2.0 which I don't think is the case for the Asus. I was hoping to add a Hybrid SD drive to the system which has an SD part where frequently loaded things are stored. I notice that the Asus one also boasts some nice energy settings etc. too The systems are located here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220155
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113217

Any ideas people can give me?
Thanks,
Ben

 

[tiny voices]

What will be the use for this computer?

 

[stickmansam]

Whats your budget and purpose for the build?
It would be a lot better to build it yourself and get more bang for buck if your build it yourself

Betweent he two systems I would choose gateway since you would want the faster HDD. SATA 3 usually has 2 ports and only SSD/Hybrids will require the speed so you can be fine with moving the HDD to a SATA2

Comparable DIY build with likely higher component quality and $40 cheaper

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($67.28 @ TigerDirect)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft Keyboard 200 Wired Standard Keyboard ($9.98 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Logitech M500 Wired Laser Mouse ($5.66 @ NCIX US)
Total: $652.85
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-30 15:58 EST-0500)

*The Antec Neo has a $20 MIR that is not showing up

 

[benalt]

What will be the use for this computer?

Nothing intensive. Office suite, email, web. I'll probably be doing some programming including the use of cygwin. It will also be used for games but not a significant use. The system has to be zippy.

 

[benalt]

Whats your budget and purpose for the build?
It would be a lot better to build it yourself and get more bang for buck if your build it yourself

Betweent he two systems I would choose gateway since you would want the faster HDD. SATA 3 usually has 2 ports and only SSD/Hybrids will require the speed so you can be fine with moving the HDD to a SATA2

Comparable DIY build with likely higher component quality and $40 cheaper
.
.
*The Antec Neo has a $20 MIR that is not showing up

I haven't built my own system before and though I don't mind trying as I am technically minded, my significant other wants a system ASAP and working without incident.

 

[casper1973]

Cant believe they have put a 5400RPM drive on that machine
It will cripple performance.

You won't notice the difference between 10GB and 16GB of RAM unless using very demanding applications such as Photoshop or CAD software.

So I would definitely go for the Gateway - but second the idea of building your own.

 

[stickmansam]

Nothing intensive. Office suite, email, web. I'll probably be doing some programming including the use of cygwin. It will also be used for games but not a significant use. The system has to be zippy.

You may be better off getting an AMD 3850 with a dedicated gpu, something like this
It will be a lot better for gaming and comparable for most other tasks.
You might be interested in a SSD if you want to be zippy but I run with the same HDD and its pretty fast

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft Keyboard 200 Wired Standard Keyboard ($9.98 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Logitech M500 Wired Laser Mouse ($5.66 @ NCIX US)
Total: $703.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-30 16:09 EST-0500)

 

[stickmansam]

I haven't built my own system before and though I don't mind trying as I am technically minded, my significant other wants a system ASAP and working without incident.

Its actually a pretty nice experience seeing something you built yourself running

 

[Swordkd]

None of the suggested builds have Ram included. Expect the price to go up by 45 dollars or less. Judging by the suggested builds, I'd recommend something like:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.78 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $671.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-30 16:37 EST-0500)

Another forum poster recommended the Intel Xeon cpu as an alternative to the i7 or 8350. Much cheaper than the i7 and better performing than the 8350 for not too much money. I didn't add an OS or keyboard/mouse, as I feel you can pick that out. Overall you could save money with the AMD cpu(don't have to buy a separate heatsink/fan), but I feel this would do very well for you. Later on, definitely add an SSD drive, or swap out the HDD for a Hybrid.

 

[stickmansam]

None of the suggested builds have Ram included. Expect the price to go up by 45 dollars or less.

*self-facepalm* Yeah I forget the memory, the cheapest Kingston and patriot sets cost about $38-40 bucks for 8 gig

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft Keyboard 200 Wired Standard Keyboard ($9.98 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Logitech M500 Wired Laser Mouse ($5.66 @ NCIX US)
Total: $740.54
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-30 16:40 EST-0500)