Okay Computer Gurus i Need Your Help

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay my son's computer is in need of an upgrade. His current gaming lineup includes Requiem, WoW and MMO thingy. He has talked with his online friends and they have recommended a computer whose link i will post. Not being a real techy i really do not know if this is truly overkill or a great computer so i am looking for your help.

Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme 939 Core 2 Quad Q8300(2.50GHz) 8GB DDR2 750GB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Desktop PCs

[DaddyTorgo]

how old is your son?

[Drake]

That seems like massive overkill to me. You could take over most South American countries with that rig.

That's also a really good price for that hardware configuration, so I'd probably go ahead and buy it anyway.

[cubboyroy1826]

He is 16. I should probably explain a little about his. He has a severe skin condition so he spends very little time outside of the house since he is allergic to just about everything. Most of his time is spent playing MMOs with his friends from school. He will be graduating this year as a junior and is incredibly smart.

[PurdueBrad]

Roy, I definitely think it's a pretty good deal and yeah, it's overkill, but frankly your kid is worth the couple hundred dollars extra. Plus, that rig should last somewhere close to the next millennium.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

He is 16. I should probably explain a little about his. He has a severe skin condition so he spends very little time outside of the house since he is allergic to just about everything. Most of his time is spent playing MMOs with his friends from school. He will be graduating this year as a junior and is incredibly smart.

awww

but

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by PurdueBrad

Roy, I definitely think it's a pretty good deal and yeah, it's overkill, but frankly your kid is worth the couple hundred dollars extra. Plus, that rig should last somewhere close to the next millennium.

+1

[sabotai]

Overkill is good. That means it'll be longer before the next time he'll need a new computer.

My only concern would be that I've never heard of iBUYPOWER. I've learned the hard way that brand name really does mean something when it comes to computers, but I haven't had my ear to the hardware side of things for quite awhile so they may be a well-known company. I'd search for reviews of their other products.

[MizzouRah]

Honestly.. you can get a refurbed Dell similar to that setup for a few hundred dollars less.

[DanGarion]

IBuypower has been around for awhile, in fact I think they review them in Maximum PC from time to time.

Only thing I would suggest is MORE HARD DRIVES!

[DanGarion]

I would get an i7 instead of a quad core... It's sort of a trade off but those boards are more future proof...

Since someone mentioned a refurbished Dell. The link is here.
http://www.dell.com/content/products...=22&l=en&s=dfh

[gstelmack]

If you're not into building yourself, yes that's a decent rig at a good price.

I am also a fan of the Core i7 as being a bit more future-proof and faster than the Core2 Quads, but that machine is still pretty good.

[cubboyroy1826]

Thanks for all of the reponses. I took a look at some of the reviews and the ibuypower seem to rank pretty decent. I will take a look at some of the other machines as well this weekend to see how they rank overall. Thanks again.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Drake

That seems like massive overkill to me. You could take over most South American countries with that rig.

That's also a really good price for that hardware configuration, so I'd probably go ahead and buy it anyway.

[PilotMan]

As far as gaming systems go, this would be considered a good mid-level system. IBP is a pretty well respected builder, their systems are not as pricey as dell or alienware. You can get more bang for the buck.

You might consider his age, does he really need this, because when he graduates he will likely be getting a laptop. This will still work well enough then, so maybe it's a little too much for right now.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

You might consider his age, does he really need this, because when he graduates he will likely be getting a laptop. This will still work well enough then, so maybe it's a little too much for right now.

Personally, I've always had both. With the advent of the mini-PC's, he can buy a $200 mini-laptop for notes in class and study and move all that info over to the desktop to work on it in his room. Seems like a great situation for the kid.

[cubboyroy1826]

He is going to graduate and is going to spend the first two years at the local Junior College. With his skin conditions going away to school is gonna be real hard so he may wind up going to NIU which is about 10 minutes away. We have two average laptops that he could use and realistically i would not have an issue picking up a new one if need be since he would definitely not be gaming on it, good point though for sure.

[DanGarion]

I'm not really a big Radiohead fan, but maybe there are some others...

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay so my son graduated and we went to order his computer and the ibuypower we wanted is no longer available so we are back to the drawing board. Here is one that we are looking at with the upgrade to 8gb ram.

Gamer Infinity SLI GS

Any other suggestions would be great.

[Tasan]

That's not too bad if you're not up to building your own. Spring the extra $79 bucks for the blu-ray combo drive to make him really happy.

[cubboyroy1826]

While i probably could build something i am not going to even attempt it. I will take a look at the Blue Ray player, good idea.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay so my son graduated and we went to order his computer and the ibuypower we wanted is no longer available so we are back to the drawing board. Here is one that we are looking at with the upgrade to 8gb ram.

Gamer Infinity SLI GS

Any other suggestions would be great.

I bought my laptop from cyberpower. I have mixed feelings about it. The specs are:

Core2Duo Intel processor (2.2Ghz x 2), Nvidia 8600 GM video card (510mb), Western Digital 120Gb hard drive, 2Gb RAM.

I would like more RAM, and the video card seems to have problems with games like WoW and LOTRO, but works great with single player games like Far Cry and Doom 3.

I have had issues with a few things, such as the sound driver keeps "disappearing". By this, I mean that it will somehow uninstall itself so I will have to reinstall the driver (RealTek). Also, my internal wireless does not work for some reason. I was not aware of these things until long after I bought the computer so I was stuck with it. Otherwise, though, it has worked pretty well.

My point of this post is to just be careful with what you buy, especially online/mail. Make sure you check everything out with the computer immediately upon receiving it in case something does not work. I have a suspicion that the internal components on my laptop were not installed entirely correct, thus causing some of these issues.

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay some quick additional questions.

1. Is there going to be a big difference in performance between 4GB of DDR2
and 4GB of DDR3? While DDR3 is more expensive because of how new it is, is
it going to pay off in the long run?

2. Someone brought up the issue of power supply with the computer you linked
to and recommended upgrading to 850W for improved performance. Again, am I
going to notice a big difference from 580W and will it be worth it?

3. Cooling. If I binge play a game on the computer for a day, am I going to
have issues with overheating using the current setup?

4. Someone tossed me the idea of getting a Intel Quad processor instead of
the Duo. Opinions, and will I need a new motherboard for that?

[the_meanstrosity]

World of Warcraft is a very cpu limited game so you'll definitely want to get the best cpu possible and overclock it. The E8400 listed in your link is solid and will work well with WOW now that the game is capable of using both cores. I personally would go for a quad core (Q series or the I7 series rather than the E series dual core) if you're wanting this pc to last 3-5 years simply for future proofing, but it certainly won't be a big immediate benefit unless your son does a lot of video decoding. So I would go for the E8400 if you're looking to save money and go for a I7 920 or greater if you don't care about the money and want it to last as long as possible.

If you're going to overclock the cpu then I would suggest buying a quality heatsink and fan. Xigmatek makes some great coolers. It will depend on which cpu architecture you purchase as to which cooler you will want.

The video card is going to rely on what monitor and resolution your son plays at. If he's using a smaller resolution (less than 1680x1050) than I'd suggest anything below the Nvidia 260GTS. If he games at 1680x1050 then I'd suggest the 260GTS or the ATI 4870. If he games above 1680x1050 then I'd shoot for the ATI 4890 or the Nvidia 275GTS. The pc in your link included two GTS250 cards, but I'm really not big on multiple cards simply because of the power and heat. If you're dead set on two video cards then the best value in dual card setups is to crossfire two ATI 4850's which means you'll need to get a motherboard that can do crossfire. It's a great setup and a pretty good value given the performance based on other users' experiences.

For memory, I would go on at least 8 GB if you plan on using Vista 64 bit. If you're using XP 32 bit then I would suggest 4 GB.

For the power supply, I would go with the Corsair 650W model. Corsair makes great power supplies and should power anything that I've suggested. I would double check that it can handle ATI's crossfire. I believe it can, but I've never really looked into it.

The hard drive, I personally would suggest buying a 640 GB Western Digital Caviar (black or blue series) drive on your own. They are often on sale for $65 from Newegg.

As far as optical drives (dvd, blueray, etc), it's a personal preference. You can buy OEM dvd burners for under $30 at Newegg. I'm not a big blueray fan so I would skip blueray, but that's just me.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay so my son graduated and we went to order his computer and the ibuypower we wanted is no longer available so we are back to the drawing board. Here is one that we are looking at with the upgrade to 8gb ram.

Gamer Infinity SLI GS

Any other suggestions would be great.

[the_meanstrosity]

If you're going to stay with the E8400 then just stick with DDR2. If you're going to go with the I7 series then you'll have to purchase DDR3.

The power supply is the most important part since you want clean power to your motherboard and video card(s). The Corsair 650W unit I suggested should handle anything you throw at it except for setups where you're using two top of the line video cards two 280GTX's or two 4890's. I would suggest going with a 800-1000W unit if you're planning on running a systen with two cards just to be safe.

The only heating issues you'll have are if you're overclocking the cpu or video card. I would definitely buy a quality heatsink fan as I suggested in the previous post.

Most current motherboards can handle the E (dual core) and Q (quad core) series. If you go for the I7 series then you'll need to get a newer motherboard which will probably cost an extra 50-100 dollars depending on the motherboard.

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay some quick additional questions.

1. Is there going to be a big difference in performance between 4GB of DDR2
and 4GB of DDR3? While DDR3 is more expensive because of how new it is, is
it going to pay off in the long run?

2. Someone brought up the issue of power supply with the computer you linked
to and recommended upgrading to 850W for improved performance. Again, am I
going to notice a big difference from 580W and will it be worth it?

3. Cooling. If I binge play a game on the computer for a day, am I going to
have issues with overheating using the current setup?

4. Someone tossed me the idea of getting a Intel Quad processor instead of
the Duo. Opinions, and will I need a new motherboard for that?

[cubboyroy1826]

Thanks a lot meanstrosity.

[the_meanstrosity]

Not a problem. I'm shopping around for my next system so I've come across a lot of information from various hardware forums, reviews, etc. I'll keep my eyes on this thread in case you have any other questions or want advice on specific manufacturers.

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Thanks a lot meanstrosity.

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay since you are looking in this area as well, what manufacturers might you suggest? I would really like to buy everything from one source since i really do not want to try to physically build a system on my own.

[the_meanstrosity]

I normally build my pc's piece by piece so I'm not as informed on the desktop manufacturers as I am on the hardware manufacturers (video card, cpu, etc). I've heard good things about Puget Systems, but I believe they are a bit pricier than others and have never experienced them personally. I've bought laptops from Dell and wasn't too impressed with their support (they fixed a nvidia video card overheating problem by modifying the bios to have the fans run at 100%).

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay since you are looking in this area as well, what manufacturers might you suggest? I would really like to buy everything from one source since i really do not want to try to physically build a system on my own.

[cubboyroy1826]

Okay an update on the computer search. My son is a little more choosy when it is his money he is spending. Here is what he has come up with for about $1375 from Ibuypower.

Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9400 (4x
2.66GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )

Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )

Motherboard ( Asus P5E3 Premium/WiFi-AP @n Intel X48 CrossFire Chipset w/7.1
Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, PCI-E MB )

Memory ( 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1333 Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand )

Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )

Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )

[the_meanstrosity]

A few comments.

Do you plan on using crossfire? I'm guessing yes since you're getting an X58 board. If you're not you could save some money by going with a P45 motherboard which would cost around $105 after mail in rebate.

The DDR3 memory is overkill unless you're using it for a future build (such as the I series from intel). I still have yet to purchase anything more than DDR2 800 RAM simply because there's no advantage to it and my build (P45 motherboard and Q9550 cpu) doesn't require it.

The video card is a solid choice for a resolution of 1680x1050. Anything higher (1920x1200 or higher) and you'll need a stronger video card.

If you're going to overclock, I would definitely suggest a quality 3rd party heatsink and fan. The OCZ Vendetta 2 or the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 are two that I can personally vouch for. I would get the bolt on kit added simply because it secures the heatsink a bit better than the push pins.

If you're not afraid to build your own system, Microcenter has a nice sale on their Q9400 cpu ($130) or the Q9550 ($160).

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay an update on the computer search. My son is a little more choosy when it is his money he is spending. Here is what he has come up with for about $1375 from Ibuypower.

Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-650TX Power Supply SLI Ready )
Processor ( [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9400 (4x
2.66GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )

Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )

Motherboard ( Asus P5E3 Premium/WiFi-AP @n Intel X48 CrossFire Chipset w/7.1
Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, PCI-E MB )

Memory ( 8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1333 Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand )

Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA )

Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )

[cubboyroy1826]

Thanks for the response.

[DaddyTorgo]

funny how spending one's own money makes compromises much more likely...lol

[cubboyroy1826]

Yes it is. He graduated as a junior and is only 16 but man can he spend the heck out of my money. Now anything that he really wants to use his money on is a huge hem and haw session, it really is funny.

[Pyser]

ok computer is a helluva album

i have nothing to add here