A little help for a tech newb?

jbattern · July 2010

Hi everyone! I come to you today with a need for advice. My laptop that I was playing on died, and that sucks, so I'm looking for a new computer. I don't want another laptop, because you get more for your money out of a stack. So here are the two things I need advice on.

1: Which of these is more worth getting?

http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5395929&CatId=4928

or

http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5395927&CatId=4928

and 2: For the extra money, is this hexacore that much better of a deal than those two up there?

http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6362907&CatId=4928

Thanks in advance for all your help guys!

jpnole · July 2010

I like the Ibuypower in choice #2. I have bought 2 computers from them and had several friends also buy without problems. Why don't you check their site out because you can get more for your money than a typical name brand store bought PC.

www.ibuypower.com

Cleffy · July 2010

The Hexa-Core is without a doubt the best PC on that lineup. The Phenom II X6 1055T is roughly equivalent to the Core i7 920. It also has the HD5770 which performs laps around the GTS250. Circuitcity is now owned by the same company that owns tigersdirect. So they have the 2nd best prices for parts sold over the internet, and the stores have better prices then any brick and mortar for the few Circuit Cities that remain.

Mehve · July 2010

Well first, ixnay on #2. That thing's got a GT220, which is a shoestring budget GPU, pure and simple. If you're really looking for some decent graphics at a decent resolution, that's not a suitable candidate.

#1 and #3 have good and bad points. #1 is definitely solid, although at this point, I'd prefer a newer graphics card, such as the 5770 that #3 is packing, which is both stronger and supports DX11. On the other hand, #3's hexa-core just isn't useful for games - a faster-clocked quad-core will serve you better for gaming for a long time yet. Additionally, I don't know what the hell that liquid cooling option is, but I'll at least guarantee it's not doing anything that a good air heatsink can't do, but the price is likely increased accordingly.

Doomedfox · July 2010

Try this page

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/configurator/

and see the configurator for an I5 system upgrade the ram and the grafikcard to a 5770 and u have a solid machine after that just see what u wantor what fits your budget to get most out of your money

Loke666 · July 2010

Number 2 sucks, that GFX card is only used in laptops and really crappy computers. Number 3s hexa core isn't that useful in gaming but practical if you need a lot of processing power to compile programs and similar things.

Otherwise I would go for the first one of those, but I would check if I couldn't pay some extra to get a 260 GTX GFX card instead or something even better. 250 is acceptable but not good.

Panther2103 · July 2010

I would say number 3. Even if it does have a hexacore it still should run games perfectly fine, the GPU is great on it, and honestly I wish I had enough to get that. Haha

tiki · July 2010

Personally, I would take this opportunity to learn how to make a computer. You can buy all the parts off of newegg.com and it will be cheaper, a lot better, and even if it is your first time putting together a computer, it will be done with better quality then how those companies do it.

But that is just me. Being a gamer, there is not much point of getting more then 2 cores, it will lower your refresh rate per dollar. Games primarily run on one thread so the majority of the load is going to be on a single core, so if you have 8 cores and only running one game, then that is a lot of wasted CPU.

Torluk · July 2010

I'm not a techie by any means, maybe a step up from you OP ( a tech novice or somesuch) but the best advice anyone ever gave me when I asked for the same sort of advice was - "build it yourself".

I can't explain to you the overwhelming sense of achievement you get after building your first rig, hitting the power button and hearing the BIOS beep into life for the first time.

When you know next to nothing about PC hardware components it takes a lot of research to find out what you need to know (I think it was about 2 months at least before I ordered my first component) but in hindsight it was well worth it.

After doing the research I became aware of how companies try to make you think you are getting a good deal by skimping on subtle but important hardware specifications (as some people have already pointed out to you in this thread). You also have the added bonus of tailoring your rig to do exactly what you need it to do in the most efficient way you can find.

I've never regretted the challenge of teaching myself how to build my own PCs and I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who likes a challenge and an opportunity to grow their understanding of a hobby.

Best of luck either way.

Edit: lol, someone posted saying almost the exact same thing while I was writing this. I agree with the above poster.

neorandom · July 2010

tiki - some people still cant set the time on their dvd player, let alone assemble a pc, but as far as everything concering components goes good stuff.

cyberpower is the worst place you can possibly do buisiness, theyll sell you broken stuff and take 6 months to send a replacement. cant say about i buy power, havent heard one way or another about them.

never buy from a store like best buy or what have you, they mark up 200% over parts and say its for labor and profit, and thats alot of profit.

tiki · July 2010

Originally posted by neorandom
tiki - some people still cant set the time on their dvd player, let alone assemble a pc, but as far as everything concering components goes good stuff.

cyberpower is the worst place you can possibly do buisiness, theyll sell you broken stuff and take 6 months to send a replacement. cant say about i buy power, havent heard one way or another about them.

never buy from a store like best buy or what have you, they mark up 200% over parts and say its for labor and profit, and thats alot of profit.

I am aware of this, but in all honesty, people laugh when I say this, but I honestly feel a 7 year old could put together a computer if they were given the parts. It is quite literally fit the pieces where they fit. The only prereq to building a computer is playing that game as a child where you place the plastic triangle in the wooden triangle cutout.

Loke666 · July 2010

Originally posted by tiki
Personally, I would take this opportunity to learn how to make a computer. You can buy all the parts off of newegg.com and it will be cheaper, a lot better, and even if it is your first time putting together a computer, it will be done with better quality then how those companies do it.

But that is just me. Being a gamer, there is not much point of getting more then 2 cores, it will lower your refresh rate per dollar. Games primarily run on one thread so the majority of the load is going to be on a single core, so if you have 8 cores and only running one game, then that is a lot of wasted CPU.

Most new games support 2 and mostly even 4 cores so unless you plan on just playing Wow a quad isn't a bad idea.

I have a AMD hexa core myself but still havn't tried a game that supports the last 2 cores, however was the price of the processor very close to a quad (in fact it was half the price compared to the Intel quad I was looking on so I decided to get that together with Corsairs small H50 hydro cooling system.

It is true that you get most for the money if you build it yourself. Second best alternative is to get Newegg or your local store build you what you want. Brand computers is the worst choice but good if you are hopeless with hardware.

And the most important feature of any gaming computer: the GFX card. Here are some charts to show you which ones that are good and which ones that sucks. Ram is nice to have and a fast processor too but a 4 gigs dual core 3,0 and a high end GFX card beats a hexa core with 12 gigs and a crap card any day.

neorandom · July 2010

i know tiki, i gladly put my own pcs together and hook up my own home entertainment items. but alot of people dont read the instructions or make sure theyve grounded themselves so they dont dump static into their expensive toys and break them and then get gun shy about getting their fingers dirty with the proverbial grease (even though computer parts should always be clean enough to eat off of and not greasy!)

the thing to remember about the human race is that most of them couldnt butter toast if someone didnt show them how a few times first, or tie shoes, or use a toilet, or dress themselves, or assemble electronic devices!

tiki · July 2010

Originally posted by neorandom
i know tiki, i gladly put my own pcs together and hook up my own home entertainment items. but alot of people dont read the instructions or make sure theyve grounded themselves so they dont dump static into their expensive toys and break them and then get gun shy about getting their fingers dirty with the proverbial grease (even though computer parts should always be clean enough to eat off of and not greasy!)

the thing to remember about the human race is that most of them couldnt butter toast if someone didnt show them how a few times first, or tie shoes, or use a toilet, or dress themselves, or assemble electronic devices!

haha, ok ok you win.

tiki · July 2010

Originally posted by neorandom
the thing to remember about the human race is that most of them couldnt butter toast if someone didnt show them how a few times first, or tie shoes, or use a toilet, or dress themselves, or assemble electronic devices!

Or else this might happen.

"i just got a geforce7950 after my old geforce 6600 started falling behind.

so i got it about aweek ago and so i took out my old card and tried to put in the new card but it wouldnt fit. i called one of my friends and he didnt know what to do so he came over, after trying doing different things he just told me to cut it. so i carefully tried to cut it straight across with a boxcutter (didnt have anything else at the time) but didnt manage to all the way, and it still didnt fit. im kinda afraid i messed it up and maybe voided its warranty... so yea.. any help here?

should i cut the smaller peice too? i decided not to do anything else until i ask someone else. i dont think my friends knows what hes doing.

"

Torluk · July 2010

"...maybe voided its warranty..."

Priceless.

That's got to be someone posting just for a laugh though, surely nobody is that foolhardy.

Loke666 · July 2010

Originally posted by neorandom
i know tiki, i gladly put my own pcs together and hook up my own home entertainment items. but alot of people dont read the instructions or make sure theyve grounded themselves so they dont dump static into their expensive toys and break them and then get gun shy about getting their fingers dirty with the proverbial grease (even though computer parts should always be clean enough to eat off of and not greasy!)

the thing to remember about the human race is that most of them couldnt butter toast if someone didnt show them how a few times first, or tie shoes, or use a toilet, or dress themselves, or assemble electronic devices!

Agreed.

I usually take a case of beer for selecting the hardware and building computers for my friends. the hardest part is choosing the right hardware, not building the stuff.

A computer usually takes 1-2 hours for most people to build and about the same to install OS and other programs on.

I mainly do it as a service to my friends and to keep my tech skill updated ( spend some time on Toms checking benchtests and so on before building any). Reason I charge a case is because otherwise would anyone who heard of me use me as their private tech support, and the fact "Beer = Good".

People don't dare to try and in some cases it is justified, I fixed some peoples mistakes. Like when a buddy had someone else put it together. It didn't work so he asked me to check it out (after 6 months with a brand new computer lying at home). Found that the motherboard was broken in 10 mins. The really funny thing is that fact that the guy who built it for him had me to assemble his computer a year later .

it really isn't that hard, the manual tells you how to do it. Just be careful and use a ESD bracelet (5 bucks). But it is good to know someone that can help you out if something isn't working.

It do happens at times that a component is broken (or some dofus breaks it during installation) and then it is good to know someone that knows how to check what is broken.

My worst problem still is a buddies computer who bluescreened twice a day. It took me a long time to realize that it was the processors cash memory that was messing.

Loke666 · July 2010

Originally posted by Torluk
"...maybe voided its warranty..."

Priceless.

That's got to be someone posting just for a laugh though, surely nobody is that foolhardy.

Trust me, some people are that stupid. I seen a try to get a processor into the wrong slot...

And I know some people who works at support, they always have the funniest stories to tell.

Catamount · July 2010

Honestly, I'd agree that literally anyone can build a computer. Hell, these days you could no doubt just go on youtube and find a video to walk you through the actual assembly, and even that's probably unecessary, because you literally do just fit each piece into the hole/slot of the same shape.

The hard part is just picking the right components, and hell, we can help there.

99% of the time, you don't even have to bother with the extraneous steps, like going out and getting an anti-static band. I've been building computers for years, and I've assembed dozens of systems for various people, and I have never, ever shocked a component to death due to static. Maybe if you live in the desert, and you're wearing a wool sweater (in the desert), and you have 5 balloons stuck to your head and 7 cats with long coats rubbing against your hands while you're trying to work, it might be concievable that you'd accumilate enough static to damage hardware in this way (keeping in mind that you'd have to exceed the wattage of energy that normally goes through that section of circuitry to begin with), but short of that, you don't have to worry about things like that.

sieno · July 2010

I would go for the 2nd one the amd 3.2 quad core and take out the card and get a better card I always ran ati and amd the six core isnt something you need for gaming try newegg and buy a card off them but the quad core looks like youre best bet unless you have the cash to spare then I would check out ibuy power far as a budget computer that would be your best bet

Loke666 · July 2010

Originally posted by sieno
I would go for the 2nd one the amd 3.2 quad core and take out the card and get a better card I always ran ati and amd the six core isnt something you need for gaming try newegg and buy a card off them but the quad core looks like youre best bet unless you have the cash to spare then I would check out ibuy power far as a budget computer that would be your best bet

That would be a waste of money and buying stuff to throw it away makes no sense whatsoever.

To mail the site and ask if they can't sell it with an upgraded GFX card would be a lot smarter.

The smartest thing however is to buy the entire computer from Newegg. there you can change any component if you want to.

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