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system comparison
Hi. I am trying to decide between these two systems from costco.
Exhibit A: Cyberpower PC
Processor & Memory:
- Intel Core i7-4790 Processor 3.6GHz
- 16GB DDR3 SDRAM
- 2TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
- DVD-RW (Writes to DVD/CD)
- Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
- Integrated Intel HD 4600 Graphics
OR
Exhibit B: HP Envy PC
Processor & Memory:
- Intel® Core™ i7-4770K quad-core processor (3.5GHz)
- 8MB Shared Cache
- 32GB DDR3-1600MHz (4 DIMMs)
- 1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
- SuperMulti DVD Burner
- Microsoft® Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
- Intel Integrated Graphics
- Wireless-N LAN card + Bluetooth
There is about a $150 price difference between the 2 and I wonder which would be the better investment for a gaming pc.
Comments
Imo, neither is.
First off, there is no dedicated graphics card.
Second, you waste money on parts you need not - pointless size of RAM, excessive CPU power.
My plan would be to upgrade the video card 2-3 years down the line. I want this computer to be viable for as long as possible, so the extra RAM and Processor power would allow me to play games 5+ years down the line.
That plan is completely ridiculous:
1. Those integrated graphic cards aren't able to run many of the new games properly now, today. Basically your plan is to buy a gaming computer in order to be unable to play games.
2. Processor, RAM and GPU tech keeps evolving so quickly that purchasing something you don't use now for the future is almost never cost-effective. Get a balanced package that you can use now, use it for as long as you're able, then see what you need to upgrade.
You should also consider getting SSD hard disk if you can afford it.
Neither is a "gaming" PC by any stretch. Neither has a graphics card ( GPU ), you would be lucky to play a 5 year old game on low settings with either of those.
That would be more suitable to use in an office than anything.
If you want to buy a gaming PC forget about Costco. Building is your best option, if that is not feasible then at least buy one from a vendor who makes them. Not from a place that you can also buy gallon jugs of mayo.
I guess I am really fishing around here in the dark. It has been 8 years since I bought a pc and I don't know what passes for a good gaming pc these days. What are a couple vendors I should look at. Even if I go to these vendors I won't know what parts to put in it. My budget is $750 - 1000. Can some one point me in the right direction or post a link to a nicely configured pc within my budget? Thanks in advance.
There are a few websites that you can look at
http://avadirect.com
Cyberpower and Ibuypower also have sites you can configure PCs on.
Here is a link to a configured PC on avadirect. Just to use as an example.
http://www.avadirect.com/Zambezi-FX-AM3-2-way-CrossFireX-Custom-Gaming-System/Configure/8100124
These sites will also sell you a shit system if your not careful.
Beware of any integrated graphics, beware of them trying to sell you a $350 I7 with a $59 graphics card in the system and call it a "gaming " system, beware of them trying to sell you excessive amounts of RAM (8 gb is plenty).
Beware of excessive power supplies ( i.e. 1000w when a 500w will do, or a cheap shit power supply).
Beware of the sales, they are always having a 3 day sale, must buy now, next week there will be another one.
Beware of fancy expensive cases, lights, noise reduction, ect. A fancy case with neon green lights does nothing for performance. It will just look really cool while it sucks at being a PC.
Beware of Overclocking, a premium price for a 10% OC is a bad value.
Use an Air cooler instead of liquid. Its cheaper and real world performance is the same until you get into high overclocks.
You can do without a sound card & NIC card. they are on the motherboard.
Basically beware of all the upsell items as they add up quick. You are already paying a premium for a prebuilt, no use in spending money on stuff you can add yourself or do without.
Here is a link to an Ibuypower PC, the configuration may not save but you can look through yourself if not.
http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/AMD-FX-4-Core-Configurator
You can always post the build here and check before you buy. But you will get a lot of flak about building one instead of buying one prebuilt.
edit: On the GPU side dont look at anything below an R9 270x or a 750ti. Watch out for them trying to sell you shit like a Nvidia 640, 610, ect, or an R 250 ( or whatever the equivalent is). Those are low low end and are worth nothing for games.
It might be decent. But at this point we dont know what the other components are. Power supply? Motherboard?
Personally I would not risk buying something and knowing so little about whats in it. You could most likely add a GPU like a 270x in there and be ok. But you will be taking a chance as the PSU and motherboard are probably cheap.
Its your choice of course. I would advise spending a little more and getting something that you KNOW whats in it. It may be the difference in getting 4-5 years out of a PC or having a cheap one go out this time next year when the cheap PSU kills the system.
If you can find out what exactly is in that system then maybe, if they wont tell you its usually for a reason.
Take a look at this one.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Holiday_AMD_8-Core
Within your budget and you know what your getting. Change out the Power supply ( PSU ) to this one
~650 Watts - Corsair CSM Series CS650M 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Ultra Quiet Power Supply~ The one they had was junk.
Comes to like $980 or something close. It is a prebuilt and you are paying for that, but it will be a good PC for gaming and whatever else you want to do with a PC. And at least you know what parts are in the thing. You can also upgrade it later with an SSD, extra HDD, More RAM, better GPU, ect. in the future as needed.
Here is whats in that one
There is an obvious, easy correct answer to the original question: neither. Both systems would lose badly in gaming when compared to a $600 budget system if that $600 is well spent. I'm not sure what the listed prices on those computers are, but I'm guessing somewhere north of $1000.
Never, ever, ever buy a junk computer with the plan to upgrade it later. Sometimes that can require having to replace every single part in the entire system except for the optical drive that would have only cost $15 to replace, anyway. In this case, the processor will be good, the optical drive will be fine, and the hard drive might be okay. The power supply, case, memory, and motherboard will probably be things that a sensible buyer on your budget wouldn't even consider if picking parts himself--and you'll definitely have to replace the power supply and possibly the case if you want to add a video card later. That's even more cost entirely apart from the video card, on top of having severely overpaid for the original system.
So let's back up. First, what's your budget? If you can't or won't assemble parts yourself, you can get a computer built to order from a number of sites that will let you pick sensible parts. That will add perhaps $100-$200 to the price as compared to assembling it yourself, but you'll still come out several hundred dollars ahead as compared to the systems you're looking at. If the barrier to assembling parts is not knowing which parts to get, you can get help with that here.
That is a bad plan.
Computer with integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics isn't viable gaming rig today, so you are basically buying very expensive computer that won't run games well and in those 2-3 years, you could get about same performance for way less money.
As I said before, you are wasting you money on parts you need not. For a gaming rig, graphics card is a where you should spent most of your budget on.
For a budget of 750-1000 USD, I would aim for AMD R280 card, cheapest Intel i5 and 8GB RAM. That is about the ballpark where you could start building your computer.
Search the Hardware forums, there are quite a few threads with builds around your budget.
I like this system but I am not sure what kind of difference AMD is from Intel i5? I am unfamiliar with the AMD, but under the impression it doesn't perform as well as the intel chips.