I'm back! With more new computer questions.

[Henry06x]

So I'm still looking into the new computer stuff and debating on what route to go. I looked up the price of an HP envy pheonix (their gaming tower), then made a custom PC on IBuyPower as similar to the HP as I could with the discription (even tho I know everyone hates them), then looked up all the parts as best I could to compare the prices between the three and here is what I came up with or costs.
note: If I would custom build or order custom built I would get a smaller HDD and probably better graphics card. I just did these specs to get as close to the exact setup across the board as I could, maybe downgrade a little on the processor to save also.

Specs:
Processor - Intel i7 - 4770K
Memory - 8 gig DDR3 1600
Video Card - GeForce GT 640 2gig DDR3
Power Supply - 500w
Upgraded Audio because HP's come stock with beats.
Plus the other little stuff
Windows 8 prof.

Prices:
HP - $1149
IBuyPower - $1076
Custom - $1061

Overall it's not a big price difference. Maybe I'm just looking at parts in the wrong places or missing the deals.
I looked up everything thru Amazon because it's easy to search the parts and I had Amazon prime with free shipping. All the parts I looked up were sold by Amazon and they price match everything if I find deals elsewhere.

Thanks again in advance for any help.

p.s. this is above my orig budget. I was thinking if the prices are that close I would probably get the HP and to a same as cash zero interest type deal to pay off the extra then in the future upgrade the graphics card and maybe also the memory.

[juneau]

Don't touch that spec with a barge pole. CPU is more than you need. Memory is fine, but what brand? Graphics card is junk. Unknown power supply. Beats as stock, that'll be adding a few hundred to the price tag I presume.

Is there no good reputable PC builders in the US? One's that don't aim themselves at your typical Mum & Dad market and aren't called Alienware?

[goldenfooler]

Juneau, take a look at http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ tell me what you think of their builds. I am just curious as I bought from them.

[trip202]

cybertron?

http://www.cybertronpc.com/

[Henry06x]

Don't touch that spec with a barge pole. CPU is more than you need. Memory is fine, but what brand? Graphics card is junk. Unknown power supply. Beats as stock, that'll be adding a few hundred to the price tag I presume.

Is there no good reputable PC builders in the US? One's that don't aim themselves at your typical Mum & Dad market and aren't called Alienware?

Alienware is (or at least use to be) super over priced and now they are just a high end Dell since the company was purchased by them. I'm not sure how they last, but everyone I know who has owned a Dell hasn't had one last more than 2-3 years at most. My best friends family has purchased nothing but dell for probably the past 10 years and have gone thru many. They are usually all fucked up by the end of a year.

Those specs are just what I could find to compare prices between building my own, buying from large company, or a cheaper Gaming build company to see what kind of savings I may be looking at with each. The specs I would look for myself are more like an i5, or AMD FX 4000 series with MAYBE 1TB memory, probably 500gig because I have a 500gig external and a much better graphics card.

Of the brands I priced they were a mix of ASUS, Corsair, and MSI.

[Henry06x]

cybertron?

http://www.cybertronpc.com/

Cybertron, iBuyPower, and CyberPowerPC are all pretty similar companies. Make affordable custom builds, but all get the same remarks about them having problems with poor build quality.

The one thing I did hear about people having them fail shortly after delivery is having loose parts and wiring causing shorts and what not. I read something about iBuyPower saying the very first thing you should do apon arrival is to open it up and verify EVERYTHING is in place, snug, and connections tight.

[juneau]

Juneau, take a look at http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ tell me what you think of their builds. I am just curious as I bought from them.

That's sort of what I'm looking for. We have a lot of retailers in the UK that sell all the parts separately but will also do their own builds. Overclockers, Scan, Overclock, KustomPC. It would similar if Newegg did their own builds, but I'm pretty sure they don't.

The Vanquish level 3 looks pretty good for the money. Just a pity they don't go into full detail with which parts they're using.

[goldenfooler]

That's sort of what I'm looking for. We have a lot of retailers in the UK that sell all the parts separately but will also do their own builds. Overclockers, Scan, Overclock, KustomPC. It would similar if Newegg did their own builds, but I'm pretty sure they don't.

The Vanquish level 3 looks pretty good for the money. Just a pity they don't go into full detail with which parts they're using.

You can open it up and then customize it. The parts are listed. Bad tab placement on the top right in green says select and buy. Or hit this http://www.digitalstormonline.com/vanquish.asp

[Duke{CLR}]

The Vanquish looks good to me and it ships in 72 hours, that's not bad.

[Savage13]

H

Alienware is (or at least use to be) super over priced and now they are just a high end Dell since the company was purchased by them. I'm not sure how they last, but everyone I know who has owned a Dell hasn't had one last more than 2-3 years at most. My best friends family has purchased nothing but dell for probably the past 10 years and have gone thru many. They are usually all fucked up by the end of A year...

I haven't had that experience. I had a Dell 4400 that I bought in 2001 and it's still running. I upgraded the video card, ram, USB, HDDs, etc. until I could do no more without changing the power supply and CpU/MB. Now I have a Dell 8300 thats run well for the last 2 years and is a decent (not great) gaming machine. You just need to get rid of all the crap bloat ware they pack into the system and replace dell drivers with OEM drivers for video, sound, etc.

[juneau]

The Vanquish looks good to me and it ships in 72 hours, that's not bad.

Yup, this is probably the best pre built store I've seen in the past few months that people here have been wanting new PC's.

[goldenfooler]

which model of the vanquish?

[Henry06x]

So I got into looking up some stuff on tiger direct and into building your own. I found the bundle part witch helps save some money, but I still have some questions about a few things.

Do wiring and harnesses come with all the parts you order of does that stuff need purchased seperatly?

What is the difference between a mid tower case and a full tower case? Size?

For the processors I was looking at the i5 3570k witch witch I was comparing to like the AMD FX6350 and FX8320. Dont really know the differences between them with my limited knowledge so I looked them up online and a web site had some bar graphs showing performance comparasons between different processors you entered in and they all looked rather close.
Is there any reason for me to get the k or unlocked versions when I dont know or plan to do anything with overclocking?

How much difference is there in mother boards besides available slots for add on hardware and max Ram it can handle?

How do you know what size Power Supply you need?

[Duke{CLR}]

which model of the vanquish?

I just hit the green button from you link, I didn't change the config.

So I got into looking up some stuff on tiger direct and into building your own. I found the bundle part witch helps save some money, but I still have some questions about a few things.

Do wiring and harnesses come with all the parts you order of does that stuff need purchased seperatly?

What is the difference between a mid tower case and a full tower case? Size?

For the processors I was looking at the i5 3570k witch witch I was comparing to like the AMD FX6350 and FX8320. Dont really know the differences between them with my limited knowledge so I looked them up online and a web site had some bar graphs showing performance comparasons between different processors you entered in and they all looked rather close.
Is there any reason for me to get the k or unlocked versions when I dont know or plan to do anything with overclocking?

How much difference is there in mother boards besides available slots for add on hardware and max Ram it can handle?

How do you know what size Power Supply you need?

The wire usually come with he components. The only time I have ad to buy an extra one was if I wanted a certain color.

The difference is the size of the case, I love my full tower, It's easy to work in and you can squeeze a lot of components in there but I wouldn't want it if I had to have it in a smaller room or on top of a smaller desk. You can find the dimensions of certain cases in the specs and then use a tape measure to estimate what it will be like in your office or even cut a spare box to those dimensions.

Not up to speed on CPUs but from what I gather an I5 will be plenty to run BF4 and although you don't plan on overclocking I would get that version just in case, if I remember correctly the only difference is on board video and you will be getting a card anyway.

Here is a great PSU calculator, just put in you parts and hit calculate. I would not skimp on this part get a good name brand that has a lot of good reviews. I use Enermax and I have had great luck with them.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

Good luck

[goldenfooler]

I just hit the green button from you link, I didn't change the config.

There are 4 different Configs which one did you like .