Gaming PC needed--Build or Buy

[TRDCorolla1]

I've built gaming PCs before and they can get pretty costly. I've been weighing the alternatives and found this great HP gaming PC with free shipping, $300 instant rebate, free 750GB 7200RPM SATA upgrade, etc. Total cost: $1499.99

Specs for the HP e9280t series are:

--Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
--Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-950 processor [3.00GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache]
--Memory 8GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
--Hard drive FREE UPGRADE! 750GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 640GB
--1.8GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]
--Primary optical drive LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
--Integrated 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) Ethernet, No wireless LAN
--Front Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, 1394, audio, video (for TV Tuner)
--TV tuner, ATSC-NTSC with PVR, remote
--Integrated 7.1 digital channel sound with front audio ports
--Keyboard and Mouse HP multimedia keyboard and HP optical mouse
--Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
--Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 month


It actually looks pretty nice for the price. I thought about upgrading the RAM to 12GB just for the **** of it, but fail to see the use since I won't have tons of open programs opened at the same time.

Pretty good deal for the price?? I just don't know much about the motherboard though. Do you think custom build to those specs above would cost more?

 

[Hefemeister]

build. Very strange they would configure a 950 with 8gb of ram. Since it is triple channel. Should be 3x2gb for 6gb total. 12gb is overkill. I would get an i7 920 instead of the 950. $300 savings.

for $1500 you could have a better system with much better components.

 

[farinha]

Agreed, for that price you could get a build with a better GPU. The i7 920 is easily overclocked to the i7 950 clock speed and it should be 6GB of RAM instead of 8GB. The triple channel works with multiples of three, 3GB, 6Gb, etc...

 

[Whirlwind]

i have to go along with everybody else.....build it yourself.

Nothing like picking out every single part yourself.

 

[Nitestick]

Just to echo what 90% of the forum will say: build it yourself it's far more satisfying and cost effective. However it can be quite a hair raising experience if you haven't built before and have little experience in computer hardware.

 

[Trotter]

I've been seeing reports of HP i7's being DOA or dying.

Build it. You know we can help you squeeze all you can out of your budget.

 

[bkolk]

Keeping with the $1500 budget of the pre-built computer, here is a build for ~$1500 (i posted this in another thread but its applicable here too)

Mobo - Newegg.com - ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
$240

Cpu - Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$289

GFX - Newegg.com - XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$410

Memory - Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - Desktop Memory
$150

PSU - Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
$108

HDD - Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$55

DVD drive - Newegg.com - LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners
$29

OS - Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems
$105

Total - $1386

This does not include a case because im not familiar enough with what case's can fit in a 5870 card (its a longer card than normal).

Comments of prebuilt to mine:
-The ati 5870 is >>>> the gtx 260.
-The price for the core-i7 950 isnt worth the slight performance over the i7- 920.
-6gb of ram is plenty, and it uses the tri-channel setup, rather than the 8gb dual channel the prebuilt has.

EDIT: blah, copied links didnt work, lemme know if you cant find any of those items.
edit2: seems they've come up and working, all is good.

 

[Hefemeister]

Links look good to me.

 

[Slaymate]

This link may help you also

Build a PC - Introduction to Building your PC - PCitYourself.com

 

[TRDCorolla1]

,I've definitely debated building with personal parts. I've built PCs before, but lost touch for years since I've spent way too much money on computers. The tri-channel RAM is something new to me. I understand the new i7 CPU by Intel contains instructions for GPU integration which is a nice touch. Still, can't beat a good video card though especially when gaming.

*right now, Street Fighter 4 is giving me tons of triangles, slow motion action, green angle shapes from all over. Not looking good. Everything points to the video card since the Desktop background and general software runs fine. The 7800GT should be capable, but the CPU itself is running an old AMD processor. The 2GB of RAM I have is suppose to be adequate but running DDR1. For newer games and modeling software, this PC could use a huge boost in performance. I hate upgrading something and having something else bottlenecking the system. It's like, "Why bother?"

In the meantime, I will look at those recommened components listed above in the links. I'm mainly trying to pick out the best PC for a decent price without going overboard. I just happen to see that HP high performace PC with pretty good specs for a good price. I'm going to need a complete build with all the trimmings including TV Tuner, memory card reader (for convienence), case, etc. I'm not planning on salvaging any parts from my old custom built PC.

If I were to get 9GB of RAM, would that work ok in tri-channel? I may consider the 920, let me see first on how it fairs up with the 950.......

I've read the specs for both the 920 vs 950 and everything about these two CPUs are the same but the 920 has a greater OC potential. Same 8MB cache, same 4.8GT/s QPI, same 45nm process, same 130W TDP, Tri-channel RAM, same die size, same number of transistors.