Pre-built PC cheaper than what you can buy?

[PerfectShot]

I really need to upgrade my 5 year PC soon. Uninstalled BF3 as it just didn't run well enough on my box.

A while back I remembered an article on the PCPer homepage reviewing a pre-built PC that was sold for cheaper than what you could get the parts for at NewEgg.

Does anyone remember what company that was?


I've exhausted my interest in putting a PC together myself but don't want to pay more than 10% - 20% extra for that service... Not sure if that's realistic or not.


Please post if you remember.

[notdrugged]

Read as many reviews on iBuyPower as you can, check out their website, and see if that's what you're looking for.

IMO, though, what's hard about assembling a MB, PSU, CPU, RAM, and VGA? Having total control is still nice. Here's an old-school list...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138348
Biostar MB: $108 w/shipping price rounded up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819106010
AMD FX6200 Processor $170.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104098
FSP 700W PSU $111

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226223
Mushkin 8GB DDR3 1866, $59

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121418
Asus AMD-based VGA, cooler caught my eye $200

[PerfectShot]

Thanks for the links.

I guess I'm more interested in using the hardware than putting it together.


But the cost factor of another HDD, Windows 7 license might deter me to go the easier but more expensive way...

Warranties are normally better with retail products too.

[notdrugged]

Alot of people claim to never have problems with OEM hard drives. I'm like you, though, I refuse to buy them. I have my speculations on that. I think we may have similar reasoning but re-hashing that won't help anyone so I'll stop there as I tend to rant and ramble. I buy everything off of Newegg, and then I go buy keyboards, mice, cases, and hard-drives the old-fashioned way. keyboards, mice, and cases aren't worth the shipping costs, plus cases get kicked in sometimes through soccer exercises by UPS, and hard-drives can be anything, IMO. You might open it up and find a stick that fell out of a maple tree with a SATA connector on it. The hdd is the only warranty to worry about, as we know, retail ones are better, and that's what you'll get from a physical store. Other components...any store is likely to refer you to the manufacturer warranty anyway, which there is no outstanding difference for.

Me, I assemble not for pleasure anymore. I sort of dislike it. What compels me to do it is control. I do value that more. But I can understand wanting to purchase and forget about it. Just play BF3 and call it a day.

I don't think it's worth worrying about having to buy Windows 7 again. Let the piracy protections Microsoft has in place for Vista and later operating systems handle the license transfer. When you install the operating system on the new computer, let it authorize. There's a strong chance you may not have to call them. But if you do have to, tell the truth. I believe it is strongly possible that your motherboard has an electrical problem preventing you from running BF3. When it authorizes, your license is intact. I think people get confused because MS calls a retail product an OEM product. Are you an OEM? Are you HP or Dell? Did you enter an agreement with Microsoft that you would pay next to nothing for the right to provide the operating system to someone else with protections preventing the license key from being used on anything other than the device it was originally installed on? Nope, nope, and nope. The transfer will go smoothly to the completely different system components you will need to solve your problem because your motherboard has been out of production too long to be deemed reliable. To be fully legitimate, two things, have the OS installed and in use on only one system/drive, and have the license sticker. Only worry about the sticker really if you plan to transfer ownership. My opinion on that. Have fun.

Or you can worry about using a fully licensed operating system you purchased legally like I used to.

[molestedbyasus]

Could always try the leaderboard. http://www.pcper.com/hwlb

Though not the dream system I suppose

[PerfectShot]

That site seems to sell pre-built PCs for not much more than if you get the parts on your own. Haven't fully looked into it.

For some reason, BF3 now runs a stable 30 fps on my rig now. Full 1920x1200 res.

Perhaps I'll be able to postpone on my upgrade...