Trying to decide between computers

[lazarus]

I can either buy one of these, or build one myself. Before I go to the effort of building one, I thought I'd look at these two. Any recommendations/warning signs? (The big advantage to buying one of these two pre-built is the limited 5 year warranty, and I'm not great at building these things.) (Oh, and I called, and the guy said everything can be upgraded/shifted around if I want.

I'll be using the PC for standard surfing, but I'd like to be able to play most of the new games coming out as well.

Computer A ($629)

Athlon-64 3000 (this can be upgraded, of course)
Asus motherboard (K8V-X)
512MB PC-3200 DDR
450W ATX case
Nvidia FX5500 8X 256MB video card
Sony 16x Dual DVD+/- RW
5.1 Surround Sound
Ethernet
floppy
120 GB SATA WD 8MB Buffer 7200 RPM hard drive

Computer B ($489):
Athlon-64 2800 (this can be upgraded, of course)
Asus motherboard (K8V-X)
512MB PC-3200 DDR
450W ATX case
Nvidia FX5200 8X 128MB video card
Sony CDrw
5.1 Surround Sound
Ethernet
floppy
8 GB SATA WD 8MB Buffer 7200 RPM hard drive

Finally, is a limited 5 year warranty worth the 50 bucks to have someone else build it? Because, doing some math just now, that's essentially what I'm doing, paying them 50 bucks to put it together for me.

[RoyGBiv]

1. Question ...

Is the only difference btween A&B the amount of memory on the video card and the size of the hard drive? (I haven't yet detoxed from work today, so I'm a bit punchy. :-)). Also, is 8GB a typo for 80GB perhaps? I didn't know 8gb hard drives were still made, and if they are, avoid them. You'll run out of space very quickly.

Anyway, if that is the difference, assuming it's an 80GB drive, and if I were going to buy one of these systems, I'd get the less expensive one and immediately replace the video card. The extra memory in the same card isn't going to help much because the card itself is out-dated as far as the latest games are concerned. You need at least a GeForce 6600 or a Radeon 9600XT. And, depending on where you shop, you can get one of those for about the cost of the price difference. Meanwhile, 80GB would be fine for awhile, assuming you don't mass download music or video files or do a ton of video capturing.

Whether the cost of assembly is worth it depends on what the labor means to you. It's not all that hard really, but if you'd really rather not, then $50 isn't too far out there.

That said, don't focus on the time of 5 years or the warranty itself. That's pretty much a joke with technology of this variety. Three or for years from now you won't be able to get the parts that would be covered by the thing, which is a loophole they will use to their own advantage. Companies do that primarily to keep you coming back to them, which provides them up-sell opportunities. I'd have to see the details of the warranty to know for sure, but typically these things only cover labor and then only if you have done absolutely no work on the computer itself or done anything else they can blame for a problem. The hardware is covered well enough by manufacturer warranties, and these "limited" extensions usually don't cover anything that is at all likely to fail, like a hard drive or power supply. But, at some point, you will have a problem, and the company will use the opportunity to sell you an entirely new system by essentially making it cheaper to do so.

My two cents.

[lazarus]

2. Yeah, 8 was a typo

it's supposed to be 80.

The labour really isn't that big a deal. If what you say is true, and the warranty isn't all that, I'll just build it myself.

Now to put together what I need. Oy, this could be interesting.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Just personal experience ...

And a bit of knowledge of how the industry generally works. Assembler warranties are a cash cow for those companies and offer the consumer limited proctection. The greter your own personal knowledge, the less you actually need it.

But, as I said, I can't be certain without reading the fine print myself, so I don't want to suggest any absolutes here.

[jayfish]

4. I Agree.

Lazarus would you care to mention what vendor is building it for you?

Jay

[lazarus]

5. local place

Here in San Diego. Computer Depot. www.mypcparts.com.

[jayfish]

6. Local IS Good.

If something goes wrong with it, you can take it in and plop it right down on the counter. Merchants don't usually like that sort of thing.

Jay

[RoyGBiv]

7. Totally agree ...

A warranty from a local manufacturer might actually mean something. Regardless, I trust the work a local store does more than I do the assembly-line techniques of the large chains.

And, as you say, the ability to plop the thing right down in front of a person if it is screwed up is a bonus.

[lazarus]

8. Okay

I'm going to call the guys and ask them what the warranty covers. If it sounds decent, I'll do it.

Next question: Video card. How big do I need? And what brand?

I'm having a particular issue with my nVidia GeForce. For some reason, it just won't render my all time favourite game, Deus Ex. It's gotta be the video card, as I now have more processor power and RAM than I used to, and the game ran fine. But I read somewhere that nVidia card don't work as well with some games. :shrug:

[RoyGBiv]

9. Video Cards

Naturally. what you need depends on what you want to do. Based on your original comments, you're wanting to be able to play modern games, which means you need a good mid-range card and would benefit from the current upper range.

Just to provide an example, I have an ATI Radeon 9600XT, which is barely mid-range these days, and I can play games like DOOM 3 just fine. My Aquamark score is approximately 33,000, some of which is due to the fact I run an overclocked AMD 3200+ and have a gig of high performance RAM. But, the video card is a lot of it; I run it at stock speeds, and I have not had a serious problem yet. I get a few delays on some games when a ton of activity is on-screen, and I can't play certain games, like DOOM 3, at the highest resolution with all graphics options on without noticeable problems. But, I can still play it on medium to high settings and don't really notice the difference. I probably won't be able to say that about the next generation of games.

The GeForce 6600 is about the equivalent of the 9600XT, if I read the specs and reviews correctly. (I've never used one, so I can't say from personal experience.) The 6600GT, 6800, and Radeon x800 are about the same. From what I've read, the GeForce 6800 Ultra is the current king of consumer video cards.

No matter which chipset you choose, one based on ATI specs or the GeForce line, you could experience problems with some programs, particularly games. The ATI card may run one game better, and the GeForce card would show better peformance on a different game. If you play a lot of different ones, you're simply not going to be able to get the One True graphic solution. In general, ATI based cards are better with DirectX while GeForce is better with OpenGL. If you're having a problem with your GeForce and a game, I suspect it is because the game relies more heavily on DirectX than it does OpenGL.

Sorry that I don't offer any more definitive advice here. I don't have any to give. The state of the technology at the moment is such that no single product can be deemed the winner in all things.