New Computer.. Opinions?

**PanzerJaeger** · 03-05-2009, 21:39

Hey guys -

I've been needing to get a new computer for Empire and some other games as mine was starting to crap out. I've been really busy with school lately, so I haven't had much time to look around, and to be honest I'm not very tech savvy, so I just went to Best Buy and got the best one they had. Its an HP Elite m9515y.

Here are the specs. It seemed pretty good, but its only getting average reviews. I paid 1100 including tax, and I have 14 days to take it back, what do you think? Good setup or no?

**Whacker** · 03-05-2009, 21:52

Don't think I'd pay $1100 for that, but it'll run the game no doubt.

**Aemilius Paulus** · 03-06-2009, 00:27

Yeah, you could have asked someone to custom-build it for you, which would of cost you ridiculously small amount of money.

EDIT: I would have looked for a computer online if I was gong to buy instead having it custom-built.

**Spino** · 03-06-2009, 01:10

I'm sorry my friend but that's an incredibly anemic gaming system for $1100, all the more shocking considering it doesn't even come with a monitor!

The AMD Phenom X4 9850 is ok for gaming but the Intel Core 2 Duos & Quads are faster, require less power and run cooler.

The 9600GSO is an awful card for gaming, at least when state of the art gaming is concerned. I guarantee you will NOT be happy with its E:TW performance. There are far superior cards available that are similarly priced (~$100). Even if you tried to upgrade to a more powerful 3D card I'm not even sure that HP PSU will be able to handle the load (let alone fit in that case, which would also void the warranty as soon as you cracked it open).

8gig's worth of RAM is great but it's total overkill (not to mention a tired marketing ploy used to lure prospective buyers). You really don't need more than 4gigs to be future proof for the next few years.

Good hard drive space, I'm assuming it's a 7200rpm SATA 3.0 model with a 16mb or 32mb cache.

The rest is fine but it's the core components that fall far short of the mark.

I'd take that system right back for a refund. I'm about to leave work so I can't dig up a good alternative for you right now. Consider some of those dedicated gaming rig companies that offer custom built systems for reasonable prices (no, not Alienware or Falcon). I know Lemur bought his current system from a reputable gaming system company that allows you to spec out your rig however you like.

I'll see if I can help you out later tonight or tomorrow.

**PanzerJaeger** · 03-06-2009, 20:48

Originally Posted by Spino

I'm sorry my friend but that's an incredibly anemic gaming system for $1100, all the more shocking considering it doesn't even come with a monitor!

The AMD Phenom X4 9850 is ok for gaming but the Intel Core 2 Duos & Quads are faster, require less power and run cooler.

The 9600GSO is an awful card for gaming, at least when state of the art gaming is concerned. I guarantee you will NOT be happy with its E:TW performance. There are far superior cards available that are similarly priced (~$100). Even if you tried to upgrade to a more powerful 3D card I'm not even sure that HP PSU will be able to handle the load (let alone fit in that case, which would also void the warranty as soon as you cracked it open).

8gig's worth of RAM is great but it's total overkill (not to mention a tired marketing ploy used to lure prospective buyers). You really don't need more than 4gigs to be future proof for the next few years.

Good hard drive space, I'm assuming it's a 7200rpm SATA 3.0 model with a 16mb or 32mb cache.

The rest is fine but it's the core components that fall far short of the mark.

I'd take that system right back for a refund. I'm about to leave work so I can't dig up a good alternative for you right now. Consider some of those dedicated gaming rig companies that offer custom built systems for reasonable prices (no, not Alienware or Falcon). I know Lemur bought his current system from a reputable gaming system company that allows you to spec out your rig however you like.

I'll see if I can help you out later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks so much Spino!

I realized I was probably not getting as good of a deal as I could on the internet by buying retail, but I was willing to overspend a bit to have it right before spring break.

However, I did want to make sure that if I was spending that kind of cash, I was getting a good system that would last me a few years, and those reviews were my first warning sign. You've confirmed what I was worried about. (I've been gaming for so long now, you'd think I would have figured all this stuff out by now

)

Anyway, I'm glad I kept the receipt. It run's ETW on high settings fine, but on the highest - as you said - it does seem to struggle more than I'd expect for what I paid. I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction when you have some time.

**Callahan9119** · 03-06-2009, 22:30

Unless your going to build your own, the Dell Xps 630 is the cream of the crop.

you can get a killer one for under 1400 dollars.

I got one last July and I loaded it up. and you get way better GPU's now....

remember your better off with getting the fastest dual core rather than a quad. look around for E8500.

yeah its overpriced, but only if you can build your own.

Its a great rig

**Lemur** · 03-06-2009, 23:00

If you're into having control over every little piece of the PC, I would recommend either ibuypower or cyberpower PC. You can build a lean, mean gaming rig quite easily at those sites, and their prices are actually below NewEgg's.

**Spino** · 03-07-2009, 01:03

Lemur nailed it, those are the two companies I was thinking about.

Here's a great deal from http://ibuypower.com/. Nothing too fancy but it's got enough oomph for your needs. Swap out the case or OS to suit your tastes/needs.

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/Store/C...d=72&c=1662516

Case ( [$15 OFF Mail-In Rebate] Nzxt Apollo Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black ) - Basic with decent cooling. Beauty is in the eye and all that, swap out for whichever case you prefer but try to stick with cases that sport at least two 120mm fans
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 600 Watt -- Power Supply SLI Ready ) - A beefier, higher qualtity PSU is desireable for today's & tomorrow's 3D cards, this one also sports Active PFC which increases efficiency & lowers your electric bills.
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 (2x 3.0GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) ) - Arguably the best price/performing CPU on the market... and easily overclockable to boot
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus P5KPL-CM Intel G31 Chipset w/6-channels, Gb LAN, S-ATA 3Gb/s, USB 2.0, Single PCI-E MB ) - Decent Micro-ATX mobo, limited expandability but it's fine if you just want the basics. Drop an extra $50 for the Asus P5N-D for greater expandability without paying through the nose. Both are quality mobos that sport good reputations
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand ) - Good quality RAM, 4gigs is good enough
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB PCI-Express x16 ) - Best price/performer in its class
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA ) - N/A
Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] ) - For $45 more you can kick it up to a 1TB drive if you want more speed & space
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( None )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Speaker System ( None )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
2nd Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard with 18 Internet Hot /Multimedia Keys Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER 1600 dpi High Sensitivity Internet Mouse Black )
USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operation System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 32-Bit ) - Vista Home 32bit or pick whichever you prefer. You could save yourself $90 and use your existing XP install disc instead. PC will ship with bare, formatted drive if you opt not to buy an OS
USB Flash Drive ( None )
MP3 Player ( None )
Video Camera ( None )
Headset ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush, Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

Sub Total: $824.00

Not bad with no tax & free ground shipping. But this won't get to you anytime soon. It's incredibly hard to find a similarly equipped & priced rig in a brick & mortar store.

**PanzerJaeger** · 03-07-2009, 10:21

Thanks so much guys! That's perfect.

**pevergreen** · 03-07-2009, 11:39

I am now in love with that website.

I can't wait until I get one...

Damn me, I need a job NOW.

**Forward Observer** · 03-07-2009, 16:27

Just a couple of hints about using either Cyberpower or Ibuypower since I just went through this. Don't buy from one until you have configured the same unit at the other. These guys are very similar companies and they are major competitors of each other.

They run specials all the time so at any point in time one may be lower than the other in the final cost of a unit based on the configuration you choose. Next week the other company may be lower. At the time I ordered Cyberpower was the lowest on what I wanted because they were offering a 5% discount on everything, but that was only in February.

It also may work out cheaper to take one of their pre-configured units and customize it to your liking rather than use their configurator to build from scratch.

I put together the unit I wanted in their configurator and printed it out for reference while I was checking other sites. When I went back later to order, I happened to notice that they had a pre-configured unit that was very similar to the one I had put together from scratch the first time.

Since ever the prefigs are fully customizable, I clicked on it and then just changed out the items needed to duplicate my first build. To my surprise, I came out $80 cheaper for exactly the same components.

I asked one of their sales reps about this, and he told me that the reason for this is that their pre-configured units have some discounts built in, but they do not penalize you for making substitutions by customizing it. It's just the nature of their system, and he just said to just submit the build with the lower price.

Cheers