Which OEM makes the most upgradable friendly computers?

I've been going back and forth between making my own machine and maybe buying a new one. But, like any packaged thing ready for consumption, being able to add is always a plus. I've not met a box of Hamburger Helper I couldn't make better by adding a bit of this or a bit of that. The machines at the "low" end these days are plenty powerful with Athlon II's, Phenom II X2's, and now even i3's popping up, all I'd really want to do is upgrade the video card and power supply. There is the trick.

Video cards these days are getting freakishly long, so not all cases can fit them.

Some companies allegedly use weird, custom power supplies.

I've not seen a company admit "yeah, you have to get cards that are no more than X-many inches/centimeters long" or "yeah, we use a custom power supply that you can't upgrade." At the same time, I don't really see many reviews talk about it either.

In theory it won't be an issue for me to start off with - my Radeon 4670 is a short card and isn't particularly demanding power wise. However, one of the reasons I'm looking at the lower end of things is I would like to get a Radeon 5850 (or whatever's best at that price-point at that time) at some point, which means card length and power supply upgradability is a concern.

This is my "other" option. Main reason I'm looking at this is the support from one vendor and quite frankly shipping stuff to Hawai'i gets expensive quick (Newegg doesn't give us free stuff). Dell did right by my with my current machine when it came to support (replaced my GF 7900 GS for free, shipping included, when it died of heat stroke), so that's a nice perk, you know? So, while making my own would be fun, I'd be silly to ignore a good pre-made machine, too.

Oh, and if you know of anyone to avoid, this is a good time to mention it, also

Right now my most demanding games are Demigod, STO and Mass Effect. I have no intentions of running Crysis at 2560x1600 at 60fps or anything like that!

First off,

What does your budget look like? Just want to avoid looking dumb(er) if I were to say, oh...Falcon Northwest, and find out your budget is $600.

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Its almost always better to build your own. The problems with OEMs is typically the cases like you said and often times their motherboards go out pretty fast. At least with building your own you have more control over that kind of stuff. Most of the time folks go the oem route because it comes with windows pre-loaded. Many folks dont want to pay the cost of that but there are tons of sites where you can get windows and office 2007 dirt cheap if you are a student and have an email address that ends in .edu.

Looking to spend around $500-1000, although shipping does have to factor in. Sorry to forget mentioning that!

Thanks for the suggestion, EvilRyu, but I'm not a student, so no academic discounts for me on Windows. Office doesn't matter to me since I use Open Office and barely use 1/10th of what it has to offer!

I've found out about some companies I didn't know about - Maingear and AVA Direct, so I'm going to look into them. While I know its good to make your own, I don't really feel like being my own "go to" guy for tech support. Using Macs at work for the past 9 years has made me lazy

Right now if I make my own I'm going with AMD since I really would want the higher control over parts (seems like almost no OEM's are offering AM3 boards at lower priced systems, opting for AM2+/AM3). If I went pre-made then its likely going to be Intel.

What I've come to realize is all I really want is an upgradeable video card and PSU. Being able to upgrade the CPU is a nice perk but unless I go with AMD its not important to me (Bulldozer). So, aside from the video card I don't need additional expansion slots. Virtually everything I want to upgrade can be done externally via USB.

Upgrading and building a computer are not much different. Advantage from building from ground up is you KNOW every part.

A good case can last many build, as can a good PSU. A $1K budget at Newegg.com would build a fairly powerful game machine. If you are not going to overclock, a Computer is just

- Retail CPU (has adequate Cooler)

- Motherboard that fits CPU you selected

- Memory, that fits motherboard (start at 4GB or 6GB)

- System Builder Win7 (64-bit)

- HD (size to fit, fast is better than big once over 500GB), Get a SATA-3g aka SATA-II. That is unless you do video, then Big is everything.

- Case - If you build your own, get a Mid or Full Tower, I like my Antec 900.
depending on where you are going to have the case, is where the USB ports should be. If on the floor, ports on top, if on desk ports on bottom. Side windows are nice to do a quick check on inside parts (like is CPU fan spinning, is Motherboard Power light on, and no wires are where they shouldn't be.

- DVD-RW (OEM is ok, Win7 does DVD natively) also get a SATA version, verify bevel matches case.

- Video Card - to taste and budget

- Power supply, that will supply enough juice for all above 600-750 watts is generally enough for all but SLI systems.

Guide to get cases and PSU.

Look for Cases and PSU that have many reviews, ignore number of eggs as long as 4 or 5. read worse review (generally either did not work for them or reviewer was idiot, the later is more common) Also search reviews to get good alternate case and PSU combinations.

Ignore Combo deals.

The stuff outside the box.

Also leave enough room in budget to get a quality keyboard and mouse, if you do not already have one. A good keyboard and mouse will last through many computers. Wireless is not for gaming, don't even think about them. Don't buy the $5 mice and $10 keyboards, they don't survive gaming very long (as in lifetime in hours). Both Logitech and Microsoft make good keyboards, stepping up to Cherry if you want a lifetime keyboard. Mice are purely to feel, some like big, some like small, some like basic mice, some like lots of buttons, some like heavy some like light. so try out the mice at Brick and Morder Store. As long as it has a good DPI it will work, if it does not list DPI, its not good for gaming. Its easier to slow a mouse down than speed one up.

Monitors prices are dropping like rocks, so just buy what you need, upgrade later. Just look for 5ms or less response time, more resolution = more powerful GPU needed. Small LCD 1080P TVs are viable monitors, but unless you are FAR away from screen, 32" is outside limit for size. With FSAA, resolution is not as important as it used to be, 1080P is 1920x1080 vs a 22" monitor is 1680"x1050" and a 24" is 1920"x1200". Most games are designed to be place at far less resolution. (BTW: 720P is 1366x768, and a typical 19" is 1440x900)

Speaker systems hold value, but they are very to taste so never buy one without listening to the system, same with headphones but they also have comfort angle. A quality sound system will last until your tired of looking at it, and headphones can last a while as well, but do get more wear and tear. I did buy my headphones online, with careful reading, (I have a literally big head (8 1/4, hat size) so fit was an issue). My speakers are 12 year old Boss Multimates, I bought for $99. They still sell for $99, but are made cheaper.

But many people care less about the "quality of sound" and the $19 speakers are just fine. Look for good build vs gimicky and you will do ok.

Well, I've spec'd out a nice, small, MicroATX machine at Newegg for $583.92. It has everything except a video card as I intend to use my Radeon 4670 1g for the time being. Long story short its a Athlon II X3 440 @ 3ghz, 4g RAM using an AM3 motherboard with plans in one to two years time to move up to whatever seems attractive. I like AMD's roadmap still has the AM3 boards being used then

I considered going with an i3 or i5, but this fits my budget nicely, I think it'll perform quite well for the price (the i5 doesn't do so well that I'm willing to pay more than double for the CPU), and all my other computing needs will be very well met

I realize the Radeon likely won't do Ultra mode, but, but I can save up and upgrade later on with a nice 5850 or something comparable at the time.

Thank you!

edit: I realized that I want a smaller machine (out of sight, out of mind), hence going MicroATX. Once I get it built, I have little to no intentions of going back in unless needed. This will fit up to a 12" card...

http://www.silverstonetek.com/produc...g01-f&area=usa

Also realized that I have no real desire to do SLI or Crossfire, which was rather liberating. No need to account for it!

Not a bad little case. What did you get for a PSU?

And the only thing close to the 3.0GHz Athlon II X3 for Socket 1156 is the non-Turbo mode, non-hyperthread, slightly smaller L3 cache, Pentium G6950 and that's not including what is likely to be a more expensive motherboard. That leave the Socket 775 and that platform is on the way out.

Well, I was referring to parts in general, not necessarily the PSU. But thanks for the recommendation

Oops, misread that, sorry.

No worries. Just tells me you're wanting to be sure I don't make a bad choice!

Tis appreciated!