Help me choose my next PC!
By
Father Xmas,
Posted on: 2010-09-24 15:58 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Even though the HD 5850 is the fastest video card of the 4 systems, I would choose one of the i5-760 quads over the dual cores. More and more games are starting to use more than two cores. Also the GTX 460 1MB is quite an awesome card.
The one thing I do have a problem with, not a fan of either power supply in these units. They both may be 700 watts but the PSU in the CyberPowerPC only has 480 watts/38 amps (which doesn't actually add up, 38amps at 12 volts is only 456 watts) and the PSU pictured in the iBuyPower puts out 600 watts at 12 volts but the review at JonnyGURU isn't pretty. In either case 700 watts is shear overkill for the load out in either of those PCs.
Likes and Differences: CyberPower uses a MSI microATX (H55M-P31) motherboard, the iBuyPower looks like it uses a full size ATX motherboard from ASUS (P7H55). Both use the stock Intel CPU heatsink/fan. Looks as both only have a single rear case fan. Memory in the iBuyPower appears to have heat spreaders in the interior case photo, the CyberPowerPC doesn't.
It's a coin flip but there's part of me that leans toward the iBuyPower. Maybe it's the PSU on bottom, location of the front ports, an ATX sized motherboard, 8GB of memory and a PSU that does put out 600 watts at 12 volts, even though it's an old inefficient design. But either should work fine.
That's my two inf.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Thanks Father Xmas - now that I think about it, I may even go the custom build route again like my 3 year old rig. If I'm lazy and get one of these I may end up with some crappy parts (power supply). Perhaps I should investigate the build guides in your signature.
jp I've been playing with CyberPowerPC's custom configurator for weeks experimenting with things until I can actually afford a new PC (I bet I know the options better than their employees)
if you could scrounge up the $ by midnight tomorrow they have an awesome offer; an update from a Phenom II quadcore to the hex free. As well as a free upgrade to the GTX 460 from the nvidia model below that.
I built -This- that comes to $936 before shipping if you're interested 
the quick specs of it are:
1 TB harddrive (Sata III instead of II so it's faster)
8gb RAM
Nvidia GTX 460 768mb
AMD Phenom II x6 1055T
700watt powersupply
NZXT Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (also a "sale" but it's been free since august 
)
MemoryCard Reader
Windows 7
The motherboard also has a couple USB 3.0 ports on it and is Sata III, and I threw on a built-in Wifi adapter idk if you'd want it though.
I just selected the base case for it, not to be cheap but because you said you liked the portability of one you found, this one has fold out handles in the top. But cases seem to be more of a style thing than what's required by the system so pick one you like if you don't like that one 
(With your system requirement preferences if you want to lower the total for this PC even further the HD can be dropped to the Sata II 1tb, as well as removing the wifi if you don't need it, and the 4 gb ram you're ok with is quite a bit less than the 8[and that drops it to $806 I just checked lol])
10 50's To Date! Check out Titan Sentinel; it got my CoH presence synced online
My suggestion for a self-build.
Mobo: Gigabyte-P55M-UD2 ~$100
CPU: Intel Core I5-750 ~$190
Memory: 4GB DDR3 10666 ~ $90(everyone seems to have their favorite brand. I like Corsair and G.Skill)
Videocard: Nvidia GTX460 768mb ~$160
PSU: Something decent from Corsair or Antec ~$100
Case: (if you need one)HAF 932 ~$130 you can save all that money if you re-use what you have.
HDD: Largely based on what you need, but expect to spend anywhere between $60-$100
That should be able to play pretty much any game out there pretty dang well and it's a bit cheaper than your pre-builts. More fun to build, too! I'm assuming you can cannibalize your monitor, mouse, keyboard, optical drives, etc.
I wasn't sure whether to ask this here or in Player Questions. I am going to drop $900 - $1K on a new PC by the 3rd week of OCT to replace my nearly 3 year old custom build rig (E6550, HD3870, 4GB DDR2). My main requirements are:
I don't care for future SLI or Crossfire configs, I'm happy with a single GPU solution. Being that these 4 computers are all pretty similar in configuration/performance, is there something that sets one of them apart that should make it my choice? I have narrowed it down to the following 4 prebuilt systems on Newegg (I'm feeling a little lazy to do the custom build again). The last one has a $100 off rebate for the next 6 days:
1) CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1076 Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Price with shipping: $925
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229199
2) iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme 556D3 Phenom II X2 555(3.2GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465
Price with shipping: $920
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227275
3) iBUYPOWER Gamer Extreme 959i Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Price with shipping: $1025
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227282
4) iBUYPOWER LAN Warrior 5850K Intel Core i5 655K(3.20GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB ATI Radeon HD 5850
Price with shipping: $1000 ($900 with rebate for the next 6 days - is it worth acting fast on this?)
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227270
Link to all four in a comparison format:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006736%204022& IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Compa reItemList=10|83-227-275^83-227-275-TS%2C83-227-270^83-227-270-TS%2C83-227-282^83-227-282-TS%2C83-229-199^83-229-199-TS
My initial thoughts are #3 is better than 1 & 2 because you get the extra 4 GB RAM for only $100 more. But I also like the portability factor of #4.
Thanks for your advice!