General Discussion

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3142609&sku=V133-3252

with a 17 inch LCD moniter and windows xp

my friend says it sucks but he has always been a dick when i ask for help with comp stuff.

And if it is not that good can anyone reccomed anything else?

it's pretty hurtin' for todays gaming needs.

you have a budget in mind ?

I would like to keep it under 1,500.

As I don't live in the us I tried searching but all I'm getting are UK sites so using the site you provided I'd say the best deal is.

This

Though the graphics card is a bit of a let down it is directX10 and has vista so it's capable of making use of the most modern technologies in game development but it won't be very fast.

So why have I recomended the one above purely for it's ability to be upgarde.

1) It should support intels next range of CPU's due to the 680i chipset on the motherboard.

2) It has sli support which can be handy in boosting graphics by buying a second identicall card to which ever the system has instead of the next gen of card each time.

3) still has 2 slots left for ram so you can upgrade to 2GB with cheaper 512 modules.

If you don't like that system my recomendations are

cpu:

intel core 2 duo E6xxx

AMD x2 4400+ or greater (5000+ or greater really but)

Graphics Card

Geforce 8600 or better (the 7950 will out perform the 8600 quite often but does not have DX10 support)

ATI HD 38xx

Dell Vostro 400 -> High Productivity Package:

CPU - e6550

RAM - 1 gig (cheaper to upgrade through newegg)

HD - 250 gig SATA

Vid Card - 8300 GS (cheaper to do through newegg)

Optical drive - 16x DVD burner

Comes with Windows XP and a 19-inch monitor for 709+tax (I added the cheapest speakers and it comes with keyboard/mouse).

Get from Newegg:

Corsair 450 watt PSU (~$90) - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

2 gigs of DDR2 800 g.skill RAM (~$50) - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

HD 3850 at bestbuy.com (~$160)

I figured you didn't want to build your own. The components I listed to upgrade are easy to install. Comes out to be a little over $1000 so if your looking to spend more I would either go for a HD 3870 for ~$210 or an 8800GT for ~$250 (both can be found at bestbuy.com).

I wouldn't buy that computer from tiger direct...for one, its pretty low on the pc totem pole, and secondly, the way they present is sounds pretty sheisty. They don't actually tell you what you are getting, they say...look at the shiny case. Also,I wouldn't trust any company that spends time telling you in detail about the hard drive, but nothing about the motherboard, and dumps cheap ram and vid card on you .

the hard drive is really one of the least important factors to know about. Mostly due to the fact that there isn't much variation from one HD to another, other than how much storage you have.

Motherboards and processor's however, make a huge difference.

The fact that they do not mention the brand or size of the power supply leads me to believe that at best you are getting a generic 420watt PSU, which means if you ever attempt to upgrade, you'll probably blow your power.

You could go with the Dell that Varlock suggested, it would be decent enough, but you would definitely want to drop another 1 ghz ram chip into the pc. That is easy, anyone can do it. It's pretty self explanatory. Video card is pretty easy too, just find the card in the pc that looks like the vid card you buy and swap them out.

The powersupply is a bit trickier, but doable. The reason you'd want to replace the power supply is because dell puts really cheap generic unreliable psu's in their pc's. As long as you run on the underpowered crap they ship their systems with, you should be ok, but as soon as you swap that video card out for something better, you will probably blow the generic supply that comes with the comp.

the dell is cheap and has a good monitor with it. The only thing you need to immediately add is the extra memory. The rest can be spaced out a bit.

WARNING!!! As soon as you crack the case of that Dell open, you potentially void your warranty.

So, basically..your friend was right, that original computer sucks.

D.

p.s. That first pc you looked at on tigerdirect did not ship with an OS

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Originally posted by Jrod
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3142609&sku=V133-3252
with a 17 inch LCD moniter and windows xp
my friend says it sucks but he has always been a dick when i ask for help with comp stuff.
And if it is not that good can anyone reccomed anything else?

---

Your friend is right.

Thats actually not that bad for $600, good little starter system. But two things, 1. You have a $1500 budget, and 2. I wouldnt trust tigerdirect as far as I could throw them.

TigerDirect is a customer service nightmare, and I would never buy a pre-built system from ANY online retailer. For $1500 you can either A. built a monster system, or B. Get a preety good pre-built from Dell or HP. I highly recomend staying away from pre-built systems on TigerDirect, Newegg and the like. The absolute only place I would use for a pre-built system is ZipZoomFly and their Intel Laptop Building service.

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Originally posted by Spathotan
Thats actually not that bad for $600, good little starter system. But two things, 1. You have a $1500 budget, and 2. I wouldnt trust tigerdirect as far as I could throw them.

TigerDirect is a customer service nightmare, and I would never buy a pre-built system from ANY online retailer. For $1500 you can either A. built a monster system, or B. Get a preety good pre-built from Dell or HP. I highly recomend staying away from pre-built systems on TigerDirect, Newegg and the like. The absolute only place I would use for a pre-built system is ZipZoomFly and their Intel Laptop Building service.

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the problem with that as a starter computer is you have no idea what your upgradability is, since they don't tell you what you are getting for the motherboard.

D.