Prebuilt machine advice

[srawal]

Hi, my computer illiterate friend wanted suggestions for a prebuilt gaming machine that he wants now. He wants it from Best Buy because he gets an employee discount. His budget is $1600.

Now mind you, I told him to wait for Conroe, R600, and the other upcoming technologies; but alas he refused.

So this is what I suggested:
1.
Gateway with X2 4200+
2GB PC3200
320GB Hard Drive
TV Tuner
2.
BFG 7900GTX Video Card
3.BFG 650W ATX Power Supply

He wants to play the latest and greatest, and wants a warranty. I thought about Cyberpower, but their reputation is poor. I offered to build, but he refused. I suggested Velocity Micro, considering they sell at BB, but his discount was non-existent on those machines.

Without the discount the total came to $1550, so I imagine with discount it is around $1200 or less. Please give suggestions, thanks.

 

[bob4432]

i would probably switch out the psu for a pc&p, seasonic, enermax, enhance or fsp(fotron) in the 450-500W category. he doesn't need 650W

also it is a toss up between the x1900xt or the 7900gtx, both work very well and the x1900xt is usually about $50 cheaper.

just be ware that the game oblivion takes a sh!tload of hardware if that is what he is going to be gaming with, it would bring this machine to its knees even at medium resolutions.

other than that it looks good, and you should be happy, you won't have to be tech support.

 

[srawal]

Thanks for the informative response!

 

[srawal]

...and I gotta say, coming from 14 years of a programming background, Oblivion is extremely poorly coded. After beating the game, I saw nearly no code optimization. I mean, the computer I listed up there, by any means should be able to run Oblivion at 1600x1200 with all of the eye candy on.

Oh well...the game is extremely fun...so I guess that makes up for the technical shortcomings.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: srawal
...and I gotta say, coming from 14 years of a programming background, Oblivion is extremely poorly coded. After beating the game, I saw nearly no code optimization. I mean, the computer I listed up there, by any means should be able to run Oblivion at 1600x1200 with all of the eye candy on.

Oh well...the game is extremely fun...so I guess that makes up for the technical shortcomings.

[rant]
from what i have read, that machine should run it @ 1280x1024. it is the only game where i
have seen 2x7900gtx or 2x1900xt come to their knees at the higher resolutions...thats too bad that people aren't being taught to create nice, clean efficient code and their accountants bottom line is more important than code optimization that could be done as the code is written, just hire better programmers.....
[/rant]

 

[jonnyGURU]

You don't need to switch out the power supply.

The BFG 650W isn't my favorite PSU, but it's made by Topower and has a lifetime warranty.

EDIT: Oh wait... Does the Gateway COME WITH the BFG or is that what they have at Best Buy that he can buy? If he's buying it seperate, he can save his money. The same PSU costs half as much at eWiz even after his employee discount is taken into consideration.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Just because he gets a discount at bestbuy doesn't necessarily mean he should buy it there. It might STILL be cheaper buying a computer elsewhere, depending on how big the discount is.

 

[srawal]

Once again, thanks for the advice. I have passed it on to him, and he has decided to listen to the advice on the power supply and has purchased a 600W Fortron Power Supply from newegg.

 

[zephyrprime]

I don't really see anything wrong with the power supply listed. It would be funny if the stock power supply were itself a fortron. Remember that OEM is the vast majority of the market for a company like fortron.

Tell him he is a fool not to wait for conroe.