Am I insane?

[hancox]

I've built a few PC's now - know my way around what I'm looking at, but the combo prices are looking pretty good to me. Mostly, I need a new monitor to go with a new PC, so these bundle deals make sense.

So, there's a quad-core Gateway there with a very nice 24" LCD.

Q6600
2 GB memory (would probably up to 4 at some point on my own)
400GB HDD (don't really need a big one - have a NAS)
8500GT graphics card
...and said 24" LCD

1299. Seems reasonable, even after pricing something out... Anyone disagree?

Usage is mostly home stuff, occasional video and music fun, but nothing crazy.

 

[hancox]

oh, and it's Costco, so I get a little bit back at end of year too

 

[harshness]

Have you figured out how much it would cost to build one?

 

[hancox]

Have you figured out how much it would cost to build one?

Yeah, and it's reasonably close. Of course, I'd go for better components, but at the cost of a smaller LCD.

 

[charper1]

What mobo; is it expandable? What PS? Optical drives? The combo prices can be attractive, but there is almost always a reason why. Most times it will not be a good reason. I just built one very similar all SATA without the LCD for $800ish shipped and I was not forced to load Vista.

 

[gbjbany]

I think you are right you can get pretty decent systems now for little money, the big builders like gateway get discounts on the processors if they buy in bulk so they probably pay half of what you will pay.

BUt also as charper says, what sort of SATA ports, sound systems, can it be oc'd, if you choose to because of lack of cooling etc is where you are probably going to miss out.

Here's a machine I built over the last 12 months, you are getting a better graphics card but similar price

PC case COOLER MASTER Mystique 631 RC Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $99.00
Power Supply COOLER MASTER RS-ASAA ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 600 Watts Continuous Power Supply $119.00
Mobo MSI P965 Platinum Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard $134.99
Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor Q6600 $254.00
Memory [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1005 - Retail[/FONT] $306.00
Graphics gard BFG Tech GeForce 7600GT BFGR76256GTOCE Video Card $143.99
Windows $114.00

I used an exsiting 360 GB SATA hard drive

Total $1,170.98

 

[gary s]

You might want to check out the deal at Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)
for 3/3/08 only.

It's refurbished, 90 day warranty it says, but it seems to have what you're looking for plus a little more. However, it doesn't come with a moniter. But, at the price, you could probably buy a moniter and possibly get an extended warranty if you wanted to from Gateway or something for under the price you mentioned.

 

[hancox]

saw that this AM

Honestly, I'm thinking better of it. Going to go for a wolfdale dual core P35 / X38 mobo, and start there. I **can** do better

 

[John Kotches]

saw that this AM

Honestly, I'm thinking better of it. Going to go for a wolfdale dual core P35 / X38 mobo, and start there. I **can** do better

Yes you can; however when you go that route; you are the support mechanism. As long as you're cool with it you can save a decent amount of money.

I put together a Quad Core system a few months ago for ~ $1K. In fairness, I also had a pre-existing monitor and didn't go high end for Gfx. For its use I didn't need high end.

 

[hancox]

only hangup now is that the wolfdale processors are in blistering hot demand! I might just go with the E6850

 

[8bitbytes]

I've built a few PC's now - know my way around what I'm looking at, but the combo prices are looking pretty good to me. Mostly, I need a new monitor to go with a new PC, so these bundle deals make sense.

So, there's a quad-core Gateway there with a very nice 24" LCD.

Q6600
2 GB memory (would probably up to 4 at some point on my own)
400GB HDD (don't really need a big one - have a NAS)
8500GT graphics card
...and said 24" LCD

1299. Seems reasonable, even after pricing something out... Anyone disagree?

Usage is mostly home stuff, occasional video and music fun, but nothing crazy.

Just priced a Dell Vostro Desktop:
Q6600
4GB Ram
500GB HD
512MB GeForce 8800GT
16X DVDRW
24" widescreen monitor

$1319

Dell is making it harder for me to build my own when they do stuff like this...

 

[John Kotches]

Go with 2 drives (say 250GB each) and mirror them.

Cheers,

 

[harshness]

Go with 2 drives (say 250GB each) and mirror them.

Wouldn't it make more sense to stripe them???

Actually, it is MUCH cheaper to buy a 500GB drive than it is to buy two 250GB drives. In some cases, 500GB drives are actually cheaper than 250GB drives.

 

[Van]

I went with a hp pavilion a6152n for $549, no monitor or video card but you can add the card later and its a quad core with 3 gigs and a 400gig hd. The wife will get it next year when I build what I want out of a computer and upgrade to lcd monitors for both of us.

 

[hancox]

I'm 99% sure I made the right choice in building again. I'm building a nice pc with a good 22" LCD for < 1400 shipped.

I may hold out a few days to see if a wolfdale falls from the sky.

 

[hancox]

Decided to pull the trigger, and backorder an E8200.

Asus Maximus Formula
4GB PC2-8500 Crucial Ballistix
700W PS
9600GT video card
500GB WD HDD
CoolerMaster case

with a 22" LCD for < 1400 shipped. not bad. I could skimp here/there to keep $$$ down, but I'm thinking long haul here.