New Computer

[w1nk5]

So last friday I turn on my laptop (Sager 5760) to work on a client's proposal. After about 2 minutes after windows boots computer locks up. After a full day of troubleshooting I finally just reinstall Windows. Same thing.... it locks up... Son of a.....

I eventually determine it's my motherboard.

I'm pissed, 10 beers deep and am sick of constantly being delayed because my laptop is squirrely. So I drink a few more beers and on impulse, order all the parts I need for a new desktop (Almost ordered a Mac).

This is what I got:

1. AMD Phenom II Quad Core Black Edition Processor (3.4)
2. Biostar TA790GX A3+ Motherboard
3. XFX Radeon HD 5770 Video Card
4. Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9AG 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM - - PC10666, 1333MHz (Plan to upgrade to 8GB)
5. WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA Harddrive
6. Ultra LSP750 750w Power Supply
7. Cooler Master CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case
8. Philips 244E1SB 24" Class Widescreen LCD HD Monitor (Plan to have a 3-monitor setup)
9. Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
10. 22x Sata DVD Burner

Total: $1534.07 CAD with Shipping and Taxes @ http://www.tigerdirect.ca

So I am pumped. I am just excited and wanted to demonstrate how cheaply you can build a complete retardly-fast system.

Cheers

[Dan Grossman]

That's a lot of money. You can get a prebuilt PC with similar CPU/graphics/memory/etc for half that. It doesn't pay to build your own anymore, especially when buying a name brand gets you a warranty and the exact same parts, nor did it EVER pay to buy the latest and greatest. They're hundreds less after a few months, and you won't notice the 5% spec difference.

Here's a Phenom II X4 3.2, 4GB RAM, 9800 GT, Windows 7 Home Premium system for $750:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229134

Or an HP Phenom II X4 3.0, 8GB RAM, GT 220, Windows 7 Home Premium for $929:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883147089

You can get defensive and start listing the differences, but is your build really twice as good? For those hundreds of dollars saved you could buy all 3 monitors at once.

[w1nk5]

Yeah those are good deals...

However, you must remember that I am in Canada and after you add exchange, shipping, taxes and a 24" hd monitor to those prices they're not going to be much less in price and the HP will probably even cost a little bit more.

So I think I did pretty good. Especially considering I got a faster processor and vid card than both of those models.

[Jason__C]

w1nk5, what is your take on bare-bone systems (CPU, MB, Memory, Case) at TigerDirect? I thought of building my own system, but didn't know if buying those packages would be cheape/better then buying the components separately. At least you know they will play nice with eachother. TigerDirect is a sweet website.

[Dan Grossman]

TigerDirect, CompUSA, Circuit City, Global Computer, InfoTel are all brands snatched up by Systemax when companies go out of business, and their prices have never been that good. Always price check online if you plan to buy something there.

[w1nk5]

w1nk5, what is your take on bare-bone systems (CPU, MB, Memory, Case) at TigerDirect? I thought of building my own system, but didn't know if buying those packages would be cheape/better then buying the components separately. At least you know they will play nice with eachother. TigerDirect is a sweet website.

You do get a bit of a deal with a barebone kit. However, a barebone I was considering that came with a slower vid card and processor was only about $40 cheaper... so I opted to order all my components seperately so I could get the faster components I wanted for marginally more money.

If you are worried about compatibility, TigerDirect offers a help line you can called to get advice. The number is on their website.

[w1nk5]

TigerDirect, CompUSA, Circuit City, Global Computer, InfoTel are all brands snatched up by Systemax when companies go out of business, and their prices have never been that good. Always price check online if you plan to buy something there.

Where do you generally get your hardware?

[Dan Grossman]

Newegg and Amazon most of the time. I turn all my credit card reward points and loose change into Amazon gift cards.

[chanchalseo]

w1nk5, i am totally agree with you! And congrats for your new system, it seems really a fast computer i think this is not much more money its just a cute deal, because you have made your own laptop with the great combination.

have a great life.