Poor Bob, we knew ye well...

[DukeLeto]

Now meet...SuperBob!

Yes, there is a possibility (I give it a 60% chance) that I will be getting a brand new computer!  I know the stats are the most important part, so here goes:

-Intel Pentium 4 3.6 GHz (800 MHz FSB) CPU w/HyperThreading Technology

-Intel D925XECV2LK Motherboard

-ATI X300 PCIx 128MB DDR Graphics Card (<-Iffy on this one, it's that new "better-than-AGP" PCI, but the GPU doesn't look that spectacular.  I mean, ugh, ATI.  The bad news is the mobo has no AGP slot, so I'm stuck with a PCI-Express GPU, and that appears to be ATI turf right now.)

-1GB 533MHz DDR2 PC2-4200 DIMM RAM

-120 GB Hard Drive

Obviously includes Windows XP, Office XP, Floppy drive, CD-RW/DVD-RW, etc.  No monitor included ( :( ) but that shouldn't be too expensive.  (Maybe $500 for a really nice flat-panel.)  I've got an extra printer and such.

For only $2,200.  Thoguhts?

[gryphon]

looks good. :)

and don't worry about ATI to much.. ;)

[GUNWOUNDS]

make sure you hand build it yourself so you dont get ripped off on labor fees.

[DukeLeto]

Like I'd ever get my parents to go along with that.  I wish.

Actually, the $2,200 includes assembly,  delivery, and one-year warranty.

[veK]

omg... who buys a complete pc?

give me the 2.200 $ and I build you a pc twice as good as this for.

[ethan]

Go with the XFX Nvidia 6800 PCI-E GPU

better than that ATI shit

[Megashrap]

omg... who buys a complete pc?

give me the 2.200 $ and I build you a pc twice as good as this for.

Well some do, but for me $2,200+ Newegg I could build a dream machine with all the extras,and then some.

[veK]

yes for 2.200$ you could build a dream machine including a perfect watercooling for maximum overclocking and silence, high end cpu and mainboard and so on... omg imagine.

I'd never spent that much money on a "warehouse-pc". you always got crappy parts in those pcs and they are much to expensive. build up your own pc, you can build a dream-machine with this money...

[gryphon]

guys, keep in mind that not all of use have the abilety to build there own PC.

Sometimes it's beter to buy a pre-assembled one. :)

[veK]

guys, keep in mind that not all of use have the abilety to build there own PC.

some time ago I wasn't able to do this. but then I just read all I had to know to do so in articles on the internet and everything went fine.

you always have a friend who knows how to do such things and if you don't then you check out the internet, gather all the information you need, look for the best parts by reading reviews and tests and 2 weeks later you are able to build your own pc which is ALWAYS better than a pre-assembled one for the same money. life is about learning... so why shouldn't you learn to build your own pc and save a lot of money :)

[DukeLeto]

To all of you saying "build it yourself", I refer you to the answer I gave when Gunwounds first made that suggestion:

Like I'd ever get my parents to go along with that. I wish.

And vek, I highly doubt you could build one "twice as good", since the 3.8GHz is the fastest P4, and the X300 is a relatively fast graphics card.

And I looked at the suggested GeForce 6800 PCI express...$500!  Yikes!

[Andrew]

Any special audio card or onboard? (although only useful if you actually have good speakers)

Any special cards like tv out or anything?

Just wondering.

[veK]

duke I definetely could and everybody who at least has as much experience with hardware as I do knows this too. it's funny to read your words. a person who thinks it's all about the fast MHz. It also depends on your board, your RAM and so on, how all 3 things work out together and how they work together after tuning them...

Intel is too expensive and ain't as good as an AMD64. it got more MHZ but that doesn't matter... cause the AMD is faster anyway as you can see in different benchmarks. and we still talk about 32bit and not the speed on 64bit operating systems like debian or freebsd. and windows will be in 64 bit soon so don't worry about a 64bit cpu if you still keep a 32bit os running on it...

many of the AMD64 can be overclocked very good if you know which one you have to buy so you can often with the right mainboard and a good cpu get about 300-500 MHz extra... there are some good boards out there too which can be of good use for this and combined with some fast corsair dualchannel make this dreammachine takes out your pc easily in every way.

but take a look at the things you posted... no information about the RAM (I mean REAL information), no information about ethernet, sound, dvd burner, what kind of hdd, no information about the tower and the coolers and fans, no information about the power supply... and I guess about some of those things you won't get information because they save money by using a cheap power supply, average quality fans and coolers...

besides this pc of yours is much too expensive. you can get one of this over here for about 2/3 of the money.

but you know what? actually I don't really care about this, because it's you or your parents who waste money for this instead of saving some bucks for something else or as I said building a really good pc which is actually possible if you believe it or not...

[GUNWOUNDS]

To all of you saying "build it yourself", I refer you to the answer I gave when Gunwounds first made that suggestion:

And vek, I highly doubt you could build one "twice as good", since the 3.8GHz is the fastest P4, and the X300 is a relatively fast graphics card.

And I looked at the suggested GeForce 6800 PCI express...$500!  Yikes!

Actually He could build one twice as good.  Did you know that you are paying double what your computer is worth? .. let me show you.

Your motherboard   =  $219.00

Your CPU           =  $430.00

Your Graphics card =  $66.00

Your RAM (memory)  =  $186.00

Your 120GB HD      =  $62.00

Your Floppy        =  $10.00

Your CD/DVD        =  $32.00

---------------------------------

Total Parts YOU listed $1005.00

However you did mention software... i normally dont like to include this into the price of a computer... as these are one time purchases and will last you forever.  So in the next computer you get they would NOT be a factor in the price.

Windows XP OEM =  $75.00

Office         =  $99.00

----------------------------

Total ONE TIME

investment in software = $174

(cheaper if you can find OEM office)

Now we need to figure in parts you omitted... as a computer needs more parts...

I am gonna add in parts that I would put in and not parts that you necessarily have in your computer... after all if they didnt tell you what these parts were they are probably giving you partts of less quality than what i will be listing.

Audigy Gamer 1 Sound card= $79.99  this is the cheapest you should go.

Audigy Gamer 2 Sound card= $110.00  this is the highest you should go.

what you probably have = integrated sound = FREE but poor.

500W power supply  = $19.00 -->what you should have.

hopefully they didnt give you a 5 dollar P.O.S. 300W.

now throw in 20 bucks for a key board and mouse.

Grand total without software = $1134.00

Grand total with one time investment of software = $1328.00

What you are going to pay......................  = 2200.00 (RAPE !!)

In this total i will not include software as they most likely get it free for distributing it among their computers and software is a seperate category anyways.  We are talking hardware.

Total cost of sodomized labor and profit for your Dealer = 2200 - 1134.00 = $1,066.00

Reminds me of that Mello Yello commercial where the dog tells the little boy... "We got hosed Tommy... we got hosed."

With $1,066.00  bucks you wasted on labor you could buy yourself that 500 dollar 6800 PCI express which probably has ten times the performance of that piece of poopy $66.00 ATI clunker card.

And you would still have about 500 bucks left over to buy yourself almost TWO 22 inch monitors !!

So yes technically Vek, scar5150 or myself could build two of your computers for what you are paying  and not only that... we would use the most premium of parts and not scrimp in any area like sound or power supply like your dealer most likely is.  Also DONT think CPU is everything.... without a good GPU or a sound card.... games will revert to your CPU for extra processing which will make your CPU go ALOT slower than normal.  

   Also it would have been better for you to get a 35-40GB ( or 2) raptor drive(s) at 10,000 rpm which would greatly reduce load times of games instead of that 120GB HD  slug that will probably run at 5400 rpm and load games very slow.

But hey its mommy and daddy's money right?  so who cares.  I hope you enjoy your computer and have a good experience... its most likely a better computer than what you already have.

  I didnt really mean to piss on your parade but just wanted you to know that you seem like a smart dude (sort of)  from what i read about in your posts and building a computer is so easy a monkey could do it.  Honestly it would take you about 1 hour to learn how to build a computer and Nyar even posted a tutorial for people who are totally clueless. I am just surprised a script kiddy like you doesnt know how to build his own computer.

but anyways its most likely a better computer than what you already have and i hope you enjoy it.

--EDIT* -- I just looked in your profile and saw that you are 15 yrs old.  15 yrs old is an old enuf age to where your parents should trust you  with ordering parts off the internet and building them yourself.  I mean they trust you enuf to order a whole computer off the internet.  Try talking to your parents and even show them this thread.  I think your dad will freak when he sees he is paying 2200 for a 1000 dollar computer.  Unless YOU are one of those rich people , which ironically, you like to bash so much in PRP.

[Megashrap]

Damn, with that leftover cash could get a sweet monitor along the lines of...http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=24-138-013&DEPA=0 a totally badass surround sound speaker sys. A case for around 40 bucks that is out of this world ,Christ I could go on and on, I wish I had that kinda cash for a pc. If you think though that buying an entire sys, somehow justifies paying that much thinking maybe the tech support is gonna be peechy,well I for one started building them myself for getting screwed on that very payed for promise. Anyway, you should be able to get a very nice sys, for that amount.........a veeeeeeeerrrrrrrry nice one. And as for as warranties and such everything I've ever bought part wise carries them.

[veK]

sound, extra-ram, gpu, monitor, a nice 5.1 headset like the speedlink medusa (yes it actually has different  speakers in each earlap and you really get 5.1 sound in a headset... very amazing)...

what was I about to say? ah... I just listed some things that you could do with the money you save *g*

[GUNWOUNDS]

sound, extra-ram, gpu, monitor, a nice 5.1 headset like the speedlink medusa (yes it actually has different

[DukeLeto]

Thanks Guns, your number-crunching might have done it!  We're looking at about the same system, but with 2GB of RAM, a GeForce 6800, a P4 3.8GHz, perhaps a faster HD, and a 17" flat-panel and some speakers all for <$2k.

[GUNWOUNDS]

Thanks Guns, your number-crunching might have done it!

[DukeLeto]

Yes, behold, the moment that, if you've all been waiting for, you need to get lives: the unveiling of my new PC.

Here are the specs:

Gateway 7422GX Notebook PC

-AMD Athlon-M 64 3400+

-1024MB DDR (2 x 512MB) SoDIMM PC2700 RAM

-ATI Mobility RADEON 9550 (64MB DDR, AGP 8x)

-80GB Harddrive

-15.4" Ultrabright TFT WXGA 16:10 Widescreen (Max resolution: 1280x800)

It came in at about $1400, including shipping, taxes, and accessories (wireless router, optical mouse, and a case) - not too bad, I don't think.

And performance-wise, it kicks the crap out of our old computer.  Some examples:

-UT2004 gets no less that 25 FPS, even with 2 dozen bots on the largest and most detailed of maps.  Typically it gets between 45-55.  This is in 1280x800x32, all settings (including shadows) to maximum.

-HL2 Demo is smooth, without any noticable slowdowns, even with full settings on everything but shadows at 1280x800x32.

-Command & Conguer: Generals - glass smooth, no slowdown, even in 8 player skirmishes.  And yes, you can force 1280x800 on it.

-DOOM3 is a bit of a different story, it's perfectly smooth (say, 40-50 fps) with shadows and HQSE off, but it loses 15-20 fps by turning those options on! :O

-Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, I have concluded, is just typical shoddy EA programming.  Half the graphics quality of HL2, with half the framerate?  WTF?  I mean, we're talking fps lower than DOOM3's here.  Gaah.

Here's the page with the information about it (from the Gateway website): http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_7422gx.shtml

Also, anyone who plays Painkiller - WTF is up with the 1.61 patch? The new "engine enhancements" serve to do nothing but knock of 10+ fps for no noticable graphics improvement!  I could run it fine full graphics, including shadows and trilinear, before the patch.  After installing it, I have to turn off several options and use bilinear filtering.  What gives?