(eMachines ET1331G-03W) would this be a good start for a gaming pc

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astesprit

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eMachines ET1331G-03W comes with AMD Athlon II X2 Dual-Core Processor 2.7ghz 6gb ram 750gb hard drive
. would this be a good start or should i start from scratch
 
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wa1
Yes, it's okay if u want that machine, but absolutely u must upgrade your PSU and graphic card later if u want some decent gaming... :)
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start from scratch

the PSU on that probably is some unknown brand and the mobo is also dirt cheap the only good thing is the processor


how much is that costing you? 600-700 USD?
it isn't worth it
for the same 700 USD you can build an awesome phenom II rig with a nice ATI 5000 series gfx card and DDR3 RAM

what is your budget?
 
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no its $400 i researched the psu and found them cheap for upgrading the video card .... but for 400 bucks 6gb ram 750gb hard drive ... wouldn't it be worth it to up geade yhe video card and psu instead of building
 
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Is that computer a good start for gaming... Absolutely NOT.

Is it decent for the money... eh, sort of.

I am pricing out an AMD X3 build with 4GB of memory and it's coming out to about $450 and that's with good quality parts such as Corsair 550 power supply, Corsair memory, ASUS motherboard, Antec case... etc.
 
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Total Bullshit.
I own the E Machines you speak of
Would you be at all interested to know that the HDD is a 32MB cache unit?
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f6082d0ca8dce110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD&locale=en-US
That the Athlon IIx2 235e really puts out?
Let them talk this thing down all they want because everyone at this forum to some extent is an affecionado of sorts and will never think an E-Machines is anything more than crap.
With 6 gigs of ram and a 750 GB 32mb cache HDD paired with SATA drivespeed
on top of an Athlon IIx2..
all you need is a better PSU and Videocard and whattaya know, a gaming PC for you that costs well under $700.
My advice is this..grab the PC, buy a thermaltake PSU 550 for $85 an Nvidia GTS 250 for around $125 and pack it all in.
Performance index on my PC sits at 7.1 besides the HDD, which for some reason will only hit 5.9 but they say that's normal.
It is one of the best and cheapest upgradeable PC 's on the market at the moment..
http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=ET1331G-03w

Go on and build this spec at Cyberpower PC and see how much it comes out to be.

CPU1 : AMD Athlon™ II X2 dual-core processor 235e
(2.7GHz, 2MB L2 cache)
Operating System2 : Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Chipset : NVIDIA® GeForce® 6150 SE
Memory3 : 6144MB DDR2 dual-channel (2 × 1024MB + 2 × 2048MB)
Expandable to 8GB
4 DDR2 slots (total), 0 DDR2 slot (available)
Hard Drive4 : 750GB 7200rpm SATA
Optical Drive : 16x DVD±R/RW Supermulti drive
Write max: 16x DVD±R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 8x DVD±R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW
Read max: 16x DVD-ROM, 40x CD-ROM
Media Reader5 : Multi-in-one digital media card reader
CompactFlash® I & II, CF+ Microdrive, Secure Digital™ (SD) Card, miniSD™ Card, MultiMediaCard™ (MMC), MMCmobile™, MMCmicro™, Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard™ (RS-MMC), xD-Picture Card™, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO™, Memory Stick Duo™, Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Memory Stick Micro™
Video : Integrated NVIDIA® GeForce® 6150 SE graphics
Audio : 8-channel (7.1) high-definition audio
USB Speakers
Communications : 10/100 Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
Peripherals : eMachines® PS/2 keyboard and optical mouse
Ports/Other : 6 - USB 2.0 (2 front, 4 rear)
2 - PS/2 (keyboard and mouse)
1 - VGA
6 - Audio jacks
1 - Headphone jack
1 - Microphone jack
1 - RJ-45 Ethernet
Dimensions : 14.2" H x 7.1" W x 16.2" D
Weight : 18 lbs. (system unit only)
Warranty6 : 1-year parts and labor limited warranty with toll-free tech support
Software : Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Adobe® Flash® Player
Adobe® Reader®
eMachines® Recovery Management
Google Toolbar™
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (60-day complimentary trial period)7
Microsoft Works® 9.0
Nero® 9 Essentials
Norton Internet Security™ 20098
WildTangent® demo games
Price : $398.00
 
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Yes, u are right guys, e-machines is a crap, it's always better to build from a scratch, me too. Maybe the OP just not too much understand how to build or else and that's why he want build up system...
And i said before, yes it's okay if he want that machine but if he upgrade PSU and video card(more expensive, i know), it would be a good start for gaming...
 
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Agreed. I have a 700W Raidmax Aurora PSU and a double-slot rear fan exhaust Diamond ATI HD4870 512mb card left over from upgrading my wife's computer. Magneezo, I would like to know, the GTS250 you have, is it a long card? Does it have a big ol' fan on it? Did it fit easily in the ET1331G's case? Here is the card I have, you think it'll fit in there?

imageaab012_thumb.jpg


The power plugs, (2 6-pin, this PSU I have has them) they are the black plugs top right in this picture. Think it'll squeeze in?

I'd love to pick up either a new one ($398) or a refurb from Tiger ($349 at the moment) and rock it. I can give the speakers/kb/mouse to my kids since their mouse is junk and the spacebar on their keyboard has seen too much Kool-Aid.
 
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It should be alright but you will need to arrange your SATA cables on the board a little differently. I had to take the angled SATA cable tips from both the hard drive and DVD and turn them around so that the angled end went to the board (what I'm saying is just turn the cable around) P.S. red cable is aftermarket for my 2nd DVD drive I added
That was the only thing in the way. Here is a shot of what I'm speaking of:
PC002.jpg

PC005.jpg

Notice you have plenty of clearance to go under the HDD cage if needed!
PC006.jpg

PC004.jpg
 
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That's a beautiful fit! I'll do just that with the SATA cables. And if there's not a flat/angled one in there, I'll find one. And now that I've seen inside the case I know that 700W PSU will fit easily, too. I like the red tape on the power cable, looks real good!
 
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Thanks. Those cables are tough for sure.
You can get the Dynex velcro strips at Best Buy
 
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I'm glad to find someone who owns it. I just bought a refurbished unit and am doing some research about the mobo while I await delivery.

Can you direct me to a page of mobo specs? I've searched the emachine site and without a part number I can't find it at gateway support. I'd like to know memory and cpu upgrade info.

I have an AOpen GeForce 7300LE 256MB PCI Express PCIe DVI/VGA Video Card and 480 watt psu to upgrade with. See any issues with these? I'm not a gamer, but want to make it a better machine.

thanks
 
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7300LE wouldn't be much of an improvement over the 6150SE on-board. A 480-watt PSU of unknown brand would be less than ideal.

I've poked around a bit and for $45-$50 one can get a 9500GT 512MB video card and it'll run fine with the stock 300-watt PSU. No extra plugs required. That would be light-years ahead of either the 6150 or 7300 series GPUs.

The motherboard is an ECS brand board. MCP61PM-GM rev 2.2 or something like that. It uses an AMI BIOS dated August 2009. I'm a great fact-checker but I'm not good at applying knowlege. And searches here on Toms and other places come up with nothing. The board is manufactured for OEM purposes so ECS won't have a lot of documentation for it anyway. With a II X2 235e in it now, and other forums reporting it will handle 89W processors and some have had luck with 100W Phenoms like the 9500, I would think a II X4 620-630-635 would NOT be out of the question. Seeing as many II X2 235e's as I do on eBay, I am assuming many users of this machine think the same way.
 
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Every little clue helps in my search for answers. ECS site WAS worthless. I was hoping for the mobo part #.

I was trying to save money and use what I already have. Turns out the PSU, while 'new', won't work on this mobo. I got a deal recently on the 7300LE and it DOES have more connectors than just the standard VGA port this computer comes with.

I found this on Ebay - good pics of mobo and specs, but sez it's Asus in one spot and ECS in another:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200417523899

May be putting the cart before the horse, so I'll wait to see what I get - pray that it actually works - then look to upgrade. I'm sure I'll be busy spending time setting it up, making recovery disks, removing crapware, etc.
 
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That's it!
I recognized it immediately.
If you're going to replace the motherboard though, get one without those SATA ports directly behind the PCI-E slot and that has a jumper setting that allows overclocking.
There are better motherboards out there.
If it's an OEM thing that's fine, but if I had the choice I'd look further.
 
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I will have to add my wife's old Blu-Ray drive to it as well then. It doesn't work worth a darn, can't burn anything, but it'll give me a way to "hold up" the video card with the single straight SATA plug. That is such a perfect fit it astounds me. And Tiger now has these things for $339 refurb'd. I wonder if in a month when I'm actually ready to drop the hammer, it might be down to $299 or so?!!
 
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I just want to bump it up to 8gigs then I think I'm done.
I wanted to throw a Quad core 605e in it but not too sure
I'd like to monster it out a bit more push it to the maxx.

On a sidenote I wouldn't get the newer 1331G-05W. The 250u processor in it is actually a 1.6 25w turtle. Just thought you should know.
 
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Yeah and they're charging the same $398 for it. What a turd!

The new 235e/400e/405e/600e/605e processors sure work hard on low wattage. I'm not sure why AMD named it a 250u, it should be about a 60. Even a single core Celeron 900 gives it a run for its money. And I tossed that in favor of a T4300 in my $249 POS bargain bin laptop. Huge difference.

I'm also considering building my own, but when you factor in case, hard drive, OS, CPU, motherboard, DDR3 memory, an optical burner, and all that, it gets pretty expensive compared to an OEM system like this. Windows 7 OEM is $100 or so. A 785 series motherboard is another $60. $100 for an X4 620. $90 only gets me 4GB of DDR3 memory. A 750GB HD will pull down another $70. I haven't even got a DVD burner, cables, thermal paste, keyboard, mouse, speakers, or case yet and I've already hit $340. And if I didn't already have a healthy PSU and a solid video card, I'd be WAY over that.

*THAT* is where eMachines has their market niche. And this particular model just has gravy written all over it with its speed, memory/HD inclusion, and upgradability.

If I build my own I better have $700 or so available so I can make it an H55-H57/Core i5-661 based machine.
 
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Occupant said: I'm also considering building my own, but when you factor in case, hard drive, OS, CPU, motherboard, DDR3 memory, an optical burner, and all that, it gets pretty expensive compared to an OEM system like this. Windows 7 OEM is $100 or so... And this particular model just has gravy written all over it with its speed, memory/HD inclusion, and upgradability.
Click to expand...

That's where I'm coming from, too. I've been itching to build something newer but can't afford state-of-the-art - may never be able to afford it. Windows 7 installed was kind of the clincher. I saw this deal on Tigerdirect and took the plunge. It actually dropped a few bucks in price - the total came to $368 with shipping. Mine should be here tomorrow.

Magneezo said: That's it!
I recognized it immediately.
If you're going to replace the motherboard though, get one without those SATA ports directly behind the PCI-E slot and that has a jumper setting that allows overclocking.
Click to expand...

Nah - I'm not looking to replace it right away. I'm just gathering all the latests specs, drivers, bios updates, software updates, manual, etc. to make a disk to have it all in one place. That's why I'm trying to nail down the exact mobo. Comments I saw on Walmart recommended upgrading with a video card and bigger than 300 watt power supply.

I saw that too about the newer " -05" model - weird how it's an inferior version!

Occupant said: I wonder if in a month when I'm actually ready to drop the hammer, it might be down to $299 or so?!!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't expect a cheaper price in a month - it's gone from Tiger today. I'm wondering if I got the last one because I ordered it Sunday night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one is a gem and keeps me happy for awhile.

Thanx for all your input. I appreciate seeing the pics posted, too.
 
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Where do you get memory? I've had good luck lately with www.oempcworld.com - the prices are good and shipping is free. They made on mistake on an order and corrected it immediately before I sent back the wrong item. First class mail - I got the memory in a couple days max. There is a configurator there - just plug in your machine model or let it check for you.

 
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I live in Charlotte N.C and we have ATD-inc who build computers and have parts and all that.
The 2GB of PC-800 Dimm I need will cost $69.
I've been there and they have it but I have yet to buy it.
www.atd-inc.com
(P.S their video card section online isn't current)
 
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Here it is at oempcworld.com (when inputting ET1331G-03):
2GB PC2-6400 (800Mhz) 240 pin DDR2 DIMM (CCK)
Description:
2GB 240pin DDR2 DIMM 256Mx64 non ECC gold leads unbuffered 1.8 volts PC2-6400 DDR2-800 spec 800Mhz with SPD CAS 6 latency CL6 max 1.25 inches tall
Code: 2.0G-PC2-6400
Discount Price: $44.00
 
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well i just bought this comp im looking at a 650w cosair power supply cuz i wanna put a 5770 card in here i figure the processor will hold me for now and in a fe months or so i may upgrade to a quadcore cpu as all i really play on here is nwn and some 2k basketball so i dont need a screamin system and for 350 buck i think i got a deal even with the planned add-ons
 
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I've gone over so many different setups on NewEgg and Tiger and ZipZoomFly and even looked at other brands of refurbished or new computers, and for the money, this ET1331G-03w just screams value. $369 at Tiger at the moment, grab a better power supply ($80 or so) and a strong video card ($80-$120) and at the $600 price point there is no comparison. Throw in a II X4 630 or 635 and it would take a $900 system to beat it. It's just smart to upgrade a cheap generic computer. Try building a box equipped like this one stock, and you'll spend $500-$550 even with cheap no-name parts. It's silly to try.

Sadly the current model of this computer is saddled with a 250u version of the Athlon II X2 and it's a pig. But that's not saying you can't swap it for something better.
 
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