Good Pre-Built PC?

[Tarek Itani]

I found this PC from Best Buy and I would like to get other people's opinions on it. I'm going to be doing casual gaming. The most demanding game I will be playing is Civ. 5.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ibuypower-desktop-amd-fx-series-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-black/5574049.p?id=1219143550897&skuId=5574049&productCategoryId=pcmcat143400050013

If you can leave another suggestion that would be great!
Thanks!

 

[Demosthenest]

This is very expensive for what it offers. Have you considered building it yourself? There are some very good youtube videos which explain every single step slowly and make it very easy. What is your budget?

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Configuration-wise, it is a good build. Many of us here, building to that performance level might chose those parts or similar parts. It will run many top games at 1080p, 30FPS, although at low effects.

The price is more than I would want to pay for that system, but it is not horrible.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($96.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($44.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Xion XON-560 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N600PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $576.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-10 10:53 EST-0500

 

[Demosthenest]

Donkey, it's 200 dollars more...

 

[Tarek Itani]

Configuration-wise, it is a good build. Many of us here, building to that performance level might chose those parts or similar parts. It will run many top games at 1080p, 30FPS, although at low effects.

The price is more than I would want to pay for that system, but it is not horrible.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($96.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($44.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Xion XON-560 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill N600PCE 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $576.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-10 10:53 EST-0500

Only reason I'm not building is because I don't need a high level PC. I know it'll probably be better for the long run, but I just want to upgrade the piece of shit I have quick.

 

[Demosthenest]

Tarek, no one is talking about a high level pc. The thing is, for the same build, prebuilts are 200 dollars more, it's an armed robbery.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

@Demosthenest No it's not! There's at least $100 of labor in that system and the rest is 'peace of mind' and the warranty.

I certainly would not pay that much. I would build my own. Maybe there's an open box.

However, the OP was asking about the system configuration. There are many crappier system sold for that price. Looking through Best Buy, that is about as good as you are going to get. We have given the information about savings available for 'roll-your-own'.

Plan B. There are some small computer stores who will sell and build computers for you. You can probably get a better deal (either same components cheaper, or better components for the same price) there and at least as good support.

In which state are you located?

 

[Demosthenest]

@Demosthenest No it's not! There's at least $100 of labor in that system and the rest is 'peace of mind' and the warranty.

I certainly would not pay that much. I would build my own. Maybe there's an open box.

However, the OP was asking about the system configuration. There are many crappier system sold for that price. Looking through Best Buy, that is about as good as you are going to get. We have given the information about savings available for 'roll-your-own'.

Plan B. There are some small computer stores who will sell and build computers for you. You can probably get a better deal (either same components cheaper, or better components for the same price) there and at least as good support.

In which state are you located?

Oh cmon! I know a website in my country where you choose every single part market value and they build it and give you warranty for 50 dollars. This is just stealing from people.

 

[Demosthenest]

Also, fx processors for Civ5 are no good. Get a pentium.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

For one thing guys, if someone wants a prebuilt they did not come here to be convinced to build. I think for a pre-built it is desent for the price. For one thing, it has a really nice case and keyboard, the case itself would cost about $100 if building yourself. Considering that it comes with an operating system, 750Ti, 8GB RAM, and a 1TB hard drive, I would say that is a good price for a prebuilt.

The only downside is the FX-6300 CPU, they really should have put in an 8350 or an Intel CPU. As long as you do casual gaming though, it will be perfectly fine and still runs modern games well. I think it's a solid PC for $750, you need to remember that part of the cost is that it is prebuilt. Of course you could build one for cheaper, but I think its good for prebuilt. It's not the best in the world for that price but if you do casual stuff it seems to be fit for you, and has an attractive look!

 

[Demosthenest]

OP, I would find some reliable website in the us that builds custom computers.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

@Demosthenest No it's not! There's at least $100 of labor in that system and the rest is 'peace of mind' and the warranty.

I certainly would not pay that much. I would build my own. Maybe there's an open box.

However, the OP was asking about the system configuration. There are many crappier system sold for that price. Looking through Best Buy, that is about as good as you are going to get. We have given the information about savings available for 'roll-your-own'.

Plan B. There are some small computer stores who will sell and build computers for you. You can probably get a better deal (either same components cheaper, or better components for the same price) there and at least as good support.

In which state are you located?

Oh cmon! I know a website in my country where you choose every single part market value and they build it and give you warranty for 50 dollars. This is just stealing from people.

I cannot see how that business plan can work, unless you are paying $5 per hour for labor, or the builders are making an additional margin off the hardware and OS. I could not run a one-person business from my garage at that price. If I had to employ intelligent, skilled people, with benefits, insurance, business license, safety and business inspection, taxes, and overhead, I would need to charge a lot more. More still for VAT and associated paperwork, or sales taxes.

You would need to build a system in less than two man-hours including receiving and inventorying the inward parts, unpacking, picking, and order consolidating, building, loading the OS, burn-in testing and benchmarks, packing, shipping, and invoicing, and eventually collecting payments and completing appropriate accounting and tax information, plus meeting any local regulations.. And that assumes that you need no tools, have no consumables (like packaging materials or even cable ties) and that every system works perfectly from assembly.

I've been working on the costing of a course at school for computer construction, so I have most of these numbers and calculations at my finger tips.

Even as a marginal cost business, to keep staff employed for other purposes busy during slack times, it would be tough.

Civilization V System Requirements
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=963&gam...

Civilization 5 Recommended Requirements:
- Operating System: Windows Vista SP2/ Windows 7
- Processor: 1.8 GHz Quad Core CPU
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Hard Disk Space: 8 GB Free
- DVD-ROM Drive: Required for disc-based installation
- Video: 512 MB ATI 4800 series or better, 512 MB nVidia 9800 series or better
- Sound: DirectX 9.0c-compatibile sound card
- DirectX: DirectX version 11

Your system has way more than enough requirements to play Civ 5
AMD FX-6300 = 275%
GTX 750ti = 150%
RAM 8GB =310%


http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=963&gam...

 

[Demosthenest]

Well, you may not see it but it exists, and it's the best hardware website in spain, always has the lowest prices. They offer 2 year warranty too and people working for them are lucky, they are not exploited. It's in spanish, but I guess you can use auto translate. 45 euros build and test.
http://www.pccomponentes.com/configurador.php

 

[DonkeyOatie]

They are making money from the hardware and the OS. They only build 'their' parts. There are shops here in the US who will do that too (my plan B) (and the cross rate is closer to $53 Average hourly rate in that industry in Spain is about 9 Euros That's just over minimum wage here (3 euros in Spain, I think))

I'd need to be paying $16 per hour plus benefits (taxes, health insurance, and Social Security) as a minimum (unless I go Guerilla and hire university students) for about $30 per hour cost.

 

[Demosthenest]

Their hardware is cheaper than on any other store. They do charge like 20 bucks for installing OS. Salaries in Spain are not so much different from salaries in the US.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Their hardware is cheaper than on any other store. They do charge like 20 bucks for installing OS. Salaries in Spain are not so much different from salaries in the US.

$20 brings the cost up to $70 now. The hardware costs seem to be about 16% higher than the US.

If the OP can find a configure like that in the US, they may be able to do the same.

This http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Revolt-RD507 is similar price, but superior.

Just for fun, I configured the system on your Spanish site it seemed to come to 620 euros, plus 74 euros to assemble and install OS, which comes to about US $820.

 

[Demosthenest]

Nope, 620 euros when you talk hardware is about 620 USD.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I put in the same parts as my partpicker build above, or cheaper parts if not available (Tacens Mars 500 instead of Antec 450) and it came to 620 euros, not the $576 and at the current exchange rate, the 695 euro total cost works out to about $820.

There's a nearly $20 difference in the motherboard for a start. I don't want to derail this thread. It's really interesting to see the difference in prices.

There are some national configure firms and the OP may be able to save a little, or get a somewhat better system for the same price.

 

[Demosthenest]

I'm not talking about exchange rates. A gpu that costs 340 dollars in the us costs 340 euros in spain, which is like 400 dollars.