Quick! Which one? - Computers

[myles]

For tomorrow, I could get this for $499:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/189252/HP-Pavilion-p6228p-b-Desktop-Computer/

How good is the graphics card on that?

Or, I can get a custom computer from a company that always fixes our computers, here are the specs, ~$799:

AMD Athlon II 250 processor (3.0GHz)
For you, 4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB Seagate AS Series Hard drive WITH A THREE YEAR WARRANTY
NVidia 9500 Video card, 667MHz processor, 1GB RAM onboard.
Samsung's DVDRW, the fastest one on the market,
52 Card Card Reader
Windowed case, you choice of neon


Which would have better performance, or overall be the better deal?

Thanks!

 

[Unstung]

For Office Depot-
Its RAM is good, 8GB, but only a 2.6 GHz drive. But, do you need 640GB disk space? The other computer's 500 seems plenty.
NVidia 9100, good.

For the other-
Its 4GB RAM seems OK, anyways:
The NVidia 9500 should be very good (better than the HP's from Office Depot). And a 3.0 GHz processor is fast.

Overall, probably the second one is the better choice due to the NVidia 9500 and fast 3.0 GHz processor.
Money-wise, go with the first one. The $300 dollar gap is too big for those improvements.

 

[lennartsmit]

I don't know about the preformance but I do know that HP software SUCKS bad-time(Acer is worse as you can't get their things of YOUR pc). Just something to keep in your calculations.

 

[Epsilon]

Unless you're doing some serious number crunching or some detailed 3D renders, I'd suggest getting yourself the computer from Office Depot. I've got one of the older Phenom Quad-Core processors myself, running at 2.3GHz, and it's perfectly sufficient for pretty much anything I've thrown at it so far. The RAM and the HD more than make up for the other computer - you can spend ~$150-200 of the $300 you'd be saving to get yourself a nice video card (I'll bet better than the 9500), making that bit something of a moot point.

I'll also add that that's a bundle deal - you're getting a damned decent monitor out of it too, though I hate the shiny glare off the HP screens. Hope you feel like waiting in line for it tomorrow, though. ^_^

 

[BHawthorne]

Neither graphics cards (9100 integrated or the 9500) are good for anything other than desktop work. You need to have a video card with at least 96SP for it to be even considered mid-range card anymore. You want a 8800GS/9600GSO at the very least for video. Preferably a GTS250 or GTX260.

Seriously, you could build a heck of a lot better computer yourself buying from Newegg. Don't be afraid to build your own. You'll get about twice the quality building your own than having someone else do a build for you.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131397
Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150448
Display: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009157
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136168
Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126023
Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104134
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=windows_7-_-32-116-754-_-Product

That would get you a heck of a nice computer with Black Friday deals.

 

[myles]

So, for gaming, like COD or RCT3, or Orbiter, obviously, which should I pursue more? Processing speed or RAM? Which would be a better gamer? And with the 2nd one, they said the limit was 4GB, is that only a Windows XP limit? I'm getting Windows 7, then will it be upgradeable to 8GB or 16 if its 86?

 

[BHawthorne]

The 9500 card would be better than the 9100 integrated. Both processing speed and ram are equally important. You shouldn't trade off one for the other. The limit is a 32-bit OS limit. If you get the 64-bit version you'll be able to properly use the memory. They pro-rate the memory ability depending upon the Win 7 version you get.

 

[Unstung]

So, for gaming, like COD or RCT3, or Orbiter, obviously, which should I pursue more? Processing speed or RAM? Which would be a better gamer? And with the 2nd one, they said the limit was 4GB, is that only a Windows XP limit? I'm getting Windows 7, then will it be upgradeable to 8GB or 16 if its 86?

I think a game like Call of Duty would need the PC with a better processor, certainly Flight Simulator. RCT3 and Orbiter wouldn't need so much, though. If you're going for gaming, certainly get the better computer. For videos, the faster processor would be better - quicker rendering time and more FPS. Graphics shouldn't really matter for something like GIMP or Photoshop, but I don't know about modeling.

But, HP computers don't seem bad from plenty of experience.

 

[Jake]

I, too, would recommend building your own. 799 dollars for that configuration seems too much. Or is there a monitor included?

Anyway, BHawthorne made some nice suggestions in his posts. You could play around with the configuration (scrape off some bucks from the PSU, on a single card configuration and with that CPU you'll barely go over 400 Watts, so a 500-550 PSU should be fine, if you want a cheaper card go for a 4770 (roughly the same performance as a 4850 but a tad cheaper). The 5750 is a better choice (newer, directX 11), but if you're really on a budget... [edit - both of them play basically every game out today on max at decent framerates]

One thing I would advice against is buying readily-built systems from manufacturers, such as HP, Dell et al. They're like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get (regardless of the specification sheet, maybe the PSU is ****ty, or maybe there's some crappy hardware in there). Also, you're stuck with an unopenable box, under penalties of warranty void. So no upgrades unless you're willing to pay the manufacturer to do it for you. Custom built systems are the way to go.

 

[myles]

Eh, I went with the HP. It was too good of a deal, $499, with the amazing monitor. I can just use the recovery disk it comes with and install Windows 7 fresh, or just uninstall the bloatware. Can anyone recommend a good video card for about $100 - $150? I'm guessing it's PCI-E...
Thanks for all the suggestions. My parents are primordial, my dad didn't even want a new computer only because this one "still works." I highly doubt they want me building a computer....

 

[Jake]

For 100-something you could get a HD 4770 from ATI. The nVidia performance equivalent would be a 9800GT or something in that range (dunno how much they cost though). For 140-something though you could get a HD5750 from ATI, which supports DirectX 11.

And yes, I feel your pain, parents against upgrading and such, been there too, years ago.

 

[myles]

^yeah, my dad doesn't want antivirus, because he hates how it always updates! He's a neanderthal! (For other reasons too, not just this)

 

[myles]

I came across this, is it good? Obviously it has 1GB DDR3, but that's all I know that's good. It says DirectX10 compatible, but is there a posssibility it could run 11? Is it good for the price?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/PNY+-+NVIDIA+G...p;skuId=9262451

 

[insanity]

I have to add to the chorus of trying to build your own. I built mine last year off holiday deals and spent about $300 for a much better computer then either of the two you linked to. No bundled software and maximum flexibility in how you lay out your disk space.