buying new desktop

**Replenish** · 02-25-2009, 02:56 PM

Hey all,

ive being looking at new computers for awhile. i want a gaming computer and are willing to spend around 3k-3.5k for one. ive made one on website called IPSPTY.com.au just wondering if anyone else has brought off of this company before and if you have what do you think of them??

Specs below are roughly what im looking at:

(Quad Core) Intel Core i7 940 (2.93Ghz) 8Mb Cache, LGA1366, 45nm,Energy Efficient

Intel Core i7 - Intel X58 - Triple DDR3 - PCI-E 2.0 - SATA RAID - HD Sound - 2 x Gigabit LAN (Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5)

Gaming Midi Tower, Black/Red, 650W Power Supply, 11 Bays, Advanced Cooling, 1 x 23cm + 2 x 12cm Fans, Side Window (Thermaltake V9)

Kingston 6Gb, DDR3, 1333Mhz, Triple Channel

Western Digital 500Gb SATA-II, 7200RPM, 16Mb Cache

1GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285, DDR3.

24inch Widescreen - (Benq E2400HD) 1920 x1080, Black, 5ms response, Speakers, Full HD 1080p

20x Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW), SATA

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

Genuine Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit on DVD OEM

already got keyboard and mouse.

Just a few questions
Is it worth paying extra 180 for the 1GB GTX 285 than just getting 896MB GTX 260

Does anyone recommend i should change anything?
already got keyboard and mouse.

Alltogether it will cost $3608.00 AU.

thanks for any feedback?

**wazzacky** · 02-27-2009, 04:46 AM

that will be a good computer. I'd upgrade the OS tho, home premium has some major faults to it. Consider Alien Ware. A company devoted to gaming. They are costly but you can get sweet looking towers and with great hardware.

**Replenish** · 02-27-2009, 11:35 AM

what sort of faults does home premium have? I used it on my old computer and thought it ran good.

I had a look at alienware and your not wrong about being pricey. for what im roughly after it would cost me alot more then above and 24" monitor for 800+ i think thats a bit far fetch.

Is there any other company that you know of thats good in australia?

**wazzacky** · 02-28-2009, 11:02 AM

Well mine has been really F***ing up lately. It all has to do with windows updates. It can mess up things bad. I can't download the update driver for my video car with it anymore or else id have to reformat my harddrive again. The task manager sometimes bugs out when programs stop responding, and the shutting down procedure w/ updates can mess up sometimes. Home premium is fine for regular users, family and such. But if your going to extreme gaming, i'd think pro would do better for you. Ill talk to my friend he sells computers at a BestBuy. He was telling me all this.
Oh and the price for a 24 inch. It sounds totally reasonable. I have a 22inch HP widescreen and it cost about $300. I got it during a sale.
As for gaming comps...why not get a Dell? atleast you know it'll never break down not to mention their awesome customer support.

just checked out google.(oh and this might give out adware *thinking back to last time* im not sure though because my kapersky didn't give out a warning) http://gaming-pc-review.toptenreviews.com/
theres a site that compares some decent computers. There is the Area 51 by alienware there too.

Oh and if you are patient i'd wait till USB 3.0 is implemented. Sometime soon i believe.

**Pamela** · 03-01-2009, 12:33 AM

A good company to look at is Newegg and Tigerdirect. They specialize in new AND rebuilt computers.My FFXI game husband has bought computers for me AND my 3 kids from them over the last 2 years.

(Yah yah I am spoiled..it is well known)
Anyway...it allows you to set the spefications of your needs. Nate(game husband) is a "gamer" and computer geek.If you need detailed info ..drop me a PM and I will see how I can help you.

**Replenish** · 03-04-2009, 03:21 PM

don't really wanna try dell again had some bad experiences with my laptop a little while ago so im sorta turned off them. As for Newegg i was reading on a few places that they don't do postage to australia for warranty trouble or something like that. Tigerdirect i guess would be same (had a look but) plus with aussie dollar so low atm don't wanna buy from US and postage would be more.

As for usb 3.0 would it be possible to upgrade a computer that doesn't come with it at later date and would it really be that big of a impact that i would have wished i did wait? i sorta need my computer soonish as i get so bored sitting at home watching tv

.

**Mathalamus** · 03-04-2009, 04:23 PM

you can buy a computer similar to mine (which is very powerful) for only 1,100 dollars. just find a damn good deal

**Replenish** · 03-05-2009, 07:21 AM

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

you can buy a computer similar to mine (which is very powerful) for only 1,100 dollars. just find a damn good deal

and where did u get yours from?

**wazzacky** · 03-06-2009, 10:48 AM

see math wasn't that helpful. As for the usb 3.0 Im pretty sure u'll be able to get it upgraded. probably gona cost a bit. USB 3.0 is extremly fast btw..let me check how fast..5Gb/s ! thats nuts. U don't have to wait. What i think u really need to do is goto a chain electronics store and talk to a computer sales rep. Be stern and tell him what you want, he or she will most likely be on commision so be weary of the crap they try to sell you as well as the extended warrenty.

**Replenish** · 03-06-2009, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by wazzacky

see math wasn't that helpful. As for the usb 3.0 Im pretty sure u'll be able to get it upgraded. probably gona cost a bit. USB 3.0 is extremly fast btw..let me check how fast..5Gb/s ! thats nuts. U don't have to wait. What i think u really need to do is goto a chain electronics store and talk to a computer sales rep. Be stern and tell him what you want, he or she will most likely be on commision so be weary of the crap they try to sell you as well as the extended warrenty.

i would if i could but i live in a mining town in the desert and closest decent place is perth which is 1500km away.

i found a computer on ebay with roughly specs im after PROTUNED - INTEL CORE i7 EXTREME GTX 295 GAMING SYSTEM - eBay Core 2 Duo, Intel, Desktop PCs, Computers. (end time 07-Mar-09 09:45:29 AEDST)
it would cost me around AU$3290 with vista ultimate. not sure if i wanna buy one off ebay tho

**Fykins** · 03-09-2009, 08:17 AM

I would not recommend the core i7 940.
Its overpriced for its performance, go with the i7 920, I'm running a 920 and its way overkill for my games.
If you really want the faster clock speed, just get a 920 and when your computer starts to become outdated (and the warranty on your chip expires) so like 3 years down the road, overclock it. With air cooling you could easily get a 920 up to 3 ghz.
Since the 940 and 920 have the same QPI speed, this tells me that the 940 is basically an overclocked 920.
Also, you should get the EVGA x58 motherboard instead of the gigabyte one, EVGA has good support and a lifetime warrenty.

Also, you better be damn sure that power supply can run your video card. Make sure you get one that has enough pci-e connectors, and 20 amps or better per rail.
Don't skimp out on the power supply, go with a company that's well known like Corsair, Antec, BFG, etc.. I use a BFG 850 Watt 20 amp 2 rail power supply for my GTX 260. While I probably don't need that much, better to buy more than you need than kill your machine.

The GTX 200 series cards are large too, check the dimensions of your case to ensure it will fit.

As for the GTX 260 vs the GTX 285? Get a GTX 280, its come down in price and I think you'll be much happier with it than a GTX 260. I bought the factory overclocked version of the GTX 260 and it was very unstable, so I sent it back to get a replacement. I downclocked it to stock speeds before I sent it back though and the difference was huge. After all I've gone through with tech support etc.. I would have gotten a GTX 280 instead.

The GTX 285 is a brand new card so its still quite pricey.

If you want to talk more about it just add me on msn messenger.

**Replenish** · 03-26-2009, 03:36 PM

Just a little update, i have brought and recieved all my computer parts except im waiting for case (on backorder

).

Thanks to everyone for your help

.

**wazzacky** · 03-29-2009, 04:09 AM

nice, tell us how it is

**SG Shadow** · 04-07-2009, 11:53 PM

lol this post is confusing I didn't understand any of it almost. MB and some other stuff I did but.....most I didn't.

**Replenish** · 04-15-2009, 11:28 AM

well had a few lil problems with ram and MB but all are fine now and i installed vista last night. running nicely, now just gotta install everything else and update.

Another thanks to everyone who helped.

**Fykins** · 04-15-2009, 11:29 AM

Cool, good to hear your problems where minimal.

**Replenish** · 04-15-2009, 11:48 AM

yeh MB just didn't want to read all 3 ram slots at once so just got it running with one and installed vista ect then put other 2 in and it runs now. hope it lasts.

**Fykins** · 04-15-2009, 12:01 PM

If you bought the evga motherboard there should have been a sticker on there that explained the ram slots, just fill the green slots. If you got a different board the manual should explain what slots to use. Also you should go into your bios and make sure your Ram is running in tri-channel mode so you get the best performance.

**Replenish** · 04-15-2009, 03:43 PM

yeh i read the manual and they in correct spot. just didn't like it at first for some reason. ill check my bios after i finish work and make sure it is.