Need Advice

**xis** · 05-20-08, 10:16 PM

I'm having a desktop built for me by a local guy and was hoping I can get some advice on what I'm being sold is any good or a hunk of junk. Please keep in mind that this is going to be a work computer and not used for gaming.

I will however be running Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Office (wow right) and the likes.

Here are the specs:

Antec Sonata Quiet Case with 500W True Power·
Intel C2D 7200 2.53 (3MB Cache)
Gigabyte GA-P35_S3G Motherboard
2 GB Crucial DDR2 800 Performance RAM
Realtek 8 Channel Stereo – Dolby Digital Sound
500 GB Seagate 32MB Cache SATA II 300 GB/sec
(2) Lite-ON Dual Layer Burners
eVGA 8600 GT – 512MB Video GPU
Zalman Cooling Heatsink/Fan - Internal Cooling KIt

Thanks in advance for any advice/help you guys offer.
X

**IronStomach** · 05-20-08, 10:19 PM

Sounds just fine to me, assuming he isn't overcharging you or anything. How much is the package going to cost?

**SapiensErus** · 05-20-08, 10:20 PM

Well it depends on how much you are paying. It aint a hunk of junk... but the GPU is a tad on the weak side.

For your productivity(CS3, Office, etc.) it is plenty sufficient.

For gaming... meh... slap a new GPU in there and itll be ass kickin'

**xis** · 05-20-08, 10:31 PM

He's asking 1,150 for it.

All Parts have 1 – 3 Years Warranty by Manufacturer
1 Year Labor Warranty on PC System

I'm thinking of going with a smaller HDD around 100gb (don't need much more) and upgrading the
GPU

Thanks for the quick responses guys

**RhysJD3** · 05-20-08, 10:58 PM

I'd keep the large drive. You'd likely pay more per gigabyte for the smaller drive as much as that may seem counter intuitive. Photoshop and Illustrator files can take up a fair amount of space.

Pricing out the pieces on newegg, it came to $716.91 without an OS. I don't know if you wanted to go with Vista or XP. Also, you have no monitor listed so I don't know if your price includes a monitor.

So, if he's including the OS and monitor, it's a good deal.

Add another $120-150 for the OS to the $716 from newegg. Shippings about another $40 from newegg.

So you're paying an extra ~200 for a local guy to put it all together and have a shop you can bring it to if you have issues. Probably not a bad deal if you don't want to have to put it together yourself.

You can ask Bigdog what he'd charge you for a similar system.

**xis** · 05-20-08, 11:04 PM

It comes with XP pro and MS office. Plus he's going to bring it to my door and plug it in and hook it
up to my big screen TV for when I need to make a presentation.

His phone support is second to none. I call him at 10pm on his cell phone and get a quick response
to my questions.

You guys rock, man. Thanks so much.

**SapiensErus** · 05-20-08, 11:21 PM

You can surely build a better system (especially in the GPU department) for the money he wants.

BD charges 10%

Check out the bigdog boxes thread stickied in this forum.

**xis** · 05-21-08, 01:02 AM

Originally Posted by SoySoldier

You can surely build a better system (especially in the GPU department) for the money he wants.

BD charges 10%

Check out the bigdog boxes thread stickied in this forum.

Yes I saw that and was looking into before I posted. The only problem is that I need it yesterday

I was promised that I'd have my system in less than 48 hours.

Being that I'm in Los Angeles it's going to be pretty hard to get bigdog the setup I need and then have the man go around trying to order for me and get it to me before the weekend

Next time I know who to turn to tho.

**RhysJD3** · 05-22-08, 06:06 PM

If it includes MS Office and you're happy with the support, I'd say go with it. Having someone who's responsive and close by is a very nice to have.

**TexRyker** · 05-23-08, 10:03 AM

Seems reasonable enough as long as you are getting legit copies of the software... make sure you get the cd's and keys actually printed like they should be... anything else and I would say your getting ripped off.