Buying a new desktop. Anyone know anything about friendly-computers?

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brodas3

New Member
I am looking to purchase a new desktop, as well as several other electronics (Plasma, Home Theater, etc.) To create my own media center at home. I came accross a site, that, well, the prices are so rediculous it seems almost too good to be true.

http://friendly-computers.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=120&products_id=1453

Has anyone ever had any experience with these people? This computer retails at around 1600 - 1700 on ibuypowers website.

Heck the 1600 tv I'm looking for is only $900 here. I looked into the company a bit and found that they have an A- rating with BBB in NY which is actually pretty good. In my experiences, if something is too good to be true, then it generally is. Or did I just stumble on a gem here? With everything I want to buy, this site would save me nearly 2 grand!!

I know how I should just build my own desktop, but I don't have the time or the know how. I just want to pick up a nice system with good storage and can drive my TV nicely.

I'm just wondering about this site, the company, and if anyones has dealt with them.

Thank You in advance
 
brodas3 said:
No one can answer this???!!!
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probably means noone has any experience with them, this is the time of year though that scam websites pop up so id be carefull if you plan on using this site. i personally have never heard of them. sorry i couldnt help more than that plus a little bump. but like i said be carefull.
 
That hardware for the price is a scam. 12gigs of RAM and a core i7 with all those extras for under $999?

Custom built PCs by other people/companies are generally rip offs. If you want custom built, do it yourself. If you don't want to build look at buying from a more reputable manufacturer, one that you know will be around if the computer breaks and you need to use the warranty.
 
the page will not load for so i can't tell if the site is a scam. better off building your own or buying one of cyberpowerpc or bestbuy or something
 
I second the notion on avoiding this deal and building your own. You don't need a huge powerhouse for a media center PC unless you also plan to game on it.

Typically you want a cool and quiet machine. Many HTPCs that will be placed in a living room are designed with passive cooling or quiet, high volume, low RPM fans. If you will be putting the HTPC in a rack out of the way (such as in some home audio systems) then noise isn't as much of an issue.
 
Thanks. I actually went off the address they have listed on their site, did a little bit of googling, and found a local number for Friendly Computers in Plainview, NY. When I called them, they said that they were aware of the site, but nothing of the business. They do computer repair and have nothing to do with electronic sales. They also said that there was some information up about them on ripoffreport.com. So, I have concluded that this was a scam. Thanks for all of your input.

I'm trying to setup a system that I can stack HD's in. I want at least 4tb of storage to start. With the media I have already that should be about half full. I want to be able to play all of this straight through the PC and to my 54" plasma. I am not looking into a rack mount as this also has to be used for games and educational for my kids. I also want higher speed encoding for burning DVD's and blu ray. I read somewhere that for what I want the i7 860 is actually better and faster than the 920. Anyone know about this? I looked into cyberpowerpc and a few others - I've determined that the best to go with with these companies is iBuypower. They have the best reviews, and seem to have very good customer service. I also see that right here on this site, advertising for them. For what I want they seem to have the best prices as well.

Any input on this or on ibuypower?
 
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If you have better ideas for a REALLY good home theater pc system - One that my kids can still play on-line games, stream video, and watch some of their educational videos - throw it at me. What's a good system build up for this. Duo? Quad core? I5? I7? Video card? motherboard? I appreciate anyones input on this. I'm getting confused with the options out there!
 
I saw the ad, and the specs and parts they were claiming to be in there, built off of newegg was about $300ish more than their asking price. Either they are buying super whole sale (because the mark up on hardware is very low) or the parts listed were a lie. They also did not mention what kind of power supply was in it, it just said 500w PSU.

If it sounds too good to be true, then it most likely is. I would say buy from a more reputable manufacturer, you know one you can call when your computer breaks and actually get warranty service, or look into building your own. You really won't save much money with building your own but you will have the satisfaction of picking out part for part what you want in your rig.

Here go the specs

Specs Summary:

* Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz Processor
* MSI X58 Pro Motherboard
* 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
* 12GB High-Speed DDR3-1333 Memory
* 1TB Serial-ATA-II Hard Drive
* 22x DL DVD+/-RW Drive
* Onboard Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000
* NZXT Guardian Inferno Gaming Chassis
* 800 Watt Power Supply
* iBUYPOWER USB Deluxe Keyboard/Mouse
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For price of $959.00
 
woot.com is the only site that ever has deals that can be "too good to be true", besides black friday deals etc. also, just as a tip i saw walmart had a 50" samsung for under $700 last night. it was either a lcd or plasma, cant remember.

also, how old are your kids? are they playing crysis? if you buy a too powerful machine, it'll likely be loud as crap, especially in quiet parts of movies. you can build a htpc for a few hundred that can play 1080p movies well.
 
The stuff I get off woot has always been great deals but I only buy the good stuff. Got a third gen iPod nano a few years back dirt cheap, and it worked like a charm. I ended up losing it though because it was so freaking small.
 
brodas3 said:
If you have better ideas for a REALLY good home theater pc system - One that my kids can still play on-line games, stream video, and watch some of their educational videos - throw it at me. What's a good system build up for this. Duo? Quad core? I5? I7? Video card? motherboard? I appreciate anyones input on this. I'm getting confused with the options out there!
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What kind of gaming are you talking about? Flash based games? MMORPGs?

The i7 860 is a great deal right now and a solid chip. If you are sticking with Intel chips right now, the i-series chips are where to go. The Core 2/Quad chips are starting to be pushed towards the low end of the lineup.

Do you have any preference on case design, aesthetically speaking? Or do you just want a standard PC case? You can get some great looking HTPC cases that will look right at home with your AV system.
 
Nah, I don't want one of those horizontal 80's lookin cases. I want a full tower. Something with enough 3.5" bays to give me quite a few years of expansion. I also need a couple of pcie slots. I like the ibuypower with 10 usb inputs. Right now their running a free liquid cooling upgrade and 1600 fsb memory upgrade. I caught site of an expansion drive called a drobo that looked cool. could also give me an additional 4tb of space. We have about 400 movies already that we want to archive to HD. about 600-700 hours worth. We want to be able to stream these basically on demand to hour plasma. Also would like FAST encoding and dvd burning for friends. You know "home movies". :D I'm going to be putting in a dual tuner card, and esata expansion cards for external drives. I'm still learning raid arrays, but I can get into that at a later time. With the tv PC HAS to have hdmi connections.
 
Also the kids like the flash games and occasionally my wife and I play some java games. No more software games here. Wife and I once divorced over half life and counterstrike. Yes, I was an addict! lol "Hello, My name is Ken and I'm addicted to counterstrike" However cheats ruined the game. Yes, I know that was SO 7 years ago!
 
Most definitely. The i5 would be enough for streaming, playing videos, and web-based games. Though, obviously, a faster CPU will give you faster encoding times. It will take quite some to run through encoding those 400 movies with any system.

As for the HDMI point, any video card with DVI outputs can be adapted to HDMI. The only part to watch out for there is audio. You can find video cards with HDMI outs that also support the digital audio connection.

Ha ha - What do you mean by "80's looking"? The HTPC cases I was referring to aren't your old beige beauties of the past. :)
 
Zatharus said:
Most definitely. The i5 would be enough for streaming, playing videos, and web-based games. Though, obviously, a faster CPU will give you faster encoding times. It will take quite some to run through encoding those 400 movies with any system.

As for the HDMI point, any video card with DVI outputs can be adapted to HDMI. The only part to watch out for there is audio. You can find video cards with HDMI outs that also support the digital audio connection.

Ha ha - What do you mean by "80's looking"? The HTPC cases I was referring to aren't your old beige beauties of the past. :)
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Can you suggest a good video card that supports the digital audio?

One of the reasons I want a tower is for HD expansion and just generally better cooling.

Thanks
 
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