Would you Reccomend a Refurbished Computer?

if your gonna get refurbished, be sure to get at least a 1 year warranty with it. You can never fully trust a refurbished computer compared to a normal one.

I'm practically on the same boat as you. I wanted to play the latest games with medium settings. So i bought the a6110n model. The computer I bought has nearly the same specs as the HP 1730NREF (the 2nd choice u were considering)

I'm somewhat satisfied with the computer i bought. I'm only fustrated with the Video Card and PSU they provided because they are both inadequate. Besides that, the computer is decent. Other changes I wish were different (but im not fustrated about) was the size of the case. Its hard to upgrade to a bigger/better video card when theirs no space to put it in. Also I wish the motherboard had 2 pci-e x16 slots instead of 1, that way i could SLI if i wanted, but it was my own fault for not reading too carefully. And I'm a little disappointed in Vista, but its still a good OS. Buy it if your low on cash, otherwise you should consider going with a different choice.

About your question with the CPU's
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=929&model2=881&chart=444
it seems the Athlon 64 x2 4600+ is a better CPU than E6300. I could be wrong. I'm basing this on the link above
 
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Thanks for the help, and thanks ALOT for that link above, now I can compare processors easily.

I've decided against refurbished, and am now looking at this:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
- 3 GB RAM
- 400 GB HD
- nVidia GeForce 6150LE graphics with 128MB dedicated memory and up to 623MB shared video memory (Integrated) (I would replace this of course, I hope because it's integrated it won't cause a problem.)

Price: $850

I would like to look into the PSU and motherboard more, but it gives no info.

As for building a comp.... There are a couple reasons why thats out. So I won't be building a computer.
 
The PSU they will provide will most likely be 300W or 350W. Give us the link, so we can further inspect it. Or try to google info about the computer your looking at.
 
Including the one ide drive and two 500gb sata drives already bought the new here will see about $1000. If a better model MSI DX10 card was seen sooner the total would have been about $30- more. The 6000+ X2 3ghz was the model cpu selected for this one with 2gb of performance memory. The difference in cards seen was the one ordered is a GDDR3 1400mhz memory clock 800 core over the better 2300mhz memory 850 core clock RX2600XT.

The 700w OCZ GameXStream model supply was selected for the lower price over the Corsair HX620 620w supply to see that fit into the budget here. The Corsair supply with the better card would reach the $1100 mark fast! Asus will still be the make of board here over the Gigabyte, MSI, and Abit boards looked over for 3 not 2 pci slots needed. For some great ideas on supplies look over the new sticky for them seen at http://www.computerforum.com/90118-useful-psu-guides.html
 
PC eye said:
Including the one ide drive and two 500gb sata drives already bought the new here will see about $1000. If a better model MSI DX10 card was seen sooner the total would have been about $30- more. The 6000+ X2 3ghz was the model cpu selected for this one with 2gb of performance memory. The difference in cards seen was the one ordered is a GDDR3 1400mhz memory clock 800 core over the better 2300mhz memory 850 core clock RX2600XT.

The 700w OCZ GameXStream model supply was selected for the lower price over the Corsair HX620 620w supply to see that fit into the budget here. The Corsair supply with the better card would reach the $1100 mark fast! Asus will still be the make of board here over the Gigabyte, MSI, and Abit boards looked over for 3 not 2 pci slots needed. For some great ideas on supplies look over the new sticky for them seen at http://www.computerforum.com/90118-useful-psu-guides.html
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Ok...... lol

Not sure what that has to do with this but... I don't plan on buying a PSU for it unless I find out it isn't good enough for a better video card.
 
HP generally offers 350-400w supplies for their systems. It should take a larger supply being an arx case. Which make and model for that model prebuild is another matter there. I wouldn't expect you to see as large a supply as the one going into the new build here simply due to being a custom build. You won't see an 8800 go in there while a good mid range should be supported.
 
Well if you read the customer reviews, Jose says "The only complaint is that the power supply really should be bigger than 250W." So now you know that the PSU is 250W. If your planning to upgrade your video card, be prepared to buy a new PSU. Thats the current situation I'm stuck in. :( Also be aware you won't be able to SLI in the future, unless you get a new motherboard. Besides the Mobo (can't SLI), PSU, and the GPU, everything else looks great.
 
If the HP model only comes with a 250w supply the older style of the case and how things go will limit the amount you can upgrade there. Dell was far worse on their old cases where you couldn't swap supplies on your own due to how they custom mounted their supplies just so you "had to" buy only from them at the time. That's like a compact type of case where you may find yourself in an awkward spot for beefing it up any.
 
I wouldn't stay away from "refurbished" PCs. You don't know what the problem was before, and what they have done to remedy it.
 
I'll have to buy another Power Supplly I guess. Probably just one at BestBuy if they sell them. What else should i look for in a power supply, around 500W??? And it should have dual 12 volt rails?? That add up to about 30-35? I'm a newb but from the little research I've done I've figured out that much.

Also, I'm not interested in SLI.

The only other thing I'm worried about is heat... If I get a new power supply and vid card I think I may have some heat issues. Especially in the tiny ass cases they give with prebuilt systems. I know when I put a card in my current comp, it killed the card because of the heat.

Should I get a couple fans as well, and where would I mount them?
I should have one sucking air into the case from the front, and one pulling air out the back, correct? How would you get the fans to pull air in and out though, not like theres a hole in the front and back of the case.
 
Are there fan mounts in your case? Most cases have a space for a fan at the front and at least one if not more for the back.

Regarding Sli I think its a waste of money, the performance gain does not justify the cost.
 
Well I doubt there are fan mounts, since it's a prebuilt system. The pic of the case is in the link.

Damn, I don't want to have to buy another case.
 
elitehacker said:
Are there fan mounts in your case? Most cases have a space for a fan at the front and at least one if not more for the back.

Regarding Sli I think its a waste of money, the performance gain does not justify the cost.
Click to expand...

Not all cases have a place for a fan. The last case here didn't even have front or side vents on it. That was soon replaced with the current AeroCool model until the new build is completed. HP, Dell, and others simply throw everything into the cheap cases they order in builk. :rolleyes:

As for SLI it's only real worth is when running 4 monitors for an elaborate gaming system. One thing now available for SLI type boards however is the PCI-E type sound cards for use in the second slot. XP's resource sharing where the sound card was often moved to the second or third slot prior to SP2 would be solved there to free up one or two of the two slots now seen.

martyvice said:
Well I doubt there are fan mounts, since it's a prebuilt system. The pic of the case is in the link.

Damn, I don't want to have to buy another case.
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That's the real world for you! The old case here was swiftly replaced when the new board temps were higher then the cpu's! For a gaming system with the good stuff installed you would have to plan out a new build there. There's only so much you can do with prebuilds to begin with.
 
If you want a decent gaming computer I wouldn't got with a prebuilt one. Choose your components carefully then put it together.
 
Even building a case according to a budget can be fun at times. It seems like just after ordering the new DX10 card with a 1400mhz memory clock the vendor suddenly stocks a 2300mhz model for $30 more. That would have seen the Kingston HyperX memory reduced to Value Ram to cover costs however. At least I can upgrade the card later if the need is there for it with the larger supply there. That's some of the benefits of building your own while this one is still over $1000 total.
 
Well the reason I don't want to build is because I'm on a budget. $850 is pushing it for me, and thats what the prebild was.

I've researched alot and was looking to build and toyed with many different possibilities, computer configurators, I looked on tiger direct, ect. And a build similar to the prebuild came out around $1000. Since you need to include OS, CD Drive, HD. It seems that if you just want a decent gaming rig prebuilds is better, but if you want a great rig then building if much cheaper.

But if I' going to have to buy case, vid card, PSU, then I'm not sure which way I'll go. Maybe I'll give refusbished a shot.
 
First, HP computers are very well built. I had one and nothing ever went wrong with it. Actually, its still going strong after five years.We gave it to a relative. It was a pain to put a better video card in because they are built with HP specific parts and software. Not a huge problem.
On the other hand, for $850 it would be no problem to build a better computer.
The thing I like best about building a computer is that you know exactly what is in it and there is no junk software, unless you put it in. They are not hard to build either. With a resource like this forum, you would have all the good help you would need.
Start a topic about building an $850 or $1000 computer and you will get a lots of suggestions.
 
Lol. I relate to you so much marty. I had to get a new GPU and PSU cause mine were crap so I just ordered the EVGA 8600 GT and an Ultra x-force 500W for my computer, but i got worried that my computer might get hot because of the card, so I considered getting a new fan with the GPU and PSU. I also got worried that my new GPU might not fit in my small case so i considered a new case. (at this point i was wishing that i just built my own rig) If you hold off from buying a pre-built computer for a couple of days, i can personally tell you if the GPU fits well in the case or not and i can also tell you if you should get fans with it.
 
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The process of actually building one is not a problem, I've read the guide on here, and I actually took my current comp completly apart and put it back together to practise when I thought I WAS going to build.

It seems whatever I try I can't get a custom build to get below $1000. (Canadian BTW)

I will makre a thread though and see if I can get some help.
 
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