Friend needs a new computer - needs advice

J

Justin_Garrett

New Member
A friend of mine is looking to buy a new computer from either Best Buy City City, or one of the office supply stores(he doesn't know enough to build it himself). After he buys the computer he's going to upgrade the power supply(need some recommendations), and the video card(any good recommendations would be helpful...looking at the x1900xt 256mb card at newegg for $240

He's looking at these 3 desktop pc packages.

Gateway 3800+ Desktop with 17" Flat-Panel LCD Monitor & 3-in-1 Printer 879.97

Gateway 4200+ Media Center Desktop with 17" LCD Monitor & Photo Printer 979.97
Gateway 4600+ Media Center Desktop with 17" LCD Monitor & 3-in-1 Printer $1,149.97

He's not the biggest gamer in the world, but he wants a computer that will run his games(mainly racing simulations) smoothly with settings set to high on the video card. Any other suggestions of desktop computer that can be bought at a retail store would be helpful.

Thanks!!
 
that 4600+ gateway will do fine i suppose with a graphic upgrade,doesnt look like money is important to your friend.If he wants to save some cash,he can go for the 4400+,not a crazy crazy difference between the 2 except he gets 200 dollars to spend on something else.
 
Well for $200 he would get an 80GB bigger hd(400GB vs 320GB), a 2.4 GHz processor vs a 2.2 GHz processor, personal video recorder, and a few other minor things.
 
You probably couldn't upgrade those Gateways without getting a new PSU, which might mean a new case/motherboard

I seriously think he should consider building a pc himself. It's not that hard!
 
Jet said:
You probably couldn't upgrade those Gateways without getting a new PSU, which might mean a new case/motherboard

I seriously think he should consider building a pc himself. It's not that hard!
Click to expand...
Never heard of having to replace your motherboard if you get a new psu...I highly doubt he would wanna build it himself...he knows very little about computers.
 
Well, if the PSU doesn't fit the case, most likely the motherboard won't be standard either, so it won't fit in any new case.
 
Well now he's actually possible considering building a computer...here's some stuff that I suggested...got a few questions.

What is the difference between DDR and DDR2? Is the cost worth the performace? Any suggestions would be REALLY helpful.

COOLER MASTER Centurion $49.99 $39.99 after rebate
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard $79.99
Saphhire X1900XT 256mb $239.99
Epower 500W duel rail psu $47.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor $247.00
pqi TURBO 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $249.99 $224.99 after rebate
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $77.99
Optiquest by Viewsonic Q9b-2 Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor $189.99
SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive $18.99
Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2B 1 Pack $139.99

Total=$1,351.91 before s&h and before rebates
I excluded the mouse and speakers because he will probably just use the ones he's currently using...may add a sound card.

ANY feedback will be GREATLY appreciated.
 
Wow...good deal on the psu. Why not get the E6400? .27GHz better processor for $44. He's not an overclocker so he couldn't oc the cpu to the E6400 level.
 
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