BUYING A NEW COMPUTER

by RUSSELL79 May 6, 2009 10:24AM PDT

i wanted to say how much i love the cnet site.i have been using it for about 8 years for hardware and software reviews.i like that i can read what people have to say about the software and hardware they buy.i am looking into buying a barebones system and have been researching some sites.i have found 3 sites that have some good deals i like. i have never heard of them before.i was wondering if cnet or anyone had any information about them.are they good companies to deal with?i can only spend about $500 dollars.i will not get a monitor,keyboard or mouse with them.i am going to use my old ones with the new system.the system will not come with an os. so i plan on installing my windows xp home edition from my old dell.then when windows 7 comes out i will install it on my new computer.here are the 3 sites i am looking at.i would appreciate any info you can give me.1 visionman.com,2 magicmicro.com,3 cyberpowerpc.com

russell

Discussion is locked

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Doomed to fail . . .

by Coryphaeus May 6, 2009 11:26AM PDT

You cannot install an already installed copy of XP. Rather, you can install it but the activation will fail and you get one month of limited use before it locks up.

Never heard of those sites. But this one is known world wide.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=3&name=Barebone-Systems

I've bought several Shuttle systems there. Totally satisfied.

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Expect more

by Willy May 6, 2009 1:19PM PDT

Well, according to a recent posting, MagicMicro may not be all that great. Just google thier name and up come negative results. I can't anything about the others.

$500 is pretty steep for a barebones system unless it contains some top-end components. A decent brandname like Dell and eMachine will offer similar results for alot more computer and have probably better warranty(cross-fingers). Of course a sale maybe inline for you as well for similar priced systems and the OS is included. As the other poster stated a Dell XP OS won't work or within 30days become unauthorized.

I suggest you check out http://www.tigerdirect.com http://www.newegg.com http://www.geeks.com http://www.zipzoomfly.com as other vendors to check pricing and offers.

tada -----Willy

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bst guidence provider

by bgboss30 May 24, 2009 9:05PM PDT

well frnd as ur budget is 500$ u can have a nice pc have a good configration .i suggest u sites its anythinginit.com or techforum.com or geeks.com.this guys are bst in helping.and surely sort out ur prblem .

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Why not Cnet?

by jeff_windows_team May 26, 2009 4:53AM PDT

Many of the desktop reviews on Cnet have lists of places that carry the reviewed PCs as well as current prices. Here is one such example: http://reviews.cnet.com/4321-3118_7-6651931.html?tag=centerColumnArea1.2

There is plenty to discover here at Cnet- go take a look.

Jeff
Windows Outreach Team

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Maingear, Performance PC, Alienware, etc

by schockholiday Jun 29, 2009 4:15PM PDT

I have been researching this and have several sites bookmarked where you can build a system. I have called and emailed some to get quotes.

Anyone have any input on some of these system builders online? I know it is best to build your own, but I don't have the time or the knowledge to overclock, RAID, SLI, etc.

Anyone know about any of these sites, or are there other sites you would recommend? I am in Southern CA, but willing to pay for the shipping.
www.Alienware.com
http://www.pugetsystems.com
www.performancepersonalcomputers.com/,
http://www.digitalstormonline.com
http://maingear.com
http://www.uberclok.com/
www.biohazard-computers.com/
www.velocitymicro.com
www.vengeanceware.com

Read bad reviews of Ibuypower and cyberpower. Would love to hear any reviews of any of these folks or if you have had experiences, good or bad.

Right now I am seriously considering Performance PC out of FL or Maingear.
Looking at...
EVGA X58 A1 MOBO
Intel i7 920 Proc
Coolermaster V8
2x Evga 285 GTX FTWs 1GB 702 Core clock speed.
3x OCZ Vertex 30GB Raid 0
500GB WD Caviar Sata HD.
6GB OCZ 1866MHZ
LG 22X DVD/RW
Corsair 850W
Coolermaster HAF 932.

Thanks,
B

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PerformancePersonalComputers

by gamedesigner Mar 25, 2010 3:14PM PDT

I know that a a lot of the gaming community has really rallied behind Performance Personal Computers. A few guys in my Klan swear by them and I'm highly considering them as well.

Puget systems has a good reputation but poor turn around times and support, from my understanding.

Never heard of Maingear.

Another company, Ibuypower looks ok -- with decent deals. But what really bugs me is that they offer these coupons to make it look liek youre getting a good deal when there prices are ridiculous to begin with.

Digital Storm has really neat looking systems with their custom liquid cooling loops but reviews are so hit and miss that I'd avoid them.

You want to avoid Alienware. They put cheap motherboards, memory and power supplies into cheap cases and swap in enthusiast processors that can be overclocked - but are punished with untweakable bios.

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