Kotaku 
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Denver, 3:32 AM
Fri Nov 27
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
01/02/09
I myself have Vista installed as my secondary OS but to be honest, I still prefer XP, I think it's just because I'm used to it rather than any particular problem I have with it although I did notice a drop in performance between playing games on it and playing them on XP.
01/02/09
Some of you have no idea what the fuck your talking about, we are not discussing Newegg whoring. Anyone can make a decent rig for 500 bucks. If you can build a replica of the same product and still make a marginal profit to feed your employees with the $1800 tag, you should get a loan and build capital to make a competing company. Till then, please STFU.
01/03/09
There's no reason to throw down $1800 on a PC that will only last 2-3 years tops in a recession just because it looks pretty and neat, so until you know what you're talking about how about you STFU.
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01/02/09
If you live in your parents basement, have no girlfriend/wife moaning about a large pc (anything bigger than a shoebox) in the living room and work in burger king, then yeah see your point it is overpriced
01/02/09
[www.komplett.ie]
Also, there's no need to further propogate such an untrue myth about PC gamers, we've been stygmatized enough.
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01/02/09
Rich check. I wouldn't say stupid but certainly some. Some people have so much money they buy things because of image and style.
It's pretty shallow but that's why people buy Mercedez Benz over a superior Toyota Supra. They are materialistic and care what people see them driving in on the street.
Very shallow and dumb. One day I hope someone finds civilizations on another planet. Hopefully they won't be as shallow as the people living on this one.
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01/02/09
I'm not to hot on the aesthetics of this thing either.
01/02/09
Integrated and Gaming should NEVER be in the same sentence and taken seriously at the same time when it comes to something not a laptop.
01/02/09
Well said sir. This is a hastle to upgrade because it's something that isn't done that often. Like the old saying, "If it ain't broke don't fix it."
However for someone that has money for 1800$ it's ok but you can get a labtop that probably can do the same thing and that brings a screen/speakers which this does not.
The only real benefit to this thing is space. Usually people have plenty of that unless they're a hardcore developer or something.
01/02/09
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01/02/09
Cell processors don't work with Windows architecture, they do with Macs however. Not that I'm some Steve Jobs love-slave (I prefer Windows, actually) but just thought you might wanna know.
01/02/09
01/02/09
Depends on your point of view. I bought the Q6600 last year and hardly consider it obsolete tech. I still don't consider dual core obsolete nor single core processors.
Really it depends on what you want to do. People can get by fine with a powerful single core processor say 1ghz or more and a copy of windows xp and good ram/hard drive.
Plus there really isn't anything out there that uses this to it's full potential except maybe Crysis and source games optimized for it.
The harddware has surpassed the software.
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01/02/09
Crysis wasn't coded horribly, it was just that the CryEngine2 hadn't been optimised by the time it was released. All the problems with the CryEngine2 have since been solved during development of Warhead.
Now, apart from a few bugs here and there that are well within acceptable parameters, any performance issues someone would have with a CryEngine2 game (post Crysis) would be down to the limitations of their own hardware.
01/02/09
01/02/09
NZXT Case 99$
Zalman 850Watts Powersupply 120$
Hard Drive 500-750GB 120$
4GB DDR 2 Memory(super fast not slow) 67$
Medium/high end video card holiday special 150$
High end motherboard 200$
2 dvd players (1 burner) 60$
Arctic silver heatsink paste 5$
Aftermarket Heatsink/fan 60$
Monitor LCD 110$
Keyboard 10$
Mouse gaming 50$
Speakers 20$
Headphones 25$
Grand total:1390.99
I didn't even break a sweat. This is not even including extra storage or a higher end video card you could add but which you currently don't really need. The I7 is currently one of the fastest processors in the world by the way.
The only reason you would want to pay 1800$ is to save space. Even then it's not worth it.
p.s.
Don't think I missed anything essential ;p.
01/02/09
And $25 headphones? Nobody worth their salt would game on a pair of those.
01/02/09
01/02/09
Are they Amazoned, NewEgged, MicroCentered or EBayed?
01/02/09
Come on no one builds a gaming PC to use linux before anyone suggests it....
01/02/09
- Video Card
- Sound Card
Newegg.com has the best prices on the net usually but squat Slickdeals.net for the best deals hands down. I found my aftermarket X-Fi Elite ($294) for $129 directly from Creative and also got heads up on a brand new EVA G260 for $189 from Newegg. DDR3 1333 is also on the cheap at Newegg.
01/02/09
- Core i7 920 Boxed: $300 (Micro Center)
- Gigabyte EX58-DS4: $240 (Newegg)
- Zalman Silent PSU 750W: $120 (Newegg)
- CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000: $140 (Newegg)
- AData 6GB DD3 Kit w/ Heatsink: $162 (Newegg)
- X-Fi Elite Refurb: $120 (Creative.com)
- Seagate 1.5TB HD: $130 (Newegg) NOTE: update firmware
- EVGA GeForce 260 896MB GTX: $189 (Newegg)
- LG Litescribe DVD burner: $26 (Newegg)
Not a bad deal given I built this in mid November 08. Things should be much cheaper now!
01/02/09
BTW: As someone who used XP since it's beta days, Vista is an amazing system. All (and I mean ALL) the problems I had initially were do to known hardware manufacturer driver and firmware issues. Once I got those squared away... it's hands down the best OS I've ever used and I've done my rounds (Mac OS 10.5 included).
Most annoying bug to track down was the 2-3 minute freezing that would happen every 30 to 70 minutes (on Vista). It turns out it was my Seagate hard drive's bad firmware. I discovered it as the cause when seeing that my Memory Hard Faults (Virtual memory fetching from HD) would go down to zero at the same time as my Hard drive's I/O activity would go down to zero bytes.
Makes me wonder just how much flak Vista takes for things it has no control over. People scream, for example that Vista uses too much memory... I argue that it uses ALL OF IT. This is a good thing ;)
01/02/09
First, DO NOT buy an NZXT case, they're terrible. I got the NZXT Hush when building mine a year or so ago and it's been my bottleneck ever since, worst thing was that the only reason I bought it was to fit into my budget. You can pick up an Antec 900 for around the same price and it's 10x better.
Secondly, there is no reason to go for DDR2 RAM when using an i7 and needing to buy a DDR3, 1366 socket mobo, it's only money down the drain because you'll upgrade it to DDR3 in no time and DDR3 is much more affordable these days.
There's also no reason to have 2 DVD drives. Get a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD reader/DVD burner drive instead, no point being too cheap when the result isn't future proofed for at least a year.
Also, I'd pay more than $110 for my monitor, quality is everything for monitors and there's no need to go smaller than 20" these days.
The total with my changes would probably knock onto $1500/$1600 if you searched around well enough for the best deals but right now isn't the best time to get gfx cards, March will be the month for that when the new GTX300 is rumoured to be released and all the prices will drop to coincide and compete.
01/02/09
sure you can slap a machine on together by yourself, but you wont have the same look as this machine nor would you have the warranty given to you
01/02/09
*More Money
*A warranty for each piece of equipment you own
*Better airflow
*A better quality case
*Piece of mind knowing you don't have to deal with HP support
*An upgradable rig
The list goes on but I'll leave it at that.
01/02/09
Personally I would still go with a Core2 and DDR2 while we wait for prices on both Core i7 processors and DDR3 ram to go down, even though DDR3 has dropped significantly with the Core i7 release. But, the best advice would be to wait till next fall to build a computer altogether because of both prices.
01/02/09
01/02/09
I'm not so sure if you can claim "better airflow" what rig are u testing it on? What testing equipment? What type of simulations are you running? I'm sure HP has an entire lab dedicated to thermo test and airflow. Despite the fact that you may have more volume in the case by switching to another, it does not mean u have better airflow.. fluid dynamics doesnt work that way.. extra volume in unwanted areas may cause turbulence, recirculations, or even bypassing hot components.. etc.. etc..
as for better quality case.. i think thats a very subjective comment.. most PC cases have the same internal structure as every other PC cases and are made in the same place.. higher quality? hmm.. maybe not
HP Support: .. you dont have to use their support.. go dick around the unit that you bought all you want.. nobody says u have to bring it into HP support.. .
Upgradable rig.. you can still upgrade that rig.. PCI-e slots are standard and so are ram slots .. so.. go buy away and put whatever you like in it and plug it in.. Computer components have standards .. so its not like they are making some special connection just to screw you over.. it doesnt work that way especially in a money/development standpoint unless it is really necessary
The fact of the matter is .. no matter how "expensive" these things are.. they are your personal choice .. if you wish to build your own.. go ahead.. nobody is stopping you.. its like building your own car comparing to one thats already made.. really.. just think about it
01/02/09
Hate to break it to you, but there is a fair chance that you will not be able to upgrade this computer's GPU. Most Laptops (even high end ones) do not have replaceable GPUs, so it would not surprise me.
01/03/09
@rockmanx9:
As far as HP's or to be correct, Voodoo's "thermo engineers" go, I'm sure they are well versed in how to make a good case....probably the reason this system uses a liquid cooling solution, they know the case has bad airflow. I'm also well aware of the problems that bad thermodynamics can cause, as are the other case developers. They aren't high school geeks with a penchant for custom cases.
Also where do you get the idea that every case is made in the same place? There are dozens of case deveopers that have factories in a lot of different places and each developer varies in quality.
Another point you made was about not having to dick around with HP support but from the last HP machine I got and unless they've changed their warrenty conditions, changing any component of the machine would void the warrenty should another component break down.
Your analogy of likening building a PC to building a car is a terrible one. There's alot more variables involved in building a car, a helluva lot more. There's also a helluva lot more knowledge required to build a car. Building a PC however can take only 30 mins, even less for a system builder that knows what they're doing, for example, I took my rig apart not too long ago to clean it of any dust that would have gathered and deconstructed the case and all yet still had it back up and running within an hour of taking it apart. You try build a car in that length of time.
01/02/09
For the price (or arguably less), why not just get a Gaming Laptop and (maybe) an XD Station external video card? I've seen Toshiba Qosmio gaming laptops with pretty good specs that go for less, and they aren't the only choice for gaming laptops, either.
Even if you added the XD station card, it would still offer you more.
The integrated hardware idea is just reeking of EPIC FAIL in my eyes; especially since PC Gamers like the idea of switching out components for a better experience.
Just saying...
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01/02/09
No, my favorite is when people will shell out $500 for an iPhone, then balk at the price of consoles.
01/02/09
Not if you want to mod a game or do anything but type. Photoshop doesn't work so good on a $400 computer.
01/02/09
Come on now, it has been working on computers from 10 years ago.
:-p