Author Topic: Buying PC for Cabinet - does this sound like a good deal? (Read 4840 times)

RTSDaddy2 · « **on:** July 04, 2005, 02:26:40 pm »

Wanted to throw this out to you all, see what you thought. The computer store I frequent had this sale running through 7/9/05. We're looking to get a PC then for the cabinet, so that our existing one can go back to being our home / office computer. I wanted to run these specs by the experts (and I don't throw that around loosely or as a joke, so you'll know) here at BYOAC:

Package deal includes

Emachine T6410 AMD 3200 + (2.20 Ghz) with a 160 GB HD
DVD Writer
512 DDR SDRAM
7 USB ports, 4 back, 3 front
17" flat screen monitor (we need an extra monitor)
Lexmark printer

All this for $459.97 after rebates.

They have another package deal for $559.97 with a AMD 3400 + (2.40 Ghz) and 200 GB HD. It has 1024 MB DDR SDRAM.

Both are 512 KB L2 Cache, 1600 Mhz FSB

Thoughts and reccomendations are welcome. We're trying to stay as inexpensive as possible, but get a good game machine for the cabinet.

As always, thanks ahead of time for your help!!

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #1 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:33:57 pm »

Well ive heard nothing but bad things from people that I know who bought a Emachines, it might be good enough for low ends, but the higher end games may hiccup. You may consider buying a used PC from ebay (like a P4 dell or something) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51145&item=5215528472&rd=1 there is a good example. Anyways, good luck to ya!

quarterback · « **Reply #2 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:42:00 pm »

I no longer consider myself an 'expert' on these things because I stopped building my own PCs many many years ago and I no longer follow CPU versions, but I'll say this:

(1) eMachines are not known for being very... uh... robust

(2) The Lexmark printer will eat your money in ink carts.

Scott84 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:47:53 pm »

I wouldnt get an emachines if my life depended on it.

And isnt that kind of ram not very good?

quarterback · « **Reply #4 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:49:25 pm »

Quote from: Prizmdrop on July 04, 2005, 02:33:57 pm

Well ive heard nothing but bad things from people that I know who bought a Emachines,

Yeah, in the past (at least) they've been fairly crappy.

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:53:46 pm »

The board informed me of two new posts that came in as I was getting ready to post this...maybe I'll check out those ebay links...$249 sounds better than $450. If the graphics cards and processors are strong enough, I think I could get the wife to go for that (shoot even I know a deal when I see it).

I wanted to add, while at it, that these two both have ATI cards built in. I believe (have been googling for product reviews)

quarterback · « **Reply #6 on:** July 04, 2005, 02:59:51 pm »

I know the strain that is put on my time whenever I add a new forum to my daily life, but if I were you, I'd start browsing the HotDeal forum at FatWallet.

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #7 on:** July 04, 2005, 03:13:50 pm »

also, remember if your using a arcade monitor than the video card isnt important since you'll be buying a ArcadeVGA card

Scott84 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 04, 2005, 03:33:48 pm »

Thats if it has an AGP Slot... make sure the computer you buy has one!

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #9 on:** July 04, 2005, 04:19:58 pm »

good point

tommy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 04, 2005, 04:25:14 pm »

I just built a similar PC for around $600.00, Athlon 3200+ 1GB RAM to name a few things, much better to know exactly what your buying by building it yourself, also knowing you have an AGP or PCI express slot(because you chose a mobo with features you want) if you chose to actually play a real video game on the thing.

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 04, 2005, 06:00:53 pm »

We're just using a regular TV screen for video display - no arcade monitor.

The PC we're looking at does have a PCI port out as well.

I wish I had time to build my own, but no way. Still got some work on the cab to do, plus I'm coaching volleyball for my school this year and running the DI program (creative problem solving).

I'm in the Atlanta, GA area, for those interested.

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #12 on:** July 05, 2005, 02:03:56 am »

I still recommend that you get a refurbed dell, its the best bang for its buck, and good for mame, but aside from that, if you do want to build your own PC, and you think its time consuming, its not. Infact, it will probably take an hour MAX to put it all together, plus its loads of fun. I love to build my friends new PC's cause I just enjoy putting that nice new stuff inside

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #13 on:** July 05, 2005, 03:48:18 am »

I would recommend you build it yourself. Do you really need a DVD-Writer for a MAME cabinet? buy a processor, main board, RAM, HDD, Case, PSU, and optical drive. It can come out cheaper. plus you get to customize.

Magnet_Eye · « **Reply #14 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:01:45 am »

yeah, why do you need all that just for a mame cab? 17" flat panel? for what?

You could buy a dell for $299.

Or build your own system minus monitor and other equipment you dont need.

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #15 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:31:40 am »

No. NO Dells. They are evil. you can buy an emachines w/ monitor and printer at a circuit city or best buy for $300. or build your own.

www.newegg.com
www.tigerdirect.com
www.geeks.com
www.compusa.com
www.computersurplusoutlet.com

all these sites have everything you need to build your own PC

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 05, 2005, 05:55:19 am »

Magnet, I thought I stated this earlier, but maybe not. I know I made mention of the fact that we needed an extra monitor.

My kid's monitor went out - I mean OUT - about 3 weeks ago. I was thinking that if we got the bundled package, get a free monitor and then we have one both for our work area and her computer (she's using the one from our work area while we muddle through with this).

I may check into putting one together for ourselves, but I still am not convinced it will be cheaper. Not disagreeing, but I'd need to check prices on th e equipment mentioned. I don't disagree it'd be fun - I'm kind of glad to hear that it doesn't take long (and hopefully not a genius either, because I certainly am not) to do so.

I'm going to check out Microcenter's refurb page also...but if building one would be equal to buying this one, and one feels pressed for time (as I do), then I'll opt for buying.

I appreciated the ebay link to the Dell, but that really didn't impress me much once I looked at all the money you had to pay to have office programs installed on it. By the time I did all that I might as well have bought the other one sure enough!

joshbr7257 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 05, 2005, 01:09:09 pm »

Quote from: RTSDaddy2 on July 05, 2005, 05:55:19 am

I appreciated the ebay link to the Dell, but that really didn't impress me much once I looked at all the money you had to pay to have office programs installed on it.

quarterback · « **Reply #18 on:** July 05, 2005, 01:24:07 pm »

Quote from: joshbr7257 on July 05, 2005, 01:09:09 pm

Did you also see how much the shipping was! its $99.00. The bidding is at $290 now, so after you paid for shipping and shipping insurance which is $20 youd be paying over $400.

I'm telling you, go right to the source of those eBay Dells -> FatWallet

- Dell 9100, 3.0G, 512mb RAM, 40GB SATA, 19" E193FP, for $679 after $100 MIR plus free Dell 720 color printer shipped free (That's a 19" monitor in this package)

- DELL Poweredge 800, P4 2.8GHz, 512MB, 40Gb SATA - $299 A/R A/C incl 3 yr support
NOTE: This is a server and has no AGP slot

- Dell poweredge SC1420, Xeon 3GHz, 512MB, 40Gb SATA - $399 A/R A/C

Scott84 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 05, 2005, 01:40:27 pm »

Monitor Refurbs are cheap RTSDaddy if your looking for a cheap-o monitor for your kids.

toyfiend2004 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 05, 2005, 02:21:41 pm »

Quote from: USSEnterprise on July 05, 2005, 04:31:40 am

No. NO Dells. They are evil.

I must agree with Enterprise on this one.

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #21 on:** July 05, 2005, 02:52:24 pm »

Right now, I am using an older eMachine's computer, which uses all swappable parts. A standard Intel main board, standard mATX PSU, standard mATX case. Now, I probably wouldn't buy on, but if you are only looking for a MAME computer, a new eMachines wih 17" monitor and printer will run about $300 after rebates. I hate rebates

toyfiend2004 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 05, 2005, 03:03:55 pm »

yea. rebates are also the work of the devil (formerly known as Marketing Execs.)

quarterback · « **Reply #23 on:** July 05, 2005, 03:28:36 pm »

Quote from: USSEnterprise on July 05, 2005, 04:31:40 am

No. NO Dells. They are evil. you can buy an emachines

Quote from: USSEnterprise on July 05, 2005, 02:52:24 pm

Right now, I am using an older eMachine's computer.... if you are only looking for a MAME computer, a new eMachines wih 17" monitor and printer will run about $300 after rebates.

You heartily recommend buying an eMachine over a Dell? Uh... okay...

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #24 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:16:57 pm »

[Sorry for wall of text!!!!]

USSEnterprise · « **Reply #25 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:29:53 pm »

When I got my eMachines, it was from before eMachines was bought by Gateway, when it was still a good PC. It has a 1.6 GHz P4 processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB HDD, & nVidia TNT M64 AGP card with 32MB VRAM. That wasn't bad for the time. And after doing a system restore after a boot sector virus, it is as stable as the earth's orbit. eMachine's did get worse after it was bought out by Gateway. What I don't like about Dells is that you pay $300 for the computer and $200 for customer service that I would never need.

AlanS17 · « **Reply #26 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:33:08 pm »

On any given day, you can go to Dell's website and buy one direct from them for $299-$349 brand new with a monitor (usually a flat panel).

Prizmdrop · « **Reply #27 on:** July 05, 2005, 04:35:07 pm »

That works too. Just make sure you dont get one of those cheapy processors, you'll really regret it!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and dont buy anything with "Shared ram!!!!"

Scott84 · « **Reply #28 on:** July 05, 2005, 11:40:07 pm »

I would just go to a smalll independant computer place and get one from there. way better.

SOAPboy · « **Reply #29 on:** July 05, 2005, 11:45:45 pm »

Quote from: Prizmdrop on July 04, 2005, 02:33:57 pm

Well ive heard nothing but bad things from people that I know who bought a Emachines, it might be good enough for low ends, but the higher end games may hiccup. You may consider buying a used PC from ebay (like a P4 dell or something) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51145&item=5215528472&rd=1 there is a good example. Anyways, good luck to ya!

Honestly, the biggest problem with emachiens is the people who buy them.. if you keep them clean, and actually maintain them, they last a good while.. its those people who just let it run and run and run and never clean anything out, or clean up virii and spyware.. then they blame emachine because they couldnt handle a can of compressed air..

They are far from being the best prebuilts on the market thats for sure, but for a cab? pfft emachine would be the way to go when it comes to cost

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #30 on:** July 06, 2005, 07:21:54 am »

One thing about this board...people sure do have strong opinions. I can't imagine what I might have set off if I'd made this a poll / vote thread!

I'm going to head out to Microcenter this morning and see what they have at the low end. Occasionally (well, nearly regularly, if I'm being fair) they have some good deals. I shalt do this before I make any final decisions.

I've asked friends around here about emachines and, once again, I get conflicting reports. SOAP, thanks for being honest about the machine and whether or not it would be reasonable for the cab.

I'm also going to try and checkout fatwallet.

Thanks for your honest opinions (seriously)!

SOAPboy · « **Reply #31 on:** July 06, 2005, 10:59:52 am »

Quote from: RTSDaddy2 on July 06, 2005, 07:21:54 am

One thing about this board...people sure do have strong opinions.

Silverwind · « **Reply #32 on:** July 06, 2005, 09:24:54 pm »

Quote from: quarterback on July 04, 2005, 02:59:51 pm

...keep your eye peeled for the Dell deals ...

http://www.fatwallet.com/c/18

Yep.

Go with something like fatwallet.. unless you want to build your own. Building your own is better IMHO but more expensive.

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #33 on:** July 07, 2005, 01:57:34 pm »

WOAH NELLY!!

Man...I've been over at FatWallet and checked out their deal. Somebody make me smart and sign me up quick. They had a great deal with CompUSA that I'm fearful I might have missed. An AMD processor, 64 bit, for $109.99 after rebates? My wife said "By all means, if you can figure it out!"

So boys - outside signing up at FatWallet, what do I do?

quarterback · « **Reply #34 on:** July 07, 2005, 04:11:26 pm »

Quote from: RTSDaddy2 on July 07, 2005, 01:57:34 pm

WOAH NELLY!!

Man...I've been over at FatWallet and checked out their deal. Somebody make me smart and sign me up quick.

quarterback · « **Reply #35 on:** July 07, 2005, 04:57:24 pm »

Adding to my previous post: I don't see the $109 deal, but there is a recent CompUSA deal for a Compaq for $128.99 incl shipping. That deal ends on the 9th, so if you're interested in it, I'd quickly scan through the 345 posts (to make sure you know what you're getting into) and then move on it if it's something you're interested in.

Code: [Select]

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor AMD Sempron(TM) 3000+ operating at 1.8GHz
Memory 256MB DDR-400MHz SDRAM (1x256)
Hard Drive 40GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive 48x max. CD-ROM Drive
Graphics Card Integrated SIS Mirage2 Graphics
Sound Card Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ Front Audio ports
Front Productivity Ports2 USB 2.0, 1 Firewire, + Front Audio Ports
Keyboard and Mouse Compaq Keyboard & Scroller Mouse
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 8.0/ Money / MSN Encarta Plus

Quote from: quarterback on July 07, 2005, 04:11:26 pm

Quote from: RTSDaddy2 on July 07, 2005, 01:57:34 pm
WOAH NELLY!!

Man...I've been over at FatWallet and checked out their deal. Somebody make me smart and sign me up quick.

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 07, 2005, 05:03:12 pm »

That's the deal that I was looking at too...but the final cost is dependent upon what you keep and what you throw away. I had my "practice" run down to $119 with the rebates. My wife and I are going to deal with it tonight, once she's home from work; unless I see something glaring, we'll probably act on that. The unit with only the $50 discount would be $369, which still is not unreasonable to me.

I almost hate to ask this, but does the deal listed above by quarterback sound like a better one than the emachine? I don't know much about Compaq's other than it is more a "household" name.

Anything you gu ys see we should throw out to keep the costs down?

RTSDaddy2 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 08, 2005, 08:01:36 pm »

I will not bore you all with the details of my visit to CompUSA today, other than to say it was a fate worse than death. May God strike me with lightning if I EVER go back in that store again.

To make a VERY long day short, I went to move on the deal and could not due to the illogical business practices of the store's check verification company. And, of course, could not get their online site to work....and now a very good deal has ended.

You BET I'm upset.

Rook3 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 09, 2005, 01:25:33 am »

Quote

I don't know much about Compaq's other than it is more a "household" name.

hooo boy. Compaq, aka Crap-pack to many of those who've had the utter misfortune of buying one. ESPECIALLY from radio shack.

Basically, I've had almost 1 of every bad pc made it seems.

But as far as Compaq... stay the hell away. And since Compaq is now owned by HP, I cringe at anyone thinking about buying an HP as well, but I have no first hand HP experience.

I bought a built for you Compaq. Athalon 900mhz, ram, firewire, WinME, etc. After a short while I started experiencing issue with the system locking up, requiring a hard reboot.

After people telling me what a buggy OS WinME was, we attributed the issues to bad OS and I upgraded to XP. Problems persisted. Then tole it might be bad RAM. Bought and replaced Ram. Problem persisted. Eventually (LONG after teh warranty has expired) I was told it's a bad Motherboard issue that seemed to pop up in that series of PCs.

Father in law bought a XP2600 from Rat Shack. It has problems rebooting. It starts up, runs about a minute, and reboots. It can do this up to 5 times. Finally windows throws up the B&W "something died, now what?" screen. If you choose the "last good load" setting it runs fine for the rest of the day.

Next day, starts all over again.

A friend has a CPaq Duron pc (don't recall the specs). He's had NOTHING but problems since shortly after the skimpy warranty ran out.

Seriously, I will NEVER, EVER, EVER buy another Compaq PC. And if I ever think I will, I have left instructions with family members to hit me in the head with a plunge router until the feeling goes away.

But this is just my experience. Now I've had great luck with Sony Vaio pc's. But then they are 4x the cost of any other PC.

Rook

SOAPboy · « **Reply #39 on:** July 09, 2005, 03:14:37 am »

Quote from: Rook3 on July 09, 2005, 01:25:33 am

Quote
I don't know much about Compaq's other than it is more a "household" name.

hooo boy. Compaq, aka Crap-pack to many of those who've had the utter misfortune of buying one. ESPECIALLY from radio shack.

Basically, I've had almost 1 of every bad pc made it seems.

But as far as Compaq... stay the hell away.


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Author Topic: Buying PC for Cabinet - does this sound like a good deal? (Read 4840 times)

tommy