Which computer is the better bet?

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Staples has this Compaq for $299. It's worth the few extra bucks IMO. It's got the AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and Win 7 Premium. Call their 800 number to order because sometimes the deal isn't nationwide when you use the website ordering. If you call and they still have it in stock that will usually bypass that quirk. Check it out:

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/S...amp;PID=1371119
 
Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Staples has this Compaq for $299. It's worth the few extra bucks IMO. It's got the AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and Win 7 Premium. Call their 800 number to order because sometimes the deal isn't nationwide when you use the website ordering. If you call and they still have it in stock that will usually bypass that quirk. Check it out:

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/S...amp;PID=1371119


Thanks
 
Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Staples has this Compaq for $299. It's worth the few extra bucks IMO. It's got the AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and Win 7 Premium. Call their 800 number to order because sometimes the deal isn't nationwide when you use the website ordering. If you call and they still have it in stock that will usually bypass that quirk. Check it out:

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/S...amp;PID=1371119


NVidia chipset again............
 
http://www.staples.com/HP-DX7500-Business-Desktop-PC/product_832350?cmArea=SC3:CG71:DP4119:CL161746

Intel chipset system.
 
If I didn't get these hand me down pcs from my in laws (they upgrade to new pcs every 5 years), I would buy a regular pc that was fast enough for internet and burn dvds. There are deals on craigslist where people upgrade to the latest/greatest.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
http://www.staples.com/HP-DX7500-Business-Desktop-PC/product_832350?cmArea=SC3:CG71:DP4119:CL161746

Intel chipset system.


It's much more than what my grandparents need.
 
I have an E-machine, I added a 512 mb nVidia video card, new power supply, bumped up the RAM to 2 GB and it works just fine. Only cost me about $100.00 to upgrade.
 
Originally Posted By: Ursae_Majoris
I have an E-machine, I added a 512 mb nVidia video card, new power supply, bumped up the RAM to 2 GB and it works just fine. Only cost me about $100.00 to upgrade.


I bought my Emachine from Walmart for 298 plus tax about 5 years ago now,never had any issues. Just upgraded the RAM and it runs 24/7 days a week.
 
Originally Posted By: Spartuss
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
http://www.staples.com/HP-DX7500-Business-Desktop-PC/product_832350?cmArea=SC3:CG71:DP4119:CL161746

Intel chipset system.


It's much more than what my grandparents need.


Perhaps. Until the day they call and say "can you fix the computer? It won't power on?"
 
Originally Posted By: Hadrien
The eMachines has better specs for not much more. While the Sempron is a fine low end processor, the dual core Pentiums will mop the floor with them when it comes to any sort of multimedia.

The extra 1GB of RAM in the eMachines is also going to be nice for 64 bit Windows 7. 4GB is really the sweet spot for 64bit Win 7 but anytime you can get more RAM in there, the more pleasurable the experience will be.


I agree. Neither machine is going to be a speed demon, but the e-machines looks like a more robust config to me and likely will be faster for most workloads. It will also "feel" faster since the extra cpu core will more gracefully handle running multiple applications at a time (if the end user is into that sort of thing).

Best,
 
Originally Posted By: Art_Vandelay
Staples has this Compaq for $299. It's worth the few extra bucks IMO. It's got the AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual-Core Processor, 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and Win 7 Premium. Call their 800 number to order because sometimes the deal isn't nationwide when you use the website ordering. If you call and they still have it in stock that will usually bypass that quirk. Check it out:

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/S...amp;PID=1371119


I went ahead and ordered the system above. For $299, the system should be sufficient for my grandparent's needs. Thanks again Art_Vandelay for the link as I am not able to find this deal by going to the Staples website and neither was my local store. I ended up calling customer service and had them process the order as the online checkout was also unable to process the order for this price.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Originally Posted By: Spartuss
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
http://www.staples.com/HP-DX7500-Business-Desktop-PC/product_832350?cmArea=SC3:CG71:DP4119:CL161746

Intel chipset system.


It's much more than what my grandparents need.


Perhaps. Until the day they call and say "can you fix the computer? It won't power on?"


Exactly.
 
Whats the deal with this nV chipset problem stuff?

I've never had any problems with nV chipsets in any desktops.

FWIW, a computer with as little stress as this one will see, either should suit its needs fine.
 
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Whats the deal with this nV chipset problem stuff?

I've never had any problems with nV chipsets in any desktops.

FWIW, a computer with as little stress as this one will see, either should suit its needs fine.


Random IDE corruption (known issue), and boards that just die are problems I've seen.

I see a LOT of computers..........

Two in the last couple weeks were bulged caps, but I blame the board manufacturers for that.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Whats the deal with this nV chipset problem stuff?

I've never had any problems with nV chipsets in any desktops.

FWIW, a computer with as little stress as this one will see, either should suit its needs fine.


Random IDE corruption (known issue), and boards that just die are problems I've seen.

I see a LOT of computers..........

Two in the last couple weeks were bulged caps, but I blame the board manufacturers for that.


I blame nobody but the capacitor suppliers for that.. That has been ongoing for so many years. That is why they advertise jaapanese capacitors now on all this new stuff. all the new LGA1156 and higher boards at least all have gone this way.

As for the IDE corruption, if you dont install the IDE drivers when you're installing then nV drivers (use the windows driver) there are no issues. I did have to remove those drivers once when I had probs and using the windows controller driver it was all good afterwards. I had Nforce2 and Nforce3 boards back in their hay-day.. they were awesome!
 
Originally Posted By: SLCraig
Whats the deal with this nV chipset problem stuff?

I've never had any problems with nV chipsets in any desktops.


Exactly. Same here, and I've been using NVidia chipset boards for years. No problems (if any) from any of them that could be attributed to the NVidia parts they were based on.

True, an Intel chipset is what you'd want on a higher-end workstation or server, but for anything up to and including an enthusiast gaming PC, NVidia chipsets work well, and in some cases are preferable. They have been the hot ticket for AMD-based machines for years and their Intel offerings performed at least as well as Intel's stuff but usually with more features.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL

Random IDE corruption (known issue), and boards that just die are problems I've seen.


Known issue? This is the first I've heard of it, and I'm one of those nerds who looks at and investigates computer guts to no end. :)

And a board that 'just dies' is a manufacturer's problem.
 
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
I also see and have seen a "whole lot" of machines and I haven't encountered what I would call a pattern of problems with nvidia based boards.


They have a higher failure rate than Intel-based boards. Just like the junk from SiS, ALI and VIA. Not that they are as bad as those three, but, like them, have a higher failure rate than Intel chipset based boards.

I was building systems retail when the NForce chipset came into existence. It was the hot ticket for AMD CPU's because the only other options were VIA, SiS and ALI! LOL! AMD had since abandoned their own chipset production (much to the woe of enthusiasts that had enjoyed their reliability) when they transitioned from Slot-A.

NVidia's primary success in the chipset arena has been due to AMD; they were the only decent chipset manufacturer for AMD CPU's. It wasn't like you were able to slap your Athlon into an i865 chipset board.

Now that AMD has purchased ATI and has been producing their own chipsets, I'm not sure where that leaves NVidia.

Intel has licenses for both SLI and crossfire; there is no reason to buy an NVidia chipset for an Intel system really anymore.

They NVidia chipsets don't overclock like the Intel ones do. They aren't as stable as the Intel ones are and the driver support is not as good as the Intel ones. The only thing they have going for them most of the time is PRICE.

And here's an Anandtech article on the NVidia IDE corruption issue:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3279&p=4
 
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