Buying a new desktop + laptop.

If it still exists check vendorratings. They have gone under multiple names including iPower or something. There are certainly overpriced builders out there (horrifically) but CyberPower is probably swinging too far in the other direction to offer quality.

After reading some really horrible reviews, I'm skeptical of going with Cyberpower now. What alternative builders would you suggest? I hope I can get somewhat near the same hardware for the same price, because I'm on a very tight budget.

If you are looking for a tower, why don't buy the hardware want and build it yourself.

This way you can buy the items you want from different locations for the best price.

I really don't want to build it myself. I have no experience doing that and would certainly screw something up along the way!

I think I'm going to go with Cyberpower and hope for the best. As the great Ken Rolston once said, "What is life, without risk!?!" Hehe. (But I will continue to look until I have the money in hand next week)

If you really don't want to build it you can expect the labor to run about 350-400 over pricing out the components yourself. Online you've got some decent priced vendors without getting into the likes of Alienware and Falcon Northwest uber chargers. Digital Storm and Velocity Micro have decent reps. iBuyPower is bad. Steer clear of that. That was the one I was thinking of before when I said "iPower".

Also consider local builders. There are a few near me that I'd rather pay to upgrade one of their offerings. Worth getting a quote. These are the "pc fixer" type shops. Many of them know what they are doing and have gamer types there.

I don't blame you if you are thinking of not wanting to build. Its a PITA unless you enjoy the hobby. It may take ~4 hours to build physically but picking out the case and components and cooling solutions leads to "optimization research" and it can end up with days of planning. I've done it twice and now I just click though configurators and hit buy. LOL.

I just pick a build from one of the many best buy guides, no real research needed. There happens to be a new one a local dutch site.
http://tweakers.net/reviews/3930/des…aart-2015.html

BTW you girls spend a lot. For me $700 is more than enough. No oc needed, use a h81 board, etc. Just pick a good video card

Found an even cheaper alternative build on Ebay. Saves about $200 for very similar components. Also comes with 3 year parts + labor warranty, and it's not from Cyberpower. I think I may have found the one for me.

Originally Posted by Fluent
…
I think I'm going to go with Cyberpower and hope for the best. As the great Ken Rolston once said, "What is life, without risk!?!" Hehe. (But I will continue to look until I have the money in hand next week)

I certainly wouldn't take risks if I were on a tight budget. Better to buy a lower specced (for instance without watercooing) from a vendor you trust.

pibbur who doesn't know anything about Cyberpower, but….

Originally Posted by pibbur who
I certainly wouldn't take risks

Neither would I.
Thus I've never bought anything on ebay. I don't want to pay for some Britney Spears' puke.

There is no risk on Ebay. If you get something other than what you expected, you get your money back. Guaranteed.

Oh, I have nothing against taking risks per se. It depends on whether I afford losing/waisting the money or not. Among other things.

Pibbur who has bought things on ebay and has been satisfied far more often than dissatisfied. But who also find it hard to believe there's no risk at all.

Well, the risk is minimal anymore. The money back guarantee they introduced pretty much covers it all.

I've bought 100's of things on eBay to support a car & RC habit. I've had 3 issues all quickly resolved in my favor. EBay backed with PayPal is a customer friendly combo really. Plus most major retailers have a presence there.

You can certainly build a mid range machine quickly without much thinking. The higher end stuff should be cooling optimized if you want top end performance. That's what I meant when talking about the research. OC friendly solutions, optimal air or water cooling systems, raid or flash, memory configs to match your OC goals. All that stuff, right down to the compound selection.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Well, the risk is minimal anymore. The money back guarantee they introduced pretty much covers it all.

You'll probably be ok. Worst case you get a dud, fight them for an RMA, become embittered and lose on shipping.

Have you gone to any local shops to see what they can do for you?

I have only ever bought two computers built buy someone else besides laptops.

First was a 486 DX33 from a local shop.

The other was a gateway back in 92 that I ended up sending back(which was a huge pain. and building my own. All others I have built myself and updated as far as I could until a new mother board and processor were needed.

But it isn't that hard to call up a few local shops or even go in as face to face is much better as you get to know the people and they get to know you. Parts are parts and it might be a good way to save money and build a relationship.

Alright, here is the new desktop I built, will pay and order it tomorrow afternoon from Adamant Computer Store, Cleveland, OH.

Computer Case : Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case (Black)
Power Supply Upgrade : 550W Heavy Duty TOUGH Series SATA Power Supply
Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Socket AM3+/ AMD 760G/ DDR3/ USB3.0/ A&GbE/ MicroATX
DDR3 Memory : 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3-1866 PC3-14900
Processor : AMD FX 8320 3.5GHz (4.0GHz Turbo) Eight-Core Socket AM3+
CPU Cooling Fan : Original Factory Cooling Fan and Heatsink
SSD : Kingston SSD 120 GB SATA3 Solid State Drive
Hard Drive : 1TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA-3 UDMA 300 32MB Cache
Video Card : nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express
DVD Recorder : 24X LiteOn DVD+/-RW SATA
Sound Card : 8-Channel Digital Sound Card (onboard)
Controllers : NOT SELECTED
Network Card : 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
Operating System : MS Windows 8.1 64-bit (Full Version)
Warranty : Assembled and tested, 3 years parts and 3 Year labor warranty

Woohoo! Can't wait to get this baby.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Controllers : NOT SELECTED

Man, I already love that PC.
Didn't really check the other parts…

Lol. Controllers in this sense means USB add-on devices or something, not game controllers.

I'm pretty much a keyboard + mouse guy through and through anymore. It is by far the best control device I've ever used.

Oh, and I'm going with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit instead of Windows 8.1. I did NOT like what I saw from Windows 8, and I love Win7, so I will go with that instead.

Speaking off*. What do you girls think of steam link ? Looks pretty neat, though I ideally would prefer a steam android app and use an amazon fire TV or smth

* I like controllers

No money for Intel CPU ? Make sure you are eligible for a free upgrade to win10 later on

I don't dislike controllers for more action-oriented games, but I prefer mouse + keyboard for most of my controlling needs.

I don't really care about Windows 10 at this point. I don't want to deal with Windows 8 as I'm completely used to (and love) Windows 7. Hopefully I can upgrade for free later if it's something I am interested in doing, but right now I can get more bang for the buck with an AMD CPU, methinks.