Dedicated graphic/video memory question

Have you considered building one instead?

Originally Posted by NoahAndrew Have you considered building one instead?

Yes, but going through the trouble, the headache and all the this time to save maybe $50 would that make a difference nowadays? Especially that I really don't mind taking a refurbished one and save even more! Definitely cannot build a refurbished one.

Originally Posted by Artashes @Jordan. Jeez how many fans does one need...

A cool computer is a happy computer!

Originally Posted by Artashes Yes, but going through the trouble, the headache and all the this time to save maybe $50 would that make a difference nowadays? Especially that I really don't mind taking a refurbished one and save even more! Definitely cannot build a refurbished one.

Well, back in the day whenever I built my pc's, I always got a better system for less if i bought the parts separate. I haven't looked into building one in awhile because I just prefer Mac.

I can see why you would want to go the refurbished route, but the trouble thing I can't understand. You buy a board, cpu, ram, hard drive, gfx card, and a couple other things. Its actually rather simple to assemble. Never took me more than an hour.

Well, first, I don't know first thing about hardware. My biggest accomplishment was upgrading RAM on an old desktop from 256 MB to 512 MB. Oh, an a couple of total Windows re-installations. So it requires me to find someone locally who can help.

Second, we have one popular retailer in town that builds custom PCs, but I noticed that their prices are on average 20-25% higher than if I go to a normal retailer and buy a PC that was built already.

Originally Posted by NoahAndrew Have you considered building one instead?

I would have recommended building it himself as well but the cost is undeniably going to be more than just buying it premade.. And he mentioned he didn't have a lot of hardware experience.

You'd have to consider the fact that he'd have to buy all of his parts so the cost would be:

Case
PSU
Motherboard
CPU
Heatsink
Thermal / Thermal Cleaner (for any mistakes)
RAM
HD
Optical Drives (DVDRW/CDRW)
GPU (if motherboard doesn't have on-board)
Misc (wifi, case fans (if not included), sata/ide cables)

When I rebuilt over the summer I spent about $500 alone on just a couple of new parts. Was for CPU, RAM, Mobo and GPU. It was infinitely less since I was already reusing my Antec case, hard drives, optical drives and all of the other little parts. Then again it was for an i7, DDR3 and a USB/SATA6 mobo.

It can also be pretty unnerving building a computer for the first time if you don't really have someone that can help assist that's done it before. Years back when I had a heatsink fan that broke on me, the CPU pulled off with it and after I put it back in, I didn't check to ensure that all of the pins were in correctly. ONE itty bitty pin was bent and no matter what I tried, I couldn't straighten it out.. so I had to buy a whole new CPU to replace it .

Once you get over your first build it's easy after that. The only times it can be a PITA is if you've got old SATA firmware on there or old mobo firmware so shit is on the fritz and doesn't behave like it should.

True. I guess I'm just speaking out of my experience.

Artashes, sorry for not noticing where you mentioned your needs in the later post.

To be honest with you, I don't think you need even hardware as fancy as you've already mentioned. It doesn't sound like you are doing anything that is particularly demanding of hardware.

The lack of dedicated video memory is not an issue unless you are a gamer. In fact, none of the hardware really matters that much unless you are a gamer or doing other things that really demand fast devices. Heck, I'm currently on a 2-to-3-year-old laptop with one of the older dual cores and it does pretty much everything I need.

You could probably do fine with a used machine, and you can get them for a song.

Originally Posted by Artashes I agree on the return part, although I NEVER buy an extended warranty anyway... Alright, I will be more patient. However, I am not going to stay/wait in line to the Future Shop and go through madness on boxing sale. Is THAT what you mean by getting a deal? The boxing sale? Also, their line of PCs (either BB or FS) usually are limited (I feel there is less choice as you decrease the requirements range that you need). @Jordan. Jeez how many fans does one need...

Oh I wouldn't even suggest you wait a minute outside or any other line for that matter.

If you're willing to wait until boxing day, then online at 8PM Christmas eve is where you want to be

Last year they were sold out within a couple of hours though (by 10:30 pm they were out). 2 years ago, similar deals (gf bought then) but I don't know how quick they ran out.

Artashes, perhaps it would be best if you outlined what it is you do on the computer, so that we could suggest a quality prebuilt system to suit your needs, or hardware which may save you a few hundred dollars. Putting a computer together isn't very hard. With the advent of YouTube and Internet tutorials, and even books on the subject matter, there's little that can go wrong.