Anyway, back to the K series.

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2320 3.0GHz Processor; performs fast computing
operations
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Memory; efficiently delivers data within the PC system
1.5TB 7200RPM Hard drive; provides a very large storage capacity for handling
high-performance applications
Intel® HD Graphics 2000 GPU; generates seamless, high-quality images, videos,
and graphic effects
Wi-Fi capability; grants convenient mobile access to the Internet
16-in-1 Media reader; reads information from various external media cards
DVD±RW; allows writing and rewriting of digital data on DVDs
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit OS; runs programs and applications smoothly

I would recommend that you try the onboard graphics, as it's actually well
thought out in this machine. If you got it home, and were not pleased, we could
always add a 1 GB card for like $120. I "think" you would be pleased with this.

The cost on just the tower is $779.99
BTW this is the email I got from my computer guy when I told him I would be looking else where to have a system made for me and check the price he quoted and the fact that he is stll pushing for the onboad video card. I don't understand his last statement" The cost of just the tower is $779". Doesn't almost $800.00 for those specs seem excessive?

Considering you can get a computer with a decent video card and a power supply that will support it for less than that, yes that's too much. Note that he only talks about putting in a video card and doesn't mention upgrading the power supply. Nor does he talk about adding fans to the case. He doesn't even mention which video card he'd add. A low end card could have one GB of VRAM and still be slow as molasses.

It's very excessive for that price ! There is no way earth that onboard graphics are equal to a dedicated graphics card . I may be wrong in saying this , but I think it rather obvious that this "tech guy" is plain lazy , and has no real interest in helping anyone but himself to your money . You would be much better off going with eCollege or cyberpower (as an example) .

lexxy,

Here's what I got from eCollegePC, prices and all. Draclvr (I think it was) said I might have gone overboard on the power supply and the 8 gigabytes of RAM, but I thought, what the heck, this is the last computer I'll be able to buy for a long time. <g>

I definitely wanted and got the best video card I could afford. You'll see at the bottom that I got two extra case fans. It all came out to just a little over the most you want to pay.
========================================================

PU: 2.8Ghz Intel Core i5-760 8MB Cache Quad-Core -- add: $99

Heatsink/Fan: Stock Intel LGA1156 Heatsink and Fan -- add: $0

Motherboards: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 (Intel P55, 2xPCI-E, 8xSATA2, 4xDDR3, 1394): add $48

Memory: 8GB (4GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty --add $96

Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Major Brand) -- add: $59

CD/DVD/CDRW1: 22x LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero -- add: $23

Video Card: 1GB GeForce GTX 460 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI (Major Brand) -- add: $209

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit -- add: $109

Case: CoolerMaster Black Elite 430 (3 5.25, 6 3.5) Fan, Audio/USB --add: $29

Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W -- add: $79

Networking: Onboard LAN included -- add: $0

Sound Card: Onboard Sound included --add: $0

Case Fans: 2x 120mm Case Fan --add: $15

Total: $1028

Hope that helps you figure this out.

I should add this was last year so the prices might be a little different now.

Gil.

Everyone should keep in mind that the Intel HD 2000 graphics is not "on board" as we are used to thinking about it being integrated into the motherboard. The Intel HD 2000 is the graphics that is integrated into the 2nd Generation CPUs (or Sandy Bridge processors). Although it's supposed to be far superior than motherboard graphics, I am not convinced of its usefulness in gaming. Look at what it touts in the specs... seamless images, videos, and graphic effects. Not exactly what we want to see in gaming.

Here is what I do not see in the specs this guy is giving you. What is this motherboard? Is it SATA 2 or SATA 3? Where is the wattage of the power supply? Does it support USB 3.0? What is the integrated sound? As I said before, more information is good.

Look at the two builds using the 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 on the previous pages. If you check the motherboard and component specs, what you know about them is the wattage of the power supply, the support for USB 3.0, a great video card, they are SATA 3 etc., etc.

So, he's going to pop in a $120 video card, eh? Like Jenny said, where is the power supply upgrade if needed? For $120 I wouldn't be expecting much of a video card except something very low end. Maybe ask him exactly what video card he would put in for you for $120... I'd be curious to know what it would be.

And like traveler says, you get as much as you can up front. If you need to save a few bucks, you can start with 4 GB of RAM and then always upgrade to 8 GB later. If I said anything about going overboard on a power supply, it would have been to say it was overkill, but when it comes to overkill on a power supply, I'm all in favor of it. I put an 800 watt power supply in the build we did for my grandson last month - definitely overkill, but if he needs it, it's there. And, yes she got in before the prices of hard drives went nuts after the flooding in Thailand!

My opinion of this so-called tech guy hasn't changed.

I have decided NOT to deal with him but he seemed so nice in the begining and get this he said I could pay on it like a lay-a-way. I will admit that I am a novice but I am not a fool. I knew if I came here to my friends you would steer me in the right direction. At this point I am leaning toward to eCollege for my build but I will have to start now laying away some cash in order to get it for a Christmas present. You guys are wonderful and I can't thank you enough for your help and support.

No need to say thank you lexxy !

I'm sure this tech guy IS a very nice guy. But he keeps trying to push something on you that is not going to be a good computer for YOU since you're a gamer. Maybe one of these days I'll get some good information on how those CPU graphics are for gaming, but so far I haven't found anything definitive.

To be honest, I'd be asking more questions about the motherboard specs and the power supply than anything. And I'm still curious to know what he planned on putting in for a $120 video card. If he can put in a comparable video card and a 550 or 600 watt power supply and still stay in the range of eCollege or Cyber Power, then maybe it's not a bad way to go. But questions about the motherboard specs still remain unanswered.

He's still got the problem of whether the case can accommodate extra fans to help cool the video card. If it can't, the case will get hotter than it is meant to, which will lead to shorter computer life.

Good point, Jenny. I can't figure out what case this is, but of the two choices I've found with Lenovo, the cases don't offer much in the line of cooling options.

Draclvr,
I have question concerning the cyberpower system for $789 and the one by ecollege for $900. I may be missing something but the systems seem to be prety much the same, what makes the one at ecollege about $100 more. BTW I have almost decided on the one at cyberpower even with the $75 shipping fee. I said almost because ut will probably be much more by Christmas.

I see virtually no difference either. I suspect that it is because Cyberpower is a very large company while eCollegePC is a small business located in a shopping center in South St. Louis County - which happens to only be about 50 miles from me. Cyberpower may be able to get huge discounts on their components due to the large volume.

When you add the $75 shipping charge to the Cyberpower computer, there is only about $36 difference in the costs of the two PCs. Another point is one Jenny made that Cyberpower gets an 8.5 out of 10 customer satisfaction rating at resellerratings.com and eCollegePC has a 10 out of 10 customer service rating. So, you might want to weigh that into your final decision.

It's hard to say what prices will be 10 months from now, but hopefully at least the prices of hard drives will be back down to earth.

Hi all,
It's been a while since I was here, due to the fact that I am using my siste's low tech machine and it's not fast enough to play any of my games. Good news I have finally found a tech who is building a computer for me and it's only $16 over my $1000.00 budget and the overage was due to labor. The specs are as follows, he is using the Cooler Maste 690II case and the parts are: Intel Corr i5-2400 Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor,Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB Hard Drive,USUS P8Z68 Mother Board, Galaxy Geforce GT520 1 GB Video Card.Kingston 8GB Ram, 700 Watt PS W7Hp. As I stated before the labor @ $35 an hour was what took me off budget but I am not complaining. Well what do you think, did I do good or what. I am so excited I could scream. I can pick it up shortly and get back to some serious gaming. I may have missed the mark on a couple of components but I am happy. This will probably be the last computer I will buy so I wanted to make it as complete as I could afford.

Lexxy if it will make you feel any better,I have purchased around 6 Cyberpower computers and have had no problems.

It sounds fine for an adventure game computer. The GT520 video card would be a bit slow for some Darkside games.
Let us know when you get it.