And it looks like the Microsoft promotion is back where if you buy a PC that's $699+, you'll get a free Xbox 360 thrown in. And as a newly minted graduate student who's been looking at getting a gaming PC for a while now, it's a nice opportunity for a free 360 to keep or sell (I'm a PS3 guy mostly, but still, won't say no to free Xbox 360, can't get Halo on the PS3).
Promotion details: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/...011/05/12/students-we-ve-got-you-covered.aspx
So to that extent, I need to buy it from a "qualifying retailer", which includes like Bestbuy, Frys, Newegg, Dell, Microsoft Store, and HP being the major ones I think. I would prefer Bestbuy in this scenario mainly because we (family) have the rewards zone thing going on, which means we get a cheap giftcard back too; however, I'm open to any place offering the best price for performance. Not really needing another laptop, which seems to be all Newegg is willing to offer with the promotion unfortunately.
What I'm ideally looking for is ~$1000 max, at least an i5 2500 (prefer Intel as I don't care for AMD's CPUs, read they're not as good), and whatever a top 20 or so graphics card would be (hell if I can tell the difference much, I just know their naming system is as fucked up as AMD's for CPUs and how Intel used to be). Doesn't really matter if it's a 3rd gen Intel CPU or not, as I really doubt anything that much better would really make any meaningful impact on game play.
So at Bestbuy, from when I was browsing around earlier, I was thinking something along the lines of these computers:
Alternatively, I could build something on the HP website akin to this (I'm not really big on HP products besides printers, but again keeping options open):
Price ~$900 (ok, I closed the page before copying it, but it was around this, maybe a bit less)
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium [64-bit]
Processor 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
Memory FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs] from 6GB
Hard drive 1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
Secondary Hard Drive No secondary hard drive
Office software Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Security software FREE Norton Internet Security subscription 15-month
Graphics card 1GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 7670 [DVI, DP, HDMI, VGA via adapter] The other option would be a 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7770 for $120 more
Power Supply 460W Power supply
Primary optical drive SuperMulti DVD Burner
Networking Wireless-N LAN card (1x1)
Productivity ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0 (front), 2 USB 3.0 (top)
TV & entertainment experience No TV Tuner
Sound Card Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound
Keyboard and Mouse Premium HP keyboard and optical mouse
So yeah, if I can get some advice from fellow smogoners, it'd be much appreciated. I haven't had a PC in a long long time, been a laptop user all throughout HS and college, but now that I've stopped moving and traveling so much, it'd be nice to get something more powerful and permanent.
Promotion details: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/...011/05/12/students-we-ve-got-you-covered.aspx
So to that extent, I need to buy it from a "qualifying retailer", which includes like Bestbuy, Frys, Newegg, Dell, Microsoft Store, and HP being the major ones I think. I would prefer Bestbuy in this scenario mainly because we (family) have the rewards zone thing going on, which means we get a cheap giftcard back too; however, I'm open to any place offering the best price for performance. Not really needing another laptop, which seems to be all Newegg is willing to offer with the promotion unfortunately.
What I'm ideally looking for is ~$1000 max, at least an i5 2500 (prefer Intel as I don't care for AMD's CPUs, read they're not as good), and whatever a top 20 or so graphics card would be (hell if I can tell the difference much, I just know their naming system is as fucked up as AMD's for CPUs and how Intel used to be). Doesn't really matter if it's a 3rd gen Intel CPU or not, as I really doubt anything that much better would really make any meaningful impact on game play.
So at Bestbuy, from when I was browsing around earlier, I was thinking something along the lines of these computers:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPower+-+Gamer+Extreme+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/4894246.p?skuId=4894246&id=1218573507685
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5036319.p?id=1218601980294&skuId=5036319
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5037017.p?id=1218601982876&skuId=5037017
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5036151.p?id=1218601979697&skuId=5036151
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5036319.p?id=1218601980294&skuId=5036319
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5037017.p?id=1218601982876&skuId=5037017
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iBuyPow...rive/5036151.p?id=1218601979697&skuId=5036151
Alternatively, I could build something on the HP website akin to this (I'm not really big on HP products besides printers, but again keeping options open):
Price ~$900 (ok, I closed the page before copying it, but it was around this, maybe a bit less)
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium [64-bit]
Processor 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
Memory FREE UPGRADE to 8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs] from 6GB
Hard drive 1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
Secondary Hard Drive No secondary hard drive
Office software Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
Security software FREE Norton Internet Security subscription 15-month
Graphics card 1GB DDR3 AMD Radeon HD 7670 [DVI, DP, HDMI, VGA via adapter] The other option would be a 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7770 for $120 more
Power Supply 460W Power supply
Primary optical drive SuperMulti DVD Burner
Networking Wireless-N LAN card (1x1)
Productivity ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0 (front), 2 USB 3.0 (top)
TV & entertainment experience No TV Tuner
Sound Card Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound
Keyboard and Mouse Premium HP keyboard and optical mouse
So yeah, if I can get some advice from fellow smogoners, it'd be much appreciated. I haven't had a PC in a long long time, been a laptop user all throughout HS and college, but now that I've stopped moving and traveling so much, it'd be nice to get something more powerful and permanent.