Should I buy a computer from Best Buy or have a local store build one for me?

Question

I am thinking of buying a new computer. I plan just to use it for Internet use, and some light gaming.

I have around best buy and looked at some at a local shop here in town.
The computer tech at the local shop says that I am getting a better computer then I would get at best buy for 800 US.

This is their setup list:
AMD Athlon64 3500+ 64 S940 AM2 CPU

MSI K9NNEOF nFORCE550 AM2 Main Board

IGB 2X512MB Deal Channel DDR2 RAM

MSI GeForce6200 PCI Express Video w/
256MB TC

WD250GB SATA 8 MB 7200 RPM HARD DRIVE

16x DVD +/- RW DUAL LAYER BURNER

10/100/1000 GIGABYTE LAN

56K FAX/MODEM W/VOICE

8 CHNNEL AUDIO & LABTEC SUBWOOFER SPKRS

WIN XP HOME

Also comes with a 5 year warrenty, 1 year total warrnty, and 3 year trade in (whatever that means) plan and a custom case.

In plain, non-techial English, what does each part do? What kind of quality (and value) am I getting compared to best buy?

Answer 1

for $800, that isnt bad.

the AMD Athlon 64 is your processor. before data can be used, it has to be processed and AMD makes quality processors.
estimated cost: $90

the MSI main board is your mother board which is where all the components connect to each other.
estimated cost: $95

1 GB RAM is needed for data trafficing. think of your hard drive as the garage and the RAM as the driveway. the more lanes your drive way has, the faster vehicles can exit the garage.
estimated cost: $120

the MSI GeForce card is your video card which is needed for games and high quality video. im not sure if it can quite handle the newest games that are coming out along side the new consoles being made by sony and microsoft, but it should handle most current games at near full quality.
estimated cost: $60

the hard drive is where all your data is stored and at 250GB, you will likely never have to worry about space.
estimated cost: $100

im assuming you know what a DVD burner is
estimated cost: $50

the LAN is required for networking should you decide to make a home network
estimated cost: $30

the 56K modem is required for internet
estimated cost: $20

now your speakers are where i see a problem. although it is a personal view of mine and many would say opposite. 8 channel speakers are unnecisarry. 8 channel means it can handle up to 8 speakers for surround sound. i merely dont see the point in spending $100 for surround sound on a computer.
estimated cost: $100

i am assuming you know what winXP is.
estimated cost: i am unsure how much such companies pay per license. certianly less than the $200 tag on the shelf price.

case and power supply estimated cost: $50

estimated cost of the entire system: ~$700 so they get about $100 out of the deal for building it whereas if you built one yourself, it would have cost about $750 and if you screw up something, too bad.

but yeah, it appears to be a quality computer and is likely a bit cheaper compared to a best buy make of the same specs.

Answer 2

AMD Athlon64 3500+ 64 S940 AM2 CPU= the brain

MSI K9NNEOF nFORCE550 AM2 Main Board=Board

IGB 2X512MB Deal Channel DDR2 RAM=memory

MSI GeForce6200 PCI Express Video w/=Video u see
256MB TC

WD250GB SATA 8 MB 7200 RPM HARD DRIVE=storage

16x DVD +/- RW DUAL LAYER BURNER= dvd.music

10/100/1000 GIGABYTE LAN = for internet

56K FAX/MODEM W/VOICE=realy dont need

8 CHNNEL AUDIO & LABTEC SUBWOOFER SPKRS=sound

WIN XP HOME=Needed


Local store to build it.

I bought Sony PC from best buy cost $1800, then I found out I could buy the generic pc same specs for $800.
Brand names dont mean anything.
Generic pcs are good and saves ton of money.no taxes
U dont have to wait on lines in bestbuy.

Answer 3

I have built my own computers, and purchased from stores...

I do not remember having the best luck with MSI boards, but that is not to say they have not improved thier quality.

Looks like it has good specs, but you should shop around some more. I do not think that they could compete on service, if something goes wrong.

If this is the only computer you have, and it will be the one machine you use for everything, you might consider purchasing from Best Buy or Circuit city. If you do buy from either, get the extended warrenty. Especially for large ticket electronics, they break easily, even if precautions are taken.

I think the 'built' computer would be a better deal if they gave you 2GB of RAM, but a 5 year warrant sounds too good to be true. I mean, after 3 years, your machine might be very obsolete..

HP/Compaq or a Dell would be fine, I would not by a built machine from a smaller store when you could build it yourself.

Answer 4

sounds good i would built it myself but you can get it built for you for sure that is the way to go modify the ram to 2 sticks of ocz 1 Gig of DDR2 each get a maxtor diamond10 16MB buffer 7200 250GB SATA the video card is good the CPU is very decent optical drive is good try getting it with light scribe and also get a combo drive as your d drive this will make copying movies very easy and handy also get a floppy drive with card reader slots they are cheap and very handy for digital cameras, and last but not least try installing xp pro on it you will thank yourself for that , don't buy Vista yet usually after six months the product price will go down and any flaws would be likely to be fix.
there it is. your PC for a decent price you have a better PC than the average buyer.

Answer 5

Sounds like a well-rounded system.If I were you,however,I would not only wait until Windows Vista comes out in a few months, I would double the ram.Also, I would add a CD burner to complement the DVD burner.

Now, will you answer my question too, please?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtSQy_mVn7DCWbXLMLxgDRLsy6IX?qid=20060911151746AAaYpYp

Answer 6

For around 500 you can get the compact sr1920nx from best buy, thats a true bargain and one heck of a gaming computer.

Answer 7

I would think that a local competant computor store would be able to build you a system to your exact specs