Looking for Feedback on This System From Costco

[TrailMyx]

Now this thing is climbing a little out of the price point I was hoping to keep.

That's why I always build my own.  It's worth a little elbow grease to get it installed and configured.  Don't skimp on the power supply; buy a good one from a good manufacturer. 

[UOMaddog]

yea my honest advice is to build it yourself. Your immediate thought may be "OMG there's no way I can do that" but I assure you that is far from the truth. If the average public knew how easy it was to build a computer yourself, all the major manufacturer's would be out of business. There are plenty of people on this site who would gladly help you build it from start to finish (from ordering parts to piece it together to installing all the software you may need), myself included. I would even off phone support if needed! hehe

If I get a few minutes here, I'll put together of a list of parts and some suggestions!

[UOMaddog]

Ok so it took me about 2 seconds to find this:

Barebones System
That system has:
Nice MSI motherboard
Intel i7 920 Processor
12GB DDR3 RAM (good stuff too!)
1TB Hitachi HD
EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX Video Card
750-Watt PS
Slick looking case (decent amount of fan slots too!)

When you purchase these "barebones kits" from Tiger Direct, you're technically purchasing each piece separately, it's just adding them all together in your cart. So you can easily swap out the 9800GTX for a 250 or 260 series graphics card.

P.S. That motherboard is sick:
8 x USB ports
2 x Gigabit Ethernet
Firewire
eSATA
Digital Optical Audio
and...it supports up to 24GB of RAM hehehe!

[TrailMyx]

Only problem there is I don't think that one includes the OS.  Nice one otherwise!

[redrum]

MSI MB ftl.. i will only use asus i have so much bad stuff happen with other ones...

[UOMaddog]

I've honestly never used on MSI board before (not cuz I avoid them, just cuz I haven't). I can vouch for ASUS and XFX (my current one). MSI makes really nice netbooks, but I honestly haven't used many of their other products so I don't want to say one way or another on anything. As for the OS's. Windows 7 will be fairly cheap. Also, if someone is really desperate, I can send them a copy of pretty much any OS they want! I get them free through MSDN Academic Alliance. Technically I'm the only one "allowed" to use them, but it's not like anyone ever checks that *bleep*. They give you a legit key and then you download the iso. So I can technically email you the file and the key!

[redrum]

Yeah ill never buy msi or pcchips again... awful imo

[Masscre]

ASUS prolly makes the best motherboards, but MSI makes some damn good models also just check the motherboard forums for info and a background check of the model you are interested in before you purchase.  All manufactures have made a lemon or 2 in the path to try to be the best MB manufacturers.  I have had around 8 diff asus MB's and around 6 diff msi MB's and have never had one problem with them. Also BIOStar has upped the anti on thier MB division and is pumping out some very nice MB's at lower prices than competition.

[TrailMyx]

I have a bunch of MSI motherboards and really don't have any problems at all.

[UOMaddog]

I am completely satisfied with my XFX MB that I currently have (750 series chipset). Nice layout with good spacing for my gigantic fan. (See image below). I also have an XFX 9600 in this computer. Looking to upgrade to a 250 or 260 myself. I'll run my 9600 as a secondary (not SLI or Xfire'd or anything like that) because I want to support my max of 5 monitors (currently only have 2, but have a 3rd waiting). My motherboard combined with my single graphics card can support 5 monitors (7 with a secondary graphics card), but I think that's just a wee bit too much!! Hehe!

[redrum]

is that a 120mm fan in the back?

[Cerveza]

There's a speck of dust near resistor R94.

[Paulonius]

Alright, you have convinced me Maddog I am going to order a kit.  I will run it past you before I pull the trigger to make sure you think its kosher...

I suspect that I may end up with an expensive wind chime, but I will give it a go...

[Masscre]

Yahoo another person gives the computer DIY a try.  It really simple and just get the latest driver for each device. Dont even use the drivers they send you with the devices go straight to the manufactures website and get the most recent ones and install them in your system and you should be top notch.

[Scrripty]

It's really easy Paul.  Not like 15 years ago... haha  Plug and play has almost come full circle.  It's a snap, like building a car with legos literally.   Just read the instructions. haha  Anything that crops up will just be optimizing I'm sure and we can all help with that once you get it up and running.