$1100-$1400 to build / buy a computer

[platinumyahoo]

Both of my friends and I have that ASUS Optical drive, both of them have had a problem with it opening by itsself and when you close it it opens back up, its only happend once with both of them so far, but one of them it got messed up and he had to RMA it, you dont know who the OEM for that drive is, so order something from lite-on or samsung because they are their own OEMS and you know its not some cheap crap, just a heads up.

 

[calvary1980]

Optical: Lite-on Black 20X Lightscribe $29.99

ahem

I prefer Lite-on over Samsung.

- Christine

 

[ShadowFold]

ASUS drives have been awesome for me. I have a SATA OEM non-burner one in my main rig and a ASUS Blu-Ray in my HTPC. I also have used SATA OEM's for many customer builds too

 

[platinumyahoo]

Yea and mine works fine too, but the one the OP wants to buy is the EXACT one me and my friends had, and one of them had to RMA, and the other one the problem happened it just didnt get jacked up all the way, so im just saying heads up because i would be pissed if i built a $1400 rig and some crap like that happend.

 

[Reynardin]

It's a bit late to make changes right now, I ordered the parts yesterday.
If it really comes down to it, I'll just take a cd/dvd drive off of one of my other computers and use that while I RMA it, so it's not that big of a deal. I will have a working drive no matter what.

In addition, I rarely use the cd/dvd drive on my computers in the first place, so I'd probably be fine with even a very slow and noisy one as long as it worked well enough the two times per month that I would actually use it.

 

[Reynardin]

btw, my graphics card SHOULD be good enough to play games at decently high settings for a while right? or do you think that I should try that EVGA trade-in program and get the new card about a month after it comes out?

 

[calvary1980]

eVGA step up program is tricky you can either love it or hate it the deal is you send them your card in it's original packaging if it's missing any cables in the bundle they will tax you, if your video card is $200 and you want to step up to a Geforce GTX 280 $600 you pay the difference $400 + $15 Shipping I think. they will send you a Stock Geforce GTX 280 the problem is some people can wait 6-8 months without a video card (wait in a large line) before they recieve there new one.

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

oh... =(

 

[erocker]

6-8 months is a bit on the extreme side though, I had to wait about a week and a half going from an 8800 320mb to a 640mb version.

 

[calvary1980]

it's not always that long, for the Geforce GTX 280 it probably will lol. if you google "step up program" you will get people praising it, or hating it.

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

week and a half? that's not so bad lol.

 

[calvary1980]

yes but that was for a G80. there is only a handful of people on this forum that recently stepped up.

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

it's not always that long, for the Geforce GTX 280 it probably will lol. if you google "step up program" you will get people praising it, or hating it.

- Christine

I'd probably get a wait like that if I tried to trade it in immediately, due to the demand for them and the fact that they already have the money with no time guarantee, but wouldn't you think that after a month or two, the demand would die down?

 

[calvary1980]

you could step up to a 9800GTX ($269-$244=$25 difference)

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

I may, at a later time. How much better is a 9800 GTX than an 8800gts?

 

[calvary1980]

I just told you. on newegg they have a eVGA 9800GTX for $269, your eVGA 8800GTS was $244 (rebates don't count) so you pay $25 difference + $15 Shipping/Process

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

nonono, as in performance, not price =)

 

[calvary1980]

roughly gain about an average 10 extra frames at average resolutions high resolutions 10-20 extra frames. more if you overclock it, more if you volt mod it.

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

hmm, k

 

[Reynardin]

heh, which do you guys think I should get first? Crysis or Age of Conan?

 

[AsRock]

heh, which do you guys think I should get first? Crysis or Age of Conan?

Umm Crysis was a flop to me and for AOC it's monthly payments. IF you have not played Company Of Her's grap that with xpac. Has around 32 missions for SP and MP you can play COOP.

 

[calvary1980]

thats your only 2 choices? lol

Bioshock, Sins of a Solar Empire, Neverwinter Nights 2, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Galactic Civilization II, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, World in Conflict, Unreal Tournament III, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent.

personally if I had one game to choose when I bought a new computer it would be the Orange Box.

- Christine

 

[farlex85]

thats your only 2 choices? lol

Bioshock, Sins of a Solar Empire, Neverwinter Nights 2, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Galactic Civilization II, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, World in Conflict, Unreal Tournament III, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent.

personally if I had one game to choose when I bought a new computer it would be the Orange Box.

- Christine

Agreed. fps one needs not look any further than the orange box. As I already said Bioshock was my favorite fps of late, but three great fps games, plus portal, plus TF2 for $50, that's a no brainer.

 

[calvary1980]

Portal is short, Half-Life Episode 2 is short, Team Fortress 2 you will get endless hours out of not to mention all the Half-Life 2 Mods on Steam.

Team Fortress 2 won IGN Best Artistic Game, Gamespy Best Multiplayer Game, Gamespy Unique Art Style, 1UP Best Multiplayer Expierence, 1UP Best Art Direction, nominated Spike TV VGA Awards Most Addictive Game and was nominated Spike TV VGA Awards Game of the Year.

- Christine

 

[Reynardin]

Just as a notice, I already have the orange box and cod4