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<blockquote data-quote="tRidiot" data-source="post: 1718125" data-attributes="member: 9374"><p>In my opinion, no way. Like I said, I never never recommend prefabs anymore. You don't have to download anything, all the parts come with drivers, really the only drivers you need are for the motherboard. Windows7 will run everything else. A simple anti-virus like Avast is free when you register it.</p><p></p><p>To compare apples to apples, drop the monitor and add a 2TB hard drive for maybe another $50-75 and you're still saving $50 or so and have a better machine, IMO.</p><p></p><p>Don't get me wrong... I'm not slamming your choices, I'm just stating my very biased opinion that home-built machines are almost always better choices than prefabs. This is my preference based on experience, and I've been doing it for many years as a hobbyist. I've probably built... I dunno, 30 or 40 machines total?</p><p></p><p>I think upgradeability is your biggest thing in a home-built that sets it apart. Driver support from manufacturers seems pretty horrible after a few years. I've seen literally a few dozen machines from Dell, Compaq, HP and Packard-Bell (there's a blast form the past, eh???) that we couldn't get drivers for after 5+ years. This essentially renders them useless huks of metal.</p><p></p><p>I could tweak that machine to make it significantly better in terms of long-term viability and still keep it within your budget. Like I said, that was a quickie throw-together, as I was at work (and am again). My opinion, get a slightly better motherboard to help with later upgrades. Nothing WRONG, per se, with the one I chose, but another $100 on the MB and you're rockin'.</p><p></p><p>I built a 2600k with a monster PSU, ASUS Maximus motherboard and 16GB of RAM for somewhere in that range.</p><p></p><p>There are so many factors... but it's definitely doable. You can get probably equivalent performance (for you) with an AMD, but I haven't messed with them since the Socket 939 days, really. Nothing wrong with them, they do fine. Maybe a bit more bang-for-the-buck kind of performance. But I really like the Core i3/i5/i7 on-board video these days. And plenty of room to upgrade.</p><p></p><p>That's the key... upgrades. And in my experience, prefabs are not very good in that dept.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tRidiot, post: 1718125, member: 9374"] In my opinion, no way. Like I said, I never never recommend prefabs anymore. You don't have to download anything, all the parts come with drivers, really the only drivers you need are for the motherboard. Windows7 will run everything else. A simple anti-virus like Avast is free when you register it. To compare apples to apples, drop the monitor and add a 2TB hard drive for maybe another $50-75 and you're still saving $50 or so and have a better machine, IMO. Don't get me wrong... I'm not slamming your choices, I'm just stating my very biased opinion that home-built machines are almost always better choices than prefabs. This is my preference based on experience, and I've been doing it for many years as a hobbyist. I've probably built... I dunno, 30 or 40 machines total? I think upgradeability is your biggest thing in a home-built that sets it apart. Driver support from manufacturers seems pretty horrible after a few years. I've seen literally a few dozen machines from Dell, Compaq, HP and Packard-Bell (there's a blast form the past, eh???) that we couldn't get drivers for after 5+ years. This essentially renders them useless huks of metal. I could tweak that machine to make it significantly better in terms of long-term viability and still keep it within your budget. Like I said, that was a quickie throw-together, as I was at work (and am again). My opinion, get a slightly better motherboard to help with later upgrades. Nothing WRONG, per se, with the one I chose, but another $100 on the MB and you're rockin'. I built a 2600k with a monster PSU, ASUS Maximus motherboard and 16GB of RAM for somewhere in that range. There are so many factors... but it's definitely doable. You can get probably equivalent performance (for you) with an AMD, but I haven't messed with them since the Socket 939 days, really. Nothing wrong with them, they do fine. Maybe a bit more bang-for-the-buck kind of performance. But I really like the Core i3/i5/i7 on-board video these days. And plenty of room to upgrade. That's the key... upgrades. And in my experience, prefabs are not very good in that dept. [/QUOTE]
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