$600 budget - Prebuilt but willing to upgrade

[Simca]

If you came into here to try to convince me to build it myself, please hit the back button on your browser. It isn't my computer nor my decision (I have built all my computers for years) and I will not goad my friend further about it than I already have.


As some of you may know, it is the Dell Outlet spring sale as of this morning (http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/?cs=22&...=mn&redirect=1) and everything is 20% off after a coupon. This was unexpected - my search was mainly focused on i3 based systems in the $430 range. I had planned to get one of those and convince him to upgrade the PSU and get a discrete video card like an HD 6770 or 6850.

Now, I'm looking at the i5-2320-based Inspiron 620 MTs they have up. After the discount, they are within his price range (to still be able to get a $40 PSU and HD 6850 afterwards). After some internet reading, the biggest complaint (by far) is the PSU. Apparently it is notoriously unreliable and is the cause of a lot of its returns. Since he'll be replacing that, I'm not terribly worried.


However, I don't like to act hastily, so what do the fine users of MMO-Champion think?

[hapylol]

Simca,

Can you provide a link that works or write out the technical details?

[Simca]

Sure, but the links may not work since the stock is -literally- changing minute to minute as people buy a lot and Dell throws more out. Here's my general search link (Inspiron 620 with i5s): http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...=22&l=en&s=dfh

Here's two of them:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...&puid=12eda817

$489 New ($391 after coupon)

• Processor: Intel Core i5-2320 processor(6MB Cache, 3.0GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
• Inspiron 620 Minitower
• 500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
• 6 GB DDR3 Memory (1X2G/1X4G), 1333MHz
• 16X DVD +/- RW Drive

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...&puid=8dbfa812

$479 Certified Refurbished ($383 after coupon)

• Processor: Intel Core i5-2320 processor(6MB Cache, 3.0GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
• Inspiron 620 Minitower
• 500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
• 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
• 16X DVD +/- RW Drive

I imagine since the Refurbished ones have the same "As New" Dell warranty, Refurb vs New doesn't really matter for Dell Outlet, in which case saving on a future memory upgrade would be nice, but is not required.

[hapylol]

For the price they look decent. The main problem I have with recommending pre-builts is you get the shit brand of almost everything and DELL is notorious for this.

I guess you could go with the refurbished computer and get a 6870+.

[jmacphee9]

For the price they look decent. The main problem I have with recommending pre-builts is you get the shit brand of almost everything and DELL is notorious for this.

I guess you could go with the refurbished computer and get a 6870+.

the almost as good 7770 would be a better choice due to the lack of a GPU connector his PSU will have.

[glo]

the almost as good 7770 would be a better choice due to the lack of a GPU connector his PSU will have.

7770 is nowhere close to a 6870.

[vesseblah]

I imagine since the Refurbished ones have the same "As New" Dell warranty, Refurb vs New doesn't really matter for Dell Outlet, in which case saving on a future memory upgrade would be nice, but is not required.

The second computer (refurb) will run about 5% faster because it has proper dual channel RAM, first one is mismatched and will run in single channel configuration.

[Simca]

7770 is nowhere close to a 6870.

The main issue as well is that the 7770 costs an absurd amount for its performance right now. Based on some bad things I had heard about the Dell Inspiron 620's power supply, I thought it would be better in the long run to get a decent and stable PSU sooner rather than later.

The second computer (refurb) will run about 5% faster because it has proper dual channel RAM, first one is mismatched and will run in single channel configuration.

Yeah, unforunately, it was gone instantly after I made the post. :<

My friend settled on a new version of the first one with a wireless card - came out to $391 after the rebate. He then got a CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ($30.99 after promotional code and rebate) and a SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB ($148.39 after promotional code and rebate).

So in the end:

Intel Core i5-2320 processor(6MB Cache, 3.0GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Inspiron 620 Minitower
500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
6 GB DDR3 Memory (1X2G/1X4G), 1333MHz
16X DVD +/- RW Drive
Dell Wireless 1502 802.11b/g/n
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB
Corsair CX500 V2 500W

The entire thing came out to like $590-something. Since he was out of budget, he can just grab a 8 GB (4 GB x2) kit for like $30 sometime in the near future. I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome - I think it would be extremely hard to beat that for a prebuilt system at normal prices. I don't think he'll even care the RAM issue for a while - his old computer was 8 years old and had 1 GB of RAM. It initially came with 2x 256 MB sticks. Yeah.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Once you have sorted the RAM (Mushkin, G.Skill, Corsair, Patriot) out your friend will have a nice little system there.