Black Friday Deals

[Wrinklefinger]

Would anyone know of any black Friday deals for a complete system that are so awesome they shouldn't be passed up?
$500 to $800 range
$801 to $1200 range

[Wrinklefinger]

So I've been checking out www.cyberpowerpc.com. I'm not afraid of building a machine but since I need a monitor and an OS I wonder if I'll get more bang for my buck with a canned system. This site seems decent and reasonable, I was pointed here after my friend bought one. There's still a ton of options once you select a system, and that's where my lack of knowledge really makes me afraid of getting screwed. They have some (quote/unquote) "black friday deals", and this is the one that caught my eye:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/B...day_Special_I/

I like the 8gb of ram, and 3gb video card, but again I'm no expert. I'd need to add a monitor.
Some advice I would appreciate is the gut check of :
- this is a great deal or this is a rip-off.
- you could build this for about the same price, or you could build this for x amount cheaper
- this is junk, go with this build ______________
- this is fine, but I'd change x and y and buy it.

I'd need to add a monitor so I'm in the $1k price range for a complete machine.

Thanks much for your help.

[tielknight]

Pretty much anything on that site is a rip-off, they wouldn't be making money otherwise
You could build it for a good ~$100-200 less and get better quality parts.


Please fill out the info http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-build-Read-me! so we know exactly what to look for.

[Wrinklefinger]

Thanks for the quick response. I've seen people argue that some of these pre-built machines CAN be worth the money because they buy in bulk and assemble in a factory (i.e. like how Henry Ford lowered the cost of automobiles via an assembly line). That said, I'm here to get expert advice !

Budget
$1k-ish
Resolution
Best within budget - for gaming
Games / Settings Desired
Great graphics, ok sound. Diablo 3, and newer first person shooters
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
No
Country
USA!!
Parts that can be reused
Any of them but not really, since my current computer is old and not great:
System: alienware X86-based PC
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
RAM: 4.00 GB
Drive C: NTFS 224.60 GB
Power Supply: Alienware Model # NPS-750AB-1B - 750W Max
Do you need an OS?
Yes, prefer windows 8
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
Monitor only

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

Thanks for the quick response. I've seen people argue that some of these pre-built machines CAN be worth the money because they buy in bulk and assemble in a factory (i.e. like how Henry Ford lowered the cost of automobiles via an assembly line). That said, I'm here to get expert advice !

Budget
$1k-ish
Resolution
Best within budget - for gaming
Games / Settings Desired
Great graphics, ok sound. Diablo 3, and newer first person shooters
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
No
Country
USA!!
Parts that can be reused
Any of them but not really, since my current computer is old and not great:
System: alienware X86-based PC
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 3000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
RAM: 4.00 GB
Drive C: NTFS 224.60 GB
Power Supply: Alienware Model # NPS-750AB-1B - 750W Max
Do you need an OS?
Yes, prefer windows 8
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?
Monitor only

Prebuilt is never cost effective. The only place you CAN get a good cheap prebuilt is off craigslist.

buy this monitor http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
buy this videocard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-867-_-Product
buy this processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-286-_-Product
buy this motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157479
buy this heatsink http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-099-_-Product
keep your ram or buy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428
buy this power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371072
buy this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA6KX27G1080

Dont know what the total is but it's probably like 900. People would argue that if you're spending 1000$ on a PC to go intel/nvidia, and they would be right, but you're building a 650$ pc. the monitor is 350 and it's totally fucking worth it.

[Remilia]

Don't go with the above. Also it's about $1050~ without OS. The monitor is very meh in the 2560x1440 scene.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team Zeus Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.99 @ Directron)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($199.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: AOC i2369V 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1068.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 20:50 EST-0500

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

dont go with the above. he's recommending you buy a 1080p monitor in 2014.

[Remilia]

And what's wrong with 1920x1080? A good all around performing 1920x1080 monitor costs about $200-400. I'd rather take that than a crappy 2560x1440 at $350 mark. The 2560x1440 at 27" I recommend are in the $500 range which will not happen in a $1k budget with OS and such.
AOC q2770Pqu
BenQ BL2710PT
maybe BenQ GW2765HT (will see when the review comes out).

You also need to consider whether the system can even run at that resolution for games.

[Wrinklefinger]

I could save $160 and use the hard drive I have currently for now (upgrade later)

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

And what's wrong with 1920x1080? A good all around performing 1920x1080 monitor costs about $200-400. I'd rather take that than a crappy 2560x1440 at $350 mark. The 2560x1440 at 27" I recommend are in the $500 range which will not happen in a $1k budget with OS and such.
AOC q2770Pqu
BenQ BL2710PT
maybe BenQ GW2765HT (will see when the review comes out).

You also need to consider whether the system can even run at that resolution for games.

Everybody from the overclocker forums recommend that monitor. Not just because it's 1440p for cheap, but because it overclocks to 110hz. As an owner of a QNIX monitor I can tell you it's amazing. Also you recommended a cheapo monitor. AOC over benq, or asus, or even Acer? You can get 23.6" asus for 140.

What I assembled for him would play Crysis 3 at 45fps on very high/max at 1440.

also, that's pretty rude to say "don't go with the above".

[Remilia]

OC is useless.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/qnix_qx2710.htm

This screen is advertised as being able to support overclocked refresh rates up to 120Hz. We tested the QX2710 LED Evolution II DPmulti TRUE10 and it was easy enough to create custom resolutions and refresh rates which the monitor accepted. An image was displayed fine at 2560 x 1440 resolution and at 75, 100 and 120Hz refresh rates. We tested these over both DL-DVI and DisplayPort. Although the image was displayed, frames were unfortunately dropped in all cases, meaning this was all rather pointless. Some artefacts were also visible in some situations. It didn't seem to allow any useful overclocking beyond 60Hz sadly. Maybe results will vary with other models in the range of single input variants as some people have reported. The specified ability to overclock up to 120Hz is somewhat misleading for this particular model though.

and the only reason I recommended that one from the usual is because it's a decent one for the price range, going off by pcmonitor.info's review. Is it perfect? No, but within the budget constraints it'll do.

This also falls in the "popular = good" category, again.

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

I'm going to trust the community that lives and breathes overclocking over some website ive never heard of before, sorry. I run this monitor at 110hz and every game recognizes it. It's extremely noticeable too, especially when watching movies with SVP.

To recommend all the power of an unlocked intel cpu just to limit it to 1080 is just unacceptable to me. The display is the most important part of any computer build.

[Remilia]

That's rather sad. TFT Central, Prad.de Pcmonitors.info and anandtech are some of the best reviewers for displays. TFT Central and Prad.de being the most thorough.

I value display a lot if anyone on that frequents this forum has probably noticed, but I'm not going to purposely gimp a build so much just for a good display. Otherwise I'd have Eizo FS2434 / FG2421, BenQ BL2710PT / Eizo EV2736W on every single build.

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

Regardless whether or not the overclocking works, which it does, QNIX uses samsung PLS panels; the same panels that are used in those 500-600$ monitors.

You should really consider your bias.

[Remilia]

Bias against a bad monitor?

Panel is only one part of the build. Just because it has an IGZO, AHVA, PLS, IPS, VA or TN panel doesn't immediately make it good or bad. With each revision or different types of model of each panel can mean different things. Factory / manufacture calibration and set up are very important. Affects uniformity, signal processing (which can mean banding if poorly done), backlight bleed, color accuracy and so on.

Also there are more than one Qnix model btw, there are the AHVA ones and the PLS ones. Build quality for each of em are bad. It's $350 for a reason...

There's a reason why there's a difference between an EV2736W than an earlier model of Qnix's set up. Both are using PLS panels (of different models), but both are completely different in performance, or if you want to go more extreme a CG277 and a ZR2740W.

[RAGINGBRODADDY]

>bad monitor

you're just being ridiculous. the difference between panel revisions is minute. if you go on amazon's website to the link I posted for that specific monitor it has amazing reviews. the monitors are cheap because they don't meet samsung and LGs 'quality assurance', and all that means is one panel had a bad pixel out of 20 so they dumped all of them to sell to the koreans. QNIX is just as good as any 600$ samsung. Backlight bleed and dead pixels are a possibility, but that is a small risk.

your opinion is to spend more for name brand, thats fine, but it doesn't make my recommendation 'worse'.

[tielknight]

You should really consider your bias.

You should really stop bashing people when you yourself are doing the same thing that you are accusing them of.
1080p may be unacceptable for you but it is the current norm and one of the most widely-supported resolutions out there and is at a good price-point(roughly $120 for a good panel).

Amazon reviews should also be taken with a few pounds of salt. Not to mention the shipping costs you will be paying if you need to return it for any reason.

OT:

Mostly sticking with Remi's build, changed a few things though(the motherboard, GPU and the case)

Motherboard is on a very steep discount at the moment and the GPU is a better(and cheaper) option than the MSI and the case is a much better option in my opinion.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 U3 Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Zeus Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.99 @ Directron)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: AOC i2369V 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1019.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-20 00:02 EST-0500

[Deleted]

dont go with the above. he's recommending you buy a 1080p monitor in 2014.

So what you propose is an R9 280 for 1440p? And you call that a good setup? Ok you play at 1440p but at 40fps which also negates your other comments that it can be occed at 110MHz since you won't even see half of that. I rather play constant 60fps at 1080p than 35-40 at 1440p.

If the budget could include a gtx 970 but not a good 1440p monitor then the Qnix could be a decent solution.

[Wrinklefinger]

Could someone give me the low down on solid state vs. 'normal' storage? Why would the build need both? Please forgive my ignorance!!

[Deleted]

Because 1TB SSDs are still a bit expensive...

Usually you buy an SSD for the OS and the programs/games you use the most. OS for pure awesomeness, and games for less loading times.
You get the HDD for all your other stuff, such as school work, movies, less used games stuff like that. Thats why you get the SSD + HDD combo

However, if you only use the PC for gaming and not that many games than a single SSD is usually enough. But it would be atleast 256gb minimum, games are getting bigger after all....