Pre-Built Desktop Buyer's Guide: Holiday 2011 Edition
by Dustin Sklavos on November 30, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
- Systems
- AMD
- Intel
- AVADirect
- Toshiba
- Puget Systems
- WarFactory
- Holiday 2011
Budget Gaming Desktop: WarFactory Sentinel
I often feel like the number one most underserved market in pre-built desktop machines may very well be the budget gamer. If there were ever a market that needed "that friend who builds computers," this is almost always it. Mainstream vendors like Dell, HP, and Acer are notorious for skimping on graphics hardware even in their high end desktop machines, to say nothing of anything south of a large. Meanwhile, boutiques find their margins increasingly strapped when producing less expensive desktops. A fast video card is always the easiest thing to cut (though you can certainly add one later). I liked WarFactory's Sentinel because I like configurations that feel balanced, that address a target market fairly surgically and maximize the price and performance without waste.
While games like Skyrim and StarCraft II are going to be heavily CPU bound, WarFactory's decision to go with an AMD Phenom II X4 for the Sentinel remains a smart one. AMD's aging Deneb core may lag well behind Sandy Bridge in terms of clock-for-clock performance, but the extra two physical cores do help make up the difference in an era where games are increasingly taking advantage of quad-core architectures.
Component choices are smart all around; if the Puget Systems Deluge A2 was the desktop I'd order for myself if I wasn't a builder, the WarFactory Sentinel is the desktop I'd be most apt to build for someone else. I'm not a fan of the high $1,200 price for the recommended configuration (clearly not exactly budget), but a couple of tweaks to the configuration will net you a far more reasonable system.
Recommended Configuration: Reduce storage to a single 500GB Western Digital Caviar Black and reduce GPU to an AMD Radeon HD 5770.
Available from WarFactory starting at $755
LAN Machine: AVADirect Mini Custom
As far as miniature monsters go, I haven't personally dealt with a single boutique as willing to experiment with shrinking powerful hardware as AVADirect has been. To date I've played with Micro-ATX builds from both CyberPowerPC and DigitalStorm, but AVADirect is the only one I've seen go straight up Mini-ITX. Making a tiny gaming machine isn't as cut and dry as some of these bigger rigs are, but the two I've tested have both been interesting and impressive in their own right.
When you get this small, engineering starts to matter a lot more. These are circumstances where I have a harder time recommending a specific configuration; AVADirect is crazy enough to cram two AMD Radeon HD 6990s in a tiny Micro-ATX case, so they're obviously going to be able to handle whatever you ask of them.
This is a situation where I'd actually advise talking directly with their customer service about tailoring a system, something they really excell at in my personal experience. You're going to be playing a balancing act between heat, noise, heft, power consumption, and performance, and what I might personally prefer may not be suitable for you. I can't stand a computer that generates a ton of noise, but if you're going to be at a LAN and wearing headphones, that may be less of a factor for you. Either way, AVADirect is definitely the place to go for custom built LAN machines.
Talk to an AVADirect representative about tailoring a LAN machine.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
Iketh - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
You didn't read the first page did you?geofharries - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
If you're a Canadian, I really recommend shopping at <a href="http://www.ncix.com/">NCIX</a>. We've bought both fully customized and pre-built machines from them, and in all cases, get terrific customer service and buying assistance.In fact, if you go the custom PC route, just pick all of your desired parts and NCIX will follow up with recommendations or changes (if necessary) at no extra charge. Compared to the Dell, HP and Lenovo's of this world, NCIX, and others like it, are worth branching out to try something different.
Tigashark - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
I just checked "War Factory" out of curiosity as I built a similar system today for a friend...I dropped all the parts onto their website... and a similarly configured system, including windows cost ~ $400-450 more when Compared the one i just built from newegg (at regular prices)
Admittedly I went with the 880g because he isnt a hardcore gamer and the built in HD4250 is ample for browsing and video playback.. and went with a PhenomX6 1090t becuase he intends to do photo editing, so for the budget it fit perfectly.
But still... for 400 more I easily could throw in a GF 570 and turn it into a well performing gaming system and still have some change left over AND totally outperform the WF system in every way, with better quality parts too...
Not dissing that particular vendor... but also not seeing the value for a 35% markup over newegg pricing..
Then again ive had people ask me if "this is a good prebuilt" for gaming and took one quick look and seen GF520 so... very much a case of buyer beware ...
Shopping around pays off too..
Penti - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
I have actually never really got why you would want a store/internetretailer built or boutique built machine built on retail components, it's not like they would give any sort of support that would be acceptable to ordinary home users. From a real systems vendor you can get better prices, less overhead and simply machines you can't build cheaper yourself, since they order their parts according to their specs from the contract manufacturers and ODM's. The only drawback is that it can be hard to get a machine configured properly for example for gaming. However when it comes to quality and formfactor you can hardly build a machine like HP's workstation lineup with z800, z600, z400 and z200. Chassis the boutique builders and other small system builders use don't compare.Scannall - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
A couple years ago now I was about to build a gaming rig. And right as I was getting ready to buy parts, I saw a really good sale on a Cyberpower PC that was just about identical to what I was going to build. And it was just over $200 LESS than buying the parts and building it myself. So, I went the pre-built route instead.When Ivy Bridge comes out I'll look at building a replacement. Maybe I will see another sale? Only time will tell.
Penti - Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - link
Alienware is btw a bit on it's way out just like Voodoo PC was thrown out of HP, you'd be better off just buying/getting a XPS line PC. Most of the time. The Auroraline seems pointless. On another note at least the MAINGEAR Shift looks better when it's built with a custom chassi which other small vendor systems don't use most of the time. All still have stock retail components though.For 1200 you get a whole gaming machine with SSD when you build yourself yet you recommend a Puget system that starts at above 1200 USD without a graphics card. When you get an XPS 8300 with 560Ti/6870 for 1200 for example. They are only not options when you need faster graphics cards. (Preinstalled any way). But you can get the Alienware Aurora or HP H8XT with a better graphics card like GTX 580 for about 1500 dollars for the HP and about 1800 for a Aurora with 2x6870, so I fail to see the value of the Pugets systems here. Your recommended configure for the Deluge A2 is 2200. Maybe you should take a look at systems like HP h8xt when it's prebuilt machines we are talking about anyway. I see no reason to promote Puget and AVADirect really any way. Btw for ~900 you can at least get a PC with GTX 550Ti graphics. Yet you recommend a machine for 800 with way worse. Sentinel as suggested costs 1000 USD.
MrCrispy - Thursday, December 1, 2011 - link
1. If you want a pc for normal usage, buy a Dell/HP. They go on sale all the time (Dell pretty much have a coupon always), there's the Factory Outlet etc. Just can't beat the price, esp if its refurb/used.2. For a more custom pc, pick Cyberpower/iBuypower, and pick your own parts. Both have an excellent selection and you pay maybe $50-$100 max premium over Newegg, which when you count the Windows license comes out to a wash. And these go on sale too. If you don't like something, you can always replace/fix/upgrade it since it is a custom build unlike the specialized cases/mobos used by option #1.
Toughbook - Thursday, December 1, 2011 - link
I was recently in the market for a desktop, having never actually built one myself, I really wanted to try it. Being self employed did not help with the time factor too well, so I ended up going into my local MicroCenter and got a Lenovo K330 for $649.00. I feel the specs are pretty darn good, but I can't seem to figure out what segment this would fall into. Any help out there?i5-2300K
Nvidia GTX 520
1TB 6Gbps HDD
Intel 82579 Lan
Wi-Fi
USB 3.0 x2
6GB Ram
16N1 Card Reader
I just can't seem to find a comparable unit at this price. I had an Intel 80Gb G2 SSD laying around that I wasn't using and made it the boot drive and geez this thing screams!
piroroadkill - Thursday, December 1, 2011 - link
A 2300K would be an interesting bargain if it existed. I had to double check, because I was certain only the 2500K and 2600K were unlocked in the SB line.And they are.
LoneWolf15 - Saturday, December 3, 2011 - link
I find that if you want solid, reliable, without being flashy, the Dell Vostro desktop line gets the job done. The 260 minitower can be had in no-frills configurations (sans monitor) for $300-400, the 460 for a bit more.