Gaming Getting new system... need some help

[kaozskyblade]

So, after long disputes with best buy, my 3-year old laptop with only 4 days of extended warranty left was labeled as unserviceable, and I got the to give me $1000 in store credit towards a new computer. I've been looking through the bestbuy.com website, and I have narrowed my choices to these two:


Gateway Desktop w/ monitor and printer

or this one


Asus desktop w/ monitor


They are both a bit over $1000, but I dont mind paying a little extra for the quality of the computer. What do you guys think? Should I get one of these computers, or should I keep looking in their current stock?

 

[Originality]

Let's see. On one hand, you get a Core i7-860 with a HD5770, and you get a 20" monitor and a 3-in-1 printer thrown in. On the other hand, you get a PhenomII X6 1035T with a HD5750 and a 24" monitor. And it's $70 cheaper, probably because it doesn't include a printer.

Between the two, I'd go with the Asus desktop, even though it has a weaker GPU. I've heard people talk about how it's not worth getting a Core i7 in a desktop unless it's a 920 or higher, and I'm sure you'll appreciate the difference the extra 4" in the monitor provides (I certainly can when switching my secondary monitor from a 15" to a 19"). With the $70 you save, you can also save a bit longer to get a more powerful GPU... or just stick with the 5750 until the HD6xxx generation comes out soon.

That said, I'm sure you can get a better system if you find the parts individually. On the other hand, you've got store credit, which makes things slightly more difficult, so buying a prebuilt package is probably easier for you.

 

[scrtmstr]

The asus looks like a better deal, 'cause of it's X6 and fullHD monitor. But I doubt you will be using all 6 cores. The videocard is good though. Don't know to much about your gaming preferences, but even the 5750 is going to get you along nicely.

On the other hand, an i7 is also hugely fast, and I think you'll make a lot more use of it capabilities. With the X6 you'll most likely never use all the cores, with an i7 you probably will. And a free printer thrown in as well, if you don't need it, you can always sell it. 20 inch monitor is allright, but you can always sell it and get a bigger one if you think you need to.

Overall, I would go with the Gateway.

 

[Berthenk]

Use the money to buy your own parts and build it. You don't really need the printer.

 

[Originality]

Keep in mind, the X6 is designed to disable 3 of the cores and boost the others on the fly. The i7-860 is the low end of the i7s though, so the X6 should easily be able to meet its speed. If it were the i7-920/930, the choice would be far more clear cut.

...Wow, I never thought I'd be defending an AMD CPU over an Intel one.

 

[Berthenk]

Ah, yes, but, if kaozskyblade wants better game performance, he should go for the 5770. You can easily see the difference between the 5750 and the 5770.

 

[kaozskyblade]

Well, I want to get the best out of the desktop. I have many uses planned for it. Need it for some photoshop work, gaming, and cpu/gpu intensive programs like auto-cad and structural analysis programs.
I also want to use it as a media machine, watching videos and streaming things to my tv through a media center extender.

I would like to just shop for parts elsewhere, but I only have store credit for bestbuy, and I think it'll be better to get a pre-built one.

I know that the i7's are faster than the amds, but i think thats only true for the higher end i7's. With this new information, which one do you think is best suited for me?

I appreciate the help everyone is giving.

 

[Diablo1123]

I would go for the Gateway one if it had a better monitor. 1600x900 is weak compared to a 1920x1080.
And its got an HD5770 so the difference wouldn't be much.

Both should be fine on your TV as I'm pretty sure they got HDMI output, but don't know how your TV is on that.

 

[Originality]

Diablo, I think you've got a few point mixed up. The Asus PC has the 24" 1920x1080 monitor, not the Gateway PC. On the other hand, the Gateway has the HD5770, whilst the Asus only has a HD5750. Furthermore, he said he'll use a media center extender (think XBox 360 or PS3) for streaming to the TV, so HDMI is not required.

I've gone and done a lil research into CPU benchmarks and it seems that the PhenomII X6-1035T is the low end of the X6 range. It's more overclockable than the i7-860, but in terms of performance the i7-860 is around 15% faster, but 35% stronger (stronger meaning more stable output under heavy loads).

In other words, I take back my first post - the Gateway system is the better system. Stronger CPU and stronger GPU, whilst the rest of the system is more or less the same. You get a smaller monitor, but you get a 3-in-1 printer as a tradeoff.

 

[Diablo1123]

Diablo, I think you've got a few point mixed up. The Asus PC has the 24" 1920x1080 monitor, not the Gateway PC. On the other hand, the Gateway has the HD5770, whilst the Asus only has a HD5750. Furthermore, he said he'll use a media center extender (think XBox 360 or PS3) for streaming to the TV, so HDMI is not required.
And I think you got my post mixed up:
QUOTE(Diablo1123 @ Sep 3 2010, 10:16 PM) I would go for the Gateway one if it had a better monitor.

Definitely missed the part about the media center extender though.
Or I'm just confusing you more. Then just ignore me.

I will say that my experience with 1080p on my PS3 through wireless isn't that good.
1080p through wireless on my other computer using Windows network sharing has worked fine most of the time.

 

[Originality]

I didn't see the "if" part, so I stand corrected ;p

Streaming to a Xbox360 has been quite good in my experience, although I've yet to try on my 42" TV. As for streaming to the PS3... I definitely achieve better results from simply plugging in a laptop to the side HDMI port.