My new PC

As some of you will be aware I was having a great deal of trouble with my desktop PC recently and I had decided to junk it. I am having a new one built and have the specs for it and I thought I would post them and see what you folks thought of it. The price (in Canadian $) that I will be charged for this tower (no monitor) will be $2100.

Here are the specs

OS: WIN XPP

Processor: CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 1333

Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-EM S775 QC DDR2, VGA/FW/AUD/GL

RAM: Kingston Hyper-X D2 4GB 1066 KIT

HDD: SATA2 Seagate 1TB (7200 rpm) 32mb

HDD: SATA2 Seagate 500GB (7200rpm) 16mb

DVD: LG SATA DVD-RW 22X Lightscribe – Black

Video: MSI N9400GT-MD1G D2 1GB PCI-E DVI/VGA/HD

Case: CM 590 (Back)

3rd Fan: Zalman ZM-F1 Plus 80mm w/silent mode

Power Supply: Enermax 720W Infinity 24p/44+4p/6+2p

Keyboard: Logitech INT 350 (USB) Black

 

Your spending that much money?

and your only getting a Video: MSI N9400GT-MD1G D2 1GB PCI-E DVI/VGA/HD ?

The eVGA GTS 250 1GB DDR3 256bit is 220$

2100$ for the pc? You have to be kidding me. I thought about it and 1500$ would be more accurate for the price of it.

Take a look at the screen capture from one of the stores here in Canada where I go most of the time.

You are getting ripped off somewhere....

 

^ your specs look good but the price does not seem right. 2100 Canadian $ when converted to US dollars come out to be USD $1781. So without a monitor included, I think it is quite high, especially nowadays when due to recession companies are offering significant discounts.

What on the list is consuming significant dollars?

 

Definitely something is wrong somewhere and it can't be the labor either... at most... 70$ for the labor....

 

Please keep in mind that the PC is being built for me so the fellow building it has to make some money too. I did specify that I wanted a nvidia card so perhaps thats why the card in the specs is what it is. The guy building the PC suggested something else but the publisher of my principle program (a CAD program) recommends nvidia so thats what we are going with.

I have no idea what would be reasonable for someone to charge above cost for building a PC. If the base cost is $1500 as you suggest a 30% markup does not initially seem out of line to me. The guy building the PC runs a tech support service much like the Geek Squad and he is my cousins husband so I don't believe I am being ripped off but ya never know.

Thanks for the comment by the way, all comments both positive and negative are welcome. Its the only way I will learn.

 

hey there bgoodman4,

If you've check the VideoCard is a LOW end card. It won't provide much performance if your doing, AutoCAD, Photoshop or even games.

I highly recomend something MID Range. Like 9600 GTX or 9800 GTX. Those can for about 135$ CAD.

The usual labor cost of building a PC is less then 10% of the actual markup. You should be looking at around 1500$ total, including taxe and labor.

- Again the picture I provided is a screen capture of what you posted so far without the casing I'm at 1100$ The casing is about 130$ more to let's say 1230$ + Taxe and Labor. Should be around 1500$. (If you were to add something better for a videocard then your price could be well around 1700$) But definitely below 2100$.

I encourage you to look at the part prices at different location. Here's one place in BC called NCIX. You'll get around the same price as listed above. Look at the prices and don't be afraid to ask the guy how much each part cost.

Cheers,
fluxgfx

 

Thanks for the info, I already called and left a message about the card (I gave the info on the card you mentioned and would go for that one if I can at this point - is it a nvidia card?) and am waiting to hear back, I was not aware that the card was low end (but then all of this stuff is new to me). As far as pushing about the price I won't do that for the sake of the family relationship but I will check around and get a few other quotes so I know for the future. Its good to know if you can trust someone to do their best for you or not.

I fully intend to build my own PC next time but for now I just need to get a PC I can work on properly. My laptop is just not cutting it.

 

Good stuff mate. I Also live in Canada as many others do to. There's quite a few stores online with good prices and very reliable. If you need more input, please be my guest, I'll try to provide some interesting link for your PC stuff.

Cheers,
fluxgfx

 

Rule: Never hire or work for a relative or close friend.

 

Probably a good rule for sure. I may even learn to do it one day..... But really, I don't haver a problem with the couple extra hundred bucks if thats what he charges to do this sort of work,,,,,, and I have to assume he is not jacking the price up on me. Besides, if I have a problem with the PC down the road I will have no trouble finding the guy who built it.

 

What kind of monitor will you be using, any idea yet? For CAD you might want to be sure your graphics card can do the highest possible resolutions, i.e. a 30" LCD monitor can do 2560 x 1600 -- even if you're not going to that size right now, monitor prices are coming down all the time.

fwiw, My fav monitors are Samsung.

Fav graphics card (for business use, not gaming) are Matrox. Can be pricier because they're not the consumer mass-market, but they're rock-solid.

Matrox solutions for CAD/GIS:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/solutions/cad_gis/

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/media/image/press/releases/Dilbert.jpg

 

Yeah, well that last little item is, IMHO, worth every bit of the couple extra hundred.

Heck, it's likely you'd pay that much, if not more, for some sort of extended warranty and you'd be dealing with someone who really couldn't care less if you have one or more issues.

This way, as far as I can tell, you've got someone who *does* care and, presumably (being a relative), will stand behind the deal. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem paying extra for that either.

Just my $.02....

 

I am not sure about a monitor at this point. Initially I will be using my existent monitor and shortly I will be adding a 2nd so I can have 2 screens up at once. Once I have a better idea of what the card can do and how I can get both placed without losing all my desk space I will decide which monitor and size to get. The CAD program publisher recommends a monitor with 1920 x 1200 so I would use that as a starting point and work up from there. Thanks for the rec of Samsung, I will def keep it in mind.

They also recommend nvidia cards so I will def be getting one of these but its still a bit up in the air as to which one exactly (all the publisher is calling for is a 256 Mb fully open GL 2.0 compliant card --- which I find a bit on the low side).

 

My thinking exactly.

 

I just checked the canadian newegg.com with all of your specs (including XP pro OEM) and I'm getting about the same prices as FluxGFX. I had to substitute the power supply for a 750 watt Corsair which is good. With that the total was $1074.90 before taxes and shipping. The keyboard and fan were out of stock but the keyboard was either $12 or $20 depending on which model you bought and the fan was $6.

 

Sounds right. $2100 CAD/ $1750 US seems too much. And does CAD really demand that much computing power outside of an above average video card?

 

CAD demands allot in rendering.... hence the suggestion of the mid range video card.

 

Hello,

That's quite a bit ... I am planning on assembling the following for USD2500 in the near future:

i7 EE chip, mobo
12GB RAM, DDR3
2 x 1TB WD HDD
2 x DVD-RW
Nvidia 9800GTX 512MB (also considred SLI-ing two 9800GTs)
750W Corsair PSU, 3 x 16cm fans on case front rear side, 2 x 12cm fans top, cooling units on hard disks ...
19" Monitor, mouse, keyboard ...

Regards,
Mrk

 

I have come to the conclusion that for a directly built PC it is too much but I found out today that my cousins husband is not actually building the PC himself. He has some off site service that is building it and then sending it to him for delivery to me. It would seem there is profit being built into the sale on 2 levels and thats probably why its as expensive as it is. I am not pleased about this (I had originally called him and asked him to recommend a builder), and I will certainly not go back to him for another PC in the future (I would build my own anyway), but for the sake of not causing a s#*t storm in the family I will pay the extra and forget it.

Below are the cards with their NewEgg Canada prices (the cards will cost me more in the end though since both the builder and my cousins husband will want a cut). Also, if its not too much trouble, a bit of explanation of what the core clock, stream processor, and memory clock specs indicate and how important they are would be appreciated. Oh yes, is the Open GL 2.0 and 2.1 differences significant?

ZOTAC ZT-98XES2P-FSP GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -- $241.49

Chipset Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Core Clock: 675MHz
Stream Processors: 128
Memory Clock: 2200MHz
DirectX: DirectX 10
OpenGL: OpenGL 2.1
HDMI: 1 (via Adapter)
DVI: 2
Model #: ZT-98XES2P-FSP
Item #: N82E16814500037


EVGA 01G-P3-N870-AR GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -- $198.99

Chipset Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Core Clock: 650MHz
Stream Processors: 64
Memory Clock: 1800MHz
DirectX: DirectX 10
OpenGL: OpenGL 2.0
DVI: 2
TV-Out: HDTV / S-Video Out
Model #: 01G-P3-N870-AR
Item #: N82E16814130363

 

bgoodman4, your cousin's husband is a douchebag. If he is not building it, why should he profit, (he would have only made say a five minute call or filled out a web order form).

But you're very reasonable in saying rather than causing any drama, you'll forget about it. You've learned that you won't ask him to do anything for you again.

 

Yes, I agree, he is a douchebag but peace in the family is more important than the money and I leaned a few things along the way. 1 - a bunch about PCs, 2 - not to have too much to do with my cousins husband. Both valuable lessons.

Mind you maybe the builder is the rip-off artist. Its probably better if I take it for granted that this is the case and that my cousins husband is an innocent dupe (or dope). This will make it easier to remain civil with him and will still give me an incentive to avoid using his services in the future.

BUT ----- the important thing is the card. I have a PC sitting, ready for delivery except for the card upgrade, I REALLY NEED TO GET THE PC so I can get back to work, and I need to tell him which card.

HELP! please.

 

Wasn't you buying PC here??
I suppose that circumstance has been changed. Never mind.
I don't know if you already bought the PC, because you last post is of May 6th.
Now, regarding the graphic card you should go to 2xx series. I think that 9xxx is becoming old.

You can read this post here for comparison of ATI Radeon HD 4890 vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 275.

At end of the page they are recommending GeForce GTX 260 ( or Radeon HD 4870). Price for GeForce GTX 260 is $180, which is really cheap.

Fill text here :
http://www.techspot.com/review/164-radeon-4890-vs-geforce-gtx275/

GeForce GTX 260 Prices :
http://techspot.pricegrabber.com/se...word=geforce%20gtx%20260/st=list/layout=list/