Amateur Gamer Filter: iBuyPower / Gateway experiences?
February 19, 2010 5:07 PM Subscribe
Should I buy a machine from Gateway or iBuyPower?
I'm looking to purchase a desktop machine that I will use primarily for gaming (nothing too serious, mostly The Sims 2/3 and World of Warcraft). I'd like to play these games at top graphics settings without problems. I think I've narrowed it down to either:
This iBuyPower machine
or
This Gateway machine
It seems to most people the answer is pretty obvious (the iBuyPower machine) but before today I had never even heard of that company, so I'm nervous about jumping into bed with them.
There was also a previous post on the green that seemed to suggest that a) iBuyPower ships with "random" motherboards and b) that iBuyPower has a "questionable reputation." In looking at the iBuyPower machine on TigerDirect, it would appear that the motherboard isn't listed. I don't know if I should be concerned about this.
I know enough about computers to know what kinds of things are important to me (graphics cards, RAM, etc), but not enough to know when/how to upgrade or replace them. If something were to go wrong with the machine, I'd have to consult a more tech-savvy friend.
Things I am willing to do:
1. Spend up to $1000
2. Buy a machine that is NOT one of the two listed above, if it meets my requirements otherwise.
Things I am NOT willing to do:
1. Upgrade components myself/Build my own PC
2. Buy a Dell/Alienware PC
So what should I do, AskMe? Should I buy the Gateway, the iBuyPower, or something else?
I'm looking to purchase a desktop machine that I will use primarily for gaming (nothing too serious, mostly The Sims 2/3 and World of Warcraft). I'd like to play these games at top graphics settings without problems. I think I've narrowed it down to either:
This iBuyPower machine
or
This Gateway machine
It seems to most people the answer is pretty obvious (the iBuyPower machine) but before today I had never even heard of that company, so I'm nervous about jumping into bed with them.
There was also a previous post on the green that seemed to suggest that a) iBuyPower ships with "random" motherboards and b) that iBuyPower has a "questionable reputation." In looking at the iBuyPower machine on TigerDirect, it would appear that the motherboard isn't listed. I don't know if I should be concerned about this.
I know enough about computers to know what kinds of things are important to me (graphics cards, RAM, etc), but not enough to know when/how to upgrade or replace them. If something were to go wrong with the machine, I'd have to consult a more tech-savvy friend.
Things I am willing to do:
1. Spend up to $1000
2. Buy a machine that is NOT one of the two listed above, if it meets my requirements otherwise.
Things I am NOT willing to do:
1. Upgrade components myself/Build my own PC
2. Buy a Dell/Alienware PC
So what should I do, AskMe? Should I buy the Gateway, the iBuyPower, or something else?
Er, by the way, I just noticed that you linked to an IBuyPower pre-configured computer at TigerDirect... if the motherboard thing is really bothering you, you can always configure your own at IBuyPower.com and choose whatever motherboard you like best from the ones they offer. I just looked over it and I see several well-regarded brand name motherboards listed.
posted by Nattie at 5:32 PM on February 19, 2010
posted by Nattie at 5:32 PM on February 19, 2010
I have an iBuyPower machine right now. I wiped whatever came with it, upgraded the sound card to something that looks like an octopus, and now it's my awesome Linux multimedia slackstation.
I have had zero problems with the thing. In fact, the biggest problems are now these:
-- I hate blue LEDs with a passion, and this thing is like the madam-freaking-butterfly of the blue LED world
-- I am NOT a murghhurmphurmphing "PC" but the entire side of the case is dedicated to a Gears of War graphic that says I am
-- There is a bit of gummy glue left over where I handily peeled the iBuyPower 3-D logo sticker off the case.
Other than that, great machine. Bear in mind that iBuyPower's support is pretty much "see real vendor for help with this" but they have forums that are pretty nice.
posted by circular at 5:39 PM on February 19, 2010
I have had zero problems with the thing. In fact, the biggest problems are now these:
-- I hate blue LEDs with a passion, and this thing is like the madam-freaking-butterfly of the blue LED world
-- I am NOT a murghhurmphurmphing "PC" but the entire side of the case is dedicated to a Gears of War graphic that says I am
-- There is a bit of gummy glue left over where I handily peeled the iBuyPower 3-D logo sticker off the case.
Other than that, great machine. Bear in mind that iBuyPower's support is pretty much "see real vendor for help with this" but they have forums that are pretty nice.
posted by circular at 5:39 PM on February 19, 2010
Forget Gateway. It will be bloated with crap and everything else Nattie said.
That leaves IBuyPower.
However, I suggest you check out local computer repair shops in your area. Repair shops will usually custom build you a machine to your specifications and they'll do it cheaper than Name brand computers; they usually offer a 2 or 3 year warranty (versus 1 year for Name brand) where they repair or fix it for free during that warranty (some will come to your home and some require that you bring it into their shop). Get out your yellow pages and make a few phone calls. (Again, I wouldn't bother with computer resellers in your area, but computer repair shops.)
posted by luvmywife at 5:42 PM on February 19, 2010
That leaves IBuyPower.
However, I suggest you check out local computer repair shops in your area. Repair shops will usually custom build you a machine to your specifications and they'll do it cheaper than Name brand computers; they usually offer a 2 or 3 year warranty (versus 1 year for Name brand) where they repair or fix it for free during that warranty (some will come to your home and some require that you bring it into their shop). Get out your yellow pages and make a few phone calls. (Again, I wouldn't bother with computer resellers in your area, but computer repair shops.)
posted by luvmywife at 5:42 PM on February 19, 2010
My husband has bought two ibuypower boxes. The quality of the hardware is excellent, but whoever assembles their computers are slackass monkeys. Every time he's unpacked one, we've had to test and double-check that all the cables and plugs are seated correctly. Other than that, no problems at all. Just a bit frustrating when you want to start playing with your shiny new toy.
posted by calistasm at 11:06 PM on February 19, 2010
posted by calistasm at 11:06 PM on February 19, 2010
The water cooling in the iBuyPower is a gimmick. These days, you can overclock just as much with an air system, and good air coolers are just as quiet as water systems. And if iBuyPower are so-so at seating connectors, I wouldn't want them messing with hoses and pumps.
Now, what's in those computers:
The i7-860 is the i5-750's big brother: it has a faster clock, and it's got hyperthreading enabled, but it's otherwise almost the same. Hyperthreading really helps for some things, not so much for others. Current games don't seem to benefit much from it (the i7-870 is a slightly faster 860).
Once you have a recent CPU, the biggest predictor of performance for gaming is the graphic card. The 4670 was about the cheapest card worth buying for gaming purposes of its generation. It will let you play the Sims and WOW at full detail and full resolution, no problem. Newer games will run, most of them quite well, but you'll sometimes have to turn the resolution/details down. The 5750 is a current-generation budget-performance card. You won't be able to play with everything enabled at crazy resolutions in hungry games, but you'll get much more performance than with the 4670.
The computers you've pointed to are very, very fast, and could run the games you've mentioned with max settings, no problem. Suppose you want a preconfigured iBuyPower.
$880. It only has a 750, but it has an Nvidia GTS250 graphic card, which is much faster than the ATI 4670.
$930. Same video card, but an 860.
$940 is pretty crazy, but there's bad feedback. The CPU (an AMD Phenom II) isn't as fast as a 750, but the Nvidia GTX275 is a seriously fast previous-generation card.
$700. The CPU is a good bit slower (but it won't matter much in most games), and the GPU is still better than the 4670.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 1:07 AM on February 20, 2010
Now, what's in those computers:
The i7-860 is the i5-750's big brother: it has a faster clock, and it's got hyperthreading enabled, but it's otherwise almost the same. Hyperthreading really helps for some things, not so much for others. Current games don't seem to benefit much from it (the i7-870 is a slightly faster 860).
Once you have a recent CPU, the biggest predictor of performance for gaming is the graphic card. The 4670 was about the cheapest card worth buying for gaming purposes of its generation. It will let you play the Sims and WOW at full detail and full resolution, no problem. Newer games will run, most of them quite well, but you'll sometimes have to turn the resolution/details down. The 5750 is a current-generation budget-performance card. You won't be able to play with everything enabled at crazy resolutions in hungry games, but you'll get much more performance than with the 4670.
The computers you've pointed to are very, very fast, and could run the games you've mentioned with max settings, no problem. Suppose you want a preconfigured iBuyPower.
$880. It only has a 750, but it has an Nvidia GTS250 graphic card, which is much faster than the ATI 4670.
$930. Same video card, but an 860.
$940 is pretty crazy, but there's bad feedback. The CPU (an AMD Phenom II) isn't as fast as a 750, but the Nvidia GTX275 is a seriously fast previous-generation card.
$700. The CPU is a good bit slower (but it won't matter much in most games), and the GPU is still better than the 4670.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 1:07 AM on February 20, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Gateway is an overpriced piece of crap that's going to come loaded with all kinds of bloatware. I don't know if they still do the "repair disks" thing instead of just giving you the copy of Windows and the software CDs for your hardware components -- maybe someone else can say for sure? -- but reformatting your harddrive for any reason tends to be a much bigger ordeal with the popular names in pre-built PCs; they assume their customers are completely computer-stupid and wouldn't know what to do if they had to reinstall windows and then their other software, so they make it one disk that usually doesn't work well at all; the disk tends to be generic so if you do any customization it'll probably be much of your software anyway, so you have to hunt for it online. This is especially annoying if you simply need a Windows disk for some reason *other* than reformatting, or if you just need the software for your soundcard or graphics card, because the disk generally won't let you do anything except a complete restore of the computer to how it was when you first got it. I'm grinding my teeth just remembering that sort of thing.
IBuyPower will simply give you the Windows CDs and the separate CDs for the software.
If you have a tech-savvy friend to assist you in upgrading the machine, then this is really a no-brainer: IBuyPower. (Upgrading things like RAM and graphics cards and harddrives is really easy, by the way, since you just take one out and put the new one in, and nothing else is shaped similarly to confuse you; it's stuff like upgrading the processor or motherboard where you have to dig a bit more and take more things out and mess with a lot more connections and stuff.)
posted by Nattie at 5:28 PM on February 19, 2010