Is this a good deal?

[thun0r]

Hello all..... Hope you can help.

I'm looking to buy three desktops, my nephew said he can build them for me as he does this as a side line. If possible I would like people to commit if the price is good and the parts inside are the best for that price???

Here goes:
PC#1
CASE
Asus TM982 Black MicroATX Case with 400w aPFC PSU
MOBO
MSI P6NGM-L, NVIDIA MCP73V, S 775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2 533/667, SATA II, SATA RAID, On Board VGA, µATX
CPU
Intel Pentium Dual-Core, E2180, Socket 775, Allendale Core, 2x2.0 GHz, 1MB Cache, Retail
RAM
2GB Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC2-5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5
HDD
160 GB Samsung HD161HJ Spinpoint T166, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ
OPTICAL DRIVE
Samsung TS-H653B/DEBH 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x12 DVD-RAM SATA Black OEM

TOTAL PRICE = £199.99

PC#2
CASE
Coolermaster Centurion RC-532 Black+Silver Trim Case w/o PSU
PSU
450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified
MOBO
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, 9x Multiplier, Retail
RAM
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX
HDD
250 GB Hitachi 0A35399/OA33423 Deskstar T7K250, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ
GPU
512MB XFX 9800 GTX+ XT, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 2200MHz GDDR3, GPU 765MHz, 128 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV
OPTICAL DRIVE
ASUS 2014L1T 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, x14 DVD-RAM, SATA, Lightscribe, Black OEM

TOTAL PRICE = £599.99

PC#3
CASE
Coolermaster RC-1000 *New V2* Cosmos Silver/Black Silent Aluminium Full Tower Case w/o PSU
PSU
650W TX Corsair PSU, single 12V rail, energy efficient, quiet & cool, fully compatible, 5yr warranty
MOBO
Asus P5Q, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1200/1066/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo, E8500, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.16 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, 9.5x Multiplier, Retail
RAM
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator, PC2-8500(1066), 240Pin, NonECC Unbuffered, CAS 5, EPP
HDD
640 GB Western Digital WD6400AAKS Caviar Blue, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms
GPU
1GB BFG Tech GTX 280 OC, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Mem 2214MHz, GDDR3, GPU 615MHz, 240 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I
OPTICAL DRIVE
LG GGC-H20L Lightscribe SATA 16xDVD±R, +RWx8/-RW x6 Also READS Blu-Ray/HD Discs black OEM (Inc Soft)

TOTAL PRICE £1299.99

I want to put trade through to my nephew so I'm not looking to shop around, I hope you guys can give me some quality feedback on these, I want to be sure that the parts inside are the best for what I am paying. If not how much should I be paying for them?

Thanks people

[SiM]

Looks great to me...

[staffsMike]

The first one is the wrong way to go imo, unless there will be overclocking.

You would get a better PC this way imo.

Antec NSk3480 + 380W Earthwatts ~£53
Asus 780G motherboard ~£45
AMD 4850e ~£40
2GB PC6400 ~£30
and the rest of his picks are fine.

It will be more efficent, quiet and has great onboard gfx performance, no worries if later it were to get a blu ray drive etc..

[martinm10]

agree with mike

[thun0r]

OK great... sounds good so far I will take what Mike says too.

Any comments on the other ones, do they have good parts??

[staffsMike]

Second one is pretty good, be aware that you would get better value for money from an ATi HD4850 and better support from pretty much anyone but XFX. Also, although 450W is ample for that card, the PSU only has 1 PCIe power cable so you will need to use the the boxed adapter for the GTX (the HD4850 only requires the one though )

The case is fine but the antec 300 is cheaper and has better cooling I believe. I'd also try to find a 320GB single platter Samsung spinpoint as the 250GB drive won't be too fantastic.. thats quite minor though.

I don't see the point in the E8500 in the last one, the E8400 is going to be almost identical unless you are overclocking where I believe the E8500 is very good. I hope this is going to be gaming at very high resolutions though else the graphics is overkill.

The motherboard is pretty basic as well, you might want to look further down the range to see if there are things you want that the plain P5Q doesn't offer.

And a minor touch would be an after market cooler for noise and cooling purposes though not essential. And I would personally use samsung DVD drives in all of them, though that is very minor indeed lol

[PeterStoba]

No you can get PC 1 and 3 for less than the cost of PC3 or PC 2 and 3 for not much more than 3 itself...

PC1 costs £171.15 in components
PC2 costs £492.22 in components
PC3 costs £939.58 in components

The total cost of components is £1,602.95, for something costing you £2099.97

Meaning he is making £497.02 from something that should be £100 MAX, espcially since it's family...

[staffsMike]

It should be nothing if it's family lol.

I think my dad actually took a bit of money off me when I built his PC .. he did buy me a car though so I didn't take too much offense

Are these PC's all for different people or just yourself? No need to say if you don't want to but what is the reason for 3 and what are their purposes?

[PeterStoba]

That's what I mean, money aside though, the specs aren't bad, mike's covered it all as usual

[thun0r]

I dont mind you asking......

PC1 is for the office, PC2 is for my house I rent when I work in London and the third one is for me at my home.

I dont mind him making a little money out of this, like I said its a little sideline business he has going.

[PeterStoba]

A little money is acceptable, but £500 is a bit much I reckon, assembling 3 systems should take around 2 hours max...

[SiM]

He is ripping you off a little actually... Buy the parts yourself and pay him £200 to build them all

[staffsMike]

Ok so certainly a need for all of them Unless we start throwing laptops into the mix lol

[PeterStoba]

1 is not a bad cost, 2 is bad and 3 is terrible

[thun0r]

Thanks for the advice I'll see what he says armed with my new knowledge !!!

[Blitzen]

#1 - Looks OK value

#2 - I wouldnt pay more than £375 for

#3 - I wouldnt pay more than £750-800 for.