Hardware opinions please.

My kids computer went on the fritz again. Its an old AMD system that is way past fixing anymore. I found this system for $400.

Opinions?? He's already earned a decent video card to put into something else, so could this be the ticket?

eMachines T5062 Desktop Computer $400 AR @ Office Depot

Description
The eMachines T5062 desktop computer lets you get more from your work and entertainment, such as sending email, downloading music and editing your digital photos with speed and efficiency. It features the AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+, with 1.0GB of memory, a 160GB high-performance hard drive, multiformat DVD burner and stereo speakers.

Its actually $600 with a $270 rebate. I figure just add another gig of ram and he should be set.

Paladin, would that video card work with this??

http://www.officedepot.com/ddMain.do?level...V_60_SC_6001003

Comes with Vista premium which he is dying to get too. I want fast and easy but not junk.

nVidia GeForce 6150SE with up to 128MB of shared memory

I would make sure you can disable that and add a new video card. Other than that, it sounds alright.

In my experience E-Machines are a mixed bag. I think they assemble machines based on what parts they can get in bulk that month. I have seen some that worked great, I have seen others that were sheer hell from day 1. And almost everything in between.

Beyond that, well look into Atomms post and see what your conscience tells you. But I have seen the brand go both ways

Ack, your right. I googled that video and its an onboard video that isn't worth crap. No way. Those are typically the cheapest motherboards with almost no slots left. I bet the cpu is even soldered onto the board.

Crap ;p , I should have known. I just wasn't in the mood to research and order parts again.

See this is why I get pissed at the games anymore. I have to upgrade x's 3. Gets priceeeey.

The biggest problem I see with trying to build a system yourself is Vista is going to cost $129-$200+ by itself.

If we knew his systems current specs, I bet we could come up with an upgrade path, but I don't know about the Vista part.

Atomm wrote:
The biggest problem I see with trying to build a system yourself is Vista is going to cost $129-$200+ by itself.

If we knew his systems current specs, I bet we could come up with an upgrade path, but I don't know about the Vista part.

Yah I know, but Vista isn't worth it as the main reason to upgrade. He has a vista theme that does just as good 🙂 He just wants Vista to play Halo2... Kids... hehehe.

I just picked up a new harddrive and gave it a fresh install. That will have to be good enough. Its just an AMD 1800, PC2700 ram, and APG video, so its never going to run anything newer no matter what I do to it. I'd rather start fresh. I was only looking at price, not 6 months from now.

If you see a complete system that IS worth the price, I'd appreciate the links. Thanks for the help.

I will tell you I have always done good in the dell outlet bin, they often have machines for $400. Now I wouldn't use them as my primary gaming rig, but they would at least compete with what you had spec'd out there.

I just got a Core 2 Quad Core machine that is stacked for $800

Linky?

well the outlet is basically computers that were returned, because either a bad part or they weren't wanted... etc. I have bought at least a dozen in the past few years. They are refurbed, so they are essentially brand new. If it was a bad video card they replace the card then put it in the outlet bin. Now, you go in and search and sometimes there are great deals sometimes there are not. I will often look for a week or so. The machines in the outlet turn over VERY VERY fast so if you see it there you had better buy it, cause it won't be there long. I foudn this quad core in there... got lucky, but it happens.

Now I have never bought one that was "off lease" and I have only bought a few "scratch and dent" The scratch and dent weren't noticable. And I have had less issues with these outlet machines than the new ones I have bought. All and all it's a good deal.

here is a link to the dell outlet (I hope). http://www.dell.com/content/products/categ...;l=en&s=dfb