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Azayzel · 05-10-2007, 03:40 AM

I totally agree with what Stxopher recommends, those are some very good guidelines to follow and while I never summed them up as you have, I'm sure I'd arrive at the same conclusion. Sometimes, and for the average user, it's best to simply buy the all-in-one package you can pick up from the local Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, et al, that way it can a) be returned easy or b) purchased cheaper than you can put one together.

I've always built my own desktop PC's and was looking to build my latest as a home theater PC, HTPC, but it was tough to find the *best* case for what I wanted. Inevitably, I found a consumer-grade system from Sony that I couldn't have pieced together for the price even if I had wholesale pricing available, so I picked it up. While I wish the upgrade path was a bit easier, such as with hardware (video card), some things I had to put on a back burner for what I wanted right now.

To beat Compaq/HP's horse to death a bit more... what's up with the guys still throwing in riser-cards contraptions? Also, many are using half-height cards which are fairly tough to come by, especially if you're looking for a "power upgrade."

Back to the other guys... I friend of mine just purchased a Dell desktop that really impressed me. It had a smokin nice case, smaller than huge tower formfactor, and was pretty quick to boot! They did spend somewhere in the line of $2,000 for it, but you get what you pay for. I'm about to change my opinion of Dell if this keeps up.

In case you're wondering the specs on the system I picked up; i.e., the HTPC, it's a Pentium-D 2.80GHz, with 2GB RAM, 2 x 150GB HDD in RAID0, Windows XP MCE (I'm staying far away from Vista, for now), NVidia GeForce 6600 128MB (not too good, but reasonable), and the systems configured for HDMI-out or component-out and a full 5.1 breakout setup to pre-amp (though I prefer optical out for audio), and to top all this off, it has a bluetooth keyboard, 200 DVD changer (yep, you read it right... 200!), and blends into my TV stand with the rest of the components. All of this I picked up to $750 just before Christmas, what a phenominal gift for myself this year! Sometimes you find a great deal, I was just lucky.

05-10-2007, 03:40 AM	#24
Azayzel Cache Ninja! Posts: 643 Karma: 1002300 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Device: PRS-500, HTC Shift, iPod Touch, iPaq 4150, TC1100, Panasonic WordsGear	I totally agree with what Stxopher recommends, those are some very good guidelines to follow and while I never summed them up as you have, I'm sure I'd arrive at the same conclusion. Sometimes, and for the average user, it's best to simply buy the all-in-one package you can pick up from the local Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, et al, that way it can a) be returned easy or b) purchased cheaper than you can put one together. I've always built my own desktop PC's and was looking to build my latest as a home theater PC, HTPC, but it was tough to find the best case for what I wanted. Inevitably, I found a consumer-grade system from Sony that I couldn't have pieced together for the price even if I had wholesale pricing available, so I picked it up. While I wish the upgrade path was a bit easier, such as with hardware (video card), some things I had to put on a back burner for what I wanted right now. To beat Compaq/HP's horse to death a bit more... what's up with the guys still throwing in riser-cards contraptions? Also, many are using half-height cards which are fairly tough to come by, especially if you're looking for a "power upgrade." Back to the other guys... I friend of mine just purchased a Dell desktop that really impressed me. It had a smokin nice case, smaller than huge tower formfactor, and was pretty quick to boot! They did spend somewhere in the line of $2,000 for it, but you get what you pay for. I'm about to change my opinion of Dell if this keeps up. In case you're wondering the specs on the system I picked up; i.e., the HTPC, it's a Pentium-D 2.80GHz, with 2GB RAM, 2 x 150GB HDD in RAID0, Windows XP MCE (I'm staying far away from Vista, for now), NVidia GeForce 6600 128MB (not too good, but reasonable), and the systems configured for HDMI-out or component-out and a full 5.1 breakout setup to pre-amp (though I prefer optical out for audio), and to top all this off, it has a bluetooth keyboard, 200 DVD changer (yep, you read it right... 200!), and blends into my TV stand with the rest of the components. All of this I picked up to $750 just before Christmas, what a phenominal gift for myself this year! Sometimes you find a great deal, I was just lucky.