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check this out.

MSI K9N4 SLI-F NVIDIA nForce 500-SLI MCP Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB mobo, nvidia geforce 8500 gs 512mb video card, 2 gigabytes of ram, an AMD dual core 64x 4000 processor, 160 gig hard drive, 500 watt power supply, standard certified fan and heatsink, and the option to have no OS installed on arrival making it even cheaper and allowing me to install whatever OS i please.

all for 592 dollars. all the other parts needed can be scrapped and installed from my old computer. AND, it gets shipped within 5-10 business days. you can opt for it to arrive even faster, but 5-10 business days is good enough for me. sometimes they get to you even faster than they advertise.

how's THAT for a sweet deal?

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/c...r.aspx?mid=182

Have you bought one, or do you work for them. Does it arrive already built, or do you have to build it. I assume the $592 dollars does not include Windows or Linux?

the computers come pre-assembled. i don't know of any company that sends you the parts in a jumble like you suggested. a few friends of mine ordered some computers off this website. they haven't had to upgrade their computer one bit since they got it and they were all stable machines.

and yes, that price does NOT include windows or linux. i opted to have no OS installed. some computers get that option, some you are forced to get vista or XP or something. but that's not too terrible.

i plan on ordering from them in a few months when i have the money. these guys are awesome because i've looked at other sites like dell and such. they all have similar computers but for twice the price, or they don't get such great equipment for the same price. the level of customization on that site is amazing. i love it. i think even alienware has trouble competing with these guys.

I agree, IbuyPower is pretty good ( so is that other site, I forgot the name ) they usually have like 4 GPUs inside their machines but they ended up costing over $4000+

I would rather build myself though, i'll try IBuyPower if I get the money

yeah the key words being when you have the cash. cash for me is pretty tight. i actually found out that i might have overestimated my cash flow. i was under the impression i'd be getting 200 dollars a week but it might turn out to be 200 per semester and i just misunderstood. if it's the latter, it'll be a while before i get a new computer. =(

especially the high end model i'm looking to get......and while we're on the subject, does anyone have any ideas for quick ways to get cash that doesn't involve getting a job?...i'm not sure if i have the time in between classes. getting a job is the worst case scenario right now. any other suggestions?

well in the meantime, i found out some info about buying single parts and putting it together.

the one problem i found is that the prices very too much and 90% of them are higher than what my favored site offers. i tried shopping around on tigerdirect.com, newegg.com, partspc.com, and all kinds of places to get single parts. and all of them when added together with shipping and handling ended up being more expensive.

somewhere along the line, ibuypower finds the same parts for cheaper and preassembles it all. and a good thing too. i don't know about you, but i'm too nervous to put in a cpu on my own. i'm too afraid of static frying it or putting it in right or putting on enough heat resistant gel so it doesn't fry itself.

it sounds like too much trouble unless you're good at it. and although doing it myself will help me learn how and will teach me a lot, i'd rather do it with a spare computer rather than buying a dream machine and screwing it up for good. if anything, buy two cpus and try installing one in an older machine if it fits, and then if you can do it fine, do it on the new machine. if anything

i'll go with my alternative.

Well buying premades do sometimes have problems, the reason I like building my own is because instead of having a crappy OS installed ( like Vista ) that are installed in most prebuilds.

Also my builds don't come with really annoying preinstalled programs like Norton and stuff like that.

You must have found weird parts in your searching on newegg because I built a really good computer ( better then I could "Build" on that site ) for cheaper...

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068
Powersupply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131014
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145566
DVD drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101131
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140
Videocard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150171
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103046
CPU heatsink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835101007
Thermapaste: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

Total: $838 ( might have a few dollars missing )

Then when I tried to build a similar computer with semi-good parts that the site offered it came up to 1200+

maybe i didn't get the same parts you did...

well anyway. i'm not gonna nitpick and force my way on you. i could care less what you do. i only have one thing to point out. depending on the computer you're looking at, you have the option of having a non-preformatted hard drive. no vista or xp needed. nor does it come with preinstalled software. you choose that yourself too.

as for the whole "i built it cheaper" thing, i'll have to look into that. maybe i'm not as experienced a shopper as you are because mine ended up being the same parts more expensive.

put it this way. if you can build me a computer that comes close to that one you built right there for like....5-600 bucks, then i'll crap my pants and bite off my own ear.

looks like until then, i'll have to do more shopping or succumb to ibuypower.

Tell us how happy you are three years from now, as there are reasons (not magic) for why they can sell you those products at those prices.
There is a bottom line.
It costs money to hire people to reformat and install hard drives, even in volume. It is expensive to track all those components installed. If they use slug employees, they will make mistakes, for which you benefit.
You don't know if the parts are refurbished or new, or fell off a truck.
How easily can you return a defective component, or a defective computer. I hear they charge you $85 shipping. It would be good to know those hidden costs.
The motherboard? Do you get to choose? I have no idea, but most such outfits slip under the radar with junk, basic, or home budget motherboards such as Tri-Gem, PCChips, no-name, and renamed boards.
The warranty? Even the extremely high failure eMachines have a year warranty. But by the end of the second or third year, their failures are amazingly high.
Do they beat WalMart, BestBuy, Dollar Store, eMachine, and Home Depot prices?
There is also the joy and satisfaction you get from learning then building your own.

I think this thread has gone far enough.

Thread closed.