Buying a Budget barebone kit that is upgradable which would be best?

**Bellus88** · August 26, 2011, 08:27 PM

I wanna get one for my b-day and upgrade it at christmas so I can finally start PC gaming again. It came down to this, my b-day is Oct 14. I have a 9800GT 1GB GDDR3 I can use.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...9&sku=B69-0425 This one has a ton of ram but the Hard Drive is slower and its an AMD Processor, wouldn't it be better to go with a motherboard that supports the Intel I7?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...7344&CatId=333

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...1368&CatId=333

So which one should I buy? The others have 1TB - 1.5TB but a slower Hard drive speed at 5900, would it better to get a 500gb HD at 7200?

**Bellus88** · August 27, 2011, 03:36 PM

Can someone please tell me which one would be best for me?

**Ishan** · August 28, 2011, 02:53 AM

I would go with this one that you mentioned earlier.

**PoleCat** · August 28, 2011, 07:46 AM

Seconded. It's has the best base platform for upgrading than the other two. It looks like mostly everything can be upgraded - CPU, RAM and etc. A very decent value build.

**Ishan** · August 28, 2011, 07:53 AM

He can SLI\Xfire it also in future seeing this one has a powerful PSU 780W iirc.

**PoleCat** · August 28, 2011, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by Ishan

He can SLI\Xfire it also in future seeing this one has a powerful PSU 780W iirc.

That's what I was looking at too. The first and last build have slow HDD times and low wattage PSUs as well.

**Crazyeyesreaper** · August 30, 2011, 02:41 PM

dont just look at wattage look at brand on a PSU,

need i remind people of the Diablotek1000w PSU that blew up at 500w load.

wattage dosent mean squat what matters on a PSU is the AMPS on the 12v rails.

looking at the SPECS for the unit its closer to a 600w then a 780w unit

on top of that HEC is not known for there good quality they usually take the cheapest route they can I do not recommend them

PSU to avoid

HEC, Coolmax, Diablotek, Raidmax, there more but i cant think of them off the top of my head but theres alot of PSUs out there you just avoid like the plague.

**PoleCat** · August 30, 2011, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by Crazyeyesreaper

dont just look at wattage look at brand on a PSU,

need i remind people of the Diablotek1000w PSU that blew up at 500w load.

wattage dosent mean squat what matters on a PSU is the AMPS on the 12v rails.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Understood. But remember he's buying a bare-bones bottom line basic system. He has little choice. A PSU upgrade isn't out of the question later on and not too difficult to manage. At this point his budget seems to dictate what he can afford.

**Crazyeyesreaper** · August 31, 2011, 09:47 AM

hes better off piecing one together with quality parts

with promo Code EMCKBHE39
CPU + MOBO i3 2100 + Asus P8H67
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.700848

2x2GB DDR3 1333 Team Xtreme
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313102

620w Continous Power Antec Neo Eco 80+ certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371031

Samsung F3 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

Xigmatek Asgard II case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811815004

Lite On Sata DVD burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289

Total Cost: $406 Shipped
Total Cost After PROMO CODE: $396
Total Cost After MAIL IN REBATES: $376

theres ways to drop the price further

h promo Code EMCKBHE39
CPU + MOBO i3 2100 + Asus P8H67
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.700848

2x2GB DDR3 1333 Team Xtreme
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313102

620w Continous Power Antec Neo Eco 80+ certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371031

Xigmatek Asgard II case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811815004

Lite On Sata DVD Burner + Seagate 500gb 7200rpm HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.696127

Total Cost: $380 Shipped
Total Cost After PROMO CODE: $370
Total Cost After MAIL IN REBATES: $350

for the above system after all the leg work is done he gets a far better quality PSU, Better motherboard, a better case, same capcity HDD, same amount of Ram at the same speed etc. for roughly the same exact cost.

**PoleCat** · August 31, 2011, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by Crazyeyesreaper

hes better off piecing one together with quality parts

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

for the above system after all the leg work is done he gets a far better quality PSU, Better motherboard, a better case, same capcity HDD, same amount of Ram at the same speed etc. for roughly the same exact cost.

No argument there. The question is does he have the ability to put together a full build on his own? I'd assume he was looking at bare-bones kits because he's not too comfortable with doing everything on his own....

**Crazyeyesreaper** · August 31, 2011, 09:24 PM

i dont remember if the barebones kit from Tiger Direct come assembled or not

last time i ordered a kit from them around 5-6 years ago the kit wasnt assembled so it was the same as buying all the parts seperate just the price was better, that may have changed tho, I honestly have no idea since i havent ordered from Tiger in 2 years give or take.