How much bang for my buck did i get

[jonnieos]

After months of research and watching sales preparing for my graduation party, I got the money I needed at the perfect time; (Independence day weekend, my party was July 3rd). This gave me the opportunity to do something overclockers/computer builders always frown upon, but not this time, because CyberpowerPC had a 4th of July weekend sale which beat building a computer from newegg/tigerdirect/ibuypower/ by a long margin. I'll give you a list of what I got and challenge someone to beat the price. (Don't forget to include the same keyboard/mouse/operating system+just cause 2).

I feel I did it right for my first gaming rig where I picked the parts and definitely my first liquid cooled pc. Just lookin for advice about stuff, (clocks to expect, what needs to be upgraded)

ITEMS:
Black Mamba (NO MONITOR)
MAMBAZ, http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Black_Mamba/
*BASE_PRICE: [+4153]
BUNDLE: None
BLUETOOTH: None
CD: Samsung SH-B083L 8X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: None
CAS: Coolermaster HAF-X Gaming Full Tower Case w/ 1x230mm Red LED Fan, 1x200mm Fans, 2xFront USB 3.0 Port [-76]
CASUPGRADE: None
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-930 2.80 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366 [-743]
FREEBIE_CU: FREE Game: Just Cause 2
FAN: CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 360MM w/ Triple Fan(CPU & GPU Liquid Cool Capable, Extreme Overclocking Performance + Extreme Silent at 18dBA)
FA_HDD: None
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FLOPPY: None
GLASSES: None
HDD: 2TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [-207] (Single Hard Drive)
HDD2: None [-243]
IEEE_CARD: None
KEYBOARD: Razer Lycosa Black USB Gaming Keyboard
MOUSE: Razer Abyssus 3500 DPI High Precision Optical Gaming Mouse
MODEM: None
MONITOR: None
MONITOR2: None
MONITOR3: None
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) MSI X58 Pro-E Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFire DDR3 Mainboard [-125]
MB_ADDON: None
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [-153] (Corsair or Major Brand)
MULTIVIEW: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking [-99]
OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
POWERSUPPLY: * 1,200 Watts - Thermaltake TR2 RX Modular PSU - PN: TRX-1200M [-49]
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: None
TEMP: None
TVRC: None
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD: None
USBFLASH: None
USBX: None
VIDEO: Liquid Cooling NVIDIA GTX Series PCIe Video (Liquid Cooling NVIDIA GTX 480 1.5GB GDDR5 VRAM)
VIDEO2: None [-560]
VIDEO3: None
VC_PHYSX: None
WNC: None
_PRICE: (+1898)
_view_: d
$1,898.00x1 $1,898.00
Coupon: INSTANT (5% Discount) $-94.90
SUBTOTAL: $1,803.10
Sales Tax: N/A $0.00
Shipping: UPS Ground $65.00
GRAND TOTAL: $1,868.10

link to receipt: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/orderstatus/receipt.aspx?o=W8VQTJ

 

[Geoxile]

Well that depends, how much did you end up saving?

 

[jonnieos]

Well that depends, how much did you end up saving?

i think the same exact thing on newegg is like 2.4 to 2.5 grand with shipping right now

 

[CompuTamer]

I hate you.

 

[Geoxile]

I mean on the buypower site. Compared to the regular price it would be?

 

[jonnieos]

I mean on the buypower site. Compared to the regular price it would be?

on cyberpower the system i got started at 4.6k marked to 4.1k so i'm not sure

 

[ratbuddy]

If you're asking if someone could build a better performing system for the same money, the answer is yes. If you are wondering if you got ripped off, the answer is no. It's an OK system, for a prebuilt.

 

[Geoxile]

Full system water cooling and a 3 year warranty is pretty hard to beat imo

But just so you know. The i7 860 has shown better benchmarks than both the 920 and 930 in multiple cases that I can recall. Also, are you comparing it strictly to newegg? Or other sites and stores? Because microcenter has a 930 for just 200 USD and 860 for 220USD

 

[jonnieos]

Full system water cooling and a 3 year warranty is pretty hard to beat imo

But just so you know. The i7 860 has shown better benchmarks than both the 920 and 930 in multiple cases that I can recall. Also, are you comparing it strictly to newegg? Or other sites and stores? Because microcenter has a 930 for just 200 USD and 860 for 220USD

i7 860 might beat the 920 when they're at stock clocks but when you have them at the same clock the i7 900 series wins.
microcenter is irrelevant to me, cuz i dont live near one.

 

[jonnieos]

If you're asking if someone could build a better performing system for the same money, the answer is yes. If you are wondering if you got ripped off, the answer is no. It's an OK system, for a prebuilt.

i'm curious how u could pull that off?

 

[Conumdrum]

You bought a PC for lots of money. Congrats. Have fun.

The majority of us build our own PCs.

 

[jonnieos]

You bought a PC for lots of money. Congrats. Have fun.

The majority of us build our own PCs.

lol open ended statement telling me 2 things i obviously already know?

 

[EarthDog]

As opposed to an open ended thread that you could have done the reasearch and found out yourself (which you already did so what was the point of this thread?)?

On a serious note, nice build, yes it is possible it could have been built cheaper if you did it yourself, and you didnt get ripped off (deja vu!). As far as bang for your buck, obviously its not as good as it could have been had you built it yourself.

 

[xoke]

If you wanted the ultimate "bang for buck" you would have gone AMD, lol.

It's a good looking system though. My only thoughts would be about expandability. I mean you have a Tri-SLI mobo, but just one video card..right? I wouldn't recommended running Tri-SLI (it scales like poo), but if you decided to add another video card for regular SLI is the watercooling going to be able to handle it? And if you do add something, does that negate the 3 year warranty? And my goodness, a 1200 watt PSU for a single card rig, wow! They must have a deal with Thermaltake.

These are my concerns with pre-manufactured computers. But I don't think you got ripped off at all.

 

[Prime]

i really dont think there was alot of room to beat that price, especially given the watercooling and warranty

 

[jonnieos]

If you wanted the ultimate "bang for buck" you would have gone AMD, lol.

It's a good looking system though. My only thoughts would be about expandability. I mean you have a Tri-SLI mobo, but just one video card..right? I wouldn't recommended running Tri-SLI (it scales like poo), but if you decided to add another video card for regular SLI is the watercooling going to be able to handle it? And if you do add something, does that negate the 3 year warranty? And my goodness, a 1200 watt PSU for a single card rig, wow! They must have a deal with Thermaltake.

These are my concerns with pre-manufactured computers. But I don't think you got ripped off at all.

thank you for noticing that because it started out with a 1000 watt thermaltake psu, and it somehow lowered the price for me to go to the 1200 watt thermaltake. i wonder the same thing about the warranty and what not, i'd at least like to add a dedicated physx card if it will help (9600gt)

 

[jason4207]

To get the best bang for your $ you need to OC that thing!

Which 2TB HDD did you get? An SSD would complement that system well as an OS drive.

Also, how familiar are you with water-cooling systems? They do require (~yearly?) maintenance to keep them in top shape. Are you going to have the needed expertise to handle that? Are you covered under warranty if it leaks?

 

[jonnieos]

To get the best bang for your $ you need to OC that thing!

Which 2TB HDD did you get? An SSD would complement that system well as an OS drive.

Also, how familiar are you with water-cooling systems? They do require (~yearly?) maintenance to keep them in top shape. Are you going to have the needed expertise to handle that? Are you covered under warranty if it leaks?

well i do expect to have to refill the coolant as often as u say but this is my first liquid cooled pc. from what i interpret i think the answer to the warranty is yes http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/company/warranty.aspx

i'll make sure to overclock it as much as possible and do u think a good 30gb ssd would do the trick. (i think they choose the brand of the big hard drives, im not completely sure yet on that one.

 

[Badbonji]

I think 60GB is minimum, otherwise you won't have room for your favourite applications/games to take advantage of the speed.

 

[corruption]

A quote from the linked warranty info...

Warranties do not cover product damaged by external causes, including accident, abuse, misuse, improper installation, problems with electrical power, acts of third parties, Products that are altered or repaired by anyone not authorized by Company, usage not in accordance with instructions accompanying the Product(s), or failure to perform required preventive maintenance, including but not limited to backups, problems caused by use of software, parts and components not supplied by Company, weather conditions, lightning, fire, water, or any acts of nature or God

I've bolded and changed font to red for the areas of the disclaimer that I would be concerned with. I'm assuming that they could say that the water cooling system is "external" because it's not provided as standard gear by the component manufacturers.

Other than this concern I think that this machine will serve you well as a gaming beast....all you need to do now is overclock it! I think that buying it at it's full price is a ripoff, but the special price you got it for is more reasonable. Yes, you could have saved some cash if you had built it yourself, but everyone has to start somewhere!