14 replies to this topic

[Bongo TauKat]

In the past I have built my PCs from scratch, but as of late I have had less and less time to do so.

An Acer Predator AG3-605-UR21 Gaming PC was suggested by a friend of mine as a very good "off the shelf" gaming PC for the cost. I was wondering if any of the more current tech minded amongst my MWO brothers and sisters would have any yays, nays, or are you kidding? comments for me. I would appreciate any input.

Thanks and rock on all {S}.

[MetalBacon]

I disapprove of Acer as a PC manufacturer.
That is all.
Bacon out.

[CeeKay Boques]

You have plenty of time to build it, I just built mine, took an hour to build, an hour to install and update. What you DON'T have time for like you did before is to research and benchmark everything to make sure you're getting the up to date good stuff (how big a SSD do I need... what's an SSD?), and that slot A goes in slot B still... in a quick fast way.

Anyway, as you know its still a LITTLE cheaper to DIY, but off the shelf is getting really close.

The only thing I don't like about this is the mid budget CPU. I just don't get not putting the meatiest CPU you can put on the thing. Also the K version is overclockable, this is not. I got the i5 4670k, and it runs at 4ghz... and I swear to you the Asus MB Bios control for this was almost literally "You wanna OC this to match your Ram Speed? Y/N" (I bought the Ram overspec for this purpose).

http://www.tomshardw...-605,23458.html

Here you have a little more say anyway...

http://www.ibuypower...i7-Configurator

[Shamous13]

MetalBacon, on 16 January 2014 - 10:28 AM, said:

I disapprove of Acer as a PC manufacturer.
That is all.
Bacon out.

I have to agree with this comment. IMHO the produce crappy products. Take a look at the asus, ROG gaming laptops if a laptop is the way you want to go.

[ENDMYSUFFERING]

If you still want a customized PC, CyberpowerPC is pretty good. They'll build it for you, and you'll get warranties etc. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/
For like $10 more than the price of that PC you can get this one that is a good bit more powerful. http://www.cyberpowe...om/saved/1FR7DK

[Durant Carlyle]

Base Config:
Quad-Core? Check.
Clock Speed 3.0GHz or greater? Check.
8GB or more RAM? Check.
Discrete graphics card with 1GB or more memory? Check.

Bonus:
Intel CPU? Check.

Recommendation:
If you cannot build your own or don't want to for whatever reason, the Acer Predator AG3-605-UR21 is an acceptable machine to buy. It should give you good performance in MW:O and other games at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution.

The customized CyberPowerPC system that Flametrace linked would be better. More horsepower in both the CPU and GPU.

[DocBach]

this youtube video shows a review for the Acer unit and opens it up - it uses some pretty subpar parts butTigerdirect shows you can get it for about $800. A 3rd gen i5 and a GTX 660 would be decent for gaming, though the tiny SSD won't even fit an OS installation though and is pretty worthless.

http://www.tigerdire...2929&CatId=4910

+

http://www.tigerdire...3217&CatId=7387


would be a little bit cheaper but would have a 4th gen unlocked, faster stock speed CPU and a better GPU. About an hour of tinkering to get it running but you'd need to add an OS

[CeeKay Boques]

Durant Carlyle, on 16 January 2014 - 01:47 PM, said:

Base Config:
Quad-Core? Check.
Clock Speed 3.0GHz or greater? Check.
8GB or more RAM? Check.
Discrete graphics card with 1GB or more memory? Check.

Bonus:
Intel CPU? Check.

[Durant Carlyle]

DocBach, on 16 January 2014 - 01:49 PM, said:

Not the same system.

Those parts are only sub-par from a computer enthusiast's or overclocker's perspective. From a normal user's perspective they are perfectly fine.

The "tiny ssd won't even fit an OS installation though and is pretty worthless" is supposed to be used as a cache drive to speed up the hard drive, not as a standalone drive. And the 3620 video you linked is an older system anyway. The 3605 has a 4th Gen CPU.

[Lord Letto]

Walmart got the CYBERPOWERPCs on their Canadian Website, Cheapest is a business one for $548 Canadian with a AMD A6-6400K (Richland 3,9GHz Duel Core With Integrated Radeon HD 8470D, FM2 Socket, Unsure about Overclock?), 4GB Ram, 500GB HDD and Windows 7: http://www.walmart.c...h/6000137024002

Next Cheapest is a Gaming one for $568 Canadian with a AMD FX-4130 (Zambezi 3.8 GHz Quad Core, FM3+ Socket, Unlocked and should be able to be OCed), 8GB DDR3 Ram, AMD HD 6450 1GB, 500GB HDD, 24x DVD+-RW and Windows 8: http://www.walmart.c...0/6000099370786

My understanding is the Acer the OP Asked about is about $1K? if so the closest under $1K is a Gameing one for $948 Canadian with a Intel I5-4570 (Haswell-DT, 3.2GHz Quad Core, Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600, Socket LGA1150, Locked and can't be overclocked), 8GB DDR3, AMD HD 7850 2GB, 1TB HDD, DVD+-RW and Windows 8 64 Bit: http://www.walmart.c...0/6000109165498

Next one up from that Price wise is a Business one for $1048 Canadian with a I5-4670K (Haswell-DT, 3.4GHz, Quad Core, Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600, Socket LGA1150, Unlocked and can be OCed), 16GB DDR3 Ram, 2TB HDD, GTX 650, Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit: http://www.walmart.c...h/6000137023952

Up From that is the 1st Gaming one listed over $1K with a price of $1238, it got a AMD FX-8350 (Vishera, 4 GHz Octo (8) core, Socket AM3+, Should be able to be OCed?), 16GB DDR3 Ram, GTX 660Ti 2GB, 1TB HDD, 12x Blue-Ray Player Combo and Windows 8 64 Bit: http://www.walmart.c...0/6000099370802

Most Expensive of them all costs $2698 Canadian with a I7-4930K (Ivy Bridge-E, 3.4 GHz 6 Core, LGA 2011 Socket, Should be Unlocked and OCable), 16GB DDR3 Ram, 120GB SSD, 2TB HDD, GTX 780 3DB, Windows 8.1 64 Bit: http://www.walmart.c...h/6000135667670

[Catamount]

OP, it's not a terrible deal as prebuilt machines go. I'm not a fan of them as a rule, and I can almost guarantee they cut serious corners on that "500W maximum power" PSU, as all prebuilts do (after all, components only have to live past the warranty period), but this machine could be okay, at the right price.


Tiger direct has it on sale for $799, so figure $699 for the hardware you're buying. At that price it's not a bad hardware package at all. However that's as much as I would pay for it. If you're looking at $899, which appears to be the normal price around, I wouldn't bother. If you have enough time to game, you have enough time to take a few hours to build a PC, and actually do it right, getting a real power supply, axing the SSD for more actual gaming hardware (SSDs are great, but at this pricepoint that's too much money that could have gone elsewhere), maybe getting a better case, etc.

Edited by Catamount, 16 January 2014 - 03:38 PM.

[DocBach]

Durant Carlyle, on 16 January 2014 - 02:16 PM, said:

Those parts are only sub-par from a computer enthusiast's or overclocker's perspective. From a normal user's perspective they are perfectly fine.

The "tiny ssd won't even fit an OS installation though and is pretty worthless" is supposed to be used as a cache drive to speed up the hard drive, not as a standalone drive. And the 3620 video you linked is an older system anyway. The 3605 has a 4th Gen CPU.

my mistake, i misread a couple things.

[Bongo TauKat]

After looking at the specs I think that Cyberpower is the way to go.

As for building it myself, about 10 years ago was my last build. I would rather have someone who won't blow up the PC do it.

[Lord Letto]

Here's one I made on Canadian PC Part Picker with a base cost of about $1K if you decide to make one after all or have someone make it for you, prices may be different in the us, i just used the Canadian one cause it's easyer for me: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2CtxY
Others and improve/change brands as necessary

Edited by Lord Letto, 16 January 2014 - 04:28 PM.

[DocBach]

Bongo TauKat Talasko, on 16 January 2014 - 04:20 PM, said:

After looking at the specs I think that Cyberpower is the way to go.

As for building it myself, about 10 years ago was my last build. I would rather have someone who won't blow up the PC do it.

Right now Cyberpower has a Martin Luther King Day sale, so you can come up on some free upgrades - if you configure an i5 system with an i5 4440 and a GTX 660 you can get the same computer as the Acer but with a free wifi card, Corsair closed loop liquid cooling, and free games (Assassins Creed) for around $800. You're looking at about $130 more though for the operating system installed by them or about $100 for an OEM copy to install yourself, which kind of means those freebies become paid for.

Running a similar build through PC Part picker comes out to around $752 bucks if you build it yourself after rebates and the like, so in this case with the sales going on perhaps the prebuilt system is a better choice for you if you want an i5 with a 660.