HPE-372F or CUSTOM BUILD?

[SGP495]

Hey everyone,

I currently have a dilemma because I have the choice between the HPE-372F desktop computer and a custom PC. Since I'm living in Montreal, Canada I have to always count the taxes in addition to the price. Basically, I'm stuck with one pre-built computer and one that I can build at PCZONE ( https://www.pcczone.com/ ). Personally, it seems to me like there's not a big difference between those two machines, so it would be nice if anybody could give me an advice. Sadly, I cannot build my PC by buying the parts I need for some reasons (it's complicated to explain). My budget is 1450$ with taxes/max which is 1200-1250$ without taxes. So here's the two computers:

1) HPE-372F (1200$)

Intel Core i7-860
2.80 GHz
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM (Expandable to 16 GB)
1 TB - 7200RPM
ATI Radeon HD 5770 - 1GB

This is the link for more details:
HP Elite Intel Core i7-860 Computer (HPE-372F) - Future Shop


2) Custom PC (arround 1350-1400$ ), the price isn't that bad if you tell me it's worth it.

-Intel Core I7 860 2.8GHz QUAD CORE PROCESSOR (BX80605I7860) or

Intel Core I5 750 2.66GHz QUAD CORE PROCESSOR (BX80605I5750) - This would make me save 100$

Intel Core I5 760 2.8GHz QUAD CORE PROCESSOR BX80605I5760 (-100$ too)

-Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 LGA1156 DDR3 Motherboard ATX

-Kingston 4GB KIT DDR3 KVR1333D3N9K2/4G

-WD Caviar™ Black™ WD1001FALS, 1 TB SATA

-ASUS EAH5830DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card
or (which are similar in the price)

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 768MB DDR5 768-P3-1362-AR Video Card

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 1024MB DDR5 01G-P3-1465-TR Video Card

ASUS ENGTX465/2DI/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card

or

XFX Radeon™ HD 5850 1024 MB DDR5 DisplayPort HD-585X-ZAFC Video Card (IF i take off the i7 processor)


-Asus XONAR ESSENCE STX Sound Card

-CORSAIR CWCH50 Hydro Water Cooler LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 High-Performance CPU Cooler

-Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500w (RS-500-PCAR-A3) or

Thermaltake TR2 500W Power Supply Core i5 & i7 Ready (W0379RU)

-ANTEC NINE HUNDRED TWO (0761345-15920-1) Gaming Case or

Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Mid Tower

Link:
https://www.pcczone.com/pc-builder/


Like I said, I cannot use any other resources like newegg.ca or NSIX. Also, I could go to MICROBYTES in Montreal ( MicroBytes Montreal Computer Ordinateur ) but I'm pretty sure it's gonna cost me more money to build it there because they are evil.

My guess is that the custom build PC is way better, but I would still like to hear your advices.

Thank you .

[glc]

I'll take almost anything over an HP, but I'm not a big fan of Gigabyte motherboards or Thermaltake/Coolermaster power supplies. You don't need the sound card or the water cooler.

You could do a LOT worse. Get the 5830 or the 1gb GTX460. I'd probably get the Thermaltake PSU. The i5-760 is the best deal.

[Nikon]

if you are a gamer, got with the 2nd option, selecting the i5 760 and the 1gb gtx 460.

even if your not a gamer, the 2nd one will probably leave you in a better spot.

[SGP495]

Thanks for helping me out. Overall, I understand what you mean by the processor and video cards.

Anyway, a nice person recommended me this set up which is AMD based.

The custom, for sure.

I went through their builder and put this one together. The total on it is $1292.25.

AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHZ Black Edition (HDZ965FBGIBOX)

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 DDR3 MOTHERBOARD ATX

Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ KHX1600c9d3K2/4G

WD Caviar™ Black™ WD1002FAEX 1 TB SATA 6.0GB/s HDD

EVGA GeForce GTX 465 1024MB DDR5 01G-P3-1465-TR Video Card

LG GH22NS50 SATA Black

CORSAIR CWCH50 Hydro Water Cooler LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 High-Performance CPU Cooler

Corsair TX650W CMPSU-650TX

Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Mid Tower

Microsoft Windows 7 PRO 64-bit English 1PK DVD OEM (FQC-00765)

Complete assembly and testing of the system includes 6 months warranty
The 965 will give you the same performance as an i5 750, but both the chip and the motherboard will cost you less.

Go with the 1600 RAM as the motherboard will run it native. Kingston > OCZ.

The price difference is negligible, so go with the 6GB/s drive. The WD Blacks have a five year warranty vs three year with Seagate anymore, plus they are faster.

EVGA offers a lifetime warranty on the 465 but not on the 460. I have no idea why.

They didn't give you much choice on CPU coolers, that's for sure.

Corsair is a much better brand than CoolerMaster as far as PSUs go.

I believe it's a better buy, I could even go with the AMD II PHENOM X6 for only +30$

What are your thoughts ?

Thanks again for taking your time to help me make the right decision.

[glc]

Disregarding the warranty, the 460 1gb card is a better card than the 465. The 465 is a hot running pig, and in some benchmarks the 460 beats it.

I urge you not to get the water cooling.

I don't express opinions on AMD processors and motherboards, someone else will have to do that.

[Nikon]

amd vs intel breaks down to this:

raw power: intel > amd

value: intel < amd

overclockability: depends on the particular cpu, but in general intel < amd

ehh, there isnt anything here about amd vs intel... is there?

[glc]

No, there is no "versus" intended. I don't comment on AMD simply because I don't build with AMD and do not know the ins and outs.

[SGP495]

why are you so categorical about not getting the water cooler?

[quartet-man]

I can't answer why (although I suspect it isn't really needed, is extra expense and maybe hard to implement), but I will say that GLC knows his stuff. If I were you, I would listen, but of course it is your build. Nonetheless, you are asking advice and opinions and GLC sure is one who knows.

[SGP495]

Originally Posted by quartet-man If I were you, I would listen, but of course it is your build.

It is for my general knowledge which is very limited in computer building.

[SGP495]

Also, since it is my build like you said, I have to take care of providing full information so I get the right advice. I actually only have two other choices for CPU cooling:


ZALMAN CNPS10X EXTREME LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler

ZALMAN CNPS10X QUIET LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler

[David M]

Originally Posted by SGP495 why are you so categorical about not getting the water cooler?

You won't get anything out of water cooling unless you are an extreme overclocker, and even then you have to get the right water cooling equipment to do this if you want to go beyond what the best air cooled heatsinks are capable of. The downside is that you might destroy hardware caused by a leak. If the purpose of the water cooling is to impress others then it's not as impressive as it once was. Seemingly everyone sells a water cooling kit now. No different than a bolt on exhaust kit for a Honda Civic.... no big deal.

You can get some pretty significant overclocks on air with the huge heatsink blocks with the 120mm fans and you don't risk squirting coolant on your hardware.

I'm not against watercooling. That's just the facts as I see them. I have also built 3 custom water cooled computers.

[Nuclear Krusader]

In the wise words of DrZaius, regarding water cooling: "If there's a small leak, you're motherboard goes *sizzle*. If your pump stops working, your CPU goes *sizzle*."

[SGP495]

Originally Posted by David M You won't get anything out of watercooling unless you are an extreme overclocker, and even then you have to get the right watercooling equipment to do this if you want to go beyond what the best air cooling is capable of. The downside is that you might destroy hardware caused by a leak. If the purpose of the watercooling is to impress others then it's not as impressive as it once was. Seemingly everyone has a watercooling kit now. You can get some pretty significant overclocks on air with the huge heatsink blocks with the 120mm fans and you don't risk squirting coolant on your hardware. I'm not against watercooling. That's just the facts as I see them. I have also built 3 custom water cooled computers.

Cool! Thanks for the info, very helpful to know...I will definitively get the 120mm air fan.

[glc]

The Zalman Quiet is plenty good enough. To be honest, if you can get them to build it with a stock AMD or Intel cooler, you can save some money - those Zalmans are about 70 bucks.

[SGP495]

Heres what I came up with your & some other help:

$1,431.88 1 x Intel Core I5 760 2.8GHz QUAD CORE PROCESSOR BX80605I5760 1 x Asus P7P55D-E PRO LGA1156 Motherboard AT 1 x Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ KHX1600c9d3K2/4G 1 x WD Caviar™ Black™ WD1002FAEX 1 TB SATA 6.0GB/s HDD 1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 768MB DDR5 768-P3-1362-AR Video Card 1 x LG GH22NS50 SATA Black 1 x ZALMAN CNPS10X EXTREME LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler 1 x Corsair TX650W CMPSU-650TX 1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Mid Tower 1 x Microsoft Windows 7 PRO 64-bit English 1PK DVD OEM (FQC-00765) 1 x Complete assembly and testing of the system includes 6 months warranty

OR

$1,355.91 1 x AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHZ HDT55TFBGRBOX 1 x ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 DDR3 MOTHERBOARD ATX 1 x Kingston 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ KHX1600c9d3K2/4G 1 x WD Caviar™ Black™ WD1002FAEX 1 TB SATA 6.0GB/s HDD 1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 768MB DDR5 768-P3-1362-AR Video Card 1 x LG GH22NS50 SATA Black 1 x ZALMAN CNPS10X EXTREME LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler 1 x Corsair TX650W CMPSU-650TX 1 x Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Mid Tower 1 x Microsoft Windows 7 PRO 64-bit English 1PK DVD OEM (FQC-00765) 1 x Complete assembly and testing of the system includes 6 months warranty

[glc]

The Extreme coolers are noisy, go with the Quiet. You also want the 1gb version of the GTX460, there's several differences other than just the amount of ram between it and the 768mb version. Far superior at a nominal price increase. You can save money on the Intel system by getting the non-Pro version of the motherboard. Just don't get the LX version.

[SGP495]

My bad, I meant that I wanted to get the quiet coolers....I might have clicked the wrong option.
I could get the ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT too, is it any good?

Sorry but I'm getting a little confused: do you mean the ASUS GTX460 1GB?
If not, then I can't get the GeForce GTX460 1GB on this site because it's simply not available.
Or is it the same thing?

ASUS proudly presents ENGTX460 DirectCU graphics cards, the latest addition to the new NVIDIA GeForce 400 Series. It’s all about super direct cooling meeting the hyper power of these cards, exclusively produced with DirectCU thermal design for 20% cooler operation and Voltage Tweak to drive performance 50% higher than reference. Better yet, the ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 and ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 ship with specially-selected, overclocked GPUs like all performance-minded TOP cards, with speeds of 700MHz or above to ensure gaming superiority.

Nevermind I guess.

As for the motherboard, thanks! There's no doubt on that one. I don't even know why I chose the pro ( I guess the pro word seemed cool )

[glc]

From your previous posts:

-ASUS EAH5830DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card or (which are similar in the price) ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 768MB DDR5 768-P3-1362-AR Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 465 1024MB DDR5 01G-P3-1465-TR Video Card ASUS ENGTX465/2DI/1GD5 1GB DDR5 Video Card or XFX Radeon™ HD 5850 1024 MB DDR5 DisplayPort HD-585X-ZAFC Video Card (IF i take off the i7 processor)

I actually only have two other choices for CPU cooling: ZALMAN CNPS10X EXTREME LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler ZALMAN CNPS10X QUIET LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3 CPU Cooler

[SGP495]

Originally Posted by glc From your previous posts:

yea yea i know, i got it before you wrote that message lol.

I was just wondering what you think about the ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT cooler because I saw it at the last moment (it comes only as a choice with the Intel chipset)

[glc]

I'd take the Quiet.

[SGP495]

Originally Posted by glc I'd take the Quiet.

Roger. Thanks for your time and the feedback..this build makes a lot of sense now.

[quartet-man]

Originally Posted by SGP495 Roger. Thanks for your time and the feedback..this build makes a lot of sense now.

His name isn't Roger, it's George.

[SGP495]

Originally Posted by quartet-man His name isn't Roger, it's George.

What's yours ? Smartass?

[quartet-man]

Originally Posted by SGP495 What's yours ? Smartass?

At times one would think. I have been called that on occasion.

[glc]

Dave's not here, man..........

[SGP495]

well I got the pc and its awesome, runs very very well....havnt tried games like crysis or anything like that cuz its too expensive for me but GTA4-BOGT works more than fine. Thx again for the suggestions, i built exactly what u told me.

hopefuly ill send some photos when i get a camera.