Getting my first desktop pc?

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

I'm looking at a basic yet expandible tower. The 'CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra GUA140'. I plan on adding more RAM, but the graphics card also needs to be replaced, as it's just not good enough.

The card I'm looking at ('EVGA - GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0') is compatible with the OS (windows7) and with the cooling, and with the power supply (500W power supply), but I can't tell if the new card will be entirely compatible, as I don't know if the tower has the correct power connectors.

Is there an easy way to tell? Does practically every power supply have a 'six-pin PCI express connector' or 'two hard disk power connectors?'

I don't know how to tell because I only started this pc stuff a couple months ago and I've never swapped out a part. If anyone knows anything, please answer. I really want a computer capable of maxing Oblivion's graphics, and this is the best, cheapest combo I've been able to find. If this isn't compatible I have no idea what I'm going to do.

Other specs:
1TB HDD
AMD Phenom II Quad Core CPU
4GB RAM by default (though I'll get more)

[theVOID]

Hard disk connectors, yes.

To be honest you're better off buying the machine as you want it, buying a sub-par rig and then upgrading parts will ultimately cost you more money. Do you know any technicians or have friends who have assembled PCs? I'd recommend asking one of them to assemble you a tower from parts, that way you can get exactly what you need and if you're buying components you'll save money compared to a pre-assembled machine.

That card you listed will more than run Oblivion, it's not much of a performance benchmark these days, any medium spec card for the last 4 years will run Oblivion on full specs.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

Hard disk connectors, yes.

To be honest you're better off buying the machine as you want it, buying a sub-par rig and then upgrading parts will ultimately cost you more money. Do you know any technicians or have friends who have assembled PCs? I'd recommend asking one of them to assemble you a tower from parts, that way you can get exactly what you need and if you're buying components you'll save money compared to a pre-assembled machine.

That card you listed will more than run Oblivion, it's not much of a performance benchmark these days, any medium spec card for the last 4 years will run Oblivion on full specs.

Thanks for the info!
I was planning on just building a pc at first, but fortunately I found an inexpensive model of desktop with quite high specs for the cost. It would have cost me almost double to buy all the parts separately actually! I'm actually a little suspicious... but that model has glowing reviews, so... *shrug*

Anyway, I'm really glad to hear about the Hard Disk Connectors!

[Jaysyn]

(500W power supply)

Don't skimp on a power supply, it will cause you nothing but trouble. Amperage is your friend. Take a look at reviews & length of warranty to get a good idea how long you should expect it to last. Power supplies wear out, cheap ones wear out much faster.

---

[Skeptic]

It used to be cheaper to build your own pc but now buying prebuilt is the cheapest option, a major part of which is that they come pre-installed with all sorts of crap that you need to remove, makes it a good deal for those of us that just remove them though.

I would suggest that the best option is to buy a pre-built machine close to what you want, you can then upgrade the parts you deem necessary and sell off the bits they replaced.

I would have thought that all PC's these days would come with a PCI-E power connector and it will come with more than 1 HD power connector.

Like Jaysyn says, don't skimp on a PSU a crappy one can take out very expensive parts. Modular ones are good as you only need to plug in the cables you need keeping airflow (and therefore cooling) to a maximum.

If you're a fan of oblivion then it might be an idea to hold out for a while and see what the recommended system requirements are for Skyrim.

Having re-read I see you might just be after the tower case, I'd just buy a basic one to be honest, fit the fans yourself, cold air in at the bottom, hot air out at the top. Larger fans make less noise and shift more air. If it has a space for a fan in the middle next to the CPU, that's an outey. Buy a decent PSU separately. Cases with decent PSU's pre-installed charge over the odds.

Oh, last thing, static electricity can kill PC components so while you're changing them about either wear a static wristband or plant a foot on a radiator to ground yourself.

[Minimalist]

I bought a Dell XPS dual core about 6 years ago and it is still going strong. All I added to it was a second SATA 750 gig hard drive. Its one of the few things I have purchased recently that actually outlived the warranty. The one time I had trouble with it they diagnosed it remotely and over-nighted me a replacement video card.

It's been a fantastic machine.

[HeyItsZeus]

I bought a Dell XPS dual core about 6 years ago and it is still going strong. All I added to it was a second SATA 750 gig hard drive. Its one of the few things I have purchased recently that actually outlived the warranty. The one time I had trouble with it they diagnosed it remotely and over-nighted me a replacement video card.

It's been a fantastic machine.

At least you're trying, old man.

[R-e-n-n-a-t]

I'm not just after the case (and I know about static, but thanks). I'm pretty much just buying one close to the specs I need, then swapping video cards.

Although... has anyone heard any horror stories from CyberPowerPC? I've heard rumors that they don't have very good customer support.
I'm buying from Amazon though, so if it arrives broken I can always send it back.

[mrjack]

I would recommend buying all the parts and assembling it yourself/having it assembled by a friend.

+ You know exactly what parts are used
+ You can get high quality parts (most large companies skimp on the power supply and/or use proprietary parts)
+ You'll learn to diagnose problems, repair/replace parts and how to get a computer up and running
- It can be a bit tricky to do it the first time (you'll probably be overly cautious), just take your time and handle the parts with care (there are a lot of guides on how to assemble your first computer)

Read/watch guides on assembling computers.

Come up with a budget and look for parts.

Read a bunch of reviews from different sites in order to get an idea of how well the part performs, if it is reliable and any issues it might have (compatibility, firmware etc.).

Once you've decided what parts to get, look for the latest drivers for the parts. Check to see if there are any major issues with those drivers on forums, tech blogs etc.

I'm willing to help you with this, if you're interested.

[leo-rcc]

I've got a Dell Precision workstation, and after 6 years it still outperforms any computer here in the Maassluis office. I was supposed to swap this machine out last year but I had no intention of going to a Optiplex desktop. All I did to it was add 2GB of RAM and a 500GB harddrive so I could run Windows 7 professional.