HP VS Gateway?

[Rcca]

Hi guys.Hope you all a Merry Christmas.Down here in Arizona,Vac.Looking at a New PC for next year,after W/Vista as in my previous post.It will be a Pre-made Rig,Via Gateway,or HP,customize.I know want I want inside,Intel E6600,and so on.I know most of you built your own,and or high ends PC.Any recommendation of Which brand,HP or Gateway?Is any one using these Rigs?Hard choice for me?Today looked at store a Gateway new one GM5266E,But it was only with the E6400.Looked inside.Everything is real easy to get at if I was to upgrade,vs the HP,harder to get to on upgrading hardware.Memory slots burried,tighter for PCI slots.Gateway lots more room,and so one.I like Gateway's lay out,but don't know if Gateway is a good Rig,or Co.Of course most everything of hardware in PC are the same,Intel,is a Intel.Thanks if you can recommend.Noell did give me some Ideas.No,I don't plan to build my own.
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

RCCA, Is there a reason you have limited your options to Gateway or HP? I understand the desire to have somebody else build the system (I alternate between building myself and buying it built every other computer purchase). However, when I buy the computer from a system integrator, I usually try to get the best bang for my buck. In my experience, Dell, Gateway, HP, and other "large" system integrators seldom offer the best bang for the buck (and frequently use proprietary components that hinder cheap upgrades later on). Don't get me wrong - Gateway, HP, and Dell offer decent quality computers - its just that you can offer get a better computer for the money from a smaller system integrator (e.g. IBUYPOWER, Velocity Micro, ABS, PC_Overdrive, etc). Some vendors (like PC_overdrive) will even overclock the processor for you. Maybe if you could tell us the upper limit of your price range, we can make some specific suggestions.

I know your original post was limited to HP or Gateway - so I'm sorry if my recommendations seem a little off topic. I thought it wouldn't hurt to see if you expand your options a bit. Good Flying.

Rob

[Rcca]

Hope I can make this short?
"WIFE" I would end it here,but I'll fill in some more Info.
Gateway,and HP on there sites for what I have seen is the Financing.Sound good for the wife when they say 1 year,no pay,no interest.Gateway,now 6 months,Hp was the 1 year,now back to 90 days,don't know what next years offerings are going to be.
Spending price,about $1200.00-1400.00,less would be better for WIFE.Timing is never right on Buying,have to be next year.about March.
I got about $300.00 in Gift cards from Best Buy,I could go a Rig with a E6300 or E6400 at a low price,then stick a E6600 in it.This was Fry's and Circuit City's idea.The guy from Circuit City told me today,he would go for the Gateway GM5266E has the E6400,latter stick in the E6600.This guy builds his own Rigs,and I trust more than other stores.Funny,Fry's Guy said,"go for HP,he builds his too!
Rob,for what you are saying sounds good,I'll check it out.I know it's hard to steer me in the right Direction for what I'm asking.I kind of knew that for your advice would be what I thought it would be,or for anyone.Like I said,at the Top "WIFE."PC Are toys"Get what I mean?Have to find a Happy Medium.
I'm only a Med.Gamer.Okay at this Point.I do know that anything better than what I have of my old Rig would be One big giant Step Of improvment.Just yesterday Fired up My friends New Emachine for her.Wow,lot faster than Mine.Anyway,so much for keeping it short.
Thanks for replying Rob.
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

LOL Ron: Wife + Money = Trump card. A universal law understood by all married men. No problems on the recommendation. I live for this computer stuff. Knowing your constraints now, I can give one opinion between your choices. In my limited experience, Gateway has better quality and customer service than HP. So if it is really a toss up between the system specs, I would go for the Gateway.

Rob

[Rcca]

Wow,what timing Rob.I just was going to reply Back of what happened today.Jumping with Joy like a Little kid.I checked on the sites you refered.iBuyPower.Would have cost about $2,000.or more.Too much for me.Checked out Gateway site,compared to of their Models.Took a look at their FX510S,clicked customize.
E6600
2GB memory 4x
H/D 320GB Only a w/8mb cache-Gives me 2 extra Bays Open,I'll use one of Mine.
700 Watt P/S
Optical Drive 48x/32x/48xCD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Optical Drive 16x Double layer Multi-Format DVD Writer(DVD+R/+RW/CD-R/RW
Nvidia GEF 7600GS 256MB,had to keep the Price Down.
Chipset-Intel 975X Chipset with DDR2 and Intel Core Duo Support
Slots open 2 PCI,1 PC1-Ex1,PCI-Ex16 used by the 6800GS
Intergrated Intel HD Audio,I got My own Sound Card to throw in.
Lots more inside,and outside,and software.
Upgradable Free-W /Vista,Pilot on Vista for B/U in Rig,plus BU for OS
That about Does it for about $1400.00
Hope I did good?Circuity City Guy said go for GateWay too,Better Support.
The Sales guy GW,Duke,was real nice,and very Helful.We must have Shoot the Bull for about a Hour,HP guy said Hi,and Bye.Got $200.00 off,100.00 auto,100.00 on coupon # on site.Shipping,I got to wait about 2 weeks for my new Toy.WIFE,was in a Good mood.She said Go for it.Thanks Rob.Have a Happy New Year.
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

You done pretty good for $1400.00 Ron. I like the E6600 processor, the 700 watt power supply, the 975x chipset motherboard, and the free Vista upgrade. Its too bad you could only afford a videocard with 256MB memory. However, Directx9 videocards are going to start getting very cheap in a couple of months and maybe you could get the wife in a good mood again for the purchase of an ATI X1950 XT video card LOL. Enjoy the computer, enjoy the simming, and enjoy the happy wife in the new year Ron.

[Rcca]

Over a $400.00 card now?I don't think not.Even when I mention a GPU card about $200.00,she said "your out of you Mind"Got to take what I got,and don't stir the Pot up.On Gateway site,their price for a ATI crossfire was $1000.00.Wife said she can buy a lot of shoes for that price,and plus.like we all know this Rig will be 10 times better than this old clunker.Thanks for the reply.I do have about $300.00 in gift Cards,so I can put them to use latter.
Ron

[Rcca]

Oh darn it,"missed the boat".The one day the wife was out of the house toda.FedEx was here with my Dream machine,needed a signature,FEDEx could not leave it,I'm glad for that.Wife did not know until I checked Tracking,they where here.Looked out side on the Door.Tag from FedEx on door.Will try again they said.Broke my heart.I called FedEx,they said "they will put in a Request to try and hold it for pickup in the morning from me".I have to call tomorrow 1st to confirm,If it is on the truck,I'll sign the card to leave it with my Neighbor.Have to go for a Birthday party,this is killing me on the timing,but it was to arrive Tues.FedEx got ahead of their selves.At least I'll have the sweet new toy for part of the Week end.I have Monday Off too!Guess what I will be doing?Yesterday I copied my FS9 Directory Folder,it's in my External Drive.This is going to be a Fun Weekend,and I'm very Nervous too!Choice on Brand?,Internal choice?will I have any problems installing,only did this once with this Old PC 6 years ago,never had to do a reinstallment on old PC,and so on.Sounds like I'm thrilled?"like a Kid with a new Toy"going on 57 years of age.We can't explain it to the wives,and they can never understand why we sit here at endless hours at a PC flying our FS9or FSX,I love it!I was reading the Maximum PC Magazine today.very interesting stuff.We will be running maybe has much as 3 GPU'S.I left off on the MOBO article.I Read the down side about my MOBO 975X,that not to good on running Crossfire ATI GPU(supports),cards would run x8,only will have 1 PCI-E x16,and 1 PCI E x1,no 2 slots of PCI-E x16
May be am not understanding the Just of the Article?The 975x has it's weekness I guess.Oh well,new rig will at least kick my OLD rigs Butt 10 times or more.Just some thoughts and unloading.My other friends are not into all of this New PC gagets.It bores them to death.To each and his own.Fun Flying Guys.I wonder if I will get any SLEEP?
Ron

[Rcca]

Okay,I'm back,and tired.Hooked up new Rig.The only thing that is crap is the Onboard sound.I put my Audigy sound card in.Back to normal on the sound.This new Rig so far is far from GREAT!Ran Nascar 2003 season Demo.Old Rig was getting 45FPS full cars racing,now min.133FPS-Max 145FPS.Holly cow.I'ts real late.Just was eating on putting FSX.I put it in.FPS on the default Flying are,and plane Min.36FPS.Then I put the FPS lock to Unlimited.Got 30's-70's Max.I could not believe my eye balls.I had settings med.to High.This is just off my head of the setting,but it looked great,and I'm hitting the sack now.Tomorrow will be installing a SATA drive,extra Drive.Have not put in FS9.Love this New Rig.Oh yes on flying around,brought up the Task Manager.PF usage 789,CPU 1%-4%,54 processes,and everything on,internet,AVG,so on.Don't know if this is important to tell you all,but I'm flying high,Thrilled.
Ron

[Rcca]

I put my FS9 in today.70's the FPS At the Seattle Airport,and with most all Sliders all the way,but not aircraft traffic.Old PC I was lucky to get 15FPS.WOW!I love this new RIG!
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

Glad the new system worked out well for you Ron. What do you get when you take off from a big city (Like LAX or Heathrow)?

Rob

[Rcca]

Those where the only 2 I have not tried yet.I'll do it tomorrow,been real buys.Thanks
Ron

[Rcca]

Hi Rob.LAX /AA on in FS9-night time min.38FPS-Max.60's
In the day time 40's-hi 60's
Heathrow /AA on-night time hi 60's
Day time min 40's-60's
Probably aver. on both airports in the 50's
Makes my old Rig JUNK,lucky to see 10-15FPS
What can I say,I love it,anything in above 20's I'll take it,but this is Amazing Rig.Runs real Quit,real Quit.Never powers up,only when turning on PC,still quit.When I bring up to change plans,takes about 5 sec.Old PC about 1 min.and have a lot of Aircrafts.
Temp.:Core is 125c-GPU 51-52c FS9 running.Take care,thanks for all the help,and everyone else.
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

Wow - Great frame rates Ron! What are your traffic and autogen settings at?

Rob

[Rcca]

I'll get back to you on that Question Rob.
Ron

[Rcca]

Rob,Traffic is at 5%
Autogen-Very Dense
Scenery Comp-Very Dense
Add on Dyn Scenery -Dense
AA on FS9,off On GPU Display
A Filtering-16X,other stuff appt. controlled
Quality setting.had it on Performance,FPS is Better at Q,60's-70's Heathrow-Day time,threw some clouds in FPS went down by 5 FPS
That it in a nut shell.Res on FS9 1280x1024x16,didn't notice diff.on 32Bit,I'll check it again.I checked it at x32Bit,FPS about the same,but looks better,and hardly no Glimmering on Scenery.looks so good don't think I have to mess around with anything else.
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

Thanks for posting the stats Ron. Thats pretty impressive. Maybe some of the best frame rates I've heard of out of a big city. Some of the settings you mention (AA, resolution, etc) are limited by the video card which is easy enough to replace. The reason I was most interested in Traffic and Autogen is because they overwhelm the processor and that is the limiting factor in FSX (by consensus opinion). That is why it is so impressive that you were able to get those frame rates at Heathrow with Autogen set so high. Can you do me one more favor Ron? Can you keep the settings you just told me about but boost traffic (both commercial and general aviation) up to 50% or more? I'm curious. Thanks Ron.

Rob

[Rcca]

OK Rob,see what I can do.I have written down these setting I have,also I'll have to remove FS9,start over,What's the best way to remove FS9?but I don't what to go into ReG.for any reason.I can't Fire up VOZ scenery because my FS9 path is Missing,I used a Path Utility,which VOZ usally works,did not for me,it said can't find.can't help.Path only directed me to FSX ReG.So I figured Copy FS9,which I already have,remove FS9,put in 4 Disks,fly/Stop/put in MS patch/fly/stop/put in my stuff I saved,good reason to get out stuff I don't want,house cleaning,of course I saved my CFG.
OK Rob,I'll try what you requested now.Thanks.
I may remove FS9 soon,not tonight.Sun. or next week.
Ron

[Rcca]

Rob,I got to reply,tried edit,took to long,lost what I typed.
Update on raising all Traffic % Heathrow,now settings changed,just all Traffic %
1:Traffic set @60%
2:2 clicks brought plane close to me,started far distance
3:Started on runway spot view.all test @ Spot.Got 55-62FPS
4:Climbed to 2000ft.Banked to the Rt.
5:came in view,got a micro pause,no more.50's-70'sFPS
6:flew away from Airport,climbed 3000ft.banked Rt.,came in a fuller view of Airport 40's-50's FPS,that's it.
WOW!New Rig,did not expect this much Performance,I thought I would get maybe in the 30's or so FPS,suprised me.

The only,and I hope never,and don't know why.I was on My Home Page,using IE6.screen saver comes on in 10mins.
I was away from PC for about 15min.I heard the PC come out of the welcome,and heard MS music after it boots up.Could not find out why it did this?No errors in the Event viewer for this reason,nothing in Microsoft Windows updates,I checked history.Temp.was OK.Strange.
Hope it doesn't do this again.so far good.

Rob.One more thing to ask you on the Power Option Properties what is best?
Power Schemes:mine are
1:Monitor off 15min.
2:Turn off Hard Disks After 15Min.
3:Standby 15min.
4:System hibernation:never
5:Enable Hibernation:Checked marked on
Hope you can answer these Rob?
If you need me to do anymore testing let me know?
Will be going out of town for one day.Can't wait to be back and Fly!
Take care.Hope this helps?
Ron

[Stealth JAG]

Ron,

Regarding the power options, My "Enable Hybernation" box is NOT checked on. Also, my "Turn Off Hard Disks" is set to never. I don't have any problems with FSX being interrupted during game play. You might want to try changing those two settings. With regard to removing FS9, I haven't done that yet. Both FS9 and FSX co-exist peacefully on my machine so I haven't had to remove one or the other. If I were going to try remove FS9 I would do it through the control panel. Go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Find Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 A Century of Flight and highlight > Click "Change / Remove" button.

Just one last clarification Ron - Those great frame rates you got out of Heathrow - that was in FSX (Flight Simulator 10)?

Rob

[Rcca]

OK,I'll change those setting.My FS9 is no where in the ADD or Remove Programs,been there before.When I copied My entire FS9 Folder in my External Drive,fired up the New Rig copy everything in to new Drive Rig.Clicked on FSP short cut.I was flying,FS9 had to build a new cfg.then went out of FS9,and put my saved cfg.in.eerything was there,but when I started VOZ a big no go,because there is no Reg.in the Path,or something like that.Oh well on my spare time I'll delete,and use the 4 disks,and put in my stuff,and then Voz.thanks Rob.have a good one.

The Testing was Done with FS9
I have FSX Demo,Still pretty good with FSX
Had almost all sliders up,got 19-23FPS
Sliders @ med.And High about 30-40's Thanks Rob
Ron

[Scolagiaco]

Neither, buy a Dell

[Rcca]

Dell??Why?
I know a lot of people had nothing but problems with Dell PC,and support,but you may be one of them with know problems?but to me one person could have no problems,and the person could have nothing but problems,like a Car.I'm not down grading Dell,it's to each and his own.
Everything is fantastic on this end.Some times wish I never got into PC,but having fun when they are running as smooth as silk.Thanks
Ron