How viable are prebuilts?

[hatsee]

Hello, I'm currently using quite an old computer here and figure it's time to upgrade. That and it's starting to make some odd noises...

So anyway how viable are these cheap, sub $500, prebuilts for some light gaming? I really only do play one game, everquest, and would like to play multiple accounts which would make the load on the computer a bit heavy I think. Now finding a decent desktop for this price is easy, it's the video card and PSU that are the problem. Which leads back to my title, how viable is it to buy one of these desktops with an open PCI-e slot and sticking in a cheap video card? Currently I am using a a64, 1gig ram, x850xtpe, so it wont exactly take much to beat this really.

What I was thinking was buying one of these desktops, popping in a video card, formatting and installing only the basics, and seeing how it works. I know I will void the warranty but basic computer stuff is not an issue for me, so I'm not worried about that.

So what do you think? Decent idea, or doomed for failure? Also for those who think this could work do you have any suggestions on a video card or a cheap desktop at the moment?

Thanks.

[sickcars]

ok well here is the thing.

If you buy a cheap $500 from futurshop/bestbuy it comes with Cheap parts which is y its $500. So your looking at a Cheap powersupply, low end crappy motherboard, cheap case with lack of cooling.

So for you to go and and a new mid range video card, you would be putting extra load on the PSU that it probably cant take or will just make it blow up prematurely. Also you will have added heat from the video card and since its a crappy case and so on, you already have a lack of cooling.

Also keep in mind you will be stuck with Vista so formatting and installing a copy of windows xp or something probably wont work since there wont be xp drivers for your system just vista.

So my opinion on this is, dont do it. Your far better off building a custom system for a few hundred more where you can get quality brand name parts that will last and not blow up when you decide to add a better video card or other parts.

[hatsee]

I planned to reinstall what the computer came with, but I'm sure there is options to not install whatever bloated software they come with, and just do the basics, no?

Also I know the cooling and PSU would suck, which is why I was looking at the sub $100 video cards really. They are not great, but if it's better than what I have I would be fine with that I think. Also those cards should not put out a lot of heat or take a lot of power, or perhaps I am completely mistaken in that regard.

I was really just thinking of dropping $500ish now and hope it lasts a year or two, then perhaps build a better one when I move on to bigger and better games. Right now EQ is not that hardware intensive, but it's enough to make what I have struggle and I simply want a boost over that. Which is why I am looking at this solution as a possibility.

[sickcars]

I planned to reinstall what the computer came with, but I'm sure there is options to not install whatever bloated software they come with, and just do the basics, no?

Also I know the cooling and PSU would suck, which is why I was looking at the sub $100 video cards really. They are not great, but if it's better than what I have I would be fine with that I think. Also those cards should not put out a lot of heat or take a lot of power, or perhaps I am completely mistaken in that regard.

I was really just thinking of dropping $500ish now and hope it lasts a year or two, then perhaps build a better one when I move on to bigger and better games. Right now EQ is not that hardware intensive, but it's enough to make what I have struggle and I simply want a boost over that. Which is why I am looking at this solution as a possibility.

well for you to reinstall what comes with the comp would be windows Vista. There are not opens to pick and choose what bloatware is installed, it just all gets installed wit hthe recovery disks. However after you install vista you can go in and uninstall what you dont want.

Well it depends on the card, if your going to get a cheap low end card then yes it wont creat much heat but if its a mid range and higher card then yes expect more heat and a good amount of load on the psu. There are some higher end cards that need a min of 300watt PSU then add all the other parts in your comp and you see where this is going.

It depends on what your current specs are? Then we can see if there would be a good enough performace boost in a $500 machine your looking at.

But either way I personally dont like prebuilt computers, because of the cheap parts they use and low reliability with the cheap parts that you get today. Which is why I still suggest you spend a little more say $800ish and get a better more reliable computer. But thats how I run things for myself and clients. I refuse to build cheap computers because it makes me look bad when they come back saying the psu blew or it keeps on overheating because of a lack of cooling and so on.