iBuyPower

jdratlif · Post by **jdratlif** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:22 am

I was thinking about spending part of my tax refund on a new computer. It's been a long time since I bought one (7 years or so) and a lot has changed. All the companies I'm familiar with have either gone away or changed their sales methods significantly.

But I found a pre-built computer on newegg from this company called iBuyPower that surprisingly enough has everything I want for a price I couldn't build it for myself. However, I don't like doing business with companies I don't know. Given it's been a long time since I read any trade magazines, maybe iBuyPower is the new Dell.

So, has anyone heard of this company before? Anyone buy from them?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227131

That's the machine I'm looking at. Seems like a good price to me. I don't use my machine for a lot, but here are a short list of tasks I want it to be able to do.

Play video to my television (I don't have any HDMI inputs on my TV, so it must be s-video or RCA composite)
Run osx86 Tiger (not leopard) well enough that I can compile and test my software.
Run linux with accelerated graphics
Allow my Tivo Series 1 to connect to the internet.
Allow me to connect an IDE hard drive when my Tivo drive needs to be replaced.

Most importantly, it must be SIGNIFICANTLY faster than my current setup (P4 2.0 GHz, IDE HDD, 1.0 GB RAM). Some notable waiting times: starting from the 2008.0 Gentoo release (stage3, no GRP) to a fully updated system with KDE 4.2 takes about 35 hours. Trying to convert a 43 minute west wing episode from DVD to x264 video (bitrate 1000, 2-pass): I killed it at the 6-hour mark. IIRC, it was about 1/4 done with the second pass.

By comparison, my new laptop (Core2 Duo 2.0 GHz, SATA HDD, 4.0 GB RAM). From Gentoo 2008.0 to complete system: ~6 hours. Note that this was in a 32-bit chroot using an external usb 2.0 hdd. It may be possible to reduce that time either by using the SATA HDD or moving the temp directory for the software builds into a ram filesystem. West wing conversion takes ~73 minutes.

I didn't find anything in the specs related to PATA connection support, but one of the images shows the manual for a FoxConn G31MX 2.0 motherboard. Of the four G31MX motherboards listed on their website, all claim to support at least 1 ATA connection.

kode54 · Post by **kode54** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:43 am

My brother got a new system over a year ago from iBuyPower directly, rather than through Newegg. The only problems were that the case did not have adequate ventilation (remedied by purchasing a proper case), and that the order took eternity to process. Ordering a system from Newegg will probably remedy the latter, though.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:06 am

It looks good for the price and the fact that it is pre-assembled. They did however cheap out on the video card (they are using a 50$ one, I'm speaking AUD $) which allowed them to also cheap out on the PSU which leaves you with not much room for upgrades etc. without first getting a new PSU.

aside from gaming, it should be a lot faster then what it was.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:14 pm

kode54 wrote:My brother got a new system over a year ago from iBuyPower directly, rather than through Newegg. The only problems were that the case did not have adequate ventilation (remedied by purchasing a proper case), and that the order took eternity to process. Ordering a system from Newegg will probably remedy the latter, though.

couldn't you buy another case for it on NewEgg, or perhaps scrounge one up from your hardware graveyard

kode54 · Post by **kode54** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:57 pm

adventure_of_link wrote:
kode54 wrote:My brother got a new system over a year ago from iBuyPower directly, rather than through Newegg. The only problems were that the case did not have adequate ventilation (remedied by purchasing a proper case), and that the order took eternity to process. Ordering a system from Newegg will probably remedy the latter, though.
couldn't you buy another case for it on NewEgg, or perhaps scrounge one up from your hardware graveyard

Already bought a new case way back when. Also, I don't scrounge up cases from old systems because they usually contain working motherboards and other parts.

jdratlif · Post by **jdratlif** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:21 am

I don't do any gaming, so the cheap video card isn't much of a deterrent to me. In fact, I like it cause it has s-video and dvi outputs and looks to be supported by osx86.

Has anyone heard stories about foxconn being a bad motherboard? Not working with linux? The osx86 forum is warning me to stay away from foxconn, but I can only find one story of foxconn being bad for linux, and that seems to have been resolved. Something about the Intel G33 chipset motherboards having ACPI issues under linux due to a bad bios.

Anyone use a foxconn motherboard with linux? I don't know why it wouldn't work with linux. They seem to use pretty standard components.