BF2S Forums Help me build a computer at ibuypower.com

what mobo are they offering you as the choices?

here are the reviews on the boards:

Asus:

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Asu … _650i_SLI/

MSI P6N:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1092/m … index.html

MSI P965

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardw … _platinum/

With first hand experience I only dealt with the P965 chipsets so my opinion will lead me to pick the MSI P965.

boozie wrote:

Can anyone explain the differences between

MSI P6N SLI-F
MSI P6N SLI-FI
MSI P6N SLI-platinum

I can't even find a sli-f on their website =/ and I dont' know what the F or the I stand for anyways.

edit:

F = gigabit ethernet
I = firewire
platinum = high end platform, can anyone go into further detail?
I'm assuming that means like better cooling on the board and possibly a better OC'er.

So ibuypower lists it as "MSI P6N SLI-F nForce 650i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, PCI-E MB"

Isn't IEEE 1394 firewire??? 

I read a good review of ibuypower.com at tomshardware which I assumed to be a pretty decent place since it was linked from newegg.  Is it safe to get a computer from these guys?

IEEE firewire is resident on the board. Basically, when there is a massive list like that, it tells you what is resident on the board.

I don't know anything about ibuypower.com, but the platinum mobo is pretty sexy.

The platinum mobo overclocks well, and the main difference I can see between this board and the FI board is that this one supports quad core, while FI doesn't. Seems like a pretty standard board other than that.
If you don't have the details: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813130081

Also, look at the pictures to get an idea of what the rear IO panel looks like.

Do not buy from ibuypower.

According to pretty much every review about them, one of two things will happen.

1. You get the exact computer you asked for, in mint condition, and you never have to contact their customer service department.  You are happy.

2. You get the exact computer you asked for, broken right out of the box.  You cannot fix the computer yourself because it voids the warranty.  You have to send in (and pay for shipping) your new computer and wait upwards of three months for it to come back, if they even choose to fix it for you.  Your computer was possibly built with parts that failed quality assurance testing from the manufacturer, hence why you were able to get it at such a low cost.  Essentially, you are unhappy...and out of $1500.

Seriously.  Read up on that company.  I was going to buy a machine from them but decided to read some reviews...and now I'm definitely glad I didn't use them.  Apparently your chance of success with them hovers around 50%, which, in my honest opinion, is not nearly high enough when you'll be spending that kind of money.

Try unitedmicro.com.

I got my current rig from there, before I knew how to build computers.

boozie wrote:

Is there anywhere reliable online that I can buy a mobo/cpu that's been tested together?  My biggest fear is pretty much mounting the cpu.  Easy for some of you probably, but I don't want to screw with it.  And it'd be nice to know that's not why the computer isn't working when I do run into problems building my own.  I've heard of like monarch before but I can't find them online anywhere.

mwave.com I think.

you have to pay a small fee but they will test compatibility.

Poseidon wrote:

Just build your own. That's what I'm doing.

It's not hard at all.

I already covered this....