hardy - What’s backup? You mean like a warranty? It comes with a 12 month warranty, the ad says. It’s a no-name brand, I guess. The company is Medion. I figured if the sum of the name-brand parts (Pentium, Sony, etc) was okay, it would work.
StG
StGermain, backup is usually some sort of removable storage, like a tape drive or something. Personally, I think the CD-RW is fine for home backup – I just backup documents I created or can’t easily replace (emails, writing, pictures, etc.) If the hard drive ever crashes, it’s easy to reinstall all the software – I don’t think it’s worth backing up applications and the OS.
Oh, and to answer your question, that looks like a good deal to me. You might want to search the newsgroups a bit to see if there are many complaints about that retailer – some places offer good deals, and then don’t deliver, or have awful service. Be cautious.
I have that model of sound card. It’s a great card. My only gripe is that the sound seems to be tweaked for the “typical gamer”–that is, it’s a little heavy on the middle and low end and the top end sounds a bit muddy and weak to my ears. This is only a small gripe, though, because it still sounds pretty good for a pc sound card. You probably won’t notice at all, unless you’re using your computer as an mp3 jukebox, like I do. Again, that’s my only problem with it and it’s not really a major one. The sound’s more than acceptable.
Sorry I didn’t get back to you on the sound card.
I think the Turtle Beach sound card is OK. I got the speaker set with the subwoofer, but not surround sound. It sounds fine, doesn’t blow my head off or anything. Sound wasn’t a huge consideration for me - at some point I’ll probably splurge on a surround sound system and good speakers and all that, but for now the TB does the job pretty well.
You’ll LOOOOOVE the 21" monitor. I forgot to mention it, but I have one. They bought me one at my last job, and I basically could not live without one at home. After 2 hours of having that much screen real estate, nothing else seems even remotely good.
So what games ya playin’?
Right now I’m addicted to Age of Mythology, the continuation of the Age of Empires series. Next big game will be Tom Clancy’s Raven Shield. It will be so nice not to have to check “low detail” right on down the line of graphics options. December 20th, people. Life will never be the seen.
A couple recommendations: FIrst, go for Windows XP Professional rather than the home edition. I have no personal experience with the Home verison but based on articles in PC magazines, it’s definitely worth the upgrade. Second, I’ve found that a cordless mouse is truly an outstanding addition – no more having to pull the cord around or having it get stuck and restrict movement – and the price difference isn’t that significant.