Choose cheaper desktop computer: DIY versus branded - part 2

In the last article, I have reviewed whether it's worth the hassle to build your own desktop pc. This time, I will take a look at what the famous brand - HP- offer to us with their latest promotion, "Kungfu Panda" desktop series :P. The desktop pc I will use for comparison here is HP Pavilion M9222 with the following specifications :

1. Processor : AMD Quad-Core Phenom™ X4 9500 (2.2 GHz, FSB 2200, Cache 4x 512 KB)
2. Motherboard : Unknown with chipset nForce 430
3. Memory : Standard 2x1 PC 6400 DDR2
   
4. Vga Card : NVidia GeForce 8500GT 256 MB
5. Audio : onboard 7.1 channel
6. Harddisk : 320 GB Serial ATA-II/300, 7200 RPM, Cache 8 MB
7. Keyboard : HP PS/2 Standard Keyboard
8. Mouse : HP Optical Scroll Mouse
   
9. Card Reader : 15 in 1 Media Reader
10. Operating System : Microsoft* Windows Vista Home Premium
11. Monitor : HP 19" LCD
12. Chassis : Mini Tower ATX
    

HP bundled printer HP F2180 with this desktop pc and gives price tag at $1185. Now, we will see if this promo is worth to be called as promo or not :P. Let's summon peripherals for our desktop pc then....

Tadaaa, the specifications is as follows:

1. Processor : AMD Quad-Core Phenom™ X4 9550 - $194
2. Motherboard : Asus M2N (chipset nForce 430) - $66
3. Memory : Corsair Twin 2x2048 - PC6400 - $58
4. Vga Card : Asus 8500 GT 2500 MB silent - $91
5. Audio : onboard - none
6. Harddisk : Seagate 320 GB SATA II - $77
7. Keyboard : Logitech KB Multimedia - $19
8. Mouse : Logitech Optical black (bundled with keyboard)
9. Card Reader : 15 in 1 Media Reader - $15
10. Operating System : Microsoft* Windows Vista Home Premium - $115
11. Monitor : Samsung 19" 940BW - $270
12. Chassis : CoolerMaster Centurion C5 tower - $78
13. Printer : HP F2180 - $74

We will spend total amount of $1057 for all peripheral above. Again it's proven that we can save more money if we put some effort for building our own desktop pc ;). Even with promotion price, branded pc is still more expensive -> the difference in $128 is not a little sum of money for most people in Indonesia, include me :P.

Shock Troopers' Very Brief Review...

Yesterday, I finish playing Shock Troopers 1 and 2. They are old games, shooting-action games similar to Metal Slug. But in my opinion, they are more fun than Metal Slug because the character movement is more flexible.

In Metal Slug, we can only move our character from left to right, but in Shock Troopers, we can move them anywhere we like since we see the character from upper view. And this also add some difficulties of playing it ;). And of course-more fun :D..

Shock Troopers 1 is modest in graphics (what can you say to 1997's game :P) but I believe in their era the graphics can be categorized as good. The really nice feature from Shock Troopers 1 is we can select 8 different characters. Each characters have their own attributes. Some can move slowly but have deadly attack and some can move faster while slightly damage the enemy.

And we can select two mode game, lonely or team mode. In lonely mode, we play only one character from the beginning until the end. In team mode, we can choose up to three characters and switch them in-game while we need their special capabilities. Very useful feature ;). We also can select the route our character will take to the enemy stronghold. And this is the very nice feature I like from shooting-action game like this..

Shock Troopers 2 shows major improvements in graphics with release date only differ by 1 year (1998). But the drawbacks are now we can only select 4 characters and the number of stages are only 5. So it would be ended shortly. So sad, because I think everyone who plays Shock Troopers 2 will expect more stages to come. Another drawback is the route can only be selected at the beginning of game, unlike Shock Troopers 1 which offers route changing at some point in the game. Overall, this is a very good shooting-action game. Saurus has done a very good job by making this game :).

If you ask me, I prefer to play Shock Troopers 2 despite of its drawbacks ;).