New Computer - Is this a scam?

[steven16]

I have been investigating many new computers lately, but the two that stuck out for me were these:

CybertronPC X-CRUISER2 CANN2120 Gaming PC - Athlon X2 7750 2.70GHz, 4GB, 500GB, DVDRW, 9500GT, Vista Home Premium 64, Red
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4774450&CatId=2658

iBuypower Gamer Power 506 Gaming PC - AMD Athlon X2 7750, 4GB, 500GB, DVDRW, 9500GT 1GB, 580W, MS Office 2007 Trial, Vista Home Premium 64
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4531720&CatId=2658

The graphics cards are great, the processors good, everything seems to be good about them. But they're both selling for only $600 and I'm wondering if this is some sort of scam?

Also, since I want to have options, any information regarding other computers like the above would be helpful ; here are some specs i want:

Use: gaming, schoolwork, music
Budget $400-$800
RAM : 3gb and up
Processor: 2.6 ghz and up
6 or more usb ports
Good graphics card (preferably NVidia Geforce 9500 or better)
Hard drive space: 250gb and up
The os doesn't really matter, preferably a windows or maybe linux (I most likely will be putting xp on it anyway) 

I am looking for a computer that will last a long time and I'm open to hearing about computers that you have and what is good/bad about them

Thanks

[Calum]

Firstly, welcome to the forums, hope you enjoy it here.

To answer your question - it's no scam, they're just not fantastic machines.
Don't get me wrong, they're perfectly adequate and indeed very powerful, it's just that the CPU is low-mid end, the graphics card is low end, the PSU in the first is barely adequate leaving no upgrade headroom ... etc.
Just the standard cost cutting you'd expect on a prebuilt machine in that price range.
Sounds very negative I know, but it's actually not.

Would you be able to build your own machine?  Building your own usually gives you more flexibility and much better value, for your budget you could get an extremely powerful rig.

[steven16]

The processor and graphics card together are capable of playing games such as COD 5. The graphics card i thought was one of the better ones from Nvidia, I  know its no the 9800 GT X or anything but its not "Low" end is it? although it is quite cheap in price

I am not really looking to upgrade anything too much, and i think its adequate enough to run most applications nowadays except for real hard hitters like crysis. Im just a casual gamer, and I don't really care if i have to adjust game settings a bit low to play games.

Thanks for the tips, i will definitely look into putting one together myself (from Newegg?)

[Calum]

The processor and graphics card together are capable of playing games such as COD 5.

Sure, they're capable of handling most modern games at low/medium settings.

The graphics card i thought was one of the better ones from Nvidia, I  know its no the 9800 GT X or anything but its not "Low" end is it? although it is quite cheap in price

It is low end, yes.  I have one in my server, so I know.  As I said, it's fine for older games or newer games on lower settings, but it's a low end card.  If you're not a gamer, or don't mind lowering settings, it'd be fine for you.  For the price though, you can do much better I think.

Thanks for the tips, i will definitely look into putting one together myself (from Newegg?)

Newegg seems good to me, I know most people buy from there.  I'm in the UK so I can't comment personally.
If you need any help or advice putting a build together do feel free to ask, some of us are also quite good at speccing out machines so I'm sure you'll get some full build suggestions too.
With that in mind, do you need a keyboard/mouse/monitor/anything else other than the computer?

[2x3i5x]

late post yes...
but anyway 9500GT is not a bad graphics card if you are command and conquer 3, AOE3, Battlefield 2 type of gamer and it requires very low power.

But it's probably better to say that it's similar to an integrated graphics card, except it has descrete memory onboard .... 

[computeruler]

Put one together yourself on newegg.  If you want to play anything like cod5 on high then you want something better then a 9500gt.  That cpu isnt the best either.  If you want some help selecting parts then give me a budget