the nuts and bolts of it is this: our CPA told us we need to spend some cash by the end of the year for tax purposes. we need a new PC and have a home office. i have a $2,000 budget for this. and i admit i haven't kept up with computer specs since i bought my current machine which is a Pentium 4. so if i want it to run the latest games, what specifications do i need to make sure it has? i will be running Call of Duty; World at War for example. processor speed? video/audio card? also, intend to get a new monitor, probably a 24 inch, so that i can wipe the hard drive on my old machine and give it to my kids (8,5, and 2). thanks y'all!
You can get a pretty darn good system for $2000 if you build it yourself. If you just want to buy retail, anything with a Core i7, 4GB RAM minimum, GeForce GTX 260, 4870, 4850, 9800GT oughta set you up for a while.
Save yourself a lot of trouble and use a boutique builder like AVA Direct. They sell pre-designed gaming systems, or alternatively will order and build whatever you want them to. Good tech support and warranty services as well.
watch for christmas sales here link I havent done alot of reading on it, but apparently the crossfire is the new thing in graphics cards. You can choose a base system then change everything even the case.
The computer I'm using specs are Vista Home Quad Core 2.66GHz 6 Gigs of Ram GeForce 9500 GS Over 500 Gigs of HD space. That was $930 you can probably get a better card for like 1100-1200.
thanks again y'all, all input thus far is gratefully appreciated. and any further input would be great. i am betting that right after Christmas the prices will be even better. so i will probably forgo getting something til the week after Santa comes, since this is after all, ahem , a business expense.
Prices usually aren't better until after New Year's, and even then it's not like you'll be able to get a VelociRaptor hard drive for 50% off. You also have to keep in mind that components will be in short supply after Christmas. Just as a goof, I assembled a shopping cart on Newegg with everything I'd need to build a new computer--video card, CPU, RAM, motherboard, case, hard drive, etc--and four of those components were removed from my cart over the last couple of days because they're sold out, specifically the motherboard, RAM, hard drive, and a cheap keyboard.
Yeah its pretty built up I mean it can handle Crysis. All I would have to do is upgrade the video card. Buy the HP Pavilion Elite m9520f Desktop and other Desktop computers at circuitcity.com Buy the HP Pavilion Elite m9500f Desktop and other Desktop computers at circuitcity.com Not to expensive for a computer that can last a good 5 years.
Mine is this one: ???????????????? It's got a gig of ram and a 250 hard drive. Dual Core Each core operates at 2.8 GHz, 800 MHz FSB I've also got a 40 gig hard drive in there too. With that being said my system goes fast because there's little to nothing on it. It's only when I'm playing music and doing spreadsheets and surfing the web at the same time where it becomes an issue. I've learned to use a lot of command line stuff instead of GUI so that helps a bit, too. Oh and I don't game
There's a chance of getting cheap parts direct from Asia if you have the right connections. It's how I upgrade cheaply. Figure if I'm going back east to visit relatives, might as well pick up some cheap parts. Not a fan of the Pentium D series but it's ok for non-gaming.
with gaming in mind? give me some specs, and i'll see if i can get it put together on one of the sites that sell online. after reading some of this i am starting to think i could do it myself.
Yeah, definitely with gaming in mind. Here's just a few examples. I'd go with the new i7 processor. Motherboard CPU PSU HDD Case Video Card Memory After all that you're around $1550. I probably went overkill but you get the idea. Always read the reviews before you buy something. You can get dvd burners pretty cheap. Probably a good idea to get a better CPU heatsink/fan than the stock one. A good 24" monitor will probably run you $300-$350. Decent sound cards aren't too expensive.
byroan, that build is definitely overboard in so many respects. For example, the Core i7 is not a significant improvement over the current Core 2 Duo/Quad line for games. There's also no need to spend $230 on RAM or $300 on a motherboard while spending only $220 on what is basically a last-gen video card. If the goal is a top of the line gaming PC, then it's better to go with a GeForce 280 GTX SLI or a Radeon 4870 X2, with the caveat that SLI/Crossfire configurations usually don't provide performance worth the money.
again, good info, and it is much appreciated folks. as i am reading this stuff and everybody's opinions i am going out and reading up on what y'all are talking about because i have let the industry pass me by the last few years.
If you build you're own PC buy only 1 of the best video cards you can afford. Don't buy 2 cheaper cards for SLI/Crossfire. Buy the best thats out and you can add another later.