Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

Honestly, If you were gonna save up to spend on a computer how much would you spend?

I was reading an article today that said $0-1000 are low tier computers.. $1001-2000 are mid tier computers... and $2001+ are high end computers...

So how much would you really spend on a computer?

Right now I'm looking at buy a 4600+ amd athlon dual core with 2 gigs of ram, 320 gigs of memory a liquid cooling system all for about obviously a sony dual layer dvd burner (no monitor or windows as i own them already)

Now i'm not putting in a physics card, nor am i putting in a high end videocard, because i don't play games like halo, counterstrike, doom 3, quake 4, etc... I like to use my computer as a media center to watch videos and play games that don't require highend graphics cards...

to that end i'm putting in a nvidia geforce 7300 gt 512 16x pci express x 16 video card

all this for 1052 dollars...

I guess if i had to buy a monitor and operating system... i'd have to fork out another 4-500 bucks and end up in the mid tier range... what about you guys? i see these computers online for like 400 bucks.. and others for 4000, and think man 400 bucks isn't gonna do much... but 4000..-18000 wtf are those guys thinking!!! (go to apple.com and build the most expensive thing you can for the macpro you'll see what i mean...

As much as I needed to. If you shop smart you can get stuff a lot cheaper, and if you spend a lot of time on the PC then you may as well get the most out of it performance wise. But say, for a physics card, I will most likely get one at some stage, however its not going to do me a lot of good right now so I see no point. For graphics cards, if you can spare an extra $200-$300 more, buy as close to top of the line as you can, there is no point paying $$ for a card thats going to be outperformed in 1-2 years (I just re-read and noticed you said it was for media stuff, so a 7300 will probably be good enough for that, but if later on you intend to game a bit more, you'll have to spend more money and get a better card), hell I'd get SLI if I could afford it, maybe for my next PC.

I'd say anything between $1000 - $1500 (AU) would be ok if you spent a bit of time on the computer mostly doing other activities, maybe a little bit of gaming. $1500 - $2000 can get a sweet rig for gaming if you shop around, anything over $2000 is only really if you are die hard about having the biggest and best stuff for max performance.

Example: PCPowerplay magazine has a list of the biggest, fastest, best bits of hardware for PCs, and they slap it all together and see how much you would have to pay, the current issue came to a whopping $14000 for a PC (this is paying $2000 just for a CPU, mind). And on the other side, they find the best stuff you can get for the cheapest price, cost about $2000.


Just dont be stupid with your money and end up paying $$ for stuff thats not going to perform well in a year or two.

What I dont understand is why get a Media Center PC which requires a Video Card and TV tuner just to watch movies and maybe play a 2 or 3 games. Thats just way too much for something you will not use as much.

I would rather you do as Mist already said and look for a bargain on MOBOs, Video Cards, cases, fans, HDD etc. and I can certainly say that you could build your own PC for less than $1000 (Im assuming American or Canadian here) and you will have a mid to high end PC.

I'm planning on building a new computer, and my goal is to do so for under $1000...preferably about $600-700. I don't really play PC games that much so it doesn't need to be top of the line, just not complete garbage.

i think my costs 1000-1500$

Mine cost me about $900 last summer and for now it's still really good. I got good deals on all my parts and shopped smart.

3.2ghz P4 with HT
2GB ram
250gb hdd
MSI Radeon x800 256mb PCI Express x16
Asus mb p5ad2-e deluxe
16x dvd-rw
Performs great still, no regrets.

probably under $1000. I don't need some absurdly high end video card that consumes enough power to fuel a hyperdrive, but I do however like to meet a bit over min reqs to play modern games.

this one was about 400-500 and i can still play some of the latest games, its like 4 years old too, thinking of replacing it, like most folks here, goal = 1000 or less

$1000 = low tier is a bunch of shit. If you know what your doing and do it yourself you can get a very good computer for a very good price. It mostly depends how high end video you need, and how nice of a monitor you want. And most people over spend on a processor.

$4.00...i wanna pay $4.00

Well first off right now the best processor on the market is Intels Core 2 DUO and you can get it for about the same price as any good Athlon processor. So go with Intel.

if you build your own New Egg is a good site.

If you watch Slickdeals.net they will tell you when Dell has there 30% of systems deal. They should have one around Christmas. You can get a good computer for about 1000 bucks with that.

I build mine for about 1200.

I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz which I got free from work, but it cost around 300 bucks normally.

2 gigs 240 pin DDR2 -- around 200 bucks

Board Asus Gforce SLI -- around 200

video cards 2-7600gt's 130 each.

basic drive 80 bucks.

total is about 1100.

This processor is so fast that I can have azureus downloading while burning a dvd watching a movie and play Mario chart 64 from an emulator. I could probably do more but I haven't tried.

Mario CHART sounds like a boring game.

anata wa wakarimasu ka.....

****, a grand? i cant afford to spend that. i dont want to play any games on my pc, games like the original doom or something like that. but thats it. i dont play games on my pc. i just want to be able to use my cpu without it being slow. i use it for music and the internet, thats it. how much would that cost me to get a decent comp for what i need?

Originally posted by InnerRise
Mario CHART sounds like a boring game.

anata wa wakarimasu ka.....

No way the game rules. You can download it at WWW.mariocharts.gov. Your play as an accountant named Mario and you have to chart out the gains and loses of companies and the farther you get the larger companies you work for. The farthest I have gotten I Target though I have been trying to get Wal-Mart and McDonalds for so long.

Oh you mean this
http://www.marioracing.com/play

Originally posted by El_NINO
Oh you mean this
http://www.marioracing.com/play Yeah, he misspelled KART.

anata wa wakarimasu ka.....

Alot. I love my PC's games and next year I plan to redo everything.

Definitly getting Dual Core Intels.

Originally posted by Phat J
****, a grand? i cant afford to spend that. i dont want to play any games on my pc, games like the original doom or something like that. but thats it. i dont play games on my pc. i just want to be able to use my cpu without it being slow. i use it for music and the internet, thats it. how much would that cost me to get a decent comp for what i need?

no you wouldnt need to spend a grand. Do you need a monitor and are you gonna build something or you need it all built for you? Send me a PM and I can help you out better.

Originally posted by forumcrew
for not wanting to spend too much thats a pretty nice budget.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001085

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001087

depending if you want widescreen or not, and well under budget.

lol, well 200 is the maximum, even then i'd probably not.

thanks mate, big help

Originally posted by rotiart
Honestly, If you were gonna save up to spend on a computer how much would you spend?

I was reading an article today that said $0-1000 are low tier computers.. $1001-2000 are mid tier computers... and $2001+ are high end computers...

So how much would you really spend on a computer?

Right now I'm looking at buy a 4600+ amd athlon dual core with 2 gigs of ram, 320 gigs of memory a liquid cooling system all for about obviously a sony dual layer dvd burner (no monitor or windows as i own them already)

Now i'm not putting in a physics card, nor am i putting in a high end videocard, because i don't play games like halo, counterstrike, doom 3, quake 4, etc... I like to use my computer as a media center to watch videos and play games that don't require highend graphics cards...

to that end i'm putting in a nvidia geforce 7300 gt 512 16x pci express x 16 video card

all this for 1052 dollars...

I guess if i had to buy a monitor and operating system... i'd have to fork out another 4-500 bucks and end up in the mid tier range... what about you guys? i see these computers online for like 400 bucks.. and others for 4000, and think man 400 bucks isn't gonna do much... but 4000..-18000 wtf are those guys thinking!!! (go to apple.com and build the most expensive thing you can for the macpro you'll see what i mean...

??Gadzooks man - are you planning on running a small media business from your home??

What in the world do I need 2 gigs of Ram and 320 gigs of memory for??? I can only think of two logical uses for having such enhancements. The first would require one to be a hardcore gamer, the second would be if one were attempting to do a lot of downloads(using a file sharing service).

The cooling system is really unnecessary to me as well, as there is no real notable proof that such systems that have them -- last that much longer than those that don't have them on standard PC's(and they can also be dangerous, as they can also cause various portions of the motherboard to rust and erode).

All that being stated - I could not see myself spending more than 600 - 800 on a PC.