Buying a New PC

KGB_GaralKGB_Garal Join Date: 2005-06-09 Member: 53476Members
in Off-Topic
Since my old PC died on me recently and I haven't been able to fix it, that means it's time for a new one. My old one was 4.5 years old so I have no hard feelings towards the poor guy.

What am I looking for?

I'm looking at spending under $500 after tax/shipping, ideally around $400. I don't game much at all anymore, and the only game that I play regularly is a Source mod (Day of Defeat: Source) which ran fine on my old computer. So mainly it will be used for internet browsing, website development, and light gaming. I have the video card from my old computer which I can reuse while it's nothing special (512mb 9400gt) it would work. I also do not need an operating system, but if it comes with one that's fine.

I'm also going to be buying pre-built this time around due to time constraints plus to save the potential headache of having something not work once having it all put together.

Here is one computer that I'm looking at (it's Recertified): <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220026" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16883220026</a>

I haven't looked much but that's what I've come up with so far.

Thanks in advance for you guys' help!
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Comments

  • SentrySteveSentrySteve .txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
    edited January 2010
    If you live in a country that has electronic stores, like Best Buy, go there and look. If your max budget is $500 then they have a lot of decent choices especially for what you want to do and the cost is around that of your dell / hp.com's.
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  • KGB_GaralKGB_Garal Join Date: 2005-06-09 Member: 53476Members
    Best Buy is really expensive. For example I had to buy a new video card from them a few months back because I had some work that needed to be done for a client, and my old video had died. I paid about $140 for the video card, once my computer was back up I checked Newegg and it was about $50-60. Obviously in that situation I had to go to Best Buy, but if time isn't an issue then there's no way I'll be buying a PC or any PC components from them.
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  • SentrySteveSentrySteve .txt Join Date: 2002-03-09 Member: 290Members, Constellation
    edited January 2010
    You may want to reconsider. Best Buy's often have items on clearance or marked as "end of life." These items are frequently the same price as or even lower than online prices. Also, the cost of a computer at Best Buy is about the same as the cost from your prebuilt online suppliers, like dell.com.

    A quick example (too lazy to compare computer prices):

    <a href="http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Logitech+-+G9+Laser+Gaming+Mouse/8472324.p?id=1185265538878&skuId=8472324&st=outlet_center_recentely_reduced&cp=1&lp=4" target="_blank">Best Buy's G9</a> vs. <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104079&Tpk=logitech%20g9" target="_blank">NewEgg's G9</a>.

    I don't own stock in Best Buy (or Wall-Mart or Costco) but if it was me I wouldn't be so quick to write off local stores if I wanted a prebuilt and had a budget of $400 - 500.
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  • spellman23spellman23 NS1 Theorycraft Expert Join Date: 2007-05-17 Member: 60920Members
    I recommend checking out Dell.

    They put together pretty solid machines and give lots of power to customize. However, make sure the tower is large enough to fit your video card since many of their pre-builts use the BTX mini cases instead of a full ATX sizing. After you settle on a solid Dell system, you can check out comparable versions, or even consider getting the components on Newegg.
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