Shopping for a new computer

[~bs]

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My opinion is that unless there's current generation games you want to play NOW, it's better to just use the integrated MOBO grapics until you find a game you really want to play. Reason being is that the prices on current cards are always going down in price, and there are always new cards coming out.

APU/crossfire not worth it long term. Better to just buy a middle-upper middle spec video card that should last you the life of the computer.

[seen]

Intel makes fantastic chips for higher end rigs. I don’t know if you took that to mean AMD sucks, but they don’t. A casual gamer can upgrade the graphic card on an APU separately as well, no crossfire.

bjl if you decide to upgrade the graphic card, you’ll also need to make sure that the power supply you have can handle the additional power draw. If you bought a pre-built tower it’s areas like these where they’ll sometimes go cheap and put the bare minimum to power your existing setup. Good luck.

[bjl584]

Intel makes fantastic chips for higher end rigs. I don’t know if you took that to mean AMD sucks, but they don’t. A casual gamer can upgrade the graphic card on an APU separately as well, no crossfire.

bjl if you decide to upgrade the graphic card, you’ll also need to make sure that the power supply you have can handle the additional power draw. If you bought a pre-built tower it’s areas like these where they’ll sometimes go cheap and put the bare minimum to power your existing setup. Good luck.

My friend works in IT and has built computers. If I need to upgrade the graphic card or anything else he said that he will do it for me. He told me that he will tell me what parts to buy and he will do the assembly for me.

[JoeP]

Sounds like a good rig; your memory and CPU should give you plenty of years of service. As I mentioned before, a SSD will give you an inexpensive performance boost. And if the time comes where graphics start getting slow for any game play you might be running, a discrete graphics card is another (potentially) inexpensive upgrade.

FWIW, I use the same on-chip graphics as you, and am completely happy. I don't play games, but do video editing with 2 screens, and it works just fine.

[elessar78]

Hows about this, simply compare spec sheets on a $2000 mac vs PC, hence the "more expensive" mentioned in my post.

Nowhere did I say that they weren't good computers. Just "more expensive".

If, like you say people are using it for surfing internet or other low intensity tasks, then neither a mac or custom PC is the best choice IMO. They should simply buy a lower end off the shelf PC at half the price of a mac or custom pc.

You didn't say that and I'm not coming back at your post directly. To me, "bang for your buck" means value. $2000 seems like a high valuation. If i'm just paying for a home computer, prob wouldn't pay more than $1200 for a Mac, as it is I paid $550 for mine—which I use for a home business. To me, it represents a fantastic value. In addition, we bought my wife a $250 acer netbook. Great value as well since we can surf and do spreadsheets and word processing on that thing.

I think my work Mac that the company paid for ended up being like $3,000 with monitors and add-ons, but that's for work so it was loaded.

I think about it like cars, Honda's are pricey and a Chevy or Hyundai will have comparable specs but may not be a good value because it lacks the long-term reliability of a Honda.

[bjl584]

Sounds like a good rig; your memory and CPU should give you plenty of years of service. As I mentioned before, a SSD will give you an inexpensive performance boost. And if the time comes where graphics start getting slow for any game play you might be running, a discrete graphics card is another (potentially) inexpensive upgrade.

FWIW, I use the same on-chip graphics as you, and am completely happy. I don't play games, but do video editing with 2 screens, and it works just fine.

Yes. Hopefully it lasts many years. I'm not a hardcore gammer. More casual. And I'm not planning on running anything super intense. But, if the time comes that I want or need to upgrade, as I said earlier, my friend works in IT and said that he is willing to help me with parts and installation.

[bjl584]

I'm most likely upgrading to this for graphics:

Amazon.com: MSI AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card R7770-PMD1GD5: Computers & Accessories

[elfen lied]

Sure, laptop features now rival those of desktops, but practicality still dictates which one works best for you. If multimedia applications, social networking, and web surfing is your thing, many laptops have built-in webcams and the latest media software preinstalled and ready to roll. But if you are serious about gaming, or work in a field like CAD or graphic design, a desktop may be more to your liking, because you can more easily upgrade hardware like your video card, sound card, and more, when the time comes.

If you work from a home office, a desktop makes sense since you’ll be using it for long periods of time over the course of a day, plus you can add a large monitor to better facilitate multitasking. But if your work takes you out of the office, a laptop may be more to your liking.

[Rainbow Traveller]

A "good" desktop with "plenty of memory" doesn't really define a computer. What I mean is that it depends on what you use it for. For example, if you use a computer for email and office tasks then any new computer would be good and have plenty of memory, if you are using your computer to control a bunch of wireless cameras or play the newest games on maximum graphics settings, then a good computer with plenty of memory would cost anywhere between $1500 and $5000 depending on your specific needs and if you build it yourself or not.The below requirement is good for every one that is:
RAM: 8GB or more DDR3
Processor: Intel i7 series quad core
Motherboard: Compatible Intel or Gigabyte, spend more than $150 here.
HArd Drive: 7200rpm or 10000rpm hard drive, at least 500GB.
Graphics card: single Nvidia or ATI with 1GB memory
Sound Card: not necessary unless you want to hook up a surround sound system.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Congratulations on your new computer. Sounds like a powerful computer. I was curious which model motherboard do you have. Is it an ASUS P8 Z-77?

[natewebco]

I would just look on Amazon or Newegg for a good deal. Most anything you buy nowadays will work fine for casual use.

[scottgriffin]

Get A Dell

I would highly recommend going with a Dell. My Del PC has been an amazing and reliable computer for me. You can do your research and I guarantee you won't find another computer that is better than having a Dell.

[TylerHartman]

My computer is over 7 years old. It still works, but it's slow and I'm running out of space. I've been browsing around to see what's out there. I don't need a monster of a machine. I just want to do some streaming and some gaming. I'm thinking something with 8GB of RAM a decent graphics card and a HD with 1 to 2 TB of space should be more than enough. I really like the Macs, but they are pricey. Does anyone have any suggestions for a system and where to buy it at?

I'm rocking a Mid 2006 mac pro, I know i know it's old.. haha but it works great! you can upgrade everything in it! mine has x2 dual cores you can upgrade to x2 quad cores so my mac could have 8 cores and 32GB's of ram on the cheap, I got mine 2 years ago for 620$ Shipped it's been great, quiet, never had one issue. Just an awesome workstation! +++

[QuarterMillionMan]

I would just look on Amazon or Newegg for a good deal. Most anything you buy nowadays will work fine for casual use.

Do I hear an echo in here (lol).

[maryadavies]

CarrieBrown; it doesn't HAVE to cost a fortune to clean a PC of viruses; You can even do it yourself if you know what you're doing. (And believe me, gamers like me know how to do it, we don't like crooks stealing our MMO charas (which some malware can do) and we really hate viruses.) It's free to PREVENT them though. Just need to have a good antivirus (Free: Avast! Paid: Kapersky or ESET Online security) and have Adblocker Plus and some kinda script blocker on your browser and know how to set them up. Also use common sense; don't go dl any stupid torrent/thing on the internet you see. Make sure you always know where your software's been! Also watch what your software's installing too; some software installs pretty sneaky malware if you don't look out ; uTorrent is currently one that does that ugh.

If you'd like to know how to set up the adblocker stuff, here's a security guide I wrote for FFXI players. Ignore the part about the security token; the rest is good for ANYONE. Crooks don't just go after MMO charas to sell after all. It could be your bank account..Those tricks also shield you from viruses too as long as you use common sense.