Thoughts on this pc

[swampybob]

i have a old dell got it in 05 its a xps 400
p4 dual core 2.8 with 4 gigs ram/geforce 8600gt 512 vid card/24 bit sound blaster audigy its been a great pc over the yrs but i need a newer one.
i seen this one at best buy and was wondering would it be a decent pc for gaming, i figured it would be decent then upgrade it from there as it ages. its under 600$ im looking now cause at tax time im gona buy one or build.


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Essentio+Desktop+/+AMD+Phenom%26%23153%3B+II+X6+Processor+/+8GB+Memory+/+1TB+Hard+Drive/2634102.p?id=1218341075428&skuId=2634102

Processor BrandAMDProcessorAMD VISION PREMIUMProcessor Speed2.9GHzCache

Memory6MBSystem Memory (RAM)8GBSystem Memory (RAM) Expandable To16GBType of Memory (RAM)DDR3

Hard Drive TypeSATA (7200 rpm)Hard Drive Size1TB

GraphicsATI Radeon 3000Video Memory1GB GDDR3

 

[Rizlla]

What do you want to use the PC for?
If you also want to know if it is cheaper go to newegg and look for similar parts and see what they cost in total.

 

[swampybob]

for gaming, i figured id start with this and see whats good and whats not, its hard to come up with one at new egg with the os and vid card included, what i know about pc's for gaming would fill a thimble. its why i came here to get some good ideas on wich way to go on a budget of 6-700 $

 

[Rizlla]

Have a look at this article.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-overclock-graphics-card,3032.html

It is on a $ 500 budget. It is just excluding the OS. If you still have $ left perhaps look at swopping out some parts for better parts, like upgrading the GPU.

 

[jsc]

It is hard to beat a bigbox store if you are buying a general purpose home or office PC. Things change if you want something specialized, such as a gaming machine.

Go through the article that Rizlla linked and based on that, post a request for help with system configuration in the Systems|Homebuilt forum.

There are regulars there (alas, I am not one of them 🙁) who are superb at system configuration (a fancy term for "choosing parts").

In the meantime, look at this thread for an idea of what building your own computer requires:
Build it yourself:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/274745-13-step-step-guide-building

Most homebuilt PC's - even those by first builders - go together with no problem. A homebuilt PC is a lot like a Lay's potato chip. It's hard to stop at just one.

 

[Rizlla]

A homebuilt PC is a lot like a Lay's potato chip. It's hard to stop at just one.

I had to LOL at this. :lol: