alright guys, I know there's probably a billion of these threads somewhere in the forum, but I didn't see any recent ones. So, I'm building a PC with somewhere around $1200 CDN. I can move this price up a bit if need be though. I'm wondering what parts to get, or if I should just get a pre built one. Note: the only reasong I'm posting this is mainly due to the fact that I use macs for the most part of my life. I will always love my macs more, but I need windows to run inventor. I can't run bootcamp (family reasons), and virtual pc and inventor take up way to much RAM to put them together...that's my main reason for building a PC.
can you wait 2 weeks or so for conroe(aka Core 2 duo)? if so do. my recomendations for a good gamer/multitasker core 2 duo(any of them just OC the diference) 2GB ram(or 4 GB if absolutely needed) x1800XT(best bang/$ @ as low as $220US and OCs VERY WELL) antec 500W TPII PSU/case combo 250GB cavier HDD DVD drive motherboard(we'll see) all that costs around $1000 US pre tax/shipping, should play any game max, and should have great power, excess of any g5 system just to give you an idea of what you can get... if you aren't capable of waiting 2 weeks I can make a recomendation for now if necessary
it's intels latest generation of processor. it's essentially an updated version of the pentium 3 with some netburst parts added in. performance wise intel claims it to be 40% more powerful than current generation Pentium 4/D Class chips and about 20% more powerful than AMD's athlons. so far benchmarks confirm it though we'll see.
Just as xelink said, pick a case out yourself, the antec psu is also good. For the CPU i'd say get a E6600, and oC it to 3ghz, if needed. Motherboard and Ram comes later, since there aren't much compatible conroe boards yet.
He only has 1200 canadian, then you have to add the price of the OS and the price of what he is going to pay to have the OS installed and the computer built. Then he needs some antivirus which will be another 100 dollars. Totalling to about 1400 american which is way over his budget. And if you never used a PC then get a dell or some brand like that, it comes with everything installed and has 24 hour support for when his computer has problems.
if you buy the OS then you don't need the antivirus(also there are a lot of FREE anti viruses and most agree that AVG or avast work better than both McAfre and Norton combined[in terms of missed viruses, you can't effectively use to AVs without issues]) furthermore there are methods of obtaining the OS also, Dell has the highest profits of any computer company out there despite also having the priciest and least efficient advertising policies. They're also under heavy ---- from a lot of industry leaders for litterally using ---- for parts, their cases have bad airflow, the heatsinks are mediocre and they use on average the cheapest motherboards of any major vendor. find me a dell for under 2000$ which has the same quality of parts I listed though also, the e6400or even the 6300 should OC to about the same level, albiet at lower performance due to running ona divder but still. this was the case/PSU combo i was recomending, excellent bang/$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811129158
Bull----. http://www.gamerenders.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=228198 That topic was right above yours when i found it. Search next time. We are ALL going to tell you the same thing, wait 2 weeks.
I said dell or another company like that. Taking his circumstances and how he is a little unknown for pcs he will probably use it only when he needs something he cant get from his macs. Since he has been using macs for all his life he probably does not have a sudden urge for mega pc gaming and is a needing a computer that can handle all games. And still if he does not have to buy a antivirus it will still cost him quite amount of money.
but compare what you get to what dell, HP etc. offers and then take into account the simple fact that almost every single part is of higher quality when bought as such(OEMs need a profit to run so they skimp on parts like the PSU, motherboard, ram, and graphics card) also building a PC is about as dificult as putting together a 20 peice puzzle... might take a few mins but it's not hard... and again the OS isn't an issue if you have a "friend" with volume lisencing... there are a lot of people with suchsaid liscencing on the net.
He can get a custom if he wants just he does not need a gaming comp like the ones they are suggesting to him.
the diference between a gaming comp and a non-gaming comp is a $100-200 grapphics card as opposed to a $30 one.
Im just saying he could get something that fits his needs for a way smaller price. why waste a extra 200 or 300 or something he does not need.
