Since you're on such a tight budget for your needs, I thought I'd just remind you that lighting won't improve your performance. Upgrading and modding really should come later. Then again, it's your decision...
I guess so, but are you still trying to get a core 2 duo? I was under the impression that that would stretch your budget significantly... Then again, I get confused when converting into dollars (since I live in the UK). Also our prices are a lot higher than yours.
http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=119 Case: Raidmax Ninja-918 ATX Mid-tower Case w/420W Power Supply (black) Case Lighting: Cold Cathode Neon Light (Blue) Power Supply: Standard Case Power Supply (420 Watts) Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 (2x 1.86GHz/2MB L2 Cache/1066FSB) Processor Cooling: Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink Motherboard: Asus P5N-SLI nForce 570-SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0 Dual PCI-E MB Memory: 1024MB [512MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 512MB w/ DVI + Tv Out Physics Processing Unit: None Hard Drive: 250 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 8M Cache] 2nd Hard Drive: None Raid Configuration: None External Raid Hard Drives: None CD/DVD Drive: NEC ND-3550 Dual Format/Double Layer 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive: None Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard Speaker System: 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System Fax Modem: None Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) Floppy Drive: None Monitor: None (I'll buy cheaper second hand) Keyboard: Logitech Deluxe Keyboard Mouse: Logitech Optical Internet Mouse I updated the processor from E6300 to E6400 for $50. (EDIT: I went back to 6300 so i could get a decent videocard) I updated the motherboard to the First Asus for $24. I upgraded the ram from 512 MB to 1024 MB for $90. I upgrade the CD/DVD drive for $3. Total: $893 USD
I wouldn't buy a pc from Ibuypower or cyberpowerpc, everyone I've talked to about it has had bad experiences with them. Save yourself some headache and avoid them. If you want to risk it than I can't stop you, but more likely than not you'll just have bad experience. I haven't met one person who's delt directly with ibuypower or cyberpowerpc and had anything good to say about them. I say build your comp, its so easy. If you've ever had to put a desk together or anything like that you can put a pc together, is easier that that even, imo. If you aren't confident about it, than go to a local pc shop and they will put it together for you for around 50 bucks (depending on how much you paid for it total). Go AMD for your budget, like xelink said, it's the best bang for the buck.
I would caution you though. Your best option is to build a pc yourself beacuse you will save money and get better parts (if you know what you're doing) but if you've never built one before then you most likely do not know much about the different parts and that will take a lot of research. Having said that, building you're own will much more fun and satisfying and the actual build will not be as complicated as you expect. Depends how much you love computers.
my friend bought one form them and he hasn't had any issues. atleast i assume so because i haven't gotten any phone calls from him and when I've been over at his house everything was fine. oen thing though replace the RAIDMAX PSU it blows.
