Best desktop computer for around $1000?

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

trappd-in-859

trappd-in-859

New Member
I'm thinking about getting a totally new setup and was wondering what the best system would be?

I know a lot of people are gonna say build your own, which I would agree is the most cost effective, but it's not something I want to do at this point in time.

My family and I will mainly be using the computer for internet, school projects, and the occasional gaming(both on and offline).

Thanks in advance for all replies.
 
If you are just going to do basic stuff like that and occasionally game, find the cheapest computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD X2 with at least 1GB of RAM. Should be around $500-600. Then pick up a video card and beefier power supply for 150 bucks or so and swap the parts in.

If you have time, seriously consider building your own machine. For $1000, you can make yourself a mean machine that will out pace that XPS.
 
The reason I reccomended the XPS is that it has a nice video card, decent ram, core 2 duo processor, and a 19" flat panel monitor.

All of these parts are tested for compatibility. And you get a warantee, and if something goes wrong, its not your problem. You dont have to work out bugs and massage everything together.. You dont have to do the driver dance. It just works. And you get a recovery CD as well as one click online driver/bios updates.

You could build an equal system for the same money, but why bother? Its rock solid. Plug it in and play it.
 
If you get a good board and not bleeding edge, there shouldnt be any compatability problems at all.

That Dell shouldnt even be considered an XPS. Its loaded with bottom of the line crap. The processor is a E4300, the lowest Core 2 Duo, and 1GB is hardly enough for Vista. The video card is not even considerable good. The only good option is the 8600GTS and it is NO WHERE near $200 and the 8800GTX is WAY over budget if u add that on.

In short hers what it would cost to build:
Processor: 100
Motherboard: 50
RAM: 30
Burner: 30
Power Supply: 50
Case: 30
Harddrive: 50
Monitor: 150

That comes out to $490. This leaves you $510 for video card, operating system, keyboard/mouse and speakers.
 
endlesszeal said:
If you get a good board and not bleeding edge, there shouldnt be any compatability problems at all.

That Dell shouldnt even be considered an XPS. Its loaded with bottom of the line crap. The processor is a E4300, the lowest Core 2 Duo, and 1GB is hardly enough for Vista. The video card is not even considerable good. The only good option is the 8600GTS and it is NO WHERE near $200 and the 8800GTX is WAY over budget if u add that on.

In short hers what it would cost to build:
Processor: 100
Motherboard: 50
RAM: 30
Burner: 30
Power Supply: 50
Case: 30
Harddrive: 50
Monitor: 150

That comes out to $490. This leaves you $510 for video card, operating system, keyboard/mouse and speakers.
Click to expand...

Prove it? Those prices are totally laughable.

P.S. I do agree with 1g being too low for vista though. Would definently ug to 2g ram or better. Still within budget. If at all possible, get XP, too.
 
if you have an old computer around the house you already have the case, power supply, harddrive, keyboard/mouse, speakers, moniter and optical drive(s). all you would need to upgrade would be motherboard, processor, ram, video card and an opperating system (i'd pick xp). you could get what you need and decent quality stuff for $1k. Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! to research and get good deals, or take your research to ebay and see what you can find.
 
Mobo + CPU : ECS and AMD 4400+ = $99.99
Contra Costa Times | Contra Costa Shopping - Computers & Electronics - Fry's Electronics
Case + PSU: Antec Sonata II w/450w = $99.99 ($50 rebate)
Newegg.com - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply - Retail
RAM : 1GB HP (Generic) DDR2-667mhz = $62.99 ($40 rebate)
HP PX976AT - SMART BUY 1GB PC2-5300
Hard drive: Seagate 300GB IDE = $69.99
Burner: DVD-/+RW = $39.99 ($20 rebate)
Monitor: 20" Viewsonic Widescreen w/1000:1 contrast and 5ms response = $192.49 ($20 rebate)
Buy.com - ViewSonic Optiquest Q20WB - 20'' Widescreen LCD Display - 1000:1, 5ms, 1680x1050, DVI - Q20WB
Video card: BFG 7900GS = $149.99 ($50 rebate)
FRYS.com | BFG

Total = $715.43

After rebates = $535.43

Even without the rebates, the system cost less than the Dell.

The case and power supply is a lot better than the Dell because the Dells uses a 375 watt power supply.
Documentation

The video card is better than any of the video cards offered except the 8800GTX which costs as much as the entire computer. The 8600GT is only slightly better because its directx 10 (not many games even have this yet) and its good for HD decoding, but in terms of graphical power, the 7900GS is an overclocked 7800GT which smokes the 8600GT which is slightly faster than a 7600GT.

The hard drive is 50Gb larger than the Dell. Its IDE but SATA offers zero performance other than better airflow. You can run RAID but RAID isnt for budget computers.

The Viewsonic is bigger and probably better because in terms of pure specs the Viewsonic's contrast is 300:1 better and 3ms faster. However, I cant say because you actually have to look at LCDs to determine which one is better.
Home & Home Office: SE197FP 19-inch Silver Flat Panel LCD Monitor

Lastly, the motherboard is an ECS. Yeah its crappy, but its basically free with the CPU and I havent had any problems with the 4-5 ECS boards Ive used in the past 2 years. The AMD 4400+ is actually a little faster than the E4300, BUT when you start overclocking, which doesnt seem like he will, the Intel will crush the AMD.

RAM is RAM and Dell is going to give you 2x512MB sticks for "dual channel" which doesnt do much except maybe 5% performance increase at the most. If you get 1GB sticks it makes it WAY easier to get another one to make it 2GB instead of having 4X512Mb sticks. And if you wanted to upgrade, itll be way cheaper than getting it from Dell.
 
Now he has another $460 to get an OS and some rad ass speakers and input devices.

I found all those prices without fucking breaking a sweat. If you wait and research even more you can find even better prices.
 
endlesszeal said:
Mobo + CPU : ECS and AMD 4400+ = $99.99
Contra Costa Times | Contra Costa Shopping - Computers & Electronics - Fry's Electronics
Case + PSU: Antec Sonata II w/450w = $99.99 ($50 rebate)
Newegg.com - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply - Retail
RAM : 1GB HP (Generic) DDR2-667mhz = $62.99 ($40 rebate)
HP PX976AT - SMART BUY 1GB PC2-5300
Hard drive: Seagate 300GB IDE = $69.99
Burner: DVD-/+RW = $39.99 ($20 rebate)
Monitor: 20" Viewsonic Widescreen w/1000:1 contrast and 5ms response = $192.49 ($20 rebate)
Buy.com - ViewSonic Optiquest Q20WB - 20'' Widescreen LCD Display - 1000:1, 5ms, 1680x1050, DVI - Q20WB
Video card: BFG 7900GS = $149.99 ($50 rebate)
FRYS.com*|*BFG

Total = $715.43

After rebates = $535.43

Even without the rebates, the system cost less than the Dell.

The case and power supply is a lot better than the Dell because the Dells uses a 375 watt power supply.
Documentation

The video card is better than any of the video cards offered except the 8800GTX which costs as much as the entire computer. The 8600GT is only slightly better because its directx 10 (not many games even have this yet) and its good for HD decoding, but in terms of graphical power, the 7900GS is an overclocked 7800GT which smokes the 8600GT which is slightly faster than a 7600GT.

The hard drive is 50Gb larger than the Dell. Its IDE but SATA offers zero performance other than better airflow. You can run RAID but RAID isnt for budget computers.

The Viewsonic is bigger and probably better because in terms of pure specs the Viewsonic's contrast is 300:1 better and 3ms faster. However, I cant say because you actually have to look at LCDs to determine which one is better.
Home & Home Office: SE197FP 19-inch Silver Flat Panel LCD Monitor

Lastly, the motherboard is an ECS. Yeah its crappy, but its basically free with the CPU and I havent had any problems with the 4-5 ECS boards Ive used in the past 2 years. The AMD 4400+ is actually a little faster than the E4300, BUT when you start overclocking, which doesnt seem like he will, the Intel will crush the AMD.

RAM is RAM and Dell is going to give you 2x512MB sticks for "dual channel" which doesnt do much except maybe 5% performance increase at the most. If you get 1GB sticks it makes it WAY easier to get another one to make it 2GB instead of having 4X512Mb sticks. And if you wanted to upgrade, itll be way cheaper than getting it from Dell.
Click to expand...

Athalons are trash. That motherboard is iffy. 667mhz ram is trash. And you need two matched sticks of ram or it'll cut your bus speed in half. You're missing a keyboard, mouse, and an OS.
 
phyregod said:
I have 2 dell gaming PCs at the house, and 2 dell E520s at the office. None of them give me any problems whatsoever. I've had nothing but good experience with dell.
Click to expand...

i like dell also i use one at work everyday
but now i have pos emachine i got for xmas. i wish i had my dell from work at home
 
That particular AMD goes head to head with the Core 2 Duo in most applications. It is only when you start overclocking or going to higher models like the E6600 that AMD's cant even start to keep up. However, with his basic usage, itll be hard for him to tell the difference. If he really wanted to, a E6320 combo will bump the price to another $70.

And are you fucking kidding about the RAM? The XPS uses the SAME fucking speed sticks. You don't get that much of a benefit running over 1:1 ratio unless you overclock. And you mean cutting the bandwidth? I dont see how using 1 stick will lower the FSB on RAM. If you mean bandwidth, it was only true with the P4s that you lose crazy amounts and affect performance but witht he newer chips and better memory controllers, you lose 5%. I already mentioned that. Well we can upgrade that for another 50 bucks for 2GB dual channel RAM.

Lastly, i said he would have money to choose an OS, keyboard and mouse. I cant believe those to exceed $400 unless he wanted some gamer l33t shit. He could run a Linux distro and the OS is free if he wanted.

And i already said the board is practically free so who gives a shit if it goes bad. ECS as actually produced very good overclocking boards believe or not. IF he wanted to get a 1st Tier board, very solid ones come around $70-80.

Now with all the upgrades, he'll be setting at $735.43 after rebates. He can use old peoples copies of Windows XP and Vista Home Premium is right around 200 or so. Or even get "other" copies if he chooses too.

Cut it either way man, you can build a way better computer for the money than buy that fucking Dell, but thats if he has time. Its his money, buy the Dell if he wants im just saying there are better options if he wishes to take them.
 
I said at the top of the thread that I don't have the time or knowledge to build a computer right now; although it is something that I would like to learn how to do.

What are the brands to stay away from? I know everyone will have a different opinion on this, but I'm hoping for a general consensus.

So far I've read that I need at least 2gb of ram to run the new operating system, need a duo core processor, and at least 1gb of ram. I'm also reading that upgrading the graphics card is something I need to do. Is that just for faster gaming?

I thank everybody for your help. I'm learning a lot in this thread.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top