advice on buying a pc

[Kuya]

I'd like some suggetions on what to get for a new computer. My budget is between $500 to $1,000. I'm not lookin for a top of the line computer, just something moderately in between shit and awesome. I'm computer illiterate so the only thing i can say is what i'd like to have and my options. I'm personally looking for something with a bit more hard drive space, my current one has about 200gb. I'd like it to have a cd for reformating, as my previous one had it inside the hard drive and when i lost that hard drive, reformatting became a chore. I'm looking into a pc that can play vidgames (specially ffxiv) but i am not sure what kind of video card i should be looking for it to have.

A friend suggested that i buy a pc minus the monitor and video card, and that i should buy these two separately. I was also suggested in buying it in parts and building a pc that way as it would be cheaper, but i'd like not to have to build one from the ground up. I am willing to buy a video card and/or monitor separately, although i'm not sure how this would work.

Thanks in advance.

[Kuya]

If it's also possible i'd like a mini list from shit to great of video cards, RAM, hd space, and any other important pc specification so i can, if possible, look at the various pcs available and look at the specs to find what i find, because as it stands right now i am not completely clear on what i'm looking for when looking at specs.

[Shojin]

I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY

Does Newegg ship to PR? Would probably be your best bet if you want a pre-built one. I don't know what Dell are like anymore.

[Kuya]

I just got money, nigga.

[Araelus]

If it's also possible i'd like a mini list from shit to great of video cards, RAM, hd space, and any other important pc specification so i can, if possible, look at the various pcs available and look at the specs to find what i find, because as it stands right now i am not completely clear on what i'm looking for when looking at specs.

Tom's Hardware runs all sorts of benchmarks and programs for comparison, which gives some ranking, for example:

Desktop CPU Charts 2009
Desktop CPU Charts Q3/2008
Graphics Cards Charts 2009 HQ
Graphics Cards Charts 2009 NQ
2009 3.5” Desktop Hard Drives

Sometimes "better" items work poorly, or you can easily see it's not worth the drastic price increase. Naming conventions not always intuitive blah blah

[_chuchu]

I THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY

Does Newegg ship to PR? Would probably be your best bet if you want a pre-built one. I don't know what Dell are like anymore.

It would seem that they do ship to PR, though not all delivery options/time frames can be guaranteed

[Shojin]

Says standard shipping not available, so you'd probably have to pay a little extra

anyway these are okay and in your price range

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883147093

i3-530 so, dual core running at around 3ghz
1tb sata hard drive
6gb DDR3 at 1333
Windows 7 premium 64bit

you'd need to buy a monitor and a graphics card for it

or this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227217

quad core @ 2.6ghz
500GB SATAII hard drive
4GB DDR3 at 1600
Windows 7 premium 64bit
ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB

you'll need a monitor for this one too, but it comes with decent graphics card

both are $700, you could get the same for cheaper if you build them yourself, but to save yourself the hassle these are fine.

I don't know how much shipping to PR will be though

[Kuya]

Those look nice.

Now say, i wanted to buy the monitor, video card, hard drive, and RAM separately. What box can i buy at a decent price where i can insert these components? I got an email and it suggested that the best scenerio would be finding a decent box with a cheap hd, vid card and RAM that i could then replace with what i want. So for example, i might find a cpu with a decent vid card and instead i would just replace the ram, hd and perhaps the monitor.

Are there any cpus sold without vid cards, ram, hd, and such?

[Araelus]

Haven't gotten pre-assembled items from NewEgg, but whether or not they solder in the parts will depend on the building company, right?

Shojin's links look good but it doesn't say what brand the RAM is.

Video card and HDD can be "good enough" and RAM added over time - I expect to replace my video card every two years, and the CPU/mobo only when I start a new case entirely, if that helps.

[Darus Grey]

Pretty silly not to consider AMD from a price/power standpoint these days, especially at the lower price ends. Intel pricing is a huge fucking rip-off these days unless you absolutely need "the best"...at a 500% premium

[Araelus]

More like a 100% markup, hmm, could consider
two AMD Phenom II x4 965 Deneb (~$150)
for the price of one Intel i7 920 Bloomfield (~$300)

3D mark, PC Mark, 3DS Max, etc. they have comparable scores.

AMD 3.40GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache
Intel 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache

No idea how these will hold up three, five, etc. years from now.
My ye olde Q6600 is certainly still chugging along.

For that matter I have a working 133MHz Pentium from 1995, but I can't use it for anything...

[Jonny]

i say build one from the ground up, i love getting all the components at once in a HUGE box and opening it up so much FUN!

[Caiyuo]

Those look nice.

Now say, i wanted to buy the monitor, video card, hard drive, and RAM separately. What box can i buy at a decent price where i can insert these components? I got an email and it suggested that the best scenerio would be finding a decent box with a cheap hd, vid card and RAM that i could then replace with what i want. So for example, i might find a cpu with a decent vid card and instead i would just replace the ram, hd and perhaps the monitor.

Are there any cpus sold without vid cards, ram, hd, and such?

To the extent that you're looking at replacing things I'd seriously give consideration to building it from scratch as you're fairly close and likely wouldn't be able to do anything with the old pieces you'd replace and as such waste a little money. The essential components you need are a case (comes with stock fans), a power supply, hard drive(s), motherboard, processor/cpu, RAM and a graphics card.

I can't really comment on a specific box, from Newegg or otherwise, since I'm kind of behind on what's actually valuable and worth the money now or else I'd try to answer your question as asked and recommend something. Hopefully you'll be able to find something with suitable or upgradeable RAM and an extra hard drive bay so that you can add-to instead of replace. Monitors are generally sold separately anyway unless buying directly from the big-name prebuilts as well so you should be safe in that capacity.

[Deadgye]

I'd suggest you just put together your own build. It's a very valuable learning experience and it helps save a lot of money.