[FusionGT2]

Hey guys, just curious if anyone here know where would be the best place to purchase a well built gaming pc that is around 500-600? It doesnt have to be overly crazy and cool i just want above average functionality. Any info is appreciated thanks!

[chicken fly lice]

Build your own. Stupid 20 rule.

[FusionGT2]

that is also an option, but where would be the cheapest place to buy parts for it

[CatGoesMeow]

that is also an option, but where would be the cheapest place to buy parts for it

newegg.com <-- just got my PSU/RAM from them
ncix.com
mwave.com
tigerdirect.com
microcenter.com <-- just got my cpu from them

There prices vary, certain parts go on sale etc.. so buy what you need @ lowest cost from each store.

[duykato]

that is also an option, but where would be the cheapest place to buy parts for it

Since we're both in San Jose, you could go to Fry's. That's where I get most of my parts. if not then I'll order them off of NewEgg.com

[kanauru]

I agree with chicken, you can build a pretty good PC for 500-600 ( not including mouse, keyboard, and monitor )

[Meenuh]

You should also check slickdeals.net

[FusionGT2]

thanks guys very helpful info (:

[[HyuNi]]

I'll probably get booed for saying this, but you could always get a refurb/scratch dent Dell XPS desktop from the Dell outlet store.
They actually have some pretty good deals on some decent set ups.
Plus, they have 15% to 20% off outlet XPS desktops every other month, so you could definately get a good deal.

That's what I did... I got the XPS 420 with 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs of ram, 320GB HD for $560~ after shipping and tax. I just bought a seperate 512MB HD4850 video card for $170 at the time.
I got a scratch and dent and I found a VERY slight scratch on the side panel. It was so faint, I could only see it at a certain angle. For about half the price of a normal 420, I definately thought it was a good deal!

Dell Outlet XPS420
ASUS Radeon HD4850 512MB, $114.99 after MIR @ Newegg!

I built my own computer before, but it's a big investment if you've never done it before. People always say it's cheaper to build your own, but they usually say that because 1) they know what they are doing 2) have spare parts that they will use in their new set up

Hope this helps

[Seipher]

I'll probably get booed for saying this, but you could always get a refurb/scratch dent Dell XPS desktop from the Dell outlet store.
They actually have some pretty good deals on some decent set ups.
Plus, they have 15% to 20% off outlet XPS desktops every other month, so you could definately get a good deal.

That's what I did... I got the XPS 420 with 2.4 Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs of ram, 320GB HD for $560~ after shipping and tax. I just bought a seperate 512MB HD4850 video card for $170 at the time.
I got a scratch and dent and I found a VERY slight scratch on the side panel. It was so faint, I could only see it at a certain angle. For about half the price of a normal 420, I definately thought it was a good deal!

Dell Outlet XPS420
ASUS Radeon HD4850 512MB, $114.99 after MIR @ Newegg!

I built my own computer before, but it's a big investment if you've never done it before. People always say it's cheaper to build your own, but they usually say that because 1) they know what they are doing 2) have spare parts that they will use in their new set up

Hope this helps

I took a similar route about three years back, when I bought an HP and got a Geforce 6800GS. It's not a bad idea, because it can provide you with a few parts to use (hard drive, disc drive) when you do choose to build your own later on. Performance-wise, I'm sure a Dell or HP with a video card isn't going to put up the numbers compared to a custom build where you can pick the best parts at whatever price range set, but I'm not sure that it's a big difference.

[my_monkey]

If you want off the shelf PC's for gaming, then like at best buy type of places will have pc's in that range. Depending on how hardcore you want the machine to be , those off the shelf items might not handle games that well. Of course they will run video games but may or may not run smoothly. Some games don't require much processing power while others do. 500-600 dollars to me is too low for a gaming pc, but for like $1000 you could get a great gaming pc.

I built 3 machines over the years plus helping others do it too. I can say is that if you have good spare parts laying around, use them with newer parts and I bet you will have a decent gaming machine if money is a problem. My current gaming PC can handle almost anything you throw at it, and I spent like less than a thousand on it and all parts are new.

Building your own maybe cheaper if you know where and how to shop for parts and expensive if you don't know how to.

If you don't play video games a lot then just buy off the self pc's, and swap out with a better video card and add more ram. that should do you good if you don't game much, plus that configuration will handle most things like HD videos, or graphic intense things.

newegg.com
tigerdirect.com

those are places I always get all my parts from.

[atmospheric SOUL]

Blackfriday

My Build -
Core 2 Quad w/ Crap motherboard, i threw it away. - $120
4GB Ram - $20
nVidia 8600 GT Graphics Card - $80 [bought from a friend]
WD 500 GB Internal hard Drive - $100 [ ]
Case w/ Power Supply - FREE.99

I<3 Black Friday.

[FusionGT2]

If you want off the shelf PC's for gaming, then like at best buy type of places will have pc's in that range. Depending on how hardcore you want the machine to be , those off the shelf items might not handle games that well. Of course they will run video games but may or may not run smoothly. Some games don't require much processing power while others do. 500-600 dollars to me is too low for a gaming pc, but for like $1000 you could get a great gaming pc.

I built 3 machines over the years plus helping others do it too. I can say is that if you have good spare parts laying around, use them with newer parts and I bet you will have a decent gaming machine if money is a problem. My current gaming PC can handle almost anything you throw at it, and I spent like less than a thousand on it and all parts are new.

Building your own maybe cheaper if you know where and how to shop for parts and expensive if you don't know how to.

If you don't play video games a lot then just buy off the self pc's, and swap out with a better video card and add more ram. that should do you good if you don't game much, plus that configuration will handle most things like HD videos, or graphic intense things.

newegg.com
tigerdirect.com

those are places I always get all my parts from.

I hear that.. I ended up spending $960 on my PC and got a pretty decent machine.

-AMD Athlon x2 6000 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
-Xion III Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
-Duo HDs 320gb x2 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
-Sony 20X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
-XtremeGear Ultra Heatpipe Cool Copper Heatsink CPU Cooling Fan
-Extra Case Cooling Fan
-INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
-MSI K9N SLI-F V.2 NVIDIA nForce 570 LT SLI Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID
PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio
-8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
-Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
-Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
-500 Watts Power Supply
-NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express
-ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
-Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

-PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card + 2.4GHz Indoor Omni-Directional
Dipole Antenna

Thats the machine I built in a nutshell. $888 + shipping went to $960. I THINK the power supply should hold up. But if not I can always easily upgrade that. It wasnt too expensive.

[duykato]

I hope that's 64bit vista.
That's a pretty expensive box.
3DMark #'s?

[charrex]

-NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express

Why did you get that card? The 9500GT is below average.

[Gofishus]

Blackfriday

My Build -
Core 2 Quad w/ Crap motherboard, i threw it away. - $120
4GB Ram - $20
nVidia 8600 GT Graphics Card - $80 [bought from a friend]
WD 500 GB Internal hard Drive - $100 [ ]
Case w/ Power Supply - FREE.99

I<3 Black Friday.

Where did you find 4GB of RAM for $20?

[andyroxs]

I hear that.. I ended up spending $960 on my PC and got a pretty decent machine.

-AMD Athlon x2 6000 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
-Xion III Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
-Duo HDs 320gb x2 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
-Sony 20X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
-XtremeGear Ultra Heatpipe Cool Copper Heatsink CPU Cooling Fan
-Extra Case Cooling Fan
-INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
-MSI K9N SLI-F V.2 NVIDIA nForce 570 LT SLI Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID
PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio
-8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
-Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
-Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
-500 Watts Power Supply
-NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express
-ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
-Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

-PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card + 2.4GHz Indoor Omni-Directional
Dipole Antenna

Thats the machine I built in a nutshell. $888 + shipping went to $960. I THINK the power supply should hold up. But if not I can always easily upgrade that. It wasnt too expensive.

to be honest seems like you paid too much.

[dabrain]

it wasnt the optimal config too
a c2d e8x00 would have been the better choice (q9x50 for quads ... alternatively one of the new phenom IIs)
and 8 gb is too much for gaming (i assume u dont plan to do anything with virtual machines, (semi-)pro editing)

[j00n]

I hear that.. I ended up spending $960 on my PC and got a pretty decent machine.

-AMD Athlon x2 6000 Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
-Xion III Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
-Duo HDs 320gb x2 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
-Sony 20X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
-XtremeGear Ultra Heatpipe Cool Copper Heatsink CPU Cooling Fan
-Extra Case Cooling Fan
-INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
-MSI K9N SLI-F V.2 NVIDIA nForce 570 LT SLI Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID
PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,&7.1Audio
-8GB (4x2GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
-Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
-Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
-500 Watts Power Supply
-NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express
-ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
-Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

-PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card + 2.4GHz Indoor Omni-Directional
Dipole Antenna

Thats the machine I built in a nutshell. $888 + shipping went to $960. I THINK the power supply should hold up. But if not I can always easily upgrade that. It wasnt too expensive.

Go with 4GB RAM, use the extra money to go for the EVGA GeForce GTX 280 would set you up nicely for a good dual GTX SLi config later on. You should get 1000wt PSU.

[andyroxs]

Go with 4GB RAM, use the extra money to go for the EVGA GeForce GTX 280 would set you up nicely for a good dual GTX SLi config later on. You should get 1000wt PSU.

the money saved on 4gb ram would be nowhere near enough for the gpu upgrade... 9500 1gb is like a $60 card compared to $300+ for a SINGLE gtx 280 not to mention an SLI