here is the one i'm looking at my price range is under $400 usa of canaidian as of today. stupid exchange rate.

prospective pc

1. If you want to go Vista but not Vista basic, I recommend at least 2GB of RAM
2. AMD isn't the best choice for high-performance CPU's. Intel Core 2 Duo > AMD Athlon 64.
3. About the pre-installed software aka crapware... "Norton Internet Security 2007 (60 days subscription)" Methinks you should try to get your PC without this if possible, as there are plenty of free alternatives to security, some even better than ones that cost money.
4. If you will use this PC for some gaming and/or lots of movie watching/editing and/or picture/3D Model editing, then I strongly recommend a better graphics card than this (the one that comes with your PC: "Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE".
5. Vista is in a pretty bad shape right now, as MS Vista's current quality is that of an overblown OS Beta, and many people will agree with me (yes, I know some of you say Vista isn't that bad, but consider yourself one of the lucky few). If I were you, I'd either try and get XP pre-loaded or at least uninstall Vista and install XP as soon as you get the PC (later is not really recommended if you aren't computer-savvy because no OS installation is without its complications). Vista will probably only be good once MS releases SP2.

Just my 2 cents...

i'm getting a low level pc to start i can always upgrade. also I don't want vista. but they don't sell xp one new pcs.

edit: also about $100 for a 256 mb pci 16x graphic card

O RLY?
O RLY #2?
O RLY #3? (look at the OS's for the different models)
The reason they are all in the Small & Medium Business category is because you can usually get better value computers in that category compared to the prices and even get sales on cross-category models you wouldn't get in any other category. ;)

gross vista. gross a pre-built desktop?! what are you smoking dude! I wouldn't worry about graphics.. not for a $400 PC, but I can guarantee you can make something much much better if you build it yourself.

spengo no need to threat members as stupid and crazy people or bash them for such reasons. But yes I agree that building it yourself would be a better idea, if you don't live in Canada and if you have a second PC with IRC open while building it and getting new parts (so you can get help building it)

case and PSU:cooler master centurion and 400W PSU $75

cpu+mobo+gpuathlon x2 4200+ and Foxconn 6150BK8MC-KRSHN2 939 combo deal $120

ramG.skill value ram 2x1GB $90

hard driveWD 320GB 7200RPM $75

dvd burnerLG 16x DVD burner $27

TOTAL: $387USD
Something like this anyways. It ownz the specs in the one you posted. =) You can pick and choose whatever works best for you though. This just is an example.

nice

Heh, I could do even better if I spent more than 5 minutes of click click on the first deals I see from newegg. But anyways, the point is you can do better building it yourself. :)

I think I'm going to build my next computer. :D

Newegg has some great deals when it comes to hardware.
But the operating system is going to cost alot <_< if you buy it new.
That's what Linux is for right ;)

Yes... that's what linux is for. And _________________ for the other partition. ;)

EDIT (Kevin) no illegal links

I thought Omnimaga doesn't support illegal activity. Of course, _______________ is legal according to the Swedish copyright laws... :wacko:

You need a BitTorrent client to use ________________, so I guess that is what BitTorrent clients for Linux are for... XD


EDIT Kevin: no linking to warez site please. Thanks

what can i get w/ $1000? ^^

ya, i want to try some linux distro in the future. can you add linux easily to a comp that already has a lot of stuff on it?

One pretty awesome laptop. :P

@Kevin: technically, I wasn't linking, as there were no [url] tags. But if we were to say giving the website's URL is considered linking, you forgot to remove one of the "links", which was in my quote box. Did the work for you, anyways.

I've deleted all of them, and I deleted the other link because even if you don't link by using URL tag it is still illegal to post such links on the board, and if Invisionfree found out that we allowed warez here i could get in trouble

EDIT: I didnt noticed there was another URL in the quote box o.o. anyway no providing of warez links and stuff allowed is all that matter

i think you could make something near to an alienware with that money. i buit a decent comp for 750-800.

geforce 8600 GT
6420 core 2 due
XFX 680i SLI (this was a bad buy cuz im not sli'ing)
corsair performance ram (2g)
xp sp 2 (free for me)
some 600W psu that i cant remember

some seta disk burner and two of my old harddrives

plays medieval 2 easily enough anyway.

yea, I built my current PC(a C2D w/ an nvidia 7900GS OC'ed, 1GB of ram(runs vista Ultimate pretty well) and a 160GB HD, DVD+-RW DL burner and such) only cost me about $550, and was about $900 prebuilt from Dell with a whole bunch of crapware and adware to delete.

The bad things about that PC

• AMD DualCore is bad compared to a similiar Intel Core 2 Duo
• Walmart :P
• Vista Home Basic
• crapware that comes on prebuilt PCs
• 1GB of RAM + Vista(yes, I know I only have 1GB too)
• 160 GB HD(yes, I know, I have a 160GB HD too, and it fills so damn fast!)
• $400, when you are mostly paying for a windows license when you could put your own windows on it.

The good things about that PC

• cheap
• easy to use right out of the box
• somewhat decent graphics card, I've seen much worse IGPs, but you won't be able to get any great quality out of it.

The bad things about my PC

• 1GB of RAM
• 160 GB HD
• heat issues

The good things about my PC

• no crapware
• Vista Ultimate/XP Home/Ubuntu Tri-boot
• small(have it in a home theater case)
• nvidia 7900 GS
• DVD+-RW DL burner
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• only cost $150 more than your PC(not including the OS)
• cost $550, Vs. the $900 prebuilt counterpart at the time of me making it.

Also, if you want, I'm sure someone in the community *Netham45 would love to build one for you and then just fed-ex it to you for a fee(not near what the pplz at compaq charge, and without the slight walmart markup.)

Also, if you look at it, the PCs that vendors(Ex. Dell) build aren't that bad priced for what they have. Rembember, they buy the hardware, the OS, and they have to pay their workers to assemble it. The crapware they put on there only lowers the price that they charge for it.

On looking at it, http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5823467 isn't that far off from my PC, except for it has a better CPU, and the HD is bigger.

what illegal links. _______________ is not an illegal link. :P There are plenty of legal things there and I didn't link to any specific torrent files.

dinho, get an 8400 GS instead of the 6400. It is moar bettar for not much more $$$

EDIT: even if you didnt linked to it you are not allowed to post sites that have torrents (unless the file download or the torrent site only have freeware stuff, and no pirated stuff. Basically like the music section of Omnimaga) ~Kevin

so 8600 and 8800 cards aren't necessary for most current games?

Basically this includes not only posting of warez directly, but it also includes posting links containing warez. I really don't want to lock this topic or start banning but if people doesn't give me the choice I will have to.

Well yeah, but you said 6400, not 6600 or 6800. So I was kind of like, why are you getting the cheap card from a long time ago? The cheap cards from today are not much more expensive anyways.

get a geforce 8400 GS instad of my 6400 core 2 duo (actually i forgot its 6420)? idk how my computer will like any attempt i take to put a gpu in a cpu spot ;)

edit: oh did i say the wrong specs?
editedit: i combined the cpu and the gpu...my B. i got a GT 8600 and a 6420 core 2 duo (fixed above btw)

Ohhh... I thought you were talking about geforce 6400 graphics card, not core 2 duo... rofl. should be E6400 (or E6420 as you have clarified) and then I wouldn't have gotten mixed up.

um my dad says i have to buy from a major retailer :(
also he wantsd me to get this one i will most defenitly upgrade the graphic card in it. how does this one look?

cant he let you buy parts separately&? Maybe explain him its less expensive this way and that you can get help online using your old pc while building the new one

On a side note I hope Canadian dollar value stay that high until Starcraft II comes out so then I will buy a computer that match recommended computer specs for SC II, if dollar value is high, it will cost me MUCH more less to build a computer with parts bought online than buy a prebuilt one in local stores, I'll just get the parts from newegg probably, no increase in price like before when $1CAN was $0.85US. I hope newegg ship outside usa tho x.x

Newegg *is* a major retailer foo'! If the best store in the world won't work for your dad, there are other places like Fry's where you can walk in, buy all your parts seperately for relatively low cost, and assemble yourself. Tigerdirect is another good online-only one like newegg. Show him the pros (cheap, easy, everything exactly as you want, no bloatware, etc.) and cons (??? are there any?) of building it yourself.

I would also say that particular one you posted is rather meh as it only has a Pentium D in it. (yuck) For a cheap dual-core computer, I'd rather have an athlon x2 than Pentium D.

why can't Fry's expand to the NorthEast!?!?!?!

and also to add on to what spengo said, if you mess up, you could always ask spengo for help. Come to think of it, a lot of the ti community has built a comp at some point in their lives. that doesn't include me... yet.

there arnt any stores that I know of nearby. that sell parts cheap. I also tried to sell him on the part idea but no i have to get a pre fabed. but he says i can upgrade as much as I can afford :)

As for the comp you posted about 5 posts before, it isn't good at all. Look at the specs, the bold text means it is pretty bad:
Processor Type: Pentium Dual-Core (Core 2 Duo is much, MUCH better for a small price difference)
Hard Drive Size: 250 GB
System RAM: 1024 MB (You should have at least 2 GB, or 2048 MB, if you want to go Vista)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (No explanation needed here...)
Processor Type: Pentium Dual-Core 925 (again, Core 2 Duo is much better)
Processor - Clock Speed: 3.0 GHz
Multimedia Drive: DVD+/-RW
Monitor: 19" Widescreen LCD
Hard Drive Speed (RPM): 7200 RPM
Audio Ports: 3 - Audio (Rear): Line-in/Side (Stereo), Front/Headphone (Stereo), Microphone
Frontside Bus: 800MHz FSB
Graphics Type: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (I had this GPU before, and it's a piece of cr*p even among other integrated graphic cards/chipsets
L2 Cache: 2 x 2MB L2 Cache
Memory Speed: 667MHz, (PC2-5300)
Memory Type: DDR2 dual channel memory
Multimedia Drive #2: N/A
Network: 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
Parallel Port: 1 - Parallel port
Product Dimensions (L x W x H): 14.50"H x 7.25"W x 16.50"D
Serial Ports: 1 - Serial port
Speakers: Amplified stereo speakers (USB-powered)
USB Ports: 6 - USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 rear)
USB Type: USB 2.0
Video Memory: Up to 224MB shared video memory (Avoid shared memory at all costs, it sucks like crazy. Even 64 MB descrete is better than 224 MB shared.)
Special Offers: Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student (60-day complimentary trial period) (why need MS Office if there is OpenOffice?)
Model No.: W5233
Shipping Weight (in pounds): 16.3
Product in Inches (L x W x H): 16.5 x 7.25 x 14.5

got to love the posts but i am gonna upgrade the graphic card and also i am getting it.

Ahh nooo not the pentium D one!

please dont use integrated graphic cards. most games doesn't supports intel cards, they mostly support NVDIA ones and some games support ATI cards as well. So you will end up with many games not working properly fast

I completely agree, though Star Wars Battlefront ran pretty decent on my old laptop's Intel 945 GMA (which is the older version of the 950). Of course, it was forced to run well, as all the eyecandies were turned off and the resolution set to 800x600... XD

Now if only I could find that one post in a random forum that rated all graphics cards/chipsets according to performance (or as spengo calls it, 1337ness)...

this pc is a big upgrade from my current pc
oinly mine has 192 mbs of ram :P

dj omnimaga i will upgrade the graphic card. i'll go nivida

I can see you really do need an upgrade. 400 Mhz processor and a 10 GB hard drive... o.o

As for upgrading, I don't know how easy it is going to be to upgrade integrated graphics to descrete...

pci 16x port on the new pc i'm buying

Most BIOS's switch automatically to PCI(e)/AGP graphics cards if they are present. For my PC it was a matter of disabling the integrated card, power down, put in PCI graphics card, power on, install drivers, reboot, ???, profit.

uh I was saying the computer i'm buying is a big upgrade from the one I own now. also Im looking at this card to add to it.Option #1
or this one option #2

ad that to the 19'' moniter and surround sound and then add another 1gb of ram and we have :wub: :w00t:

8600GT is definitely worth it over the 7300. It is my policy never to buy a graphics card that ends in something less than 600. *600* are usually the base gaming models, and things that end in 800 or more are the top end ones. Stuff below 600 is usually for the average consumer or very light gamer. Anyways, take a look the gpureview.com site I posted before. It has a lot of good infos and detailed gpu specs.

i did but my parents don't want me having a gaming card :(