advice - advantages vs. pre-build with a $600 budget

Status
Not open for further replies.

delirium330

In Runtime
Messages
107
so i know building myself has a lot of advantages... i can get a nice case to expand later, have the enjoyment of doing it myself, i can use better parts, etc. but what are the estimated cost savings of building a machine with a $600 budget for cpu, monitor, keyboard, OS, etc. etc. not a gaming machine, just a general day to day task machine.

vs. say a pre-built dell in that budget? can i get that much better performance?
 
If you are buying a computer meant solely for general use, then it is generally cheaper to buy prebuilt.
 
You will get a lot better performance however you will need to take full advantage and overclock the cpu to get noticeable performance difference. If you want a complete computer including keyboard/ monitor/ printer/ dancing midget then it becomes a bit close to call.
 
without wasting everyone's time, could anyone recommend a build as mentioned in the OP of which I could compare to a couple of Dell's? im not sure what components to pick at the lower level (im building a higher end machine right now).

i guess there are already a few budget builds floating around... but most don't include the monitor and OS. it would be nice to build a 64 bit system. i guess i also have windows XP, but it's the 32 bit version.
 

cool. well that's a good start. does a low end dell have onboard video standard? i guess i would assume so.

i still need a monitor and OS, ouch. but that leaves me with $200 which may be doable. or i keep XP and get a nice 19+ inch for $200.

would an Intel build be less value in the budget price ranges?
 
cool. well that's a good start. does a low end dell have onboard video standard? i guess i would assume so.

i still need a monitor and OS, ouch. but that leaves me with $200 which may be doable. or i keep XP and get a nice 19+ inch for $200.

would an Intel build be less value in the budget price ranges?

Low end Dells have onboard video that uses shared memory. I know this because I purchased one for one of my relatives recently. Just buy the video card separately and install it yourself. I bought a $60 video card and plugged it in, and it DOUBLED the video performance of the machine straight away.

If you're getting a widescreen monitor, I'd go for at least a 22" widescreen. A 19" widescreen actually looks smaller than a 19" 4:3 screen because widescreens aren't as tall.

PS Vista works SLOWER than XP unless you have high end components. I'd go for the better monitor rather than the new OS, your EYES will use your monitor everyday. And Vista is buggy. I run Vista Ultimate 32 bit myself.
 
Vista is not buggy!! Every revision of windows has been slower then the last if you want it simply for speed get Windows 2000! Stop spreading the lies, they were only true at first release now vista is fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom