Looking to buy a desktop...need advice

[HeismyFiyero]

I want a desktop for art programs, gaming and the average web-surfing/school work. I have a general idea of what Memory and Hard Drives are.

Is 4GB memory enough for games like L4D or Fiesta Online (MMO)? I tried looking up online and some people say that 4GB is enough, others say not to get anything less than 6GB. The most I'll be doing at one time is gaming and listening to music. I don't know if that information helps or not...

[daredevil_keiji]

RAM is pretty cheap nowadays so if it won't cost you another $100, go for 8GB RAM.

When you say art programs, there tends to be a large variation, some do not need powerful hardware while some do require them to finish within reasonable time. What sort of programs did you have in mind? Remember too that if you are referring to 3D applications like Maya, you may need a decent production graphics card which isn't suited for gaming.

I'm very tempted in saying to get the best value, you really need to build the desktop yourself. Given however from how you phrased your post, I'm leaning towards the idea that you'll just buy a desktop off the shelf. What's your budget?

[HeismyFiyero]

daredevil_keiji

RAM is pretty cheap nowadays so if it won't cost you another $100, go for 8GB RAM.

When you say art programs, there tends to be a large variation, some do not need powerful hardware while some do require them to finish within reasonable time. What sort of programs did you have in mind? Remember too that if you are referring to 3D applications like Maya, you may need a decent production graphics card which isn't suited for gaming.

I'm very tempted in saying to get the best value, you really need to build the desktop yourself. Given however from how you phrased your post, I'm leaning towards the idea that you'll just buy a desktop off the shelf. What's your budget?

Art programs like Corel Painter, Photoshop, etc.

I have absolutely no confidence in myself for building a desktop myself. My lack of knowledge and understanding leads me to think that buying off the shelf is a better option. :/

[daredevil_keiji]

HeismyFiyero

daredevil_keiji

RAM is pretty cheap nowadays so if it won't cost you another $100, go for 8GB RAM.

When you say art programs, there tends to be a large variation, some do not need powerful hardware while some do require them to finish within reasonable time. What sort of programs did you have in mind? Remember too that if you are referring to 3D applications like Maya, you may need a decent production graphics card which isn't suited for gaming.

I'm very tempted in saying to get the best value, you really need to build the desktop yourself. Given however from how you phrased your post, I'm leaning towards the idea that you'll just buy a desktop off the shelf. What's your budget?

Art programs like Corel Painter, Photoshop, etc.

I have absolutely no confidence in myself for building a desktop myself. My lack of knowledge and understanding leads me to think that buying off the shelf is a better option. :/

No worries, Those aren't very demanding applications so you should be fine with buying an off the shelf desktop. As far as games, you may need to buy a better graphics card to play the more demanding games.

What's your budget? That should determine what would be the best configuration.

[HeismyFiyero]

daredevil_keiji

No worries, Those aren't very demanding applications so you should be fine with buying an off the shelf desktop. As far as games, you may need to buy a better graphics card to play the more demanding games.

What's your budget? That should determine what would be the best configuration.

My budget is little over $600.

[daredevil_keiji]

HeismyFiyero

daredevil_keiji

No worries, Those aren't very demanding applications so you should be fine with buying an off the shelf desktop. As far as games, you may need to buy a better graphics card to play the more demanding games.

What's your budget? That should determine what would be the best configuration.

My budget is little over $600.

That is just for the gaming PC itself correct? not including the monitor?

That budget, without doing a custom build, this i think will be your best candidate for just a bit more money

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9095516&CatId=1886

At this configuration, you have a decent intel quad core processor and a dedicated graphics card to play games.

Alternatively, you can wait until Black friday to check if there are better deals on gaming PCs. Remember that if you plan to play with first person shooters, it is wise to have a dedicated graphics card.

[HeismyFiyero]

daredevil_keiji

I gave what you said a bit of thought and I'd like to look into building the desktop myself...how does that work? O:

[daredevil_keiji]

HeismyFiyero

daredevil_keiji

I gave what you said a bit of thought and I'd like to look into building the desktop myself...how does that work? O:

Well, there are a lot of guides out there that provides in formation on how to build a desktop computer. The advantage of that is that you have more flexibility or control over your budget and what specific parts you put in.

Buy a bundled set (usually motherboard, CPU and RAM) ready for assembly (Newegg, TigerDirect and other online companies offer these). Buying this set eliminates the possibilities of picking the wrong CPU for the wrong motherboard socket.

Aside from that, everything else is mostly compatible with the motherboard (graphics card, sound card, etc.). Then you have to think about how much power each part is going to draw. For the most part though, unless you are building a computer that is more than $1k in parts, you should be fine with a 700W power supply. It gives you enough room for a second graphics card down the road if needed.

Though if this is really the first time you've done this, I'd HIGHLY recommend to watch video tutorials first. It isn't as hard as other people make it up to be. What make custom building a bit harder is putting thought into other factors such as airflow, liquid cooling, and other custom setups which is somewhat of an artform in itself.

[Sweet_Whimsy]

Get a Mac

[HeismyFiyero]

XXxxElectric_RainbowXXxx

Get a Mac

I've had nothing but bad experiences with Macs.

[Lanackse-Kanvae]

XXxxElectric_RainbowXXxx

Get a Mac

The basic model of iMac is out of the clearly stated budget, but hey let's ignore that because you're willing to donate a few hundred aren't you? Aren't you?

Before you say Mac Mini, that doesn't come with a monitor and they can be about $100+ EACH. Don't get me started on dual setups or anything HD and/or LED.

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/compare/desktops.html

I know that's the UK site but I live in the UK (******** geotrackers) and what you pay in USD we pay the same number in Sterling because every ******** milks the UK market (that and we have 20% sales tax instead of 7-14% roughly in the USA).

[Sweet_Whimsy]

Lanackse-Kanvae

XXxxElectric_RainbowXXxx

Get a Mac

The basic model of iMac is out of the clearly stated budget, but hey let's ignore that because you're willing to donate a few hundred aren't you? Aren't you?

Before you say Mac Mini, that doesn't come with a monitor and they can be about $100+ EACH. Don't get me started on dual setups or anything HD and/or LED.

http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/compare/desktops.html

I know that's the UK site but I live in the UK (******** geotrackers) and what you pay in USD we pay the same number in Sterling because every ******** milks the UK market (that and we have 20% sales tax instead of 7-14% roughly in the USA).

you can get used ones for cheaper.

[kenjitamura]

XXxxElectric_RainbowXXxx

Get a Mac

OP said they wanted to play games. If they bought a mac they'd end up needing to splurge another $100 on a windows license to dual boot and play games like Fiesta Online.

[HeismyFiyero]

sb4y

Hm...so, you would suggest that maybe I save up a bit more to buy a computer in the 1k price range?