I'm seriously contemplating getting a new PC, and remove myself from this shitbox Dell.

Currently, I have no money, and I am working on a tight budget- Parents probably will limit me to around $1500, and I can't build a PC for shit.

Can anybody be able to help me out here?

All I want it for is to Play CS:S, and run PhotoShop 7. That Is all.

Is that price including a monitor?
If so you can still get a great PC for that price, and if not, you can get an even better one. :P

But yeah, will you be getting a monitor, and if so, what size and do you want an LCD or CRT?

He's right my moniter ate up a great big chunk of my PC's cost about a sixth of it. Darn nice though the other thing is where do you live? Near a disc shop? Are you willing to have the whole thing posted to you? and other such things.

And pffft to your "I can't build PC's for shit" they build themsleves these days anyone remember irq number conflicts? You prob don't even know what is.

I think you could get a fairly decent pc for that amount. Definitely good enough to run CSS.

Yes.

17 Inch, and whichever's cheaper :P

Well as far as monitors go, get a 17" CRT... I have a ViewSonic E70f CRT Flatscreen. It has awesome picture quality and only set me back like $250...

As far as a decent PC, just remember to take into account thinks like Fans, cases,PSU, etc into the cost, as a lot of people tend to forget about these things then realise after they have their hopes set on a particular set up.

Alright, I took these prices from gamedude.com.au (because their site is easy to get through)

ANTEC (USA) Solution Series SLK3700-BQE (With 350W PSU) - $149
Pic here
or
Thermaltake Soprano (With 400W PSU) - $149
Black or Silver
or
Cooler Master Centurion 5 (With 350W PSU) - $139
Black And Blue or Black And Silver

These are three of the better brands in the case market. I’d choose a brandname over a generic case, simply because having a good quality PSU is always a good idea (plus the case’s better build quality won’t go astray either). Which one you choose is really down to personal taste, though.

OEM Pioneer DVR-109 16x DVD Burner (with software) - $93
(For an extra $10 or so, you can get a retail version, which is pretty much the same thing except that the retail version looks a bit better)

Socket 939 AMD 64 3200+ - $285
ABIT AN8 Motherboard (nForce4) - $199
1GB of Generic RAM (2x512 400mhz sticks)- $140
Expert Vision X800 - $369
SeaGate 80 gig 7200rpm SATA - $84
Microsoft Keyboard and mouse combo - $59
SAMSUNG 17inch Model 793DF - $159

Total: $1537

As you can see, I've left out speakers, OS and labour costs. If you want one those, I can change that system to work around the price. However, you shouldn't need to pay labour if you know a friend who's knows their stuff.

gamedude isn't exactly the cheapest place to get stuff from, but they do have prices similar to most other stores. The cheapest place to get stuff from is MSY (but their site is pure crap, www.msy.com.au)

The slight problem is that I can't build a PC for shit :P

The stuff you posted looks pretty good, spec-wise, but it's just my lack of PC building capabilities <_<

You don't have any nerd friends who can do it for you?

It isn't really that hard anyway, I managed to build my PC myself using nothing but a PCPP article (and another pair of hands for the fiddly bits).

There's probably guides on the net you can use, otherwise I can scan the article and email it to you >_>

I'm the nerd -_-

It's pretty easy. I had nerdy friends help me build mine, but there wasn't much to it. Except after weeks of delays, when it finally arrived the mobo wouldn't fit in the case! Luckily it was 5:45pm when we discovered this and the local pc store doesn't close until 6pm (we made it :D).

Nerdy friends are also good if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on software...


Nice work Geek! Looks like a pretty good set up!

omg - me too - although i think mine cost slightly less

and that was my entire unproductive post...

Mine is some "Hansol" brand. Damn my cheap-arse parents.

Ask a local PC shop to build the whole thing for you with the parts you want or the ones geek mentioned. I think it's an extra $100 for them to build it for ya.

$100!? Good gawd that's rediculous!
Hell, that money could knock your ram from 512 to a gig!

Seriously Eyce, just build it yourself, it isn't that hard. ;)

Man I wish I had that money :(

I would be able to play Source!!!

Ohwell I guess I'll just have to hang out at the internet cafe next friday :)

Good setup their Geek.

Out of those three cases I'd go the Thermaltake Soprano, it looks better imo and it comes with a 400W PSU!

Well, my new PC cost just under $1000 which included:

ASUS A7V 400-MX All in One
512MB DDR400 RAM
Mator 80G 7200rpm HDD
Samsung 16x Dual Layer DVDRW (+... I think)
OMNI 4718 ATX Case
Acer 19" LCD 12ms

So far i'm pretty happy with it, though I am currently running off integrated video, so at some poit I might need to get a graphics card. Still, i'm able to run Grandia 2 at highest resolution, so i'm happy (aside from the parts where the game freezes up and/or shuts down)

What kind of CPU, Kami?

AMD XP 3000+

Pinky: "we'll be there before you can yell 'poit!'"
Brain: "we'll reach Mars before I yell 'poit!'"

:lol:

sorry couldn't resist :P

anyways... yes yes graphics cards are rather important </feeble attempt to keep post on topic>

:P