I want to help my parents out this christmas by replacing their old PIII system with something more up to date. My dad games quite a bit, but nothing too demanding – games like Civilization and Age of Empires – and my mom just does the usual web/email/office stuff. I’m hoping to find something decent for about 1k.
I’d like to go with a Core 2 Duo, if that’s possible in my price range. Probably a gig of quality memory. Good, but not amazing video card – I’d consider integrated to save money. Middle of the road sound card. Quality harddrive, but they don’t need anything huge – 150 gigs is plenty. Opticals are cheap – just anything decent. And then of course things like a PSU, cords, etc.
I’ll also have to buy them Windows (I’d like to get XP pro) and a monitor would be really nice too – although this would almost surely push me out of my price range. I’m willing to go up to about 1300.
If I could get any suggestions on a possible build, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
Well, without the monitor, it can be done under $1k…at least if you’re set on a Core 2 Duo. If they’re not audiophiles, then you can go with the on-board sound. Anyway, here it goes:
MIR=Mail-In Rebate
Shipping is the basic 3 day shipping
Building yourself is good if you can live with the consequences… :eek:
It is also a nice experience, building something yourself.
What I mean is that when you build, you normaly end up tweaking and fiddling for ever. Your parents might not be impressed with this… also you have no support in case things go wrong… apart from, this amazing site!
A good option might be a barebone machine which has the essentials installed and tested. Then you can add things like Gcard and drives yourself.
The prices for these are conciderably lower than a full blown system.
Dell are always good value for money as ready systems go…
apart from, this amazing site!