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After some thought and research I think I've more or less settled on getting a tower computer, and leaving touch-screens behind for the time being.

Now I'm thinking about KGJV's advice of getting a less expensive computer, and getting a tablet instead with the saved money. Again, keeping in mind I'm going with a pre-built system, could someone advise me a bit on what I could cut back on, if I were to go this route? The Dell system I have above (which works out to just over $1,500 with taxes and everything) has an i7 2600, 12 GB of dual-channel RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD 6870. Now I am wondering -- if I were to cut back, what would be the best things to cut, and to what extent?.. If the i5 2500's only major disadvantage is this hyperthreading dealy, is that maybe not a big deal for gaming and general productivity use? Will I get noticeably slower performance with 8 or 6 GBs instead of 12 -- especially if I'm doing some moderate multi-tasking? Is, say, the Radeon 6770 a very big step down from 6870, or would I only need to worry about that if I were a hardcore gamer?..

I'm not sure I want to go this route, but it's definitely an interesting idea to consider, and any advice about it would help.

Unless you're using a lot of memory-intensive applications at once, going from 12 GB RAM to 6 won't make a bit of difference. I'd suggest sticking with the i7 processor; there's a bigger difference between i5s and i7s than hyperthreading and clock speed, and upgrading a processor later on is a pain even if you know what you're doing. Graphics card is an option to cut corners on though. I have no idea what the current one are, but my 5770 plays fairly recent games on medium graphics without any noticeable slowdown so it probably won't be the end of the world to get a slightly cheaper one. It tends to be 'you get what you pay for', unless you buy really cutting edge stuff in which case you'll be charged extra.

I wouldn't have a clue what a sandy bridge is, though. Wouldn't it be more reliable if it were made of concrete?

your biggest expense will be the processor. RAM is very cheap, around 25 bucks for a stick of 4GB ram. You can cut corners on the video card, but the video card isnt all that expensive in the first place either.


Ultimately you are going to end up getting nickled and dimed to death because there are so many parts, you can cut corners on one part but it wont save you much. You will have to cut corners on several things to see a difference. (not to mention you can end up bottlenecking your performance with not enough RAM or a @#(!ty video card)


If you want, get a mediocre I-5 processor and save yourself 150 bucks. Its not really that difficult to change out the processor, just gotta be careful.

Now MrC, don't scare him off. Building your own computer is not hard. Certainly not as hard as ripping up the car you depend on to go to work, and does not require any tools outside of a Phillips screwdriver. Take 10 mins and look at some how to videos on YouTube and see if it's within your comfort level. It's a fun way to learn a little bit more about what's going on under the covers and save a few bucks. You could buy any of the lists here, or look at some barebones kits on TigerDirect.com for ideas.

Now if you are all thumbs or don't have the time or interest, then you should get the prebuilt and don't look back! Also, check out some factory refurbished prebuilts. Sometimes I'll buy those and put in a proper video card and send it down the road with good results.

Don't be a fence sitter. You can wait forever, but there's always going to be a new shiny right around to corner and your new dog will be your old dog (but with plenty of tricks left in it) in six months no matter what.

A halfway house between building and pre-built is buying a Mobo, cpu, memory bundle. The bundle arrives as a unit which you install in a case and then add graphics card (usually the easiest thing to install as it'll only fit in one hole) and hard drives etc. Of course, you still have to install windows yourself which shouldn't, but can be a pain.

I might be wrong but ain't this bad timing to buy a gaming PC anyway ? unless I'm wrong, we have (yet another) technology switch coming by the end the year: quad-channel memory and PCIe 3.0. This means new motherboards, new CPUs and new GPUs. Intel will release Sandy Bridge-E CPUs this november (the forthcoming Core i7 3820 looks nice for its price) as well as the corresponding new socket & chipset (LGA 2011 & X79).

I... do not keep up with computering news very much. O_o Those... things that have many letters in their names sound good and I wish to own them! However, people keep telling me that there will always be something good around the corner, so may as well buy now. But I don't want to kick myself if it turns out I could get a substantially better system for the same amount of moneys just by waiting for a couple of months!

Clearly there are still computer-knowing people building systems with the components available now, instead of waiting... Also, when these new components come out, don't you kind of have to wait for a while before the price drops come in and the bugs are ironed out? Like, didn't the first Sandy Bridge processors have bugs of some sort that kind of made it a bad deal for the early adopters who got theirs right away?

Or would I be genuinely better off learning some patience at this particular point of time?

There's always something new and better on the horizon. If you replace your PC or upgrade components every 6-18 months then stalling for a new platform makes some sense. If you leave it 2 years + then the motherboard, CPU, RAM and Graphics will be utterly redundant no matter what so there's no real need to wait because the new platform won't give you any long term benefits (beyond processor speed etc but how much will you notice that in day to day life?) over buying now.

Pretty much what I was thinking (slash hoping for because I don't wanna wait that long. ) Still, the i7-3820 looks like it's basically going to replace the i7 2600 that I've been planning on getting with something faster for the same price... Or maybe I'll be able to pick up an i7 2600 for less... Hmm.

The last time I bought a complete system was around 1988, so I can't help you there...

I recommend Sharky Extreme's regular buyers guides: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/index.php