Figure
$120 for a mobo
$160 for a gig of ram
$300 for a fast processor
$50 Case
$50 for a sound blaster audigy
$200-450 for a top of the line video card.
$200 for Klipsch Speakers
$100 for a 7200rpm, 8 meg buffer Hard Drive.
$100 for Cdroms, burners, and DVD player.
What else?

 

That would be a nice computer...now only if you could see what was going on Add a monitor to the list. If you plan on going the legal route...add OS costs + office suite, etc software.

 

go to www.cyberpowerpc.com

All my friends got their computers from them, and are EXTREMELY happy. For like 1500-2500 bucks, you can have top top top of the line stuff.

Go AMD with the 3.XX processor, 2x 120GB drives with 6 partitions each, RAID if you want to, top of the line video card, sound blaster live value, (dont get platinum, its a waste) DVD-R, CDRW (get both......much more convenient.......etc.

DO NOT GO CORPORATE...ie Dell, Compaq, HP, etc....you are paying double for no reason. Remember, these companies use the same parts as the little guys. Also, their computers come preloaded with a TON of crap, and slows the computer down a LOT.

Custom built computers are MUCH cheaper....(the computer I told you above would cost 4000+ from dell) and are much better. Also, their support is much better. Corporate support may seem great, but they dont know ANYTHING!.

The computer above would serve you VERY well for what you need to do.

Just built a computer for ya....(I was bored )



-Turbo-X infinity case, with 500W power supply

-939 Pin AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Processor

-Motherboard - (939-pin Socket) ASUS A8V DELUXE VIA K8T800 MAINBOARD WITH LAN, USB2.0, IEEE, & AUDIO

-RAM 2048mb (2 x 1GB) Corsair XMS PRO High Performance Memory w/ Heat Spreader & LED Lights

- MAXTOR 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB CACHE HARD DRIVE
- Second hard drive MAXTOR 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA 150 8MB CACHE HARD DRIVE

THATS 500GB of memory....some corporate servers dont have this much!

-RAID (optional)

-Video card nVidia GeForce FX 5700 256MB 8x AGP w/ TVO, & DVI

-CD Drive COMBO DRIVE (16X DVD-ROM & 52x32x52 CD-RW
-DVD Drive PIONEER DVR-107 DUAL FORMAT 8X DVD

 

6 partitions each? WTF?

 

Thanks to all that have contributed so far.

A few questions here:

Is it really that easy to build your own computer?

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and wouldn't be scared of attempting to do it, I just have no idea what to do after screwing down everything. In other words, if I've got a brand new computer and I push the power button what does it do and/or where does it go if there's no OS on it yet?

Is it as easy as just having the Windows XP disk in the drive when you boot it for the first time?

Also, can someone link me to a place I can learn about partitions and/or RAID?

I have no idea what that is.

suvh8r...you have PM.

 

Yes, it really is that easy....most of the time. If you have issues though, finding solutions on the internet isn't hard.

You've got to configure BIOS settings and things, if you get to that point, just give us a hollar, we can walk ya through it.

 

I updated my post.....check it....^

 

Well...not necessary, but do you know how long it would take to defrag a 120 or a 250 GB hard drive???

You should always partition your drives, in case something goes wrong (virus etc) you can delete just that part, not the whole drive.

 

Im not 100% great at explaming RAID, but Ill explain partitions......

Partitions are basically multiple hard drives you create from one drive.

In essence, imagine a 100GB hard drive. If something happens, like a virus, and you have to format, you have to erase the entire drive.

However, if the same hard drive would get partitioned into 4 x 25GB, and something went wrong, then all you would have to do is format the infected part, and save the other 75 GB. Also, partitioned smaller drivers run better than one huge drive. Get the drift??

 

500GB - That's storage capacity, not memory.

I agree, I build all my computers, but I've been doing this for years and can fix just bout anything. Honda606 hasn't done it before. What kind of warranty does cyberpower offer? What kind of support? That's what you're paying for when you go to dell, ibm, etc. Most of the warranty plans are 2-3 years by default.

And that is TOTAL overkill. Honda606 - you don't need all that stuff.

Wrong - I just priced a similar Dell system (minus speakers, but they weren't listed on your specs) for ~$2000. Video card is lower than yours, but he doesn't need an FX. Comes with a 3 year limited + at-home service warranty.