Hastings Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 What is the most amount of money you would spend on a computer system? With so many different makers and competition in pricing, is it really necessary to spend over $500 on a top of the line system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 Can you define the specs that are "top of the line" and also define if you want a big gaming machine or a machine to type word docs and surf the net. But, the short answer is "YES". Top of the line stuff - fastest/newest CPU, fastest/newest graphics engines, largest high res monitors, huge drive arrays, WILL be more expensive than that buy several multiples. what do you want? A laptop to run word and excel and chrome? You can easily do that for $500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I usually budget about $1500 to build a really good pc, then use it for 8 to 10 years. That's for a desktop machine with a good video card, a CPU in the $400 range, a couple of disk drives and a good power supply and cooling fan for the cpu. $500 gets you an adequate machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I usually buy refurb machines that are just a couple of years old on either ebay or at microcenter. Most are in the $200 range but I just dropped $500 on an i7 with graphics card and 12gb of memory. I keep them until they stop working which has been 7 to 8 years on avg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esther Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 I think $500 is reasonable if you want something that basically gets the job done. I usually spend about $1500 to get what I really want and so far I've never been disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 What would you want beyond getting the job done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkultra25 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 13 hours ago, august948 said: I usually buy refurb machines that are just a couple of years old on either ebay or at microcenter. Most are in the $200 range but I just dropped $500 on an i7 with graphics card and 12gb of memory. I keep them until they stop working which has been 7 to 8 years on avg. I've had mixed luck with the refurb machines at MicroCenter. The first one I bought several years ago is still going strong after I bumped the RAM to 16GB, but the second one (bought as a gift for a relative) started crashing regularly shortly after purchasing it. It was covered under warranty, so we shipped it to HP and they serviced it, but the same problem kept recurring. Wound up replacing several major components (including the motherboard) before essentially giving up on it. I still think this was an anomaly, and would buy another refurb as the prices are hard to beat and the chances of getting a bad one are relatively low. The main issue with low-end and mid-range off-the-shelf consumer-grade PCs tends to be the power supplies - most of them are just barely adequate for running the machines in their existing configurations, and if you start trying to beef up video performance by adding a decent video card, you're going to have to upgrade the power supply first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Stan Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 I game a lot so yes powerful CPU and GPU is a must. $1500 for a custom PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 6 hours ago, Mad Stan said: I game a lot so yes powerful CPU and GPU is a must. $1500 for a custom PC. What sort of games are you playing and which ones tax it the most? Reason I ask is I bought the $500 refurb machine specifically to replace my old dead xp gaming pc. So far, with some limited play, it's performed admirably but I'd like to really put it to the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 That is precisely the reason why I would not want to go for a refurbished machine if I could afford a new one. I wouldn't want to have to 'limit' my time on my laptop just because it couldn't handle the load. As a fellow gamer, I want something that is fast and reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 I think that $500 is reasonable for a refurbished machine but if you're looking for a brand new one then you should be looking at spending at least $1000 to $1500 or even more depending on what kind of machine you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Leanne said: That is precisely the reason why I would not want to go for a refurbished machine if I could afford a new one. I wouldn't want to have to 'limit' my time on my laptop just because it couldn't handle the load. As a fellow gamer, I want something that is fast and reliable. Ahhh...a laptop's a different animal when it comes to gaming. $1,500 is probably reasonable in that case. My $500 machine is a desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporty Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I think all my fellow gamers out there will agree that when it comes to getting the best gaming experience, you just can't look at the price of the laptop. It's worth it to pay that extra to get the perfect graphics and sound and performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Stan Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 On 11/8/2016 at 9:19 PM, august948 said: What sort of games are you playing and which ones tax it the most? Reason I ask is I bought the $500 refurb machine specifically to replace my old dead xp gaming pc. So far, with some limited play, it's performed admirably but I'd like to really put it to the test. CoD, BF4.. pretty much the latest in PC gaming. I built my rig in 2013 and I can still play the latest games at high settings @ 1080p. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 For gaming, you can buy a new video card for less than $200 and get some pretty major improvements in performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 For gaming I've only ever built my computers. I'd always get the top of the line asus MB and throw higher end components at it, it was always a bit more reasonable in price that way, and very capable. granted it's been 10 years since I did that. I'm due to build a new one, I just haven't been motivated to do it, this little microsoft surface is doing everything I need out of a computer right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harementire Posted May 14, 2018 Share Posted May 14, 2018 The prices of PC parts now are getting high especially video cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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