I currently have an eMachines and this thing sucks. it's dying and has been for a while now. For one thing, the computer cannot use sleep or hibernation. it will just shut down when attempting. It also will not turn back on after it has been shut down, you have to un-plug it and try turning it on again until it finally goes on. (i usually just keep it on, haven't shut it down in about a year now)
We have sent the thing back to the manufacturers 3 times now to fix it and they tried to fix it twice, then gave us a new one. same problems over and over again. so the point of the story is, this computer sucks and i will never buy from eMachines.the monitor (which came with the computer) is also horrible. it's the smallest resolution i've ever seen for an LCD. it only supports 16-bit and the resolution is 1024x768. if you keep the brightness over 50% the images bleed onto the monitor for a few hours. (ghost images)anyway my budget: $ 200 ~ 500 (no higher)i've been looking at a Dell Studio XPS Desktop for a while now. i'm really loving the specs and the price. i've had Dell machines in the past and never had a problem with one.my current specs on this PC are:AMD Anthlon 2.1ghz (dual core)dedicated nVidia card (can't really do anything)2gb RAMWindows Vista 32biti need something a little stronger than this. i can't play any modern games at all with this. i want a powerful system for a reasonable price that won't fail on me. suggestions anyone?p.s. thoughts on the banner? (i'm not too great with graphics)
Cool banner. I'd help suggesting parts and whatnot, but I'm not too savvy on the subject. However, I will suggest that if you want to save money, you can always build it yourself.
Also, give google a try (I've no idea if this one in particular it's a good option, though).http://kotaku.com/5223590/a-500-pc-that-can-kick-crysis-ass
yeah i've watched some tutorials of people putting PC's together and i just feel like i'd be too never and stressed out about something going wrong lol.
also to get the specs i desire, it would cost more to put together a PC than to buy a pre-built one. that's buying the parts at retail price, i have heard of certain sites selling things much cheaper but i do not know which ones can be trusted.looking at the link Sinistrade posted, the site newegg.com has some very cheap stuff and seems trust worthy.i guess i could try building a PC but again, i'd be a nervous wreck and if i screwed something up i'd hate myself for wasting what little money i have!I'd only take the 4870 from SJF siggestion.
I'd keep your current HDD, Optical drive, Case and PSU; on a tight budget there's no room for those.I'd get a Core i3 (~$120), a cheap motherboard (~$70), 4 Gb DDR3 (~$70, btw, you save almost nothing buying only 2 Gb), Radeon HD 4870 (~$130), and you can still get a cheap monitor for $110!That should work for a while.I've heard Newegg is good and cheap. Building your own computer is not difficult. Do you know how to put together legos? Then you know how to build a computer. A prebuilt PC is never going to be 'cheaper' because they will include their own HDD, PSU, etc, those cost money, and that's money that could be spent buying something more powerful.as it would be great to shave off the pricing, i have no choice but to burn this computer and get a whole new one. i can't trust any of the parts in this thing. though i suspect it's the motherboard that's causing the problems, it could be the PSU as well as random rebooting is common on here lol.
i think i can manage to put a PC together so i might go for that following some guides of course.Building your own PC has always been more cost-effective than buying a prebuilt.
If anything, only throw away the PSU, there's no need to buy a new HDD or case if you're really on that tight budget.
Definitely try to upgrade to a 64-bit OS.
IMO forget 64-bit.
And build it yourself. Always more cost-effective.