re: Need advice on purchasing/building a new PC

quote:

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I'm reconsidering building one now...

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figured you would

Case: Xigmatek Asgard Pro $50
PSU: Cooler Master 500w $40
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Pro $99
CPU: i3 2100 $120
Ram: 8 GB PNY DDR3 1600 $35
Optical: Asus DVD Burner $20

That puts you right at $365. The CPU has integrated graphics, so if you didnt care about gaming much you could splurge on an SSD and large HDD and skip the Graphics Card altogether, (for now - you can always upgrade to one later) otherwise:

Vid Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD6670 2GB $75
HardDrive: Seagate 500GB HDD$60

Thats $500 exactly before tax, rebates and shipping (and OS but I assume you can get your hands on that without purchasing it), and provides you the chance to upgrade the CPU or Video at any time. The 1155 socket life is ending, but it has some VERY high end processors and they will be around for quite a while. This build wont be great at anything in particular. A business machine would have a lesser video (aka onboard or integrated) and a better processor while a gaming machine would be the exact opposite. What you get here is a solid machine and motherboard that you can upgrade in 2 years rather than waiting 4 or 5 and having to start from scratch.