Help with possible computer purchase

I desperately want a desktop, but I'm on a rather strict budget (translation: my wife doesn't think a desktop is necessary since we both have laptops already). I have little to no technical knowledge whatsoever, so building my own is almost 100% out of the question. If need be, I could probably change out a video card or add some RAM, but that's about it.

The only computer game I play is GW, so my requirements aren't too hefty. I will be playing GW2, though, so something that either will most likely play GW2 well (I don't think the system specs have been put out for that yet) or something that's easily upgradeable would be perfect. If you could give ballpark pricing with your advice, that would be wonderful.

And of course, if anyone wants to build me a computer free of charge and send me the result, I would definitely not be opposed.

Other way round works best: you give us a ballpark figure of the amount you're willing to spend, and we'll spec you a system

Oh, I knew that was going to come around and bite me. Phooey on you, Snog.

Anyway, I want to spend less than a thousand. I'm not looking for an earth-shattering rig, just something that'll play GW adequately. Lower is better. In fact, my main concern is a computer with an actual video card - I've had integrated graphics chips on both of my most recent laptops.

I could deal with system specs similar to my current computer - it's a Gateway MX8738 laptop. I found the stats using dxdiag, but I can't be bothered to type them in.

I'm going to assume you also need a monitor. Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227065

And get yourself a nice monitor. And a video card. The PSU is 420w, so it should be fine for some. I suggest the 3850 or 9600gt.

Ooooh...pretty...and shiny...and blue glowy. I love blue glowy things.

Any other suggestions? That's a decent price, but I was kinda hoping to spend that on everything, not just the CPU. I know I've probably got too high expectations, so if I do, let me know.

EDIT: Ah, nvm I get it

You probably will have to buy a video card seperately from the computer, because generally prebuilts come with integrated or really bad dedicated.

EDIT AGAIN: Ok, try this. $100 cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229028

You'd still need to get a montiro+video card, as the 8400gs is...eh, well not good at all. This one is obviously not as fast as the first one I mentioned.

Sounds vaguely familiar...

Just my 2c on this. If you can play GW on your laptop, then postpone making/purchasing a desktop until you know what is needed for GW2. If GW2 stays DX9 then so much the better. It will most likely be DX10 though and that means Vista, which means you need a much more robust system.
Not to sound negative but I don't see the sense in building a PC for GW when you may need to upgrade/replace it in a year or so for GW2.
There is the option though to get a newer Chipset motherboard and then go dirt cheap on graphics, ram, everything and be prepared to upgrade once you know the specs for GW2.
Like Snog said though, you'll get some suggestions now that you have offered a price range.

Umm if you are not in a hurry... Go to fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net. Go to the deals forums and look around or use their search. Both deal sites are legit and free and you will get a much better deal on a good computer than if you just buy something not on sale from a vendor. New Egg is great, but I am sure you can get a better deal if you use those sites.

Example: Dell dual core 2.4ghz +1 gig of ram and 20" widescreen monitor for under $500 last month, and similar deals seems to pop up every so often. You would need to add 1 more gig of ram and a video card to have a complete gaming system. Add 1 gig of Ram for under $50 and the latest deals on video cards are for the new radeon 4850s for under $170 shipped after MIR. That card is basically equal or better than anything else within $200 of it. Very good deals on them. A system like this will work for gw2 and most any current game. Anyways you could get a nice rig for well under 1k if you shop around.

Btw, I used to buy and build gaming systems and those sites are where I go to find deals on parts, etc. I also use anandtech and a few other sites for info.

Tried editing my post, but site is so slow sometimes....

That new radeon 4850 video card is DX10 compatible and will work fine with vista and the next gen games.

the HD4850 will be enough for GW2 i bet.

careful with it though, because it only has two flaws:
1) its longer than i thought. had to rearrange my PC interior.
2) it idles at 72C.

EDIT: stupid moriz, make sure the system really is idle before posting the temps.

I think this is probably how I'll work it for the time being. I was just interested in getting some ideas of what 500 or 600 dollars would get me, and whether I should worry about it now or wait until I've got a more definite idea of what'll be needed to play GW2. I'll still definitely listen to suggestions, though.

GW2 will be DX9 compatible, Anet has not decided yet whether to add DX10 specific features, but it will definitely be DX9 compatible. The HD4850 looks pretty fricken awesome at the moment in terms of performance/price ratio, and it will definitely be able to run GW2 very well. Still, if you are happy with your GW1 performance at the moment, you might want to wait until GW2 comes out to buy your new PC. That said if all you want to run is GW1 and GW2, you can definitely do that now with $1000.

EDIT: whoops, misinterpreted your second post's price range. For 500-600 you might be a bit strained since you need to buy the monitor as well, and since you say you probably can't assemble your own from individual parts (which is one of the best ways to save money). Do you have any tech-knowledgeable friends who would be willing to assemble your PC for you?

Hold off the purchase Crimson. Trust Rahja....... with Nehalem coming out later this year, and some really significant changes coming to the PC market, you will get more for your money by waiting until Christmas of this year or early 2009, which is GW2 time frame. DX10 will probably be required, so wait it out for now.

I know secrets I cannot tell, but you would be wise to heed my advice.

I second this. nehalem is supposed to be a completely different socket physically? Bigger, correct? I thought he wanted it now, so I posted some suggestions.

WE CAN SAY THAT EVERY YEAR.

Now how does Rahja know for sure how powerful they will be and what the price performance will be like. One year intel upgraded their cpu's to run hotter and slower. Thank God that AMD was there to pick up the slack. Does Rahja work for Intel or some other company or does he just scour the internet for new like many do. Does Rahja even exist?!?!?! :P

The current intels are plenty fast, but this could be interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(microarchitecture)

Wanting it now doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean I'm going to get it now. It's more likely to happen around this time next year, the way things are looking financially. I was just kinda window-shopping, and if something impossibly good came up I'd try to convince the owner of the checkbook to give me a little allowance.

How does rajha know? he is a genius chip designer and tries very hard to not make people look stupid, which I am sure is not hard for him to do. He also has 1, mind it is not a release version, just a test version.

we can NOT say that every year much longer. This is why: The chip manufacturer in question policy/trend has been release new acritecture, then die shrink by nearly 50%. (At this point I am a parrot) The "new chip will be 45nm at start, and die shrunk to 32." The next chip after that(sandybridge?) will start at 32 and shrink to ?????, as 16 nm technology can not happen with the materials that are currently being used. 16nm is to thin and the electrons go through the "chip walls", not to mention the gate issue. It may be possible for a 24nm but I am not a chip designer by any strech of the imagination. so they increase band width add hyper threading with multiple cpu's. this can also be something to look into: when a computer, esspecially a laptop has a massive malfuction, you are talking about a class A electrical fire on your lap/ in your house, this is not a joke.

The fact of the matter is Nehalem will be epensive (Like all other hardware) when it first launches, the boards will also be expensive and decent DDR3 will retain its price. Thats how it goes throughout anticipated product launches, get used to it. Guess what? There is a 75% chance that if you buy Nehalem + Board there will be an insane amount of bugs. Get used to that too, its the curve.

And if the word around the campfire is infact correct the Nehalem's will be FSB locked, therefore no more buying low end and clocking it higher. Depending on future revisions, performance, and pricing AMD may have my next build.

in my opinion as pc builder it's best to wait a little bit since indeed there are big changes rumoured (they're only rumours atm but look at the time amd switched to the new socket and i bought the old one a month before) That why it's whise to wait till early 2009 for the new Nehalem which if the rumours are correct will blaze away current Cpu's.

And even if you don't end up with the money for a Nehalem Cpu then you'll still have enough for an older Cpu which by that time should have dropped exponentially in price cause of the fact that there's new competition on the board.

And indeed listen to Rahja i respect him for all the knowledge i still have to learn