New Computer

So I am looking to buy a new computer whenever I have the money but was seeing some expensive prices when searching on the main computer companies' sites. I do not know quite enough about computers to build from scratch but would be able to upgrade a computer to gaming capabilities. Would buying a new, non-gaming computer, and upgrading it with more ram and a graphics card be less expensive then just getting a new computer that can handle up and coming games? I was inspired to peak around because my computer now is having trouble running HL2DM at all now and seems to be on the fritz. Thanks for any help.

Edit: Also, what should I be looking for as far as processors go?

Dude, building your own is the way to go. Even if you don't know anything about doing it, there are plenty of video's on YouTube that I could get you to that show you how to do it. It's also a great learning experience.

Now, if your dead-set on getting a baseline and upgrading it, that'll probably be less costly then getting a gaming computer. The best way to go is to get a "bare-bone" (as they're considered) and building from there. There was a site that Avalon posted, I'll go find it, they had some pretty good prices, the only thing you should have to do with one of those would be install Windows, so you'll have to make sure you've got a copy of it on hand. If not, hit me up in a PM and we'll get that taken care of .

Thanks bro! This is not an urgent thing, considering I won't have the money for at least a few weeks but probably maybe even a few months. I wouldn't mind putting in the work to make my own if you think it is not that difficult. My brother has made his own but I remember the difficulties he had getting everything just right, and he is an IT for the company he works for. Of course he would be able to help me build it but I don't want to count on that considering how unreliable he can be when it comes to getting him over to help. Anyways, thanks again for the help.

http://3btech.net/barebones.html

here you go Nem, this is the website Don was talking about that Avalon posted. amazing prices on there

Thanks! What kind of power supply would I need to power a gaming video card. I was hoping to get a video card with 1 gb of memory instead of the 512 minimum requirement for Bad Company 2. Also, what kind of processor should I look for? What does dual or quad core mean? I need to get updated on the new technology.

Dual Core means that there are a total of 2 CPU cores. Quad Core means a total of 4 CPU cores. VERY good for multitasking. combined with enough RAM, you can be downloading something, installing a program, running a virus scan, and playing a high end game all at the same time with no lag at all. here's the system requirements for the game, so build your comp based off of these:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: EA DICE

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP
Processor: Core 2 DUO @ 2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 15 GB for Digital Version, 10 GB for Disc Version
Video Memory: 256 MB (NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT/ATI X1900)
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard and Mouse
DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista/7
Processor: Any Quadcore Processor
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 15 GB for Digital Version, 10 GB for Disc Version
Video Memory: 512 MB (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260)
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 10
Keyboard and Mouse
DVD Rom Drive

probably would need at least a 500W power supply, and based on the video card you want, you will have to see what type of power connector the video card has. the high end cards use pci express power hookups.

Thanks for the help. Seems pretty easy with that site Avalon mentioned. I already have a hard drive and dvd rom so all I would need is the ram and video card. The reason I asked about the power supply is because on the site you can upgrade it for like 14 bucks more. I may end up doing it all on my own though. Gotta shop around and see how much that would save me.

[kingloser]

depending on which vid card u go with u might need a power supply upwards of 600W i currently have a 650W running my 9600 gt. i went with a best buy comp for like 500 bucks and then just upgraded the vid card and power supply. but im thinking my next comp will be a ground up build. i like the athlon 955 black quad core cpu with prob 4 gigs ram (thats all u really need depending on ur OS) and im looking at the nvidia 250GTS. THey recommend the 260 GTX but im running the beta with a 9600gt and not noticing ne problems. and the 250 gts is a big upgrade from that so.

yeah do not get less than 600
I boughtr a 550 one and it in really not quite enough and i am going to get a higher powered one.

How much are you looking to spend?

[kingloser]

im thinking that when he decides we should help him with looking for the best prices. LIke he can tell us what hes lookign for in general (i.e. processor,vid card,power supply) and then we can all search around for it and see what we can find for prices.

That's kind what I was thinking. I usually would just build him a system based off his price range and what he's wanting to be able to do. Then he can swap anything out that he wants to.

Well that is the thing. I gotta figure out my money situation. My mom and I are moving into a new, less expensive, apartment this weekend so I will be saving about 50 dollars a month on rent. I was thinking of putting that 50 into a savings account until I had enough to buy the parts. Or, once I get close to it I can do it on my credit card and pay the difference off monthly. Say I was doing it with that site Avalon said and got a 170 dollar bare bones computer (that was about how much I saw some good ones for), plus 14 bucks for the enhanced power supply. I have the dvd rom and a hard drive so, another 120 on a graphics card and about another 100 on ram. That would be 404. Is there anything I am missing? The bare bones comes with case, mother board, on board sound, 6 usb's, 16x pci express slot, mouse and keyboard port, ethernet port. I could use the on board sound in the meantime and if I decided to get a new speaker system (my 5.1 surround sound system broke) then I could look to upgrade that later. I am just talking this out so detailed so that you guys can catch anything I may be mistaken on or anything I am missing. I do appreciate this help a lot.

Let me jump on and see if I can get something thrown together for around $450.

May I recommend waiting till December?..lol....USB 3.0 is gunna be main steam by then and so will a lot of other things + by then u'll hopefully have enough money to get a descent system