Buying a PC vs building one...

[Matty]

build from a barebones setup. the trickest part is attaching the motherboard to the case imo so that's already done for you.

[Don Jacob]

what do you guys suggest, in terms of hooking up to a 1080p 52' plasma?

[Matty]

panasonic is most likely to give best performance through VGA - not HDMI. I have a Panasonic HDTV and use VGA from my PC (not a plasma tho). Few settings to tweak but the picture looks amazing. My friend has a 1080p Phillips set and uses a HDMI lead from his laptop. Looks completely crap. He thinks its automatically awesome cause its 1080p. Funny how some marketing slogan makes people oblivious to the reality of the actual image quality.

1080p over HDMI might be cool with a big plasma but i know that Panasonic's VGA socket implementation is head and shoulders above most brands.

[Money]

build one

[Money]

AMD Machine
AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz
ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 DDR3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB - You can get 2, if you want..
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - Get 2
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ASUS Black 22X SATA DVD-RW
COOLER MASTER 900WPower Supply
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Computer Case
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit


Intel System
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz
ASUS P5Q3 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB You can also get 2.
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - Get 2
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ASUS Black 22X SATA DVD-RW
COOLER MASTER 900WPower Supply
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Computer Case
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit

[Al Bundy]

AMD Machine
AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz
ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 DDR3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ASUS Black 22X SATA DVD-RW

you forgot a case 

[Money]

AMD Machine
AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz
ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 DDR3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ASUS Black 22X SATA DVD-RW

you forgot a case 

i kept posting by acident

[Al Bundy]

& you don't need to pay for vista 

[Money]

& you don't need to pay for vista 

sure he does

[.:TimeLock:.]

if u don't know how to build one urself don't fuck with it just buy one less head aches is the long run

[acgrundy]

I don't think you would really save much money (if any at all) by building your own, unless you do it professionally and have great hookups on parts and are building a crazy machine.  For the most part computers are cheap, and you can find great deals on them these days.

I bought my computer in December 07...I was contemplating just like you...I ended up buying a floor model at Best Buy:

Its an HP
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
3 gigs memory
500 gig hard drive
dvd burner
I don't know what the graphics card is...I don't play games
Also has a built in TV tuner, supposedly you can watch TV on it, but I never checked into how to do that (if anyone knows let me know)
Also came w/ Vista

Works great for me,  only problem I have had is the dvd drive died after a year.  Other than that it has been great.  I got it for just over $300, and I added a 17" HD flatscreen off the floor for about $120 more.

BTW, why do people want to hook up your computer to your TV?

[Don Jacob]

it's a lot more better i think, plus with one swith i can go from posting here, to playing xbox, to watching tv.

plus if you have a theater system is sounds better when you're watching stuff on your computer.

[Matty]

big b - the original poster said he wanted a pc that would be alright for games price range between 400-800. he didn't say put together the ideal pc and that price is no object.

i didn't do the math fully but it seems like to use the parts you listed would cost about DOUBLE his maximum budgeted amount. there was another poster who did exactly the same thing - ignored the original post entirely and acted out his own fantasies by saying build a monster pc. lol

[Muhfukka]

with one swith i can go from posting here, to playing xbox, to watching tv.

haha

[Money]

big b - the original poster said he wanted a pc that would be alright for games price range between 400-800. he didn't say put together the ideal pc and that price is no object.

i didn't do the math fully but it seems like to use the parts you listed would cost about DOUBLE his maximum budgeted amount. there was another poster who did exactly the same thing - ignored the original post entirely and acted out his own fantasies by saying build a monster pc. lol

i wanted to make a machine that would last him another 4 years

if i where to build a monster machine it would be $15,000

Intel- ~$1353 ($800 + $533)
AMD- ~$1238 ($800 + $438)

whats 50% between friends?