I've coaxied an old machine along for years, including upgrades to the CPU, added drives, add memory....but its definitely about as cutting edge as a butter knife. I've been saving pocket change, I've hoarded the game pay from occasional ref stints.....and I've gotten clearance from our family's in house accountant to pck up the balance for a new system.
I'm wondering what specs you guys would recommend.
Some background. When I buy stuff, I dont generally find the premium for top-of-the-line to be worth it to me. So, I'm definitely not a mercedes guy, or even a Lexus guy -- I go for the upper end Honda, nicely equipped. Reliability and minimal hassle are important, after some negative experiences with other systems. At the same time, I would NOT be happy with the computer equivalent of a Dodge Neon. There's no way I want to get something and find I've outgrown it in a few months.
I am open to building a system, though frankly when I checked into in last time around I found the cost awfully close to getting a similarly equipped machine pre-built, and the hassle/frustration factor of a build swayed my decision away. Getting into the guts doesnt intimidate me at all.
My previous purchases have been Gateways or more recently Dells. I got an Alienware laptop with replaceable video card, but even with that upgrade, 1Gig RAM, 3.0GHz CPU it has troubel with AH. (That baby cost me innumerable hours on tech support too.....)
So, now I'm looking at a total cost of $2500 or under. I'm specifically hoping for a larger LCD screen, 19" or more resolution 1200 or 1600. I expect 2GIG RAM, and 200GB HD. Gaming is the most demanding thing I do with my machines, since work software is pretty pedestrian. I may do some digital editing, but otherwise media isnt a big deal. I'm happy with my Boston 3.1 speakers, and dont require upgrade there -- especially since I've usually got the headset on!
Some specific questions:
Dual Core, or faster single core?
AMD or Intel?
Who are reliable and reasonable AMD builders?
What video cards are higher end values?
Is it better to get dual card, or faster single -- cost being comparable?
And for HTC, is dual core support in the future for AH? Will Vistacrap be required for AH forseeably?
Thanks all!