HELP!! A good time for a new computer, but which one........... ?

[Dadsguns]

I discovered today through much frustration that my hard drive is gone in my old Dell, she did me good for many years {since 04}, I have a new hard drive en-route and will be here by the end of next week.  This gives me some time to "shop", my computer is really old compared to systems out there today and would probably be a good time to upgrade to a newer model, besides with the holidays coming up there should be some good deals out there.

Some of you build them, I have no idea how. 
I would think you can build one for less cost for just the tower and come out with more bells and whistles in it than you could by ordering one from Dell or out of Best Buy. 

What are some options out there?  Recommendations?   What is the price range I am looking at to get the best bang for the buck?

I don't use it just for the game, I do family pictures and videos as well, but store or back them up on a separate hard drive.  Graphics is a must and processor ability. 

Thanks in advance.

[Flipperk]

I discovered today through much frustration that my hard drive is gone in my old Dell, she did me good for many years {since 04}, I have a new hard drive en-route and will be here by the end of next week.  This gives me some time to "shop", my computer is really old compared to systems out there today and would probably be a good time to upgrade to a newer model, besides with the holidays coming up there should be some good deals out there.

Some of you build them, I have no idea how. 
I would think you can build one for less cost for just the tower and come out with more bells and whistles in it than you could by ordering one from Dell or out of Best Buy. 

What are some options out there?  Recommendations?   What is the price range I am looking at to get the best bang for the buck?

I don't use it just for the game, I do family pictures and videos as well, but store or back them up on a separate hard drive.  Graphics is a must and processor ability. 

Thanks in advance.

I have always used newegg.com to shop for my computer parts. Great selection and great deals to go along with it. It also has a great load of user reviews on their products so you know what to expect with each product you research.

[AAJagerX]

If I was going to buy one out of the box, I'd look for intel i7 or i9 processor, at least 4 GB DDR3 ram, Win7x64, 700-800W power supply, hard drive with 7 to 10K rpm (prefer SSD), then get a good graphics card.  ATI 5770 does pretty well.  I think most would be content with a setup like that.  That being said, if you get a bare bones system and upgrade it to your liking you'll get more bang for the buck.

EDIT: SYX-1044 is pretty good for an out of the box system.  Dunno what your price range is, but you could build something similar to that one for quite a bit less than the sticker price of $1000.  Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com are good places to look.

[1701E]

The Hardware forums could help likely the best.  No offense but you'll get some uneducated/bad recommendations here (but not all are bad!) since most Hardware forum posters don't frequent this forum to help.

If you're willing to build then it can be worked out around your budget for the best bang/buck.  If you don't want to build and want ready-made, contact TilDeath he's really the only person I'd trust not to completely rip people off with 300$ build charges like Dell.
If you want to run AH maxed you're looking at anywhere from 700-1500$ (I run maxed for 850$).  Also, if it can run AH maxed, you don't have to worry about everyday needs as it will be good enough to do anything simpler with ease.

Mostly you'll want to look for a few brand names: Gigabyte, ASUS, SeaSonic, Corsair, OCZ, EVGA (not real sure on reliable ATI brands, Western Digital, Intel (or AMD if budget is tight), and some others but those are the biggest.  Case/DVD-drive/Sound-card/other peripherals are basically personal choice since it depends on what your setup is and what you need done.

Also, if you want, if you find something you're considering buying post a link here and you should get feedback on if it's reliable/worth it.

[AAJagerX]

The Hardware forums could help likely the best.  No offense but you'll get some uneducated/bad recommendations here (but not all are bad!) since most Hardware forum posters don't frequent this forum to help.

If you're willing to build then it can be worked out around your budget for the best bang/buck.  If you don't want to build and want ready-made, contact TilDeath he's really the only person I'd trust not to completely rip people off with 300$ build charges like Dell.
If you want to run AH maxed you're looking at anywhere from 700-1500$ (I run maxed for 850$).  Also, if it can run AH maxed, you don't have to worry about everyday needs as it will be good enough to do anything simpler with ease.

Mostly you'll want to look for a few brand names: Gigabyte, ASUS, SeaSonic, Corsair, OCZ, EVGA (not real sure on reliable ATI brands, Western Digital, Intel (or AMD if budget is tight), and some others but those are the biggest.  Case/DVD-drive/Sound-card/other peripherals are basically personal choice since it depends on what your setup is and what you need done.

Also, if you want, if you find something you're considering buying post a link here and you should get feedback on if it's reliable/worth it.

Yeah, TilDeath will set ya up right.

[greens]

                   I NEED A NEW COMPUTER TOO <SNIFFLE>

[Dadsguns]

Yeah, TilDeath will set ya up right.

I pm'd him, thanks.

[Dadsguns]

If I was going to buy one out of the box, I'd look for intel i7 or i9 processor, at least 4 GB DDR3 ram, Win7x64, 700-800W power supply, hard drive with 7 to 10K rpm (prefer SSD), then get a good graphics card.  ATI 5770 does pretty well.  I think most would be content with a setup like that.  That being said, if you get a bare bones system and upgrade it to your liking you'll get more bang for the buck.

EDIT: SYX-1044 is pretty good for an out of the box system.  Dunno what your price range is, but you could build something similar to that one for quite a bit less than the sticker price of $1000.  Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com are good places to look.

This looks like something I could be interested in, now where can I find that for around 500 bucks?   

[AAJagerX]

SYX OSG-1 is a lot cheaper, and would still do the job nicely.  The processor could be better though. 

That aside, it's better than what I'm running and I max out the graphics settings in AH and usually hold 60 fps or so. 

[Dichotomy]

If you can swing the funds hit up TilDeath at http://www.tdcomputersystems.com/ he's a fellow AH'r and a seriously good guy.  He rebuilt my box for me for way less than I anticipated and it's a freaking beast now but nothing compared to the systems he builds from scratch.  Quite honestly, unless I'm just going to set up a work station somewhere that doesn't need a good performance envelope, I plan on buying from him from now on.

The only way you could save more is learn to build it yourself.  

Sure you might have to drop a little more on the front end but, when it comes time to upgrade, your costs will be substantially lower in the future.

Best of luck

[L0nGb0w]

Once you take the time to put one together yourself, you'll never go for a pre-built machine again.  You get so much more for the money, know how everything goes together, and when it comes time to upgrade, you can do it one piece at a time.

[Belial]

I just got a HP Pavilion Elite HPE-235f

8GB ram
1TB HD
1GB ATI radeon 5570 high deff graphics card
24" moniter

Package for 1K$  I dont know too much about computers but it seems pretty good.

[321BAR]

Alienware

[FYB]

Alienware

Good one, now he can get something that costs 3x what it should be for a cute alien head emblem and some LED lights. Hoorah!