Thinking about getting a new desktop and if I should build one or not. I came across this: http://www.onsale.com/p/5783470? The only demand for power I need is to be able to play some games on it (not the latest and greatest stuff) and want to be able to do some music work on it. Playing some HD movies would be nice as well. 500 is just about my limit. Could I build a comparable rig at a lower price? Id def upgrade the ram on this system and I need more storage space, but I wouldnt have a problem adding a bigger hard drive down the road.
Not really, not if you need to buy a monitor, mouse, keyboard and everything that package comes with. This one is a referb, and doesn't come with a monitor, but it's a nice upgrade cpu and gaming wise. The Acer Phenom is a first generation of the X4 and is quite a bit slower than the Phenom II. http://www.onsale.com/p/Acer-Desktop-Computers/product~dpno~7932138~pdp.fhidehc Acer FX6710-01 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz Desktop - 6GB RAM, 750GB SATA HDD, ATI Radeon HD 4850, SuperMulti Drive featuring Labelflash, Fast Ethernet (PT.G350X.001) The 4850 will probably let you max out the settings, and the q9400 will live it's entire life @3.2ghz+ quite happily. The difference between the Phenom and Intel quad at standard clock speed is ~50% depending on what exactly you're doing.
You may want to hold off on computer purchases for the next few days. Intel is officially releasing new cpu's and manufacturers will be showing off new models using them. I've been waiting about 2 months for them to start shipping these things so I can either buy laptops based on them or buy laptops based on the outgoing models a bit cheaper.
