Ok, I've asked this before but my budget has now changed. My old computer was lost in our house fire but I now have around $700 I've alloted for a new computer. can you guide me with top things i need to look for, like memory, graphics etc.
Thanks

Kim

House fire! Yikes!

Are you looking to buy one locally or are you willing to buy one online? Or are you interested in building one yourself? Also are you an adventure player only or do you also play RPG's and action games?

Hi Jenny
I play mostly adventure and casual games. I am willing to buy online but i don't have the computer savy needed to build one. I wouldn't know what to ask for.

You will definitely get all the information you need for buying a pc from an online builder. The tech gurus here will be very happy to provide assistance.

You already said mostly adventure and casual games. That info tell us you can get away with a mid range graphics card and a 4-500 watt power supply. The $700 you have to spend can certainly get that done. Stay tuned.

Hey exalthim2, I know nothing about the technical side of computing and bought my new computer with my usual careless assumption that I knew stuff I didn't know. I am a dolt!!! Ask the people here lots of questions and pay attention. They really know their 'stuff' and will give you great advice before, rather than after, the purchase.

exalthim2 check out this website. You can learn alot there.
( http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ )
Click on any computer picture and you will be taken to 3 pages of every part of that computer with hundreds of options.Once you learn from Gameboomers what you need,you can go there and customize the computers to your specs.

Thanks Geo, I'll do that.

This is the quote i got from eCollege for $648

Intel Core i3-2100 3.1Ghz 3MB Cache Dual core
Stock Intel LGA 1155 Heatsink and Fan
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H (Intel B75, HDMI,2xPCI-E,
6xSATA, 4xDDR3)
8GB (4GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps
24X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD/RW/CDRW w/Nero
1GB GeForce GTX 550Ti GDDR5 PCI-E Dual D- DVI/HDMI
None, Unless Motherboard has onboard video
Microsoft Widows 7 Home premium 64 bit
Foxconn Black TLM436 (2 5.25, 6 3 5) fan, front
audio/usb
460 watt cooler Master Elite 460
Onboard LAN included
Onboard Sound included
Wires and cables neatly tied up away from fan
3 year parts and labor

I have no idea what half of this stuff is, so I'm asking you guys. Is this a good deal?

Kim

It looks like a good choice for a computer less than $700. 8GB is plenty or memory and the GTX 550TI video card should be fine for adventure games for some time to come.

That looks good. A few suggestions. Add a case fan for $8.00. I did and my case has a inside temperature gauge with outside digital readout. To date the average inside temp had been 77F degrees. That is running fairly cool.

You might want to spend the $3.00 extra for the Light Scribe version of the CD drive. That way you can throw away sharpies and write fancy labels on your disc. H.P. has a free light Scribe labeler that works with most cd burning programs. The Nero program that comes with the drive has a lightscribe writer built in. I like the free HP better found it easier to use.

Also click on the View Details link next to the mother board you chose. It will take you to the motherboard mfg page. Look to see how many slots you have. PCI-PCI Express and so on. The video card will take up one of those slots. It will give you an idea of how much space you have for expansion. such as adding sound cards and so on.

Also look to see how many USB ports are available. You may want to consider choosing a motherboard that has a couple USB-3 ports. The standard is USB-2. There may come a point where you will need that USB-3 port. It cost me $25.00 to upgrade to a mother board that had those extra slots.

Jenny is right about the 8 gigs on memory. E-college ships using 4gig sticks so you can add more later. For instance Crucial sells 4gig sticks @ $29.00 with a lifetime warrantee making it easier to add later.

E-College has excellent customer service you won't be disappointed with that aspect.

See how much fun we can have spending your money

I would consider upgrading the case. I've seen this case in builds I've gotten from eCollegePC. They are very small and are excellent for a computer which doesn't generate much heat. But with that good 550 Ti video card, you will need more cooling.

I did not look at the case Drac. I bought that Dreamer 3 and really like it.

Like I said it is fun spending other people's money.

Mariner, Thanks for helping me spend my $. I'll bill the extra's to you

Drac- Did you mean the actual case or add a case fan?

The actual case itself. Take a look at some of the other case offerings that will keep you within your budget... If it says there is only one case fan, add at least one more as oldmariner suggests - they are pretty cheap.

Thank you, the fan is only $8 and the light scribe upgrade is $3.

The motherboard you have listed has plenty of expansion room. No worries there. Take a look at it there are plenty of usb2 and usb3 ports and lots of slots for additional goodies and it will support up to 32G of ram.

That motherboard makes Drac's case upgrade a wise idea along with the additional fan or fans. The more cards you have in there equals the more heat produced. With that kind of expansion it makes sense to have a slightly bigger case to accommodate fans and air flow.

So my recommendations cost $11. That leaves you room to upgrade the case as suggested by Drac.

I told you we could help.

You did indeed Mariner. All of you guys help has made me feel very comfortable with this computer so I think it's a go, with Drac's reccommendations of course. Thank you all for taking the time to help me. Even tho we lost everything in the fire, it is a blessing to start fresh with a quality product. Thanks again
Kim

No problem, glad to help. The one I bought is pretty similar to yours. I bought 8Gb of ram as well then added 8 more a few months later. I am quite happy with it.

These guys here are pretty helpful here. You can always count on help from Drac, Jenny, inland and a few others too numerous to name.

Well, the computer is under way as we speak. i couldn't have felt absolutely sure about getting this computer without you guy's help. after suffering thru a very traumatic time in my life, it feels good to start rebuilding. I can't thank you guys enough.

Kim