Looking to buy a computer, no idea where to start.

[Goat]

I'm looking to buy a computer mostly for gaming, dicking around with photos, and to do the odd bit of paperwork and don't have a clue where to start, aside from the fact I want an awesome graphics card.
Willing to spend around 1800$ including a monitor. Don't really care if it's mac or what not as long as I can find a mac friendly program (battlefield2...)
What should I be looking for in a graphics card?
What should I be looking for in a processor?
Help?

[clevich]

$1800 eh... what kinda monitor you need? lcd, crt? size? If you want cheap and good quality LCD's, goto dell. you can pick yourself up a nice 19' lcd for $400, or a 20' for like 500.

graphics? go nVidia. They just released their new g79 chipsets. 7900 series. if you wanna wait for dx10 compatible cards (directx 10) wait until the summer when nVidia releases their g80 chipsets.

since you'll be doing gaming and some photowork, try looking into an AMD X2 chip. They're dual core and will help alot with gaming. If you insist on going Intel and dualcore, be prepared to fork out a hell of alot more cash. AMD X2 midrange chips ($400-$600) blow away Intel D chips ($800-$1200).

Check out www.ncix.com, although their regular prices are a bit more expensive, they always have deals and sales on that sometimes go below the price of items if you were to get them at a local mom&pop store.

if you need any help about prices and configuration, just post back and would gladly put somethin together for you.

[tiedye]

^^^
NCIX is the best if you want to build it yourself. Two thumbs up and all that jazz.

If you're looking for a prebuilt computer, take a look at Alienware's rigs. Great gaming machines. I've used a few and they never seem to unimpress.

Stay away from Dell.. very few proprietary computer outfits allow for convenient upgrading. Most of the time the motherboards aren't even compatible with third party equipment. Alienware is safe for that, if I do remember correctly.

[clevich]

ya, stay away from dell prebuilts. but their monitors are supurb. dont be mistaken. they're only go for monitors. :). Alienware is probably way too expensive for your budget, so dont even worry.

oh, btw tiedye, dell just aquired alienware ;)

[tiedye]

^^
no shit? there goes another great computer company

[clevich]

Originally Posted by HardOCP

If you are not aware by now, the Dell aquisition of Alienware is all but complete. Nelson, CEO of Alienware could not keep himself contained earlier, and spouted off before Dell could be official with it.

Dell announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Alienware to further satisfy the growing number of consumers and businesses seeking the highest-performance PC products, including those used for gaming and multimedia digital content management. Terms of the planned purchase will not be disclosed.

Dell said Alienware will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary following completion of the transaction and will maintain its own product development, product marketing, sales, technical support and other operations as well as brand. The management and founders of Alienware will continue to operate the company as a standalone unit of Dell.

eh, na... just looks like they're taking over the world. not much.

[bebu*funfun]

just buy an ibook....done and done

[Goat]

crt?
dual core?
tiedye - those alienware look pimp. 5g's is way out of my price range though.
bev - ibook?

[clevich]

haaaa, ibook. dont even bother. you'll be wasting your money on a laptop that wont do you much good for what you want. CRT are those big fat monitors with the big huge backing on them, LCD are the thin sexy displays ;).

[nabs]

Chek ur PM. I can hook you up.

[beedub]

Check out Dell - http://dell.ca

They got to be the biggest computer maker by building good products. They make well over 100,000 computers daily. Dells are more customizable at order time than computers from stores. Admittedly they are not totally customized since they only have a few graphics / audio cards they will use, but if that's a problem just order one with a cheap card and then replace it with your own, computer warranty remains.

The motherboards on newer Dells or others may or may not be replaceable with a new one that you would buy from a parts store. But realistically the days are gone when you would upgrade the motherboard after a few years.

If I was buying a new computer it would be Dell or if a laptop maybe Toshiba. Or an Apple.

[nipvicious]

i bought my computer back in aug 00... and i can still play all the new games... but if i were u.. i'd go with and sli motherboard.. and get yourself 2 decent pcx video cards.. i currently have a msi geforce 6600GT and im quite happy with it.. but u may wanna go with newer card.. and make sure to get 1GB of ram at least...