How much do computers generally cost?

[Togath]

After several problems, and finding out my computer can't even make the min system requirments for guild wars 2, I've been pondering getting a new computer, how much is the average price for a 2008 standard computer for example?, 1000$? 1200$?

[Flickerdart]

If you're talking desktop, $1000 will get you an incredible gaming machine that could run Skyrim on max, never mind GW2. You'd still need a monitor and a keyboard and all that jazz, but you probably already have some.

If all you want is something that was good in 2008, you probably won't be spending more than 500-800 on it.

[Togath]

Ah, I hadn't realised prices had gone down that much, I may look into a decent one in the 300-500$ range then

[INoKnowNames]

Getting a TV, getting them to properly build it / install everything / make sure it goes online, a 500 gig portable hard drive, a keyboard, mouse, speakers, controller, and all the internal parts to make it and be able to play the average games (I largely just use it to emulate), along with a 3 year warrenty, cost me about $1100. And I could have cut corners in some of the pricing here and there, now that I think about it.

[TSGames]

Getting a TV, getting them to properly build it / install everything / make sure it goes online, a 500 gig portable hard drive, a keyboard, mouse, speakers, controller, and all the internal parts to make it and be able to play the average games (I largely just use it to emulate), along with a 3 year warrenty, cost me about $1100. And I could have cut corners in some of the pricing here and there, now that I think about it.

Why a portable HD?

[INoKnowNames]

Why a portable HD?

Just to store all the extra stuff I'm not using on the main computer. And for the sake of relaying information on different computers.

.... I don't know how to word the second one without making it sound like i'm commiting theft.

[Antonok]

Just to store all the extra stuff I'm not using on the main computer. And for the sake of relaying information on different computers.

.... I don't know how to word the second one without making it sound like i'm commiting theft.

The ease of transporting more then 5 gigabytes at a time between computers?

I know they come in real handy transferring MMOs between computers so I don't have to sit thru 9 hours of downloading first.

[thubby]

Why a portable HD?

ALWAYS WORTH HAVING.
setting aside novelty conveniences, backups will save you more time and potentially money than you can believe. and it's not like it's going anywhere.
assuming the core, truly important data on your computer doesn't spontaneously grow several thousand-thousand times in size, it'll still be a useful thing to have years on.

[inexorabletruth]

Shopping online through sites like Tiger Direct or Fry's can get you a workable solution that meets recommended requirements for around $400 (not including monitor, keyboard, or mouse.)

However, it depends on how hard you game. You can get a seriously BAMF computer for around $2,500 to $4,000. It will do everything you could possibly want and more. For top end gaming equipment, look at Mac or Alienware. Mac runs pretty much any operating system these days, and even cheap computers ($500) meet the recommended requirements for most modern games. Alienware runs hot, because they're overclocked, so they have a short shelf life, but they are a gamers dream-come-true when it comes to high performance, precision instruments.

[Flickerdart]

Shopping online through sites like Tiger Direct or Fry's can get you a workable solution that meets recommended requirements for around $400 (not including monitor, keyboard, or mouse.)

However, it depends on how hard you game. You can get a seriously BAMF computer for around $2,500 to $4,000. It will do everything you could possibly want and more. For top end gaming equipment, look at Mac or Alienware. Mac runs pretty much any operating system these days, and even cheap computers ($500) meet the recommended requirements for most modern games. Alienware runs hot, because they're overclocked, so they have a short shelf life, but they are a gamers dream-come-true when it comes to high performance, precision instruments.
There is absolutely no reason to buy a Mac for gaming, since you can get exactly the same components for around half of the cost elsewhere.

[tyckspoon]

Alienware runs hot, because they're overclocked, so they have a short shelf life, but they are a gamers dream-come-true when it comes to high performance, precision instruments.

Eeeh.. I used to work in computer retail. We carried some Alienware products, off and on. I was not impressed. They're not bad computers, but they're disntinctly overpriced- on most of them you're paying 500-1000 extra for the Alienware badge and the fancy case. I usually recommend Ibuypower or Cyberpower for people looking for gaming pcs; their pricing is usually closer to fair value for the parts (with a preference for Cyberpower, as Ibuypower's starter configurations often have excessively weak videocards IMO.. which means you have to adjust the price they show up a couple hundred dollars for the GPU+PSU upgrade when you customize it.)

(If you are stuck with retail-available systems, well, you might get lucky and find somewhere that is carrying Cyberpower or Ibuypower.. but I'd suggest looking for Gateway. There's actually a pretty nice line of higher-end gaming computers under that imprint.)

[factotum]

Dell will sell you a machine with a 1Tb hard drive, 3.3GHz Intel i3 processor, and 6Gb of RAM for $499.99. Admittedly, that uses integrated Intel graphics (which are garbage) and doesn't come with a monitor, but I reckon you could fix both those issues for maybe another $250 and have a pretty decent gaming rig--not cutting edge by any means, but definitely *much* more powerful than your 2008 standard.

[TSGames]

Between my network and cloud storage and my flash drives (https://www.google.com/search?q=flash+drive&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS385US385&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=ND8_UKDEEarc0QGww4CQDA&ved=0CMMBELMY&biw=1440&bih=787#q=flash+drive&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS385US385&tbs=cat:3712,pdtr0:706370%7C32%2432&tbm=shop&prmd=imvns&ei=Nz8_UNeEHsju0gG2uIDwCw&ved=0CNABEMEJKAM&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=b027e5d180a15bb8&biw=1440&bih=787), I've never needed an external HD, but I usually setup my old machine to be a file server on the local network which is probably not an option here.

I would highly recommend optimizing two components for a gaming machine. Graphics cards, and Hard drives.

On that note. If you can afford the little bit of extra cost, buy Solid State (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A%21493964%2Cn%3A 541966%2Ck%3ASolid+State+Hard%2Cn%3A193870011%2Cn% 3A1292116011&bbn=193870011&keywords=Solid+State+Hard&ie=UTF8&qid=1346322433&rnid=193870011) Hard Drives (http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=636&name=Internal-SSD) and run them in a RAID 0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0_performance) configuration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYBtmVMtH1g&feature=related). As disk access times are ridiculously slow compared to graphics computations, you definitely notice the difference and have a significantly faster machine.

[Bill Murphy]

Make sure you look at the new machines on the market. Computers have gone down in price dramatically.
Although you want a new computer to play a game on it that no longer works on your current machine, keep in mind that game's graphics continue to improve. So do not get a new computer that offers the minimum requirements for this game you want to play because you are trying to save money. Or that new computer can end up being outdated in a year.

[Yora]

I usually prefer to upgrade existing computers. Even a really old one often still has lots of parts that are as good now as they have been 5 years ago.

Recently, my CPU broke and in that particular situation it was actually more sensible to buy a new mainboard as well, which made it neccessary to get new memory and a graphic card. But I still had the case, the power unit, hard drive, and the sound card, which still work just fine.

If it's just graphics card and memory, that can be upgraded very easily with almost no experience at all. But when the computer is really old and you also need a new CPU, you will most certainly need a new mainboard and then things get so complicated that it really is much easier to buy a completely new one.

[Starwulf]

Shopping online through sites like Tiger Direct or Fry's can get you a workable solution that meets recommended requirements for around $400 (not including monitor, keyboard, or mouse.)

However, it depends on how hard you game. You can get a seriously BAMF computer for around $2,500 to $4,000. It will do everything you could possibly want and more. For top end gaming equipment, look at Mac or Alienware. Mac runs pretty much any operating system these days, and even cheap computers ($500) meet the recommended requirements for most modern games. Alienware runs hot, because they're overclocked, so they have a short shelf life, but they are a gamers dream-come-true when it comes to high performance, precision instruments.

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but Alienware sucks. They are vastly overpriced, and not because they are good, but because they use unique components that aren't commonly found in computers. I can build a rig that would equal their top-end computers, for less then half the price. Macs are absolutely junk for gaming as well, half the good games out there aren't even released for Macs.

Nope, the best thing to do is to go on Tiger Direct, or Newegg, purchase all the parts yourself, load up youtube, and build it yourself.

[Pyromancer999]

I believe you can get Google's Chromebook for around $300, if I remember correctly. Not sire of it can run Guild Wars 2, but it's fairly new.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Dell will sell you a machine with a 1Tb hard drive, 3.3GHz Intel i3 processor, and 6Gb of RAM for $499.99. Admittedly, that uses integrated Intel graphics (which are garbage) and doesn't come with a monitor, but I reckon you could fix both those issues for maybe another $250 and have a pretty decent gaming rig--not cutting edge by any means, but definitely *much* more powerful than your 2008 standard.

Indeed (http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i660s-3079BK-Desktop-Black/dp/B0084C367K/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1346364227&sr=1-4&keywords=dell+inspiron+desktop). I've been looking into buying that one.

[Emmerask]

Indeed (http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i660s-3079BK-Desktop-Black/dp/B0084C367K/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1346364227&sr=1-4&keywords=dell+inspiron+desktop). I've been looking into buying that one.

Hmm, I have some problems with this product actually,
the processor is nice, 6gb ram and the hard disk all completely okay BUT

They don´t tell you what PSU is inside, a simialr product from dell had a 220 watt psu which would be way to low to support even an aged graphics card.

So I`m pretty sure you would have to buy a stronger one one on top of the graphics card.

They don´t say anything about the mainboard only that indeed it is included :smallbiggrin:
So I´m fairly certain that the mb will be garbage too heck iot might even be some asrock conversion thingy with no pcie slot ^^

I would strongly advise to ask the costumer support for additional specifications first before buying that thing :smallwink:

Most important would be the PSU and what mainboard is inside


/edit okay according to the dell website it has a 300 watt psu, which is enough for the integrated graphics card but won´t be for a new one.
Still nothing on the mainboard ^^

[Trixie]

Ah, I hadn't realised prices had gone down that much, I may look into a decent one in the 300-500$ range then

300$ will get you something with a pretty big chance it won't run any game but indies, if that...


However, it depends on how hard you game. You can get a seriously BAMF computer for around $2,500 to $4,000. It will do everything you could possibly want and more. For top end gaming equipment, look at Mac or Alienware. Mac runs pretty much any operating system these days, and even cheap computers ($500) meet the recommended requirements for most modern games. Alienware runs hot, because they're overclocked, so they have a short shelf life, but they are a gamers dream-come-true when it comes to high performance, precision instruments.

Pardon me? :smallconfused:

2-4K$ computers usually pull a few extra frames over 1-2K$ ones, lose half value within month-two at best, and have worse parts than PCs that will be in the market in a few months. That, and drink electricity like cheap soda. Unless extra money buys seriously different capability, this is so not worth it.

Also, while Alienware is somewhat adequate for gaming, Macs are the worst garbage when it comes to serious gaming, issues with parts, cooling design, and overheating starting, need to get new, gamigworthy OS ending.

[Emmerask]

In my opinion mac and alienware both are overpriced pieces of junk (that are pretty to look at).

In all honesty everyone who knows a bit about computers could create a system with the exact same specs for half the money, or a system with double the speed/specs for the same money :smallwink:

[Karoht]

A 500-800 dollar system from Costco will probably run Guild Wars 2, and do so very well. Decent 2 year warrenty, 6 month return policy if ANYTHING at all goes wrong, and the computer will probably last you a good 3-4 years. I recommend their Acer systems over HP. If you aren't computer savvy this actually isn't a bad way to go.

I have a friend who waits for boxed systems (Future Shop, Best Buy, Costco, a few others) to go on special (because they're getting in a new model is typically the reason), buys them, scavenges them for parts, and sells the parts on eBay. Makes a pretty good living at it. Yes, the deals get THAT good if you keep an eye on them.

[tyckspoon]

/edit okay according to the dell website it has a 300 watt psu, which is enough for the integrated graphics card but won´t be for a new one.
Still nothing on the mainboard ^^

An honest 300w will be enough to run a card that doesn't need an additional power connector, and if you're only aiming at 2008 standards those kinds of cards are probably enough GPU (Radeon's 7750 is really sweet for a slot-only-powered card, and is enough for modern games as well if you're not a settings-hound. Expensive for that class of card, but well worth it if the PSU is your limiter.)

That said, I generally agree- if you're going to go the route of buying an office/home use computer and doing a couple of plugin upgrades to bring it up to gaming speed, plan on changing both the GPU and the PSU. Hitting one with a capable PSU already installed is a lucky find, but don't count on it.

[Trixie]

In my opinion mac and alienware both are overpriced pieces of junk (that are pretty to look at).

Overpriced, yes, but one of them actually has gaming OS, cooling designed to work well under full load, quality parts instead of cheap no-names, plus (IIRC) very good warranty.

The other has, uh, pretty, overheating outside and I guess Retina in really top end models.

So, there is a difference :smalltongue::smallamused:

[Hiro Protagonest]

/edit okay according to the dell website it has a 300 watt psu, which is enough for the integrated graphics card but won´t be for a new one.
Still nothing on the mainboard ^^

Well, I don't really care about graphics, as long as it's not so blurry I can't make out the long range targets in TF2.

[Togath]

Sorry about ressing this thread(as it seemed to have gotten agurmentative), but, how high of quality computer would be required to meet, not even exceed, just simply meet the following requirments?
•Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better
•Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3 OR AMD Athlon 64 X2, or better
•2 GB RAM
•NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI X1800, Intel HD 3000, or better (256 MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
•25 GB available HDD space

also, how can I find out what my current computers do and do not have?

[TSGames]

also, how can I find out what my current computers do and do not have?
Go to "Control Panel" and then double click "Device Manager". You should now see a tree list of all detected hardware listed by category. To see what you have, simply click the '+' box next to the corresponding category. i.e. to see your processor, just expand the processor list and it will tell you what the name of your processor is. If you want more information, just pop the name into GOOGLE and you're good to go!

[Yora]

That said, the hardware you listed is all over six years old. Hardware prices drop significantly very quickly. I would guess that even the cheapest thing you could find would still be quite a bit above that.

[Emmerask]

Sorry about ressing this thread(as it seemed to have gotten agurmentative), but, how high of quality computer would be required to meet, not even exceed, just simply meet the following requirments?
•Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better
•Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3 OR AMD Athlon 64 X2, or better
•2 GB RAM
•NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI X1800, Intel HD 3000, or better (256 MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)
•25 GB available HDD space

also, how can I find out what my current computers do and do not have?

Yeah sorry for derailing your thread :-/

Since your first post mentioned gw2 I assume these are the minimum requirements for the game :smallsmile:

As a general advise, don´t trust them :smallbiggrin:, yes you will be able to run the game but during wvw or big events with 30+ players on the screen you won´t have enough fps to really enjoy it.

Here is what I would consider the requirements to enjoy all aspects of the game:

Processor: intel i3 2120 or amd fx 4170
4 gb ram
Graphic card: nvidia gtx550 or Amd HD 6790

I don´t have the us pricing in Germany this will be around 300€ add in a psu and a mainboard and you are at about 420€ ~ 530$

[wadledo]

So, as a mildly computer illiterate, why doesn't someone make custom computers for half the price of X, tack on 25% for services rendered and sell them to people like me who don't particularly care enough to make one ourselves, like anyone smart would do?

[Yora]

I would assume this happens all the time.

Some smaller shops might sell at almost "production cost" and make the service of assembly and installation nearly for free, to attract and bind customers. But the whole process can easily take an hour per piece for an experienced person, so some extra fee is completely justified.

[Karoht]

So, as a mildly computer illiterate, why doesn't someone make custom computers for half the price of X, tack on 25% for services rendered and sell them to people like me who don't particularly care enough to make one ourselves, like anyone smart would do?
Welcome to my life a decade ago.
You just need an in with a wholesaler, or be a very very savvy shopper and pounce on deals, then markup and sell.

I stopped doing it for 2 reasons.
1-The wholesaler I was dealing with started to be not so keen on my smaller orders and tried to push bulk on me. This means that rather than building a computer custom made for the person, I would have to push certain builds in order to justify buying bulk. Selling certain builds to people who don't want or need them isn't something I wanted to do, and I didn't have a place for parts inventory.

2-Some people who are computer illiterate have a funny way of acting as though you know nothing and they know everything. Some, not all admittedly, but some is enough to increase one's blood pressure.

Between the two, it just didn't seem worth my time anymore, so I went and got a 9-5 job, and do the computer assembly thing once in a while. I 'sell' maybe 4 systems a year, I don't tend to make profit on it anymore either.