Building a New Computer from Scratch ($800-1500)

Hello and thanks for your time,

I am in eager anticipation for Guild Wars 2 to come out but do not believe that i will be able to play it via boot camp on my 2009 MacBook Pro.

I am hopeful but also clueless as to building a new machine. I know their are various build around though it seems that technology seems to advance so quickly I wondered if there was something new that i should look into.

I also do a lot of work with Photoshop and video editing.

I hope to build it this summer probably in May or early June.

My price range is between 800-1500 (I know that is a large range, i would love to spend less rather than more but wanted to know if there was a 'huge' technology increase for only a couple hundred dollars if you think it would be worth it.)

I have no preference as to AMD or Intel.

I already have a gaming mouse and a copy of Windows 7 64-bit.

I need everything else including a monitor. I think a 21.5 inch would be good, but again if someone think a 24 would be better for some reason, let me know.

Thanks for your help and I'm sorry if there is another post like this (i checked and couldn't find one on slickdeals recently)

Let me know if you have any questions.
-Kyle

You are much better off buying a PC either a scratch and dent refurb or just on sale

Such as some stuff from Cheetadeals.com? or somewhere else?

Quote from komondor : You are much better off buying a PC either a scratch and dent refurb or just on sale

Sure, but with Core i7 2600K unlocked processor at $199 (Microcenter BM) and Z68 mobos less than $150, and cases less than $70, why bother with a rig that doesn't look nearly as nice?

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/se...l/CustoMac

That is a blog post about building Mac-compatible PCs, but the recommendations are solid for non-Hackintosh PCs as well.

Since you are already a MacOS user, this gives you the bonus advantage of dual-booting Windows and MacOS.

You're better of posting in this thread. Some things to think about when you post though:

$800 - $1500 is a huge range; you need to narrow it down a bit. Of course everybody wants to get the cheapest build they can. Are you willing to spend $1500? Or do you want to stick closer to $800? You can say you have an $800 budget, but that's a bit flexible - that way, if there is something that costs a bit more but delivers a lot more performance, people can recommend it. But an $800 build is so much different than a $1500 build.

Quote from mmathis : You're better of posting in this thread. Some things to think about when you post though: $800 - $1500 is a huge range; you need to narrow it down a bit. Of course everybody wants to get the cheapest build they can. Are you willing to spend $1500? Or do you want to stick closer to $800? You can say you have an $800 budget, but that's a bit flexible - that way, if there is something that costs a bit more but delivers a lot more performance, people can recommend it. But an $800 build is so much different than a $1500 build.

Thanks so much!

wait till May when intel's ivybridge processors are rolling from factory floor.

Quote from homer2324 : wait till May when intel's ivybridge processors are rolling from factory floor.

because other stuff will be cheaper? or I should get that?

Quote from Kylesuss : because other stuff will be cheaper? or I should get that?

usually the prices don't come down very fast for CPU's, but the performance increase will be there, and motherboards will adapt new technologies, for relatively the same price (i.e. a low-end new-gen will compete with a high-end old gen)