Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaijo
My current one is almost 10 years old, and last last me well. But I think it's time to upgrade. It's developed an issue where it powers on for 2 seconds, then turns off, forcing me to plug the power cord in somewhere else before it will attempt to power on again. Eventually, it stays on for good. I think it's a PSU issue, but don't believe it's worth the time or money to try for a new PSU. And I need to upgrade anyway...
With that in mind, let me list some of the things I am looking for:
Able to stream and play 720p and 1080p video
To hook it up to my TV at times to stream video to it
Relatively quiet as can be
Possibly wifi enabled (or ability to add wifi capability later)
I'm not any sort of gamer, so I don't care about high end stuff or being able to play any of the top games on the market. I mainly use it for writing, browsing, and watching stuff. My budget is about $500, give or take. I'm not entirely comfortable putting something together on my own; mainly looking for advice of what to look for in specs, make, models, company, etc. And what to avoid.
I plan to get a new monitor, too, but that's a more future thing. I'd rather get a decent computer now, before my current one dies on me.
Thinking something with a 2-3ghz processor, 2GB+ RAM, and 500GB+ HDD. Any suggestions? Good deals? Things to avoid?
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What's the specs of the current PC you're about to upgrade or replace?
Me, to deal with the newfangled High-10 subs while on budget, I'd get an Intel i3 (i5s or i7s tend to be geared for hardcore gamers), 4Gb of memory, a very solid entry-level or midrange motherboard (ASRock, Asus, MSI), a 500gb Western Digital SATA hard drive, and a 300-watt PSU with a 80-plus bronze rating. As those i-series CPUS have an integrated GPU, I think HD video should be no problem to handle (for the TV the board should have HDMI output).
Wireless LAN can be dealt with by buying a USB dongle instead of a PCI card (as some motherboards have two or less slots for smaller mATX case configurations).
If your casing is a standard mid-sized ATX case, you could keep it for the new components.
In my country, $500 goes a long way to build a decent rig.