PC build for $1000

[entropy1982]

Hey guys, I have been out of the loop for a while and you guys helped me big time while I was building my machine a couple of years ago. My friend is trying to build something for $1000-$1300. He needs a monitor (22" or 24"), speakers, keyboard, mouse, everything from scratch basically. He is also not very experienced with computers and I don't want to start building an overclock build or a self built computer for him because I am not always available to help him in the case something breaks etc. He will basically be using it for gaming (nothing too hardcore) and general use (browsing, photoshop, etc)... Just to give you a little idea of what he has to compare it to, the computer he currently uses was bought in 1998 =) A prebuilt one (I can't remember the site that puts it together for you for a small premium) would be optimal for him.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Denithor]

Well, I think you are looking for a site like www.cyberpowerpc.com. Take a look at what I speced out there:

CASE: In-Win F-430 Mid-Tower 420W Case (Black Color)
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core? 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit
MOTHERBOARD: MSI P35 Neo-F P35 Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1333 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)512MB PC6400 DDR2/800 Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
VIDEO CARD 3: NONE
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (250GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Data Hard Drive: NONE
Optical Drive: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: NONE
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

This totals $844 and includes an 8800GT 512MB card and good components (gotta watch out, some of their stuff is junk). The only thing here you will have to add is a memory upgrade (I set to the minimum 512MB). They want $90 to upgrade to 2GB of memory, which is a complete and utter rip-off, you can get 2GB mushkin DDR2-800 for $54 at newegg and install it yourself.

You can also configure in a 22" or 24" LCD monitor if those models look acceptable or just get the monitor from somewhere else.