Starter PC

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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Depends. Answer the questions in the sticky and we'll be able to help you out better.

What games are you planning to play?
 
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ElFenix

Elite Member
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Mar 20, 2000
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no. limited expansion ability hurts it. you'll want something that can take full size graphics cards at the very least.

it'd be a good office system and could game in a pinch.
 

Naje

Junior Member
Nov 12, 2012
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Alright, well could you recommend any pre-builts for no more than $500 that are available in or ship to Canada?

Here's my answers:
1. Some gaming such as Call Of Duty, Crysis 2, Borderlands. Watching youtube, vimeo netflix and just general web browsing.

2.$500 at the absolute most

3.Anywhere that ships to Canada

4.No preference

5.My monitor: Samsung Syncmaster S24B350

7.Not sure

8.1920x1080

9.In the next two months

X.No


Thanks
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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9.In the next two months
A bit too early to give any links. Start looking at specific candidates maybe 1 week early. Of course it'll be good to have some idea of what sort of a setup you're aiming for, so here's what I'd want in a $500 1080p gaming PC

- ATX case that can take a long graphics card
- Decent quality PSU that can take a GPU upgrade
- At least 7750 or 7770
- Ivy Bridge Pentium CPU or better, or AMD quad core
Since you already have an operating system, you should really consider just buying the parts yourself and building it yourself. It's not that difficult, and you get to pick a lot better components than you'll ever find in a $500 OEM rig
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
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Mar 20, 2000
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No, I don't have an operating system that's one of the main reasons I don't want to build one. Would this one http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/prod...spx?path=0e0dc3e029793c0e60a13139fd9dd0cfen02
be a decent start that I could add on to?

nope, that's also too small to take an add-in graphics card. pretty much any computer that's not a cube case is going to have the cd rom horizontal across the front of it rather than oriented vertically.

this maybe:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16883229390
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
nope, that's also too small to take an add-in graphics card. pretty much any computer that's not a cube case is going to have the cd rom horizontal across the front of it rather than oriented vertically.

this maybe:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16883229390

Agree. OP, you're going to want to stay away from custom OEM cases as much as possible. Boutiques and pseudo-boutiques like iBuyPower and CyberPower use pretty much standard parts that you can more easily upgrade.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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For a prebuilt, 500 dollars is a difficult price point to hit for a gaming PC. I would think you could find something in a regular size case with an i3 for 400 to 500 dollars, and add an 80.00 HD7750 which does not require an external power connector. That should be decent for entry level gaming. The disadvantage is you will not be able to upgrade the graphics without adding a better power supply, and the 7750 is kind of borderline if you want to game at 1080p. You of course wont be able to overclock either. You might also look for something with an AMD APU such as the A8 or A10, but their igp is even weaker than the HD7750, and they seem in general overpriced.

As others have said, you could do better building you own, although if you have to buy the OS, 500.00 is still pretty low.

Can you buy from Dell where you live? Sometimes their outlet store has good deals that might fit you needs, but basically you will have to upgrade the graphics on any prebuilt.