Best desktop PC for ~$1200?

lost_soul on 20/11/2009 at 18:22

Hello, 9 months ago I purchased an ASUS G50V laptop. It runs everything I could ask for perfectly. I am interested in getting another Desktop PC though, so I can take this laptop around and not worry about damaging my best machine.

What kind of system should I get for around $1200? The only rule is NO ATI graphics, and preferably USB3 support. Also, is the Core I7 or I5 a better CPU? The machine that looks most promising at this point is:

(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Essentio+Desktop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor/9561146.p?id=1218124796858&skuId=9561146)

Enchantermon on 20/11/2009 at 18:48

Wait for Bikerdude to show up, but you're usually better off buying the components separately and assembling the thing yourself (assuming you know what you're doing), rather than buying an assembled machine. In most cases, you end up saving a substantial amount of money that way, plus you can get exactly what you want.

TBE on 20/11/2009 at 19:00

That actually is a pretty good buy. I tried selecting same PC parts this includes, and my price was higher than Best Buy's price total. 9 GB of RAM seems a bit excessive, but why not? Yeah, that's a good deal for the specifications listed.

BUT WAIT!
The system may be overkill for what you want. You could build a really good gaming system yourself for about $800. If you're not into putting them together, the above option may be better to save on frustration. I just put them together with ease, where other people just throw in the towel and return the components for a pre-built machine.

lost_soul on 20/11/2009 at 20:28

I've heard people say that you can get a better deal when building your own machine, but I've also heard that the stores can sell machines competitively because of the crapware that comes pre-installed. This includes stuff like trialware and other things that are easily removed. I'll also be dual-booting the machine with Linux, which is why I must have NVIDIA graphics.

The GTX260 doesn't seem that much more powerful though. IIRC it is only clocked at about 70 MHz higher than this 9800GTM.

bikerdude on 20/11/2009 at 22:20

Quote Posted by lost_soul

Dude why didnt you drop me a pm..? and why dont you want an ATi card..?

TBE on 21/11/2009 at 00:10

He wants to dual boot Linux, which has shotty support from ATI. If it was Windows only machine, I would ask same question, as ATI is great.