What can you get at different price points?

[Rkc2000]

First post, tried to search for this, but didn't see it addressed in the FAQ. Basically, I would like to know what you get, and what you sacrifice, at the different price points? E.g. $500, $750, $1000. I am looking to build a new computer, biggest usage is for video editing, movies, PowerPoint creation. Before looking at components, I would like to know what budget would be realistic for what I want to do.

 

[4745454b]

Features and speed are the obvious two things. At $500 you are almost certain to get an AMD dual core, 4GBs of ram, and if you get good deals you might get a 5750/5770. At $750 you should be able to get an Intel, and a much better GPU. (6870 or GTX5/6 of some sort. At $1k you should be able to have a quad, all the other things I mentioned, plus an SSD. All of these are tower only, not including mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc.

$500 buys you a lot of computer these days. It seriously should be able to take on a $1k computer from 2 yrs ago or so. A few weeks ago I found someone an AMD dual core with board for $90 from newegg. Add in 4GBs of DDR3 ram for another $45 and he had the main guts of his system for $135. That leaves $265 for the case, PSU, drive(s) and GPU.

 

[kajabla]

The March Tom's $500 build has an x4 955 and a 6850, just saying...
That's a whole lot better than what you describe, but it forced them to get a motherboard that was low on features, as you say^.
At $1000 you can get a full-featured PC with an excellent graphics card, but you'll probably still be using a 955, or possibly a 2400. Above $1200 or so is 2500K territory. An SSD fits in wherever you think it's worth it, but probably not until the $1000+ range.
If you can decide on a budget, we can definitely set you up.

 

[4745454b]

Been a long time since I build a $500 machine. And I always get a great board. It's a lot easier to upgrade the CPU or GPU, but upgrading the board is a PITA. For example I just spent $250 on a used i5 750 and P55 board. Might seem like a lot of money, but that board is outstanding. 10USB on the back, supports CF or SLI, etc. I could have bought new or got an 1155 setup, but I wouldn't have got anywhere near as nice of board. (good PSUs have come down in price as well.)

 

[Zero_]

First post, tried to search for this, but didn't see it addressed in the FAQ. Basically, I would like to know what you get, and what you sacrifice, at the different price points? E.g. $500, $750, $1000. I am looking to build a new computer, biggest usage is for video editing, movies, PowerPoint creation. Before looking at components, I would like to know what budget would be realistic for what I want to do.

Check my sig for $500, $600, $800, $1000 and $1500 builds. Although all of them are geared for best fps per $, I'm sure you can get a general idea of what platforms to look at.

 

[Rkc2000]

Thanks for the responses. Looks like $1000 is what I am probably going to have to target. I like what I've read on the i5 2500K with a Z68 board. Still, that's cheaper than the iMac, which is what I was thinking about.

 

[genghiskron]

i3-2100/phenom 955 + 6870/6850 - $500-$550
i5-2400 + hd6950/560ti - $700-850
i5-2500k + hd6950/560ti w/ overclocking/crossfire/sli option - $950-1050
i5-2500k + 2x - hd6950/560ti - $1200-1300

wait, video editing. my b.

 

[Rkc2000]

Best answer selected by Rkc2000.