Should I even bother?

[discopotato]

I am getting a new PC for Christmas, and my question is this: At my budget of $500, should I even build a system? Or should I get a refurbished system for ~$350 and upgrade that? I want to build, but will I get my money's worth out of a system with some "maker's mark"?

 

[andywork78]

on Christmas, there will be big sales round it.
wait til that day~ lol
I am waiting for tablet price goes down lol

 

[bliq]

It kinda depends on what you're main goal is? for a gaming machine, I would probably buy a used $200 machine and a $300 video card. For school or work, I'd probably be building something with a good processor and skimp on the video. For all around, I'd probably build the latest $500 toms hardware system builder marathon machine.

 

[discopotato]

It kinda depends on what you're main goal is? for a gaming machine, I would probably buy a used $200 machine and a $300 video card. For school or work, I'd probably be building something with a good processor and skimp on the video. For all around, I'd probably build the latest $500 toms hardware system builder marathon machine.

$500.
Including Windows 7.

 

[drunkducki]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103896 - $62.99
AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX255OCGMBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131728 - $59.99
ASUS M5A78L-M LX AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220537 - $19.99
Patriot 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model PSD34G1333K

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004IZN492/?tag=pcpapi-20 - $63.60
SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.12 250 GB SATA 6.0 Gb-s 8 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives ST3250312AS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371034 - $49.99
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136240 - $16.99
LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS90B - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150576 - $79.99 - $15 Rebate
XFX HD-667X-ZNFQ Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153 - $49.99
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 - $99.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

total: $503.52 - $15 Rebate

 

[residentdean]

Hell yeah Check this build out!
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1068615&sku=O261-6400
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6469845&sku=V261-5670
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=833176&sku=A208-5100
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7265659&sku=B450-2425
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1147669&sku=U12-41529
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5310941&sku=A406-1122
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5752143&sku=A79-1955

 

[residentdean]

You can buy a 7200 rpm hard drive when the prices go down, but look you can get a true quad core and a ssd with 8gb if ran for under 500$