Need a prebuilt $1000 or less computer

countrygurl

Honorable
Jul 19, 2012
1
0
10,510
I was looking to spend about 700-1000 before tax. I can upgrade the power supply and graphics card next year if needed. I need it for school because the desktop computer I built almost two years ago keeps BSODing and I have formatted and reinstalled windows and replaced the ram and it still does it. Don't really feel like building my own again. The free 360 is nice also so I was mainly looking at some computers that came with that. It needs to be a desktop and I would like it to play Diablo 3. I have a laptop that can play diablo 3 but I really don't like playing games on a laptop.

These are the ones I was looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229329

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220164

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/ho...e/B4J28AV?HP-Pavilion-HPE-h8-1380t-Desktop-PC

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/ho...te/QW769AA?HP-Pavilion-HPE-h8-1228-Desktop-PC

I also checked dell but really don't see anything I like too much.
I can get student discounts at sites that allow them. If the savings was enough I could forgo the free 360.

Also I need to know if I need to buy anything else if I want to stick my current 750 GB drive into this new one as a secondary. Also I want to dual monitor and need to know what to buy for that.
 

claysm

Honorable
Apr 29, 2012
260
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10,810
Unfortunately, none of the systems that you posted have any sort of graphics muscle to play Diablo 3. The 75xx, 76xx, and 77xx series Radeon cards are just not very powerful at all.

Having said that, I wouldn't go for the first one. You're paying a little more for the platform (X79), and not getting anything extra for it. The i7-3820 is very niche product that won't help you any.

The second one I wouldn't get simply because if you are willing to spend this much money, there is no reason not to go with Intel. You'll thank yourself later.

The third one is a no because, again, you're paying more money to get the X79 platform, which won't help you with games. It does give you option to upgrade to the excellent i7-3930K, but you don't need it.

The fourth one is, I think, your best option. It comes with a very nice i5-2400, plenty of memory, and a nice HDD. And you'll still have money leftover to get a discrete GPU should you desire.

So out of the four, I'd get this one:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/HP-Pavilion-Elite/QW769AA?HP-Pavilion-HPE-h8-1228-Desktop-PC