I spent $1200 on my Dell in 2005. Then it exploded.

I built a new computer for $350 and took the CPU, GPU, and HDDs from the dead Dell and put it in here. It's just been a series of upgrades since.

My latest component upgrades cost $650, but $1700 over the life of the oldest component has been spent, Spent the most on HD4870 then Asus P5Q Mobo and have not looked back

I spend absolutely zero on my PC, my computer is built up from parts I manage to scrounge from various places including out of tips skips etc. My current main system is an Athlon 3000 with 1 gig of RAM and a 120 Gig hard drive and a Ti4200 graphics card. I may not have the fastest system but in only a few years I will manage to scrounge the most powerful computer available today.

I spend absolutely zero on my PC, my computer is built up from parts I manage to scrounge from various places including out of tips skips etc. My current main system is an Athlon 3000 with 1 gig of RAM and a 120 Gig hard drive and a Ti4200 graphics card. I may not have the fastest system but in only a few years I will manage to scrounge the most powerful computer available today.

I usually spend about $1,500 each time I build a PC. On that budget, I'm consistently able to put together a nice gaming machine with good hardware and a nice new case. I usually use Shuttle cases because they're small, easy to store, and able turn into ok-looking media center computers once their lifespan as a gaming rig comes to an end. Is it worth it to do this every 1-3 years? It's worth every penny. I love building and owning a new custom PC.

1992 I bought my first PC. 386DX 40 processor. 16 MB ram (that was about $600 - remember not GIG but MB). 60MB hard drive (again not gig but MB). 2MB video card. 14" color monitor. Ran Windows 3.1. My total price with 1.44 floppy drive was I believe $2,300.

My beater computer today CoreDuo 2, 4Gig ram, 1Gig Ram Video Card, two 640Gig HD, 2 dvd burners, blah blah... $850.

I built my first system last November q9550@3.2 on a 780iftw with sli gtx260 core 216 SC, corsair 1000w, and a 24in benQ and I spent around $2200 total. It was worth every penny. I never thought a comp could be this fast and never bog down or crash...... for now lol
O ya and I will never buy a $500 dell junk box ever again!!
And a Big thanks to tomshardware for helping me to build and OC my rig

The first computer I bought (though I had a few before it) was $800. I still have it. 1.8ghz amd64, 512mb ram, onboard graphics.

The current was $700 initially. pentium D at 2.8ghz, 1gig ram, nvidia 7500LE 256mb graphics, 80gig hdd.
I immediately added a 250gig hdd for $120. I just added a $90 ati 4670 512mb.
The keyboard came with the rig. The mouse was $60 4 years back. The speakers cost $20. The 17" LCD cost $450 3.5 years back (ripoff). A second LCD for free.
I bought everything locally.
Total setup is about $1500 if I include AV software (foolish of me).

Its been worth every penny. Except the LCD which viewsonic won't fix even though it has power issues. About to spent a few hundred more, slowly on mobo, psu, ram, then hdd.

All pricing is in Canadian. I;d say $1200 USD

Never more than 1000$ but usually around that price range, lasts a long time with minor upgrades like more ram and possibrly a VGA swap. But I don't need to upgrade the monitor I have a 22 in and hardly see a differnce in the new HD monitors so don't feel a need to upgrade.

$250 for i7 920, $300 for MSI Eclipse, $150 for 6GB DDR3, 1 $550 4870 X2 and 1 $400 4870 X2, $120 1TB HDD, $220 1000w Enermax PSU, $300 for TJ07, $250 for blu-ray burner, $180 Asus D2X, and about $950 worth of watercooling equipment. About $3700 which is a lot, but then again I make $15 and hour and only have a car payment, gas, and insurance to pay so I'm hoping this will last me through college.

Counting speakers?

$6k.

That isn't quite fair though, because a solid $3k of that was the stereo system - I have my computer hooked up to a full speaker setup with a receiver, separately purchased 12" sub, etc.

I spent like 1200.00 and it is good for me.. E8400 CPU. 750PSU. Asus PN5-D Mobo. 6 gigs of memory. 2 8800 gt cards set for sli. I have a 500 gig and a 1.5 tb drive.. dvd-rw. In an apevia x-plorer case DUAL boot vista 32 and 64.

I spent about $1200 when I upgraded to a pci-express platform several years back. Incremental upgrades since then for processor and video.

The best thing about building your own system is the ability to reuse so many components.

My desktop was $4,500 and my laptop was $3,500, but they're both from Falcon NW. So yeah...

$2633. I didn't build it, though. Core i7 920, 6GB DDR3 RAM, Dual GTX 280, 750 GB HDD, SB X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card... you know, the works.

My first rig was a few years back didn't have much to spend, real tight budget,
Xion Case Antec Earthwatts 500 ASUS A8N Deluxe AMD Athlon 64 +3500 Venice Socket 939 1 Gig of Generic Ram =( Evga 7600 Gt Seagate Barracuda 320 GB 7200.10 Sony Optic Drive,My first mobo was the a8n deluxe and it was doa and i didnt know so i thought i had done something wrong with wiring connections but i got an rma and got a a8n32 Sli deluxe from some lucky hapenstance, now my athlon 3500 gave out about 2 months ago, tomorrow im purchasing gigabyte ud4h 790gx + phenom II X3 720 and 4 gigs of reaper =D

I spent too much. Was it worth it? That's like asking a crack head if the hit was worth it. We're addicted to technology and gadgets. For me though computer upgrade addiction has slowly vanished. I'll still spend 300 dollars on a 10k hard drive or on a video card. I love gadgets more so now. Like the itouch.

About $1200, but i upgrade parts now and then..

$2656 incl. screen. I generally spend around $1200 a year keeping my rig up to date.

I spent $1700 on my custom build!

3200$ customer build with monitors ($1200 in monitors alone though)

Wow I am Shocked I personally Thought to see many 3K plus systems.
Just my tower alone cost me $2400.00
Keyboard and Mouse 100.00 each (razer)
Chair 100.00 (most important part)
19" Around 200-300ish 2 years ago
24" 468.00
Speakers- I honestly have no idea (my dad bought this for me two years ago) (sub woofer two speakers)
Xbox360 controller for windows 80.00
Head phones 40.00
That’s it. (I have always wanted to make a list =D)
(Not Including router/adaptor or OS)

100NZD on a Duron 1GHz, Gibabyte MB, Radeon 9550, Soundblaster Live, 512MB RAM and 80GB HDD last year second hand. A mate gave me his Athlon 64 3200 and WinFast NF4 MB and I bought 2GB of RAM and an ASUS 8600GT DDR2(damn) for another 150NZD. My next upgrade will be 500NZD on a new case, ECS 8200A MB, Athlon x2 7750 BE, 320GB HDD and 2 GB OCZ System Elite.

q6600, 2gb, 8800gt round $900 last year Christmas time, warranty n monitor totaled to about $1400. still pleased with investment. Also have $1800 laptop with warranty. gateway fx.

I just spent $2300 on my new Core i7 build

Core i7 920 2.66 GHz (OC to 3.8GHz)
Radeon HD 4870 X2
Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME Mobo
6GB of DDR3 in Triple Channel at 1600 MHZ
3x Seagate 7200.12 500G drives in raid 5

Only game that makes me turn the details down a bit is Crysis. Runs smooth as babys bottom.

Somewhere around 1200, when i first built the computer, it cost 650 but I have upgraded it to the point where the only origional parts are the DVD drive, and case.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ Black Edition @ OC'ed 3.0GHz
Scythe Katana II
Foxconn A7DA-S
Corsair XMS2 PC-6400 (2x1GB) 2GB Kit
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB SATA
ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (Saving money)
IBM C92 CRT 19" Max Res: 1600 x 1200
Realtek HD Audio
Sony SRS-A37 Speakers
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 32-Bit
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit
Xion II Case
Xion 450 Watt ATX Power Supply
Trendnet Wireless N PCI Adapter

For around $600 bucks, tax is insane in Canada not to mention shipping too.

Over $900 --> $829.98 for HP Pavilion a6712f-b with 22'' monitor
$40 for wireless keyboard + mouth + speakers
$30 for headphones
$30 for webcam
The desktop is worth every penny, that's for sure: 500 GB SATA HDD, 6 GB RAM, Pentium Dual-Core, plus the monitor. These are the most important features for me.

Originally around $850 including monitor.. then I got a sound card, added more memory, another hard drive, firewire card.. etc. I'd say around $1000 in the end, maybe a little more.

$1000 on the System when built.A

Always on the watch for deals on parts...and buy them when I can....new sound card (RAZOR), TV Tuner from WOOT.....2nd Monitor....

I love working on my System....so upgrades are always happening!!!

-PM