General $$ Spending PC Poll

How much would you spend...

  • Total voters
    97
D

Dark Prodigy

Jawbreaker
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
2,803
I'm conducting this poll to find out what the average household/person would spend on a decent pc with decent gaming capabilities.

I understand that 'decent' is a relative term, so in this case decent pc means - above the very basic and capable of good multimedia performance.... decent gaming means - playing modern fps' and rts' with nominal/marginal performance, better than a slideshow with medium settings with medium resolutions. Strictly average.

I know most of us here on [H] are the 1%ers as far as hardware and gaming goes, but still have a real grasp on what an 'average pc user' is. Thanks for the input.

This is strictly for the tower, keyboard, and mouse...no monitor or speakers.
 
I can't remember the last time I built an entire computer. I usually just upgrade a piece here and there. If I were going to build one I wouldn't spend more than $900. The added cost of the latest and greateast doesn't appeal to me, especially considering as soon as you buy it something bigger and better is just around the corner.
 
Asian Dub Foundation said:
1.3k PLUS

but b4 that i would save like hell
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you are gonna spend that to only have an average computer?
to be honest i think for that much you could have one hell of a computer. Hell i think you could get a fairly good opty rig with a nice gpu and a gig or two of ram for that
 
dtess17 said:
you are gonna spend that to only have an average computer?
to be honest i think for that much you could have one hell of a computer. Hell i think you could get a fairly good opty rig with a nice gpu and a gig or two of ram for that
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Think about people with 24"+ monitors, to get decent performance at native resolutions, you're going to spend on the video cards alone, a 7900GT SLI or a single 7950 is going to be atleast 500...
 
I helped to build a pc for a friend, it was like an nvidia 6200, amd 3800+, gig of ram and other stuff, the limit was 600 bucks so we did that. Its what I would consider a decent pc. But my pc is probably a little over double that price.
 
I know most of us including myseld build our computers, but is about how much you'd expect to pay for a system already built by a boutique or whatever company....
 
Well I spent $1800, $1400 at first, and then got a dell 2005fpw, a little more than I wanted to spend but the screen will last me a long time, so next upgrade 2 or 3 years from now (my pc is about 1 year old) will prolly be around $1300.
 
Hmm... I'm a unique case because although I spend $1,300+ every time I build a new computer, I build the very best I can and then sit on it for five years or so with very little upgrades except maybe RAM. So I built a PC that cost $1,400 in 1999 but didn't build again until 2005 when I built my current PC for $1,600.

I usually use the same PC until it's too slow for most tasks. Then it's time to upgrade.
 
ND40oz said:
Think about people with 24"+ monitors, to get decent performance at native resolutions, you're going to spend on the video cards alone, a 7900GT SLI or a single 7950 is going to be atleast 500...
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i was thinking a person with a 24" monitor is not going to want "average performance"

anyways my main point is i think 1300 get's a lot more than average.
 
3WAYsplit said:
:) I usually go atleast $2300+ for a new rig (every 2-3 years) :p
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thats about what i do, usually 2300-2500 for new tower every few years, think this winter its time to upgrade my rig, (see sig)... hate to say it but i think i am going to the darkside and going conroe
 
those prices start to low =) where is the room for 20" lcds and SLI/Xfire in that price range??

cant be playin games at 1024x768 now its all about 1280x1024-1600x1200++AA/AF HDR
 
lordurza said:
those prices start to low =) where is the room for 20" lcds and SLI/Xfire in that price range??

cant be playin games at 1024x768 now its all about 1280x1024-1600x1200++AA/AF HDR
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LCD is one major buy, i got a Dell 30" with last system, wont need to buy a lcd for awhile ;)
I can build one hell of a tower for 2500 :p
 
You can build a very nice above average rig for 701 to 900. Thats usually the target price range when i'm building for buddies who are looking for nice but not cutting edge. Typically, a computer in this price range will perform blazingly well compared to retail for similar.
 
its not hard to do that comparing to retail mid-high end the market for such is smaller then other types and is not bought in as big of an amount however nice lcds run several hundred dollars and graphics cards and procs run equally high so your looking at like 1500+ for a nice setup for mid-high end
 
Price:performance seems to peak around $1400-1500. Nowadays you can get a rediculous amount of computer for under $1k however.
 
$500-700

If I had unlimited funds I'd probably build a new rig every year with the best parts, but as it is, $500-700 on a computer to last 2-3 years is best for my budget.

2 years ago i spent about 1000 on a 754 xp64 3200, fx5900xt, mobo, gig of ram, 160gb sata, turtle beach santa cruz and case and peripherals. Now i could build pretty much the same machine for around 500.

At the time I could have built a good socket A system for around 500. Though now a new socket A processor, if you can find it, cost more now than it did 2 years ago. That in mind, I've decided to wait to find the sweet spot for hardware prices - for example, to me, with a xp64 3000 - 3800 at their current prices, now is the time to build a single core 939 system.

i also decided a while back that i wouldnt spend more than 25$ on any pc game. May sound crazy, but all i have to do is wait like a year after release and by then the game is likely fully patched. if the multiplayer community has died out in a year then it probably wasnt very good to begin with.

sure i wont be playing cutting edge games on cutting edge hardware, but if you build a budget machine and keep it for a couple years then your next budget machine will feel cutting edge. its all relative.
 
I would say $1800-2000 is the best balance for quality parts for everything and performance.
This was the cost of my recent build.
CPU: 3800+ X2 - $297 (cheapest dual core AMD at the time)\
HSF: Zalman 9500 $64.99 (imo best AM2 HSF, althou could've saved $ if I chose something from Scythe or AC)
Mobo: M2N32-SLI $209.99 (best mobo for AM2, could've save if I went with M2N-SLI or M2N-E)
GPU: HIS x1900xt ICEQ3 $389.99 (best x1900xt, best in $350-$400 range, could've gone with 7900gt, but wanted to play Oblivion)
RAM: 2gb Corsair XMS2 DDR-800 $209.99 (cheapest XMS2 ddr-800)
Case: CM Stacker 830 $244 (imo the best full tower, but that is debatable)
PSU: OCZ GameXstream 700w $169.99 (imo the best PSU for under $200, need for future DX10 cards)
DVD: 2x Samsung Lightscribe $32.99 each (it's a DVD burner...)
HD: WD 250gb 16mb $82.99
KB: MS Natural 4000 $49.99 (best natural KB)
Fans: 5x Yate Loons $3.49 each (quite and cheap!)
Fan Controller: Sunbeam Rheobus $11.99
CCFL: Blue 9.99 (cheap at Fry's)
AS5: $5.95

Total: 1857.27 with Shipping.
[EDIT:] 1807.28 for just the cost of the tower (previously included my KB)

PS: Probably could've saved up to $400 with a cheaper PSU($50), case($100), HSF ($20), 1x DVD-rom instead of burner ($8), cheaper mobo ($100), and 7900gt instead of x1900xt ($100) but I was going for quality.
 
Price:performance seems to peak around $1400-1500. Nowadays you can get a rediculous amount of computer for under $1k howeve
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all a perception

......
and waiting a year for a game so you can get it cheap?
if thats how long you want to wait but games have been on avg around the same price since I was a kid in the 80s buying NES games for 50$ a pop

the new x360 games and im sure ps3 will as well rise to the 60$ price tag but pc games seem to sit at around the same so when exactly did you choose to spend no more then 25$ and are those B title games?
and dont even mention the episode gaming dumb idea like 100$++ before you even have the whole game better be some worth while xtras ;p
 
Lets see how much my PC is.

Most from new egg a year or so ago...
I payed $70 for a Tforce6100-754.
$115 for a Athlon 64 3000+ E6.
$40 Thermaltake Heat Pipe 101 heatsink.
$80 for a Gskill 1Gb, $40 for a kingston 256mb DDR400.
$40 Sony DVD-DL.
$50 Zumax X2 550watt powersupply.
$70 XFX7300GS Video card
$40 For a PZ08A Saitek Gameing Keyboard.
$50 G5 Logitech Gameing Mouse.
$15 PS2 clone controller for PC from Ebay.
$60 Linksys Router.
$50 WD SATA II HD 40Gb.
$60 Maxtor 80Gb UATA133 From Tiger Direct.
$30 Foxcon 3GTLM624-CA400N Case

Afew 92mm case fans 10 bucks each, a 15 buck 92mm cpu fan, 120mm case fan about 10 bucks and 2 80mm fans about 8 bucks each. Then a 9 buck copper chipset fan.

Thats about $880 in all. But I still want to upgrade to a kick ass Geforce 7900GTX may as well get a 7950 with a good HP LCD that will match my case colors. So thats about 700 bucks more. I could go on with a 24-bit sound card with HD sound. A WD raptor and Caviar SE16 hard drives. Another gig of memory. A 2000mb NIC for the PCI-E 1x slot. That would atleast max out my system just about. Make it cost more then $2000 in all when I'm done with it. It will also have a Zalman CNPS 9500 AM2 ver heatsink in it. Give me the best temps on air I can get. That just looks so bad ass for a black heatsink fan. Not a bad system at all for a 754.

Didn't pay anything for my floppy drive, 17inch HP CRT monitor, HP CD-RW. Got it from my cus for free.

Its too easy these days to spend $2000 or even $5000 on a comp. I just can't stop. My money goes into my comp half the time just to make it feel alittle better. And I payed abit more for it now then just $880. Over time it adds up. You upgrade and spend more, sell the old parts on ebay or something.

It never ends even tho some may max out their comp. Something new will always come out to upgrade to. Even old stuff. I could still get a 2.6ghz A64 4000+ for a LT and put it in this thing. Make it so damn energy efficent. OC it to 3Ghz or more and be done with it for awile. Or get a cheap board and DC CPU with DDR2 memory.

Make it even worse. I Upgrade all the time. About each month on something. Use to have a P3 HP comp now I have a totally new comp overtime besides the monitor and afew minor junk from the HP. Its a big leap to go from 1ghz to having nearly the power of a FX-57 if not that. OCing makes your comp worth even thousands of bucks more then it really is. Worth it all. But man it just never ends. I won't be happy until I have all my slots full with the best I can get atleast in sound and graphics for games.
 
The poll is spending on a PC, what I percieve to be the box and not peripherals. If that were the case yes it would be higher. After you buy a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and printer the cost can be substantially higher.
 
Major_A said:
The poll is spending on a PC, what I percieve to be the box and not peripherals. If that were the case yes it would be higher. After you buy a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and printer the cost can be substantially higher.
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I really appreciate all the input so far, but its somewhat off course.... First its not about building a machine and buying parts (like I explained in the first post), its about what an AVERAGE NON ENTHUSIAST household would spend on a VERY AVERAGE PC with VERY AVERAGE gaming capabilities (as explained in the first post). That is what I need help with.

So if you or maybe one of your family members were to buy a computer in these days and times..what would you or they spend. Whether buying from a boutique or off the shelf a Best Buy or Comp USA or something...

And its just the TOWER, KEYBOARD, and MOUSE..no peripherals... no monitor, speakers..etc
 
Your going to buy garbage if you go with a company. Building things yourself equals cheaper. Besides you get warrenties on every part. Its worth building. My most basic upgrade to this at 1st was only 300 bucks worth of crap. I had hardly any money. Got a great system built. Eventually upgraded it over awile. YOu can't upgrade name brand junk most of the time because they sotter the socket.

Your better off buying the cheapest parts and builting it yourself. You'll only spend about 400 bucks in all and get a better system you can upgrade easally. Buying a 800 buck system you think is good is prob a cheat from a company and not worth half what they say it is. Most of my parts have a lifetime warrenty and I payed nothing extera for that. You have to pay 300 bucks more. Guess what your comp is over 1000 bucks. Now software and so on... they really cheat you. Your basic build like my 1st part of my build was so cheap... I was surprised what I could get at the time. It was very good.

Its better to get quality yourself no matter how cheap. Then a whole junk build with a one year warrenty from a company you payed 3 times what I did at the time. Oh a year later. Your warrinties gone and your cpu or hard drive goes... can't replace it for free. Same with your intire comp is now junked if you have no money. Me oh look at that my HD has 4 years left on it, I could replace it for free... or my cpu for free cus I still have a warrenty that didn't cost me a thing.

CPU's have a 3 year warrenty. Mobos a year or more. Hard drives 3 to 5 years. Memory a lifetime, GPU's usouly have lifetime ones too. You can pritty much have more then 3 times longer warrenties with parts you buy yourself the other half that last forever. And so on. Better know what your doing before you spend all that money.
 
I've spent zero $ on my computers.
But lots of £ as I live in England.

Main box was around £5,000 about four years ago.
My folding boxen work out about £600-700 each, 6 of them.
Electric is about £100 a month to run them.

Next major upgrade will be dual core Opterons & mobo, new vid card/s, new large screen lcd monitor.

Luck.............. :D
 
Definitely over $1,301. Then I ride it out until upgrading is pretty much mandatory.
 
CompuDrew said:
Definitely over $1,301. Then I ride it out until upgrading is pretty much mandatory.
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Same here, but I wouldn't see 2K being that far out there. But I'd use it for a looonnggg time ;).
 
I'd have to spend that much to get a decent prebuilt computer (I'm assuming that this is referring to prebuilt, since even though we here @ [H] build our own, the "average user/household" would not...)
 
My vision of the average family pc is from a different viewpoint from those who voted "Greater than 1301". To me, the definition of "average family member user" is influenced from building many many computers for both family and friends. The Sims 2, quake2, ut2004, an older flight simulator, mp3's, cd burning, and mostly internet and chat. that takes care of average family member. Also note, my average family member doesnt understand nor want to understand the difference between 16x antialiasing and 2x antialiasing. they are more interested in playing the game. configure the game to the best of the machine's abilities, and they're happy.

This machine would perform exceptionally well by any family member's AVERAGE needs:

All parts at newegg.com. Buying USED from fellow [H] members you will be spending much more wisely, and helping others out!

AMD Venice 3200+..........$95 .....Free Shipping
Biostar TForce6100-939.....$70 .....6.67 Shipping
Corsair Value 2x512 ..........$90.....Free Shipping
QPack..............................$80.....11.20 Shipping before 10MIR
Logitech MX518...............$42.....Free Shipping
Nice Keyboard(idk)..........$20..... 5 bucks i guess
Logitech X-230 2.1 spkrs $34.....16.51Shipping
WD 80GB 7200 / 8m HD.....$43.....5.46 Shipping
NEC ND-3550A dvdrw dl.....$31.....5.46 Shipping
------------------------------------------------------------------------
$505.....$50.30 = $555.30

video is onboard, but you probably want to do a little better. While your at it, i recommend the 19 inch lcd.

Acer 17" 8ms LCD..........$149.....11.35 Shipping With computer = 715.65
Acer 19" 8ms LCD..........$185.....10.26 Shipping With computer = 750.56
Acer 19" 8ms Wide LCD $186.....Free Shipping With computer = 741.30

X850XT pcie....................$146 5.46 Shipping With 19 and computer = $902 Shipped
X800GTO pcie............... $90.....5.46 Shipping With 19 and computer = $846.02 Shipped



There you have it. Very nice machine for $902, Brand New, Shipped. Drop it down to average by going with 17inch lcd and onboard video, and its $715.65.

In defending my choices - the ive built several machines on the tforce board, its rock solid, even when overclocked. The venice runs cool, can be overclocked if necessary, and has enough power. The qpack is decently compact, cools just fine, and despite what others say, ive had no problem with the psu in it. ATI - personal choice, you know how it is.

How to cut corners:
-----------------------------
2x256MB Corsair Value $52 $4.99 Shipping
17 Inch NEC CRT $86 $23.06 Shipping note CRT's are not economical to ship. You can pick these up used from FREE to 35 used, no shipping
Standard 3button scroll mouse is 3.25 and 5.26 shipping
Whitebox case with psu 30 dollars. It holds your stuff, looks crappy, but functions.
 
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