So fresh, so clean- new computer time!

Hey tech wiz helpful types,

First off, sorry for asking the question I'm sure gets asked 20 times a month, but as we all know the answer changes day to day as what was new last month is last months news this month!

I have a old computer that decided to drop dead the other night, and is pretty much too tired to fix- its time for it to go out to pasture.

I have a budget of around $1500 thanks to uncle Sam giving me my moneys back from taxes. I would prefer to buy something prebuilt, but have enough savvy to build myself if needed. I would like to go with someone other than Dell if possible if I buy pre-built, but if the price is right I can settle my differences with Dell and come back to them, they do have some really nice looking Alien systems for decent price nowdays. I would also like to have the system up and running within 2-3 weeks at most(shipping times included).

I have looked around on Digital Storm and Dell sites just to see whats offered, but id like to get some ideas/must haves/dont buys from everyone around here so i can make a more informed choice when the time comes.

So free form input/advice is welcome, and any linkies to nice systems are appreciated.

I will not be upgrading again for some time, so i look to get between 3-5 years of high to decent performance(dwindling down to low performance as the years go on no doubt...) out of the machine. This means I would like to get parts that are high end now, but will last the tests of time fairly well.

So if anyones had a recent buy thats worked out well for them, or advice on what parts are good bargains currently for the performance i would love to hear it.

Thanks.

Slim

One option you should consider is a "build to order" outfit like CyberPowerPC:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

There are some really high-end places that will put a computer together for you, but CyberPowerPC and others like it (Ibuypower is similar) charges a modest premium for assembling the computer, and you get to pick what components you want.

It's a good compromise if you don't want to put the computer together yourself but want more control over what goes into it than you would with a manufacturer like Dell. I got my desktop from Cyberpower a few years ago and have been very happy with it. And with $1500 you could buy quite a nice desktop there.

Another place is Puget Systems but they are pricey but great support.

Digital Storm strikes me as all about the overclocking and the gamer bling. But it bothers me that Digital Storm doesn't really tell you much about the PSU other than it's wattage.

I second the venues such as IBuyPower and CyberPowerPC. I just purchased a system from IBuyPower and it's quite the awesome machine!

However, if you go with one of those, be prepared to wait about a month. IBuyPower is a little back logged from the holidays still and I imagine so is CyberPower. Regardless of what they say, be prepared to wait!

@The Omega Elementress
Currently playing Project Willow lvl 50 DB/WP Incarnate Shifted Scrapper

Thanks for the advice and links.

I think I will end up going with something with a nice motherboard because this is the backbone of a new system, 1000W Power supply, good cooling/case, and 6 gigs RAM, and upgrade from there along the way as parts become cheaper. For now I am going to use an Nvidia card with PhysX so I can check out how CoH looks on it, but eventually will probably upgrade to a dual card setup, as more games come on market that require Xfire or direct x11.

That should keep me around my price range, with room to grow later.

Hope to be back in the City of heroes within a couple to few weeks. the forced time off is rough on my finances in game, but the buying of a new rig is rough on my RL finances... oh the humanity...

cheers.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good anti-virus suite?

I usually run adaware, spybot, and I currently run Nortons (ugh..) but would like to switch to something less crappy.

Anyone like McAfee? Or another provider? Just looking fora some feedback on what other people use and how they like the performance.

Thanks

Once upon a time, Norton was very good and not a resource hog. That changed and I stopped using it. I hear it has gotten better again, but this is only hearsay. I don't plan to give them another chance.

I was using AVG for a while, and was quite happy with it, until a new version came out that had 'issues' with certain games.

So, I switched to Avast, as I had heard good things about it. Seems okay so far, but I have only had it a short time.

I use Avira AntiVir. It does open a "Would you like to by the full product?" ad when it updates it's signatures but it's pretty reliable and has very low impact on the system.