Tips for saving for a new PC?

[fastbilly1]

I will play devils advocate and say that there are three things you CAN buy early (atleast the past few years) and it wont bite you later. Those three things in order are:
1. Case
2. PSU
3. Harddrives - platters not SSD

Reason being, apart from changing where PSUs sit, cases havent changed too much in the past decade. I dont mean the fancy show off cases, or things like the U2ufo Duality, but the average case hasnt changed that much. If you dont want a super showy case, you would be fine buying a case now - should you? probably not but you could. As for PSUs and HDD, when a good one goes on sale buy. They havent changed that much in the past few years and they wont change too much in the near future. Like Sabarge said, 800 watts is overkill for your setup. But there is no kill like overkill...or its better to have headroom so you dont strain your components.

But like said, buying in waves is not a good idea typically. But if you find that case that is just right, buy it. Ive missed out on a few that I really wanted because of this. Granted nowadays I just buy cheap with enough drive slots - give me beige and boxy any day of the week.

[deathsled]

I can already tell you're preparing to spend too much money on a PC lol.

I think I've got about $500 in my PC and it plays almost every gave I've thrown at it at max settings in 1920x1200 resolution. It was also built almost 3 years ago. It should be considerably cheaper to put one like this together now.

It is "just" a dual core Intel, 4 gb of ram, and an nvidia 260gtx card.

[isiolia]

I can already tell you're preparing to spend too much money on a PC lol.

I think I've got about $500 in my PC and it plays almost every gave I've thrown at it at max settings in 1920x1200 resolution. It was also built almost 3 years ago. It should be considerably cheaper to put one like this together now.

It is "just" a dual core Intel, 4 gb of ram, and an nvidia 260gtx card.

That probably speaks much less of the longevity of your build, and a lot more to the relative stagnation of game tech. Though, as mentioned, it'll likely jump forward soon enough when consoles can make use of more too.

There are games out there that won't run well at that res/settings on that card though. Can also just depend on what you play, or what your FPS standards are. Beyond that, there are uses for PCs other than gaming, and spending more can buy you a lot more power to crunch video (as the OP mentioned) or other actual CPU-heavy tasks, put in an SSD for better system zippiness (or more/faster storage in general) and so on. Or actually buy a legal copy of Windows.

[sabrage]

Or actually buy a legal copy of Windows.

You can do that?!

[deathsled]

There are games out there that won't run well at that res/settings on that card though. Can also just depend on what you play, or what your FPS standards are. Beyond that, there are uses for PCs other than gaming, and spending more can buy you a lot more power to crunch video (as the OP mentioned) or other actual CPU-heavy tasks, put in an SSD for better system zippiness (or more/faster storage in general) and so on. Or actually buy a legal copy of Windows.

I admit Crysis still makes this computer cry if totally maxed out, but if I drop the anti aliasing down a bit it's back to normal and I really can't tell much of a difference. Most anything else is perfectly fine. Deus Ex: HR? Maxed out just fine. Starcraft II? Maxed out just fine. Dead Island? Maxed out just fine.

[sabrage]

I admit Crysis still makes this computer cry if totally maxed out, but if I drop the anti aliasing down a bit it's back to normal and I really can't tell much of a difference. Most anything else is perfectly fine. Deus Ex: HR? Maxed out just fine. Starcraft II? Maxed out just fine. Dead Island? Maxed out just fine.

Two console ports and a Blizzard game... Perhaps not the best meter of a computer's mettle.

[MrPopo]

I admit Crysis still makes this computer cry if totally maxed out, but if I drop the anti aliasing down a bit it's back to normal and I really can't tell much of a difference. Most anything else is perfectly fine. Deus Ex: HR? Maxed out just fine. Starcraft II? Maxed out just fine. Dead Island? Maxed out just fine.

Two console ports and a Blizzard game... Perhaps not the best meter of a computer's mettle.

Yeah, try one of the STALKER games or Metro 2033 (it had a console port but the PC version has amazing graphics).

[gtmtnbiker]

I will play devils advocate and say that there are three things you CAN buy early (atleast the past few years) and it wont bite you later. Those three things in order are:
1. Case
2. PSU
3. Harddrives - platters not SSD

I wouldn't recommend buying stuff early unless it's a really good price. If you do buy stuff, you should have some way to test out the items. You don't want to be stuck with things that don't work and the manufacturer's warranty has expired.