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Getting the Best PC on a Tight Budget
Right now, there are a lot of good PC deals to be had. You can build yourself a very good machine (much better than anything you could buy from Dell at a comparable price) for not much at all.
If money has to be kept in check, here's what I suggest:
Processor Under my recommended processors, I generally recommend 2 different ones. Also, another area to consider is looking at TigerDirect's bundled processor and motherboard combos. You can find some fairly cheap deals with slightly older components there. RAM/Memory You should consult my RAM guide first, as memory requirements for computers can sometimes change rapidly. Hard Drive I recommend several different levels of hard drives, but generally the cost for the next size of drive is roughly $10. This is one of the cheaper components for computers right now. Built-in Sound Card Using the default sound card built into most motherboards makes sense for most people, so you shouldn't have any problems with this. Video Card This does depend on what you intend on using your PC for. Anything beyond sending emails to the kids and typing an occasional document will require one of the cards that I recommend. Make sure if you look for the cheapest card out there that it will be compatible with your motherboard (ie Is it AGP or PCIe?). You generally can reuse several components from your old machine (if you have one as well). Reusing your monitor, keyboard and mouse, and modem generally make sense.
Unless your monitor has flickering problems or severely strains your eyes for whatever reason, I'd suggest sticking with your monitor. Doing this will save you around $100. Also, check out Goodwill or Salvation Army; they usually have good, used computer monitors for no more than $30 (but make sure it powers on first). My parents' 2nd computer uses a Sony monitor I found at Goodwill.
Your modem makes sense to reuse as this is an area that the technical abilities of the component have not changed at all in the past 4 years. A modem that is even 6 or 7 years old should still work fine in your computer.
