Prebuilts for UNDER $700?

[Glitterstraz]

I know I could get something much cheaper if I buy my own parts and put it together, but I'd much rather get something I can use straight out of the box. I'm not a tekkie person whatsoever, and I'd like to have a company I can call if something breaks down or goes wrong.

Something that I could potentially upgrade in the future would be nice too, I'm just very strapped for cash right now and need something basic. The two I have my eye on right now as possibilities are the iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 502D3 or the Druid by Centaurus Computers with an ATI 5450 and an AMD Athlon II X2 245 processor. I'd put up links but I can't on this account just yet

Any thoughts or advice? I'm on a very limited budget right now and I just need a basic machine to run 25mans with.

[Wries]

5450 is really weak. Like, "1280x1024 low to fair settings" weak. :/

---------- Post added 2011-02-17 at 09:58 AM ----------

Doing quick quick search on newegg I came up with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229223

but when 700 is the limit you could probably go a step better than that even.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16883229215R look. even sexier.

[Tulion]

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/AMD_P...3_Configurator >750 really try to get there if you can will make a big difference + your getting AMD Phenom™ II X4 955 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU and ATI Radeon HD 5670 - 1GB and a larger PSU

[Glitterstraz]

5450 is really weak. Like, "1280x1024 low to fair settings" weak. :/

---------- Post added 2011-02-17 at 09:58 AM ----------

Doing quick quick search on newegg I came up with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229223

but when 700 is the limit you could probably go a step better than that even.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16883229215R look. even sexier.

So what would you say is a minimum for it to run decently? Like 5670?

[Deleted]

I would say to get your ass over to a webshop that allows you to build your own computer and aks them to put it together and instal windows on it. Prebuilts tend to have very cheap motherboards, ram, low rpm HDD, etc. Usually they only mention the amount of storage, amount of memory (ram) and what cpu and gpu they've put in.
That's the main reason why they sometimes are quite cheap.

And Nvidia GT8600 should be enough to run wow on good settings to be fairly honest.

[nwo]

5450 is really weak. Like, "1280x1024 low to fair settings" weak. :/

---------- Post added 2011-02-17 at 09:58 AM ----------

Doing quick quick search on newegg I came up with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229223

but when 700 is the limit you could probably go a step better than that even.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16883229215R look. even sexier.

First build is much faster, but you won't be able to upgrade it to the new sandy bridge CPUs without upgrading the mobo. If you want upgradability, go with the second build. Yes, it is a bit slower than the first, but once Bulldozer comes out in a few months, you will be able to upgrade.

---------- Post added 2011-02-21 at 11:22 AM ----------

So what would you say is a minimum for it to run decently? Like 5670?

A 5670 will run it fairly nicely, you could get by with something even slower than that if you have a fast CPU, but a 5670 is something you should look for if you want to run it on good/high settings. A 5770 is pretty much all you need to cap out WoW.

[aggs]

Yeah a 4850 is good enough to run on high tbh.