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[ClawlessVictory]

I'm way out of the loop when it comes to computers these days.  I'm looking for a desktop model, preferably one that costs less than a grand, around $800 would be ideal.  I would like a massive hard drive to store a copious amount of mp3s.  Monitor not necessary.  Must be able to run Dwarf Fortress without a hitch 

Oh yeah, and one that is very quiet would be nice.

[kaijyuu]

Build your own. Lots of guides online, and it's not very hard at all.

I built my own about a year and a half ago, and it still plays current gen games at max FPS. Cost me ~700 bucks (not including a monitor).

[Aklyon]

Yeah, Building it yourself might be a bit more time-consuming (and need a guide), but its cheaper and you'll know exactly what parts are in it. A large SSD will be ludicrously expensive though, so if its size you need, get a normal hard drive with a terabyte of space instead.
Also, be careful about static electricity. Electronics are more sensitive to it than you are.

[darkrider2]

You know with all these threads that keep popping up we should have a dedicated thread for computer specs and suggestions on the purchasing/construction of computers.

[Aklyon]

You know with all these threads that keep popping up we should have a dedicated thread for computer specs and suggestions on the purchasing/construction of computers.

Sorta like /r/buildapc?

[Tellemurius]

$504 kit if you want to know for DF

[Valid_Dark]

I just got one of these and it does not dissaponit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246327

can play Skyrim on high settings with no lag

[GalenEvil]

bought a Walmart computer for about $650 a year and a half ago. It wasn't too bad, except for the graphics card. 256MB of integrated graphics awesomeness!!! /sarcasm

Upgraded ram to 16GB, power supply, and got a dedicated graphics card for about $250 altogether, then another 60 because I failed at putting it together properly. Now I can run pretty much all current games on at least high settings w/o any lag.

Would have rather gone the way of building it myself though. Could have put together a really nice computer together that is way better for a comparable total price.

[Aklyon]

On building: decide the motherboard first, based on what CPU/Graphics card you want. If something doesn't fit your mobo, its as useful as a potato to your computer. Then get the rest of the parts (including the CPU and the graphics card), and make sure the case you get is big enough to fit everything. An ATX motherboard will not fit in a mini-ATX case, no matter how awesome the latter is.

[Tellemurius]

On building: decide the motherboard first, based on what CPU/Graphics card you want. If something doesn't fit your mobo, its as useful as a potato to your computer. Then get the rest of the parts (including the CPU and the graphics card), and make sure the case you get is big enough to fit everything. An ATX motherboard will not fit in a mini-ATX case, no matter how awesome the latter is.

Or how about this, what do you need in a computer and a est. price of the device.

[da_nang]

A large SSD will be ludicrously expensive though, so if its size you need, get a normal hard drive with a terabyte of space instead.

HDDs are still feeling the price hike from the Thailand flood, though. Choose carefully.

[GalenEvil]

I want an Ivy Bridge... they are so nice to look at, even with them being brand new and possibly not tested enough as well as being more expensive then I'd like and not at all compatible with my mobo I will need to make a whole new computer when I finally get around to needing one (shouldn't take too long). Aren't RAM sticks seeing a price hike as well?

There are so many awesome choices coming out that I will be forced to sit and wait and do actual research into various computer components now I hope that AMD comes out with an Ivy Bridge equivalent soon so that I won't have to change nearly every damned thing in the computer and just do a more simple upgrade.

[Tellemurius]

A large SSD will be ludicrously expensive though, so if its size you need, get a normal hard drive with a terabyte of space instead.

HDDs are still feeling the price hike from the Thailand flood, though. Choose carefully.

No the prices are down now still a bit high but 100 bucks for a 1tb is norm now.

I want an Ivy Bridge... they are so nice to look at, even with them being brand new and possibly not tested enough as well as being more expensive then I'd like and not at all compatible with my mobo I will need to make a whole new computer when I finally get around to needing one (shouldn't take too long). Aren't RAM sticks seeing a price hike as well?

There are so many awesome choices coming out that I will be forced to sit and wait and do actual research into various computer components now I hope that AMD comes out with an Ivy Bridge equivalent soon so that I won't have to change nearly every damned thing in the computer and just do a more simple upgrade.

ram is still cheap right now. The only thing you would benefit with Ivy Bridge is support for 1600mhz ram speed and insane faster integrated graphics so i would still stick with Sandy Bridge as there wasn't a huge jump in processing and PCI-E 3.0 currently has no consumer value yet.

[GalenEvil]

That's good to hear Telle I guess once things settle down the Ivy Bridge will get some good support as a laptop addition since it has a good integrated graphics capacity. The lack of the huge jump in processing is probably due to the massive increase in the integrated graphics part. Since they are also going with Ivy Bridge to a smaller size manufacturing process (20nm?) it is going to be interesting to see just how much they can stuff into anything, everything, for further awesome computing power.

The entire idea behind the Kepler architecture is pretty cool. If it takes a while to really get refined that will be fine with me. Waiting for DDR4 to get really standardized and optimized in the coming years. Intel has said that they don't even plan to start implementing it in their stuff until 2014-ish so I can deal with waiting.

[ClawlessVictory]

I just got one of these and it does not dissaponit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834246327

can play Skyrim on high settings with no lag

Thanks for the recommendation man, but I'm more interested in a desktop.

Not really interested in dedicating the time and energy involved in building my own.  Ultimately, between work and learning a new language, it really comes down to not having enough free time.  If anyone cannot recommend something from newegg, I suppose I'll have to sit down and brush up on my computer know-how.