First Time Getting a Computer

Kieth8

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This is my first time getting a computer:) . My parents have said that they will get me one if it's around $700(give or take a $100). I was wondering if you guys could help me decide on where to get it from and what to get. It needs to have monitor with it, although this can be ordered seperatly(doesn't need an amazing monitor, I will upgrade that first). Also, I can't build it. Here are some other things:

Processor:I am leaning toward the AMD Phenom triple core, due to its price, newness, performance, and DDR3 memory. I will most likely stick with it, unless there is an super amazing one for the same price or lower.
Video card: Need some help here(there are so many!), I want one that will be able to play Age of Empires at very good setting, Spore at very good settings, Left 4 Dead at reasonable to very good settings, Fallout 3 at reasonable(or very good, if possible) settings, and new RTS(real time strategy games) and other new games at reasonable settings. I don't know if this is possible but it is what I'm hoping for. I have no preference on what company.
MotherBoard and RAM: I have a couple questions on this, I know that the Phenoms don't get that big of boost from haveing DDR3, but I want a motherboard(is that what MOBO stands for) that supports DDR3, so I am wondering this: do motherboards that support DDR3 also support DDR2 memory? If they do, do both types work as good as they normally work? If there is a motherboard that supports both, I am not against getting DDR2 at first and upgrading to DDR3 when I feel I need it. If motherboards support only one type of memory, then I would like a DDR3 motherboard. I think that 4 GB of RAM would be sufficient.
Moniter: No preference, really. I can get a better one when I get more money.
Case: Want one that has room for expansion, looks good, cools good, and isn't that expensive.
Mouse and Keyboard: No preference.
Power Supply: Looking at a 600 watt corsair.
I think thats everything. If you know of a good place to buy from, you can include that, too Thanks for the help.
Forgot one of the most important things, the operating system. Ummm...........I leaning toward windows Vista 64 bit, however, my parents have heard bad things about Vista. I don't mind it, like it more than XP. I don't know how to win them over to the Vista side.(this is not the main point of the thread).
 
Just DON"T buy one with the crapware on it.
One thing if you want to do a defrag (you should defrag every few month's), it will cost you $24.00, etc. This is unless you know how to go in the back way.
 
if your looking for a place to buy a PC from - you can pick your own parts too.

cyberpowerpc.com is pretty good and one of the few that gets decent reviews and isn't way over priced. Some of their parts are less then desirable, like their PSU's unless you go for the thermaltake or Corsair, but you can always upgrade later. Their ram is a little more expensive then some places like newegg, but overall they are good.

Don't let anyone kid you about Vista/Vista64bit. It's fine...your parents just aren't used to it ;)

My personal opinion...if your going DDR3 go Core i7...other wise stay with DDR2 (super cheap now). You can't do 4GB of DDR3 either, it's either 3GB or 6GB, and I would recommend 6GB.
As for the Graphics Card (GPU) I wouldn't go any lower then a Gforce 260 or ATi 4850.

Just a quick customize I did - you can change somethings to make it a little cheaper as I put in the best AMD CPU. NO OS included though:

# CASE: Xion Vulcan Steel Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window (Black Color)
# Neon Light Upgrade: NONE
# Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
# POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 580 Watts Power Supplies (SLI Ready Power Supply)
# CPU: AMD Phenomâ„¢II X4 940 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
# COOLING FAN : AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
# MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-MA74GM-S2 740G Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/ATI 2100 Graphic, GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio
# MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
# FREEBIES: None
# VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 4870 PCI-E 16X 512MB DDR5 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
# VIDEO CARD 2: NONE
# VIDEO CARD 3: NONE
# MULTIPLE VIDEO CARD SETTINGS: Non-SLI/CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
# LCD Monitor: 19& quot; TFT Active Matrix LCD Display (ViewSonic VG1930WM SXGA+ 1440x900)
# 2nd Monitor: NONE
# HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
# Data Hard Drive: NONE
# HARD DRIVE COOLING FAN : None
# USB PORTABLE DRIVE: NONE
# Optical Drive: (Special Price) LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
# Optical Drive 2: NONE
# SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
# SPEAKERS: NONE
# NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
# MODEM: NONE
# KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD (BLACK COLOR)
# MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
# Extra Thermal Display : NONE
# Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: NONE
# Flash Media Reader/Writer: None
# VIDEO CAMERA: NONE
# PRINTER: None
# PRINTER CABLE: None
# IEEE CARD: NONE
# USB PORT: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
# FLOPPY: NONE
# OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY
$983.00
 
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