Computer?

[Turaylon Soulshadow]

My sister wanted me to set something up on Dell for her for a new computer...this is what I came up with

My Components
PROCESSOR AMD Athlonâ„¢ 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+ edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Basic edit
MONITOR 19 inch SE198WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor edit
MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cacheâ„¢ edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive edit
VIDEO CARD 128MB ATI Radeon X1300 edit
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse edit
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER 3.5 in Floppy Drive edit
MODEM 56K PCI Data Fax Modem edit
My Accessories
SPEAKERS Dell A525 30 Watt 2.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer edit
ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY No Security Subscription (30-day trial) edit
PRODUCTIVITY Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit

Dell Recommends
Upgrade your software!
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $149 or $4/month1]
PHOTOS, MUSIC & MORE! Yahoo! Music Jukebox - Music Player edit

Dell Recommends
Want to do photos in your new PC? --Get Corel Snapfire Plus now!
Upgrade to Corel Snapfire Plus - Photos made easy: create slideshows, projects, more! [add $39 or $1/month1]
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Mouse Mouse included in Dell Wireless Package
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Labels Windows Vistaâ„¢ Basic

$749
As low as $23/month

Worth the price? I know pretty much nothing about computer hardware/software I just play games and know how to make them explode. Also, is that processor better than a Pentium? Is there a better place to go and build a computer? Is there somewhere I can just order parts and have someone I know who knows what they're doing put them together? Any help would be great. $800/$30-month is pretty much max price range.

[Ddrak]

What does she want to use it for? I can see a few good things to change but a lot depends on what she wants to do with it.

Dd

[Turaylon Soulshadow]

She's starting college in a couple months so she's gonna need it for that, and, I'm also gonna be using it so it has to be able to run multiple EverQuest's and Warcraft III Frozen Throne

[Ddrak]

Here's what I'd probably go with for $749:

Inspiron 530 base system.
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4300 (2MB L2 Cache,1.80GHz,800 FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium
MONITOR 19 inch SE198WFP Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cacheâ„¢
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
VIDEO CARD 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8300GS
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive Included
MODEM & WIRELESS No Modem Option
SPEAKERS Dell A525 30 Watt 2.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer
ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY No Security Subscription (30-day trial)
PRODUCTIVITY Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
PHOTO AND MUSIC SOFTWARE Yahoo! Music Jukebox - Music Player
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor - Next Business Day
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Free 3GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Year

I threw in the 2.1 speakers because you did. If you don't need them, upgrade the CPU a notch instead. I left the RAM at 1G because, well, it gave more options on the base system.

Notes:

Vista Home Premium is worth the upgrade over Home Basic.
Intel/AMD - I'm not really choosy but I think that Core Duo will outperform the 3800
Video card: I went with the GF8300 over the X1300. I think this is a solid upgrade, and gives DX10 for whatever its worth.

Dd

[Turaylon Soulshadow]

Thanks Dd, I'll run it by her and see what she says.