Okay, here's one computer I'm looking at

[kierthos]

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
19 inch S199WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor with TrueLife*
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
nVidia GeForce 8300GS 128MB
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse

This would be $679. This is nicely in my price range.

Few questions:

Is the nVidia GeForce 8600GT-DDR3 256MB video card worth an additional $90?

Is going to 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs worth an additional $50?

Is this a good computer for the price? (I think so, but I know very little about hardware.)

Comments

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, RAM's running about $40-$50/GB so that's decent price. As for the video card, you won't be able to pick up one like that that cheap, installed. In fact you'll likely not be able to find that model for resell but will have to get something a step up. So yeah, if it was me, I'd go for the video card now. With that and 3GB, you're right in the mainstream for the next two years and on trailing edge for another two years.

'Course, I just upgraded from 1.25ghz PPC G4 (7 years old) to 1.8GHz PPC G5 that's only 5 years old. Sweet! But it does have an Nvidia 6800 card that's still going for $500.00. Gotta' love the Mac world. Hmm... kool-aide... aaargle... drool...