Hardware advice.

[Psychedelic_hands]

Alrighty.
I've been running my half dead Compaq Presario CQ61-217 (http://www.cnet.com.au/compaq-presario-cq61-217-339297987.htm) into the ground, it's been on the verge of death for about six months now. I've finally decided that now is the right time to upgrade to a desktop. The issue though is I'm a hardware noob, with a very little idea of what I need.

The deal is I have about $1000 AUS to throw around, what should I get? haha

[ultifd]

Wow...1060.60 USD on a Desktop. Might as well get a decent laptop, then right?
I'd say you'd want...(laptop or desktop)
i7
8 gigs of ram
1tb hard drive
windows 7 64 bit, i guess.
a decent graphics card (look up in google)

Something like that. That's what I would do.

If you were in US I'd give you a bunch of deal sites...but I don't know any AU deal sites.

[hailstone]

Do you already have OS, mouse, keyboard, monitor and sound device (headphones or speakers)? If not they could take a big chunk out of your budget. If you just mean for the box components I read in PC & Tech Authority that the Intel i3 and i5 are the best value CPUs, in Australia anyway.

Parts to take into account:
- [~$80] Case (and PSU which needs to be able to power everthing; need to make sure there is enough space in the box for all the parts)
- [~$150] Graphics card
- [~$100] CPU
- [~$140] Motherboard (check components are supported)
- [~$100] HDD x 2
- [~$50] CD/DVD (possibly burner)
- [~$80] RAM 2GB+ (two sticks of same type)

- [~$300] 64bit Operating System

(The prices are just a starting point)

Don't forget a wireless card or network cable if you used wireless with your notebook. The next stage would be to buy a good PC mag, look at review sites and computer part store websites for your location until you've found a good balance between price and performance.

Edit: @ultifd: no way you would get a PC that good for $1000 in Australia. i7 alone is about $300. I use http://www.umart.com.au/ and http://www.pcland.com.au/
http://www.umart.com.au/newindex2.phtml?bid=6 That one is over the budget but it comes with monitor and mouse/keyboard.

[Gabbe]

There is no difference in gaming performance from the i5 to i7 so if it is primarily for gaming, go for the i5. The i7 is used for high intensive 3d art and painting.

Also unless you run 3 high hardware intensive programs at once, i suggest 6GB RAM, 1600mhz-ish or higher. If that is too expensive, do 4GB. More RAM will have next to no impact on system performance unless your programs are very RAM intensive.

GTX580 is also a very good GPU. I don't know any of the prices in Australia, so this is all the advice I can possible give to you.

BTW, don't listen to Archmage when he comes and say you need an AMD CPU. Intels are better, at a higher price.

[Omega]

- [~$300] 64bit Operating System

Windows 7 64-bit is $110 (USD) for the OEM Home Premium.

For parts newegg is nice, though dunno about Aussie shipping.

[John.d.h]

Windows 7 64-bit is $110 (USD) for the OEM Home Premium.

The best operating systems don't cost anything.

[Gabbe]

Mine is from a swedish bay.

[hailstone]

- [~$300] 64bit Operating System

Windows 7 64-bit is $110 (USD) for the OEM Home Premium.

For parts newegg is nice, though dunno about Aussie shipping.

You are right. The OEM version is cheaper but it's only meant to be installed on the one machine. I only looked at the Microsoft website quickly.

http://www.microsoft.com/australia/windows/buy/default.aspx
Windows 7 Home Premium
$299 RRP*

[wciow]

The best operating systems don't cost anything.

I have dabbled plenty in linux and had some dual installs. I would switch completely in an instant if only linux was supported by commercial games. Its really only the games issue that keeps me from switching 

I would certainly recommend Windows 7 though, Vista was a horrible bloated disaster. Windows 7, whilst appearing to keep all the useless M$ bloatware at least runs reasonably and is intuitive to use.