What are you here to build?

I ask this question because recently I have read allot of forums and have done allot of research in the pursuit of building my own dream machine. In my travels I have noticed a very common trend; most people are trying to decide between mid-range parts for their pc builds or upgrades and not the high range parts.

For example I have notice large amounts of people are more interested in which CPU to choose between the Q6600 and E8400 CPU's, but hardly does anyone mention the extreme QX9770 or X6800 that are out there.

Then there is the video card question, 8800 GT, HD3870 or 8800 GTS? I rarely see anyone asking if they should get the 8800 GTX or Ultra.

I only raise this poll to actually see if my suspicions are correct;

#1 Not many can actually afford the high end components

#2 Like me you can not see spending that much money for something that you are going to replace in a few years or so any way.

#3 Technology becomes obsolete so fast, maybe obsolete is not the correct term, more the value of the technology depreciates to fast and new technology is faster and cost about the same. Remember that $1000 P4 3.4 you had to have in 2004, you can now get for $172 (worth 17% of it's original value 5 years later) if you still are interested. On the same note if you bought a P4 2.8 retailing around $300 you can now pick one up for $48 (still a 16 % worth it's original value 5 years later) but you paid $700 less for mid range technology that lasted just as long as the high range tech.And now you have $700 more than the guy who bought the 3.4 model to spend on your next mid-range CPU 2-4 years later.

Any who, I am not saying I wouldn't like to have a Q9770 or a 9800 GX2 when it comes out, but personally I can't afford it, and I don't see where I would gain that much performance over price comparing them to a Q6600 with a 8800 GTS.And it appears that a lot of users seem to agree.

Now I know there are those that that buy high end parts as soon as they come out and are extremely happy with them, which I thank you, really I do! If it wasn't for you guys the mid range parts wouldn't cost what they do. As long as some one is willing to pay that amount of money for those high end parts, the mid range will always be available for half the price in most cases.

Spending over $2500 on a computer you're building yourself would require some creativity.

Spending over $2500 on a computer you're building yourself would require some creativity.

DGFreak

Throw in a high-quality monitor, and you're practically there. If you want to add a liquid cooling setup, a few nice peripherals, a UPS, software that might be required for the particular user (OS, Photoshop, Office, a better virus scanner/spyware scanner) and some good speakers, you could easily spend $2500 right there without even getting started on internal components for the computer itself.

Well, I think it's safe to say that I do not spend the majority of my time here planning my next rig (at least not directly). I do spend a fair amount of time trying to help others, which is probably where I should cast my vote.

If you're asking how much I usually spend on a computer, I'd say "mid-range" on your list, except the budgets you listed indicate that you have very little idea what "mid-range" actually is.

While Im not really a newcomer to building comps, I am relativly new to all of this new PC hardware and overclocking. So people like RayvinAzn and Shegavara have been serious help in building my upcoming "budget" computer. It's great to be in a community with smart people willing to help others.Kreegle24

Exactly were I am. But I'm learning and I've actualy managed to help a few other people aswell ^_^. But I got some serious guidence before I build this rig.