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Also, please don't tell me to build my own because I have neither the know-how or patience to do that. I just want to get a nice, mid-top range, already built and working PC.

I'd look into finding a friend who can and paying the 50 dollars to do it, it'd be worth, and tell them part of the 50 dollars is helping you pick out and order the parts. Given that you can succeed in doing that (which i think you can) here are my specific tips for buying the parts in building your own computer.


I would recommend building your own computer, it's really easy and can be a fun learning experience, there are online guides for it if you need help, or i'm sure a school mate or someone you know can help you.
For Most users:

Re-use whatever you can from your last computer, speakers, headphones, keybaord monitor etc.. maybe dvd drive.

Money saving tip with still getting a nice computer:

Just buy 1 Dual Layer DVD burner, and have that as your only rom drive. To copy information to one disc to another, simpler copy the image onto the computer, and then from the computer to the other disc, this is a more stable way to transfer the info anyway as opposed to disc to disc.

Spend most your money on Graphics Card, Processor, and motherboard. Don't worry about a super fancy case, power supply, and don't waste your money on overclocking ram and all that BS. I'd go for moderately priced name brand ram (earlier i recommended cheap ram, people said was idea since they've seen cheap/bad ram kill a system, and i've seen bad ram kill other ram).

I'd probably go quad core, if you want to go cheap you can look at dual core.

Obviously go PCI Express for your graphics card.

Don't feel the need to get a terrabyte of Hard Drive space.. you can probably get 500 gig for like 50ish bucks. I'd do that.


Perks to have:

Nice to have front ports for headsets, and front ports for USB sticks.. This will need to be supported on the Motherboard, and Case.

Firewire port (if you need it) and SD card ports (if you need them).

You can probably get all the hardware and have a solid computer (including buying a brand new say 19inch screen LCD)

All for 750 dollars. I'd recommend using Ebay, Craigslist, Tigerdirect, but mostly Newegg.com for your hardware needs.

Software Tips:

Schools can offer you great discounts on Operating systems such as vista, if you have friend going into some sort of computer science they might even be able to get it for free. (Linux is also an option)

Open Office is a nice substitute for Microsoft Office, and is compatible in opening Microsoft office's files.

Firewall: Zone Alarm Free edition
Antivirus I'd go: AVG Free
Spyware/roots: SuperAntiSpyware and Spybot Search and Destroy
Malware: Malwarebyte
System Optimizer: CCleaner

You can find easy access to all this stuff at www.filehippo.com


Edit: IF you posted your part list here, i'd even look in there to make sure everthings compatible, and that you have all the neccessary pieces, i might not shop around for you, but i'd do that much.

If I say anything outdated feel free to correct me knyte, i've worked on a good number of computers and built 2 with friends, I know a good amount.

I expect bulk of cost to go into the quad core motherboard, processors, and graphics card (for these biggest thing is having a high on board dedicated ram, mine 512mb, i'm guessing 1gig is the new standard).

For me on the ram... I bought Ram, I bought really nice Ram designed for overclocking systems, and i was dissappointed in that. Because i found no need to ever overclock, and i paid for probably a little more quality and extra heat sink.

I do know of good brands, i recognize all the ones Knyte recommended. I would find a moderately priced name brand ram. I would avoid overclocking nonsense, most users will not need it or use it.

On The hard drive just think about how much you use.. a massive hard drive that you don't use is just a waste of money. I have never used 500 gigs of space maybe you will.

I haven't built a computer in 5 years though when I did it was when AGP was dying out... I've kept myself on the major updates, and noticed price changes, as i personally have thought about buying a new computer. A friend recently did, he got his for 570 dollars. a quad-core.. But he didn't over accessorize i liked the approach. (he didn't need to buy a monitor so that saved him a good 200 dollars) he already had a 22inch... That's another thing i'd recommend 19 to 22 inches is good for a screen. Wide screen if you want to watch movies might be preferable. For games depends on the game.

Edit:

One last perk to go for... either a PCI card slot or a USB based wireless lan adaptor for the desk top. I've had great success just using the USB based one.. all you do is plug it in where one of your USB slot are, and it'll allow you to have wireless internet access on your desktop (you'll also have a cord lenght of maneuvering to find a good signal strength location). That's a detail people miss, wireless is a good option to have.