Budget secondary PC for WotLK

[Tehtsuo]

I'm looking for a system on the budget to replace one of my units for WotLK. My main and one of my secondaries will handle Wrath just fine, but I'm worried my other secondary might struggle, as it's just barely keeping up as it is. I want to get a new system that can replace it, but I want to keep it on a budget, as I am throwing down 200+ for 5 copies of the xpac as well. I run two copies on the system, with the resolution set to 800x600, and the windows split horizontally. My current system is a 3ghz p4 with the hyperthreading gimmick. It has AGP and ddr400, so it is starting to show its age. Any suggestions?

[Ringiho]

Might be worth checking out the new Dual Core Celerons. Over here they are around £35.
Bit of DDR2 mem and a cheap motherboard and VGA card and you are away!

I have heard the 1.6Ghz (I think!) Celerons clock to ~3Ghz!

Or if you want a bit more 'oomph' they have a look at Core 2 Duos.

For a budget PC it can sometimes be cheaper to pick a pre-built machine from a company (Dell etc).

Good luck!

[Drizzit]

let me know what you end up doing. I am thinking of going 3 computers. Have 1 now and might be able to use the "family" computer for a little while. So i might only need 1 or 2 and money is getting a little tight.

[Oatboat]

I just watch Tigerdirect 1 day deals. Pretty nice barebones deals. Just got a Dual core 2.0 with 2 gig ram 600wt power supply and 8800gt for like 256.00. Only thing you need is operating system and a better CPU fan.

[Tehtsuo]

I just watch Tigerdirect 1 day deals. Pretty nice barebones deals. Just got a Dual core 2.0 with 2 gig ram 600wt power supply and 8800gt for like 256.00. Only thing you need is operating system and a better CPU fan.

Wow, that's...... insane. Wish I had seen that. Let me know how it performs for you!

[Pact]

h
I just watch Tigerdirect 1 day deals. Pretty nice barebones deals. Just got a Dual core 2.0 with 2 gig ram 600wt power supply and 8800gt for like 256.00. Only thing you need is operating system and a better CPU fan.

Do you know what the quality of these systems is?. What i mean is, is each part complete as it would be if i bought it standalone.
Your post got me looking at their site and the prices are pretty crazy compared to what i need to pay in australia. Even with shipping its still a good deal to get a complete system, rather than buying seperate components and building it myself.

The only thing is if i ever wanted to upgrade a single component then id have to make sure that everything is complete. Unlike some other companies that sell stripped down parts....:P

[Drizzit]

its still a good deal to get a complete system, rather than buying seperate components and building it myself.

I found that when you get a "complete" system from like Dell or something that you really don't know what you are getting. Granted that dell buys in bulk and can get memory for cheaper and other stuff, but they usually don't get good stuff. When you build your own PC you know what you are getting. Granted a CPU is a CPU only 2 companies make them, but for memory, HD, video card, motherboard, etc... you don't know what you are getting. You could be getting ok memory and ok other stuff. Like for HD, I will only use western digital (the tech guys that work at my job say they have the best luck with these HD. Stay away from seagate [which most "complete" system have cause they are usually the cheapest]).

I built 2 computers and the 2 computers that i built lasted a lot long then the 2 computers that i bought from Gateway (yea gateway sucks), and the other thing is that i knew what each part was and when i wanted to upgrade i knew what needed to be upgraded and not guess.

But then again if you are only going to be using it to MB WOW then a "complete" system might be worth it. Cause wow doesn't need that much and if the HD does go cause it is a cheapie then all you lose is a half a day (to reinstall OS and get patches and install wow and get patches). Also with a complete system you get a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

[Pact]

Yeah thats what i was talking about. I Wouldnt be caught dead buying a dell package for myself.
I was referring to the systems that tigerdirect are advertising.

[Bigdady92]

geeks.com has rebadged pc's that will work for you. All on the sub $300 range for dual core machines.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=TS-N0106A-R&cat=SYS

Heck check this puppy out. Monitor+CPU all in one!

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=WSYS162-R&cat=SYS

http://www.geeks.com/imageshare/W/300x300/WSYS162-R-unit.jpg