is this a good comp for photo editing,multitasking, and some gameing??

[zapman]

2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+
1 GB of DDR2 system memory
250 GB hard drive, 7200 rpm

[KevinAldrich]

Well, that's not really much information. You're going to want at least 2GB of memory though.

[Moppie]

2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+
1 GB of DDR2 system memory
250 GB hard drive, 7200 rpm

Would be ak for photo editing, but only any good for gaming about 3 years ago, depending on what the graphics card is.

I take it this is a second hand PC?

[rklepper]

You will quickly run into trouble if the only hard drive is a 250 GB.

[BillsBayou]

Double everything.

[nicksan]

Get at least 1GB more RAM.
I'd stick with a Core2Duo proc.

[jaybird]

System memory is good...1GB to 2GB will be fine. What you will need to look for is a heavy-duty video card. It will help with the PC displaying the photos but is necessary for gaming. One of the major choke-points for gaming is video memory, more so than system memory.

Go with a video card with some major memory and you will be fine with what you are suggesting.

[zapman]

what would you guys recomend for under $800? laptop or desktop, if you could give a recomendation for both! Thanks

[jaybird]

a fancy abacus?

It's hard to get a powerful enough laptop/desktop to do photo editing and gaming for that price

[zapman]

k then aim towards photoediting?

[emorphien]

Double the RAM, add a second hard drive and it will be fairly competent for photo editing. Not the latest or greatest but should handle most games OK at reduced settings but not knowing the video card makes the question really hard to answer.

I could probably piece together a competent system with 2-4GB RAM, a reasonable video card & dual core processor for under $800 but the issue would be making sure that includes the OS although it's probably doable.

Estimate:
$100 for OS
$150 for CPU
$100 for RAM
$100 for mobo
get some case with power supply for $100ish
$150 or so for a couple hard drives (I'd suggest a single platter 160GB system drive and a 320GB or so data drive)
$30 for optical drive
That leaves $70 for a video card which is not really going to get you the latest or greatest but could get you at least an nVidia 8600GT. Double the video card allowance and you'll get a lot more card. Money can be sucked away from some of the other components perhaps to make that easier to do.

The prices are all rough but all entirely doable and there's some flexibility (I might suggest a motherboard that would cost $130 but in exchange perhaps there's a good deal on a case w/ power supply for $70).

[Woolburr]

what would you guys recomend for under $800? laptop or desktop, if you could give a recomendation for both! Thanks

If you are just talking getting a new computer and not a monitor as well, there are plenty of systems to be had for $800 or less that will do everything you wish. Stop by Best Buy or Circuit City....they frequently have specials...Do look for at least 2gb of RAM, 500gb hard drive and a minimum of a dual core processor. Be sure to get a video card with at least 256mb of on board memory as well. Don't let them try to tell you the onboard video is adequate. It won't cut the mustard for gaming.

[nicksan]

Photo Editing won't rely as much on the Video Card as gaming would. I would put priority on System Memory instead. However You can get 2G System Memory and a pretty decent video card and still keep things under $800.

For instance.

Decent Mobo + decent Core2Duo (Perhaps an E7200?) = ~$200-$250
2GB DDR2 = $50
500GB HDD = $100
Decent Video Card (Like ATI Radeon 3870) = $140
DVD/CD Burner = $50

Then you've got around $200-$250 left for the Case/PSU.

Unless you need other stuff like keyboard, mouse, monitor, Operating System, etc...then you'll need to adjust.

[zapman]

what places have where you can make monthly payments? I see if you build one on dell's or hp's website that it says like $20 a month ect ect but I don't actually see where it explains how to do a monthly payment setup??

[Woolburr]

The monthly payments are going to be based on your credit score. Like anything...if you have a decent income and little or no debt, they will give you decent terms...if you have some income and some debt....the terms get worse...and if you don't have any steady income or if you have a lot of debt...you might as well forget trying to buy from the manufacturer.

[zapman]

I have a steady job at pepsi, a car loan, school loan, and some credit card debit but nothing outragious.

[Woolburr]

I have a steady job at pepsi, a car loan, school loan, and some credit card debit but nothing outragious.

If you have a full time job, you should be good to go....they will give you an answer in minutes about if you qualify.