searching for a new desktop that's under $700 (preferably below $500)

[reingiolt]

i recently became the victim of a defective NVIDIA graphics card and now must find a new cheap desktop. i had my sights on a gateway sx2800-01 but unfortunately the GPU was connected to the motherboard. having been traumatized by my recent misfortune i'm limiting my choices to desktops where every single part can be individually replaced ( or upgraded ) easily.

unfortunately i have absolutely no experience with desktops so i'm not even sure what specs i should prioritize. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[gakido]

Newegg.com it's probably a good place to look for a new desktop. I'm planning on getting a new one too but have to wait till the end of the year though. The specs of the desktops on the site are a lot better than what you can get at a store like Best Buy for the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...38&name=Gaming

[Am I Fat?]

I still use my 7800 GT since 2006 and still works like a charm, so I wouldn't say Nvidia makes unreliable cards.
ATI is cheaper though and I'm currently planning to upgrade to HD 4850, which is more powerful than Nvidia's 9800 GT for the same price.

If you're not a gamer and only use your PC for web browsing, MS Office works, and so on, I recommend Acer Aspire Revo.
For just 200 bucks, I'll say it's really a good deal. Plus, you can turn this thing on 24/7 and don't have to worry about your bills as it consumes very little energy.

[EzikialRage]

If it is a desktop then it should have expansion slots and you should be able to just purchase a graphics card and pop it in an expansion slot. You should at least have at least a regular PCI expansion slot or even an AGP expansion slot on your mother board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...09642&name=PCI

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=AGP%204X%2f8X



You should also read the product reviews before purchasing a new PC. Read some of the low reviews and read some of the high reviews to determine if this is a product you wish to purchase. I do not know if there is Bestbuy where you live but this store does sell a gateway sx2800-01 and it has product reviews.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218089773975



I purchased a gateway LX6810-01 and it basically requires that I clean it out every week or two or else it will randomly overheat and shut down on its own and the printer that came with it is a piece of shit, luckily I still have my old HP Deskjet 842c printer. If I had bothered to read the reviews more thoroughly I probably wouldn't have purchased it or at least I would have purchased a different heat sink and fan and and perhaps some case fans and requested a different printer. But as long as I take a can of air or air compressor and clean the heat sink I have no problems. So it is important to read the product reviews and perhaps get some store replacement plan.



Vista 64 systems may require their digitally signed driver checker to be disabled to run some programs.http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/...ta-64-bit-x64/