Less than $ 500 you can get a good quad-core desktop PC?

Doubt by magnetbox: Can you get a good quad-core desktop PC for 0 or less?

I prefer Intel. I’m used to Dell computers, the reliability is fabulous.

But I’m pressed for cash and need a new computer that can actually handle most of the current software out there now. For this reason I don’t want to settle for less than i7, or quad core.

But after having searched through desktops on the Best Buy site and the Dell site, nothing that features an i7 processor is available for less than $ 700. i5 works for about $ 550, but I suspect that i5 isn’t “true quad core” and the performance is markedly lower than i7.

I don’t need a monitor or anything else, just the desktop. Any suggestions?

- As for inquiring why I think I may need an i7.. I dunno, do I? I want to be able to play PC games released from 2006 up till the current moment with the settings generally on “high.” I’m not a “power user” who requires every setting maxed out, I just want things to look good and run pretty smoothly. If an i5 quad core can do that, that’ll work then.

I also want to be able to use video editing software to edit videos in 720p without the computer slowing down.

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Optimum solution:

Answer by Uncle Albert

Considering that the core i7 itself costs $ 300 by itself, the other parts of the computer would have to be EXTREMELY low-end to stay under that price. For that reason, it’s not possible. I would just get a core i5 instead. It’s quad core as well, and as much of the power, but for much less. The only real differences are smaller caches and less Intel technologies, which isn’t much. The i5 will handle everything you throw at it for at least 3 years.

Answer by Alex ㅈㅈ!!

You won’t find a PC with an i7 for <$ 500 (and if you do, as Albert said, it will probably have really low end parts and/or be used).

Before asking for an i7, you have to be asking "why do I need an i7?" What kind of programs will you be running, do you need the features i7 CPUs have to offer?

EDIT: I see. Well:

1. CPU is pretty much irrelevant to gaming – it's GPU that matters. An i3 2100 + GTX 560 will utterly destroy an i7 2600k + GT 240 in gaming performance. The i7 system won't even be able to run games on low, whilst the i3 system will be able to max out those same games.

2. Editing software very seldom requires what an i7 has to offer. The difference between i7 and i5 is HYPERTHREADING and some cache size, both of which don't affect editing performance (and if they do, it won't be by a huge margin or that big of a deal. We're talking 5 second render time vs. 3). Also, if a computer is rendering a video, you shouldn't be using the computer. The software will automatically max out the hardware until it's done rendering – so if you have an ace computer it will still "slow down" (only when rendering though).

3. For that budget you're better off opting for an i3/i5 paired with a decent GPU.

Have any idea a lot better?

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20081117_i7_Launch_0125_Edit

Video from 20081117_i7_Launch_0125_Edit

Andrew Tschesnok, CEO of Organic Motion, in the new LiteBox system during the Intel Core i7 launch event in San Francisco.

When posting, please link back to the original picture on Flickr and credit as: (CC) Chris Michaels www.chrisamichaels.com.

Less than $ 500 you can get a good quad-core desktop PC?