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I'd avoid the Dell. My manager has said that "no self respecting IT professional will ever recommend a Dell."

That said, don't be afraid to look at recertified systems from NewEgg. If you are thinking about one of their DIY kits, then you can probably handle your own repairs for a few years and thus don't need a brand new out of the box system with a warrenty. There's this sexy little thing that's midway between your two prices, and comes with the OS already.

No offense, but it sounds to me like you're looking for someone to tell you that it would be a good idea to buy the more powerful rig because you can't justify the cost in your own mind. None of us know your financial situation as well as you do yourself, naturally, but if you already know that the $500 rig will do what you want, then why not get it?

The combo is gone.

But if it was an i7 then yes, the $400 was worth the difference most likely.

Find a new combo and we can check.

You can get much better value for Money.

Here is something I check. http://www.tomshardware.com/.

Specifically the 2 areas that should interest you are Best CPUs for the Money and best graphics card for the money.

Check your budget, check the corresponding price field, and you have a nice guide!

Also, if you could spare the extra splash, for example from a $50 to a $75 graphics card the gains are very good return for money up to a specific point. I'd say the 460GTX or 6950 right now are pretty much the best value/price. Although you don't want to exceed your budget no matter waht as even the first PC you linked would most likely get the job done.

Except if your wife is like my gf in which case you need a 1ms response 27 inch LED monitor with a gpu good enough to run everything on Ultra at full HD resolution.

Edit: I guess it was a late response, let us know if you actually picked out anything already.

Edited, Mar 3rd 2011 8:24am by devzzz