Man, with that sucker I could relocate the north 40 to the south 40.

I think this would be better, goodgrief

I'm gonna need something like this when I start plowing the north 40, Grim.

Does your place look similar to this, Vis?

>>15435 agreed.

Not saying you can't find everything you need in a refurbished computer but old parts are just that. Who knows how long they'll perform because they've already been used for an X number of times and new parts have been installed to sell them again. They are cheaper though. I have always opted for new but that's just me. Look at it this way....with the extra money you'll save you can buy earthquake insurance, Mr. California.

thanks grim and goodgrief. I am going to investigate further before I purchase. My current computer has been great so far with the CG work I've done, but I know it's also holding me back and taking longer to render.

And I do prefer new to refurbished, but you would strongly suggest new?

Thanks for the advice so far! I do believe I will need a new computer if I am going to get serious about CG work..

That's what I did, goodgrief. Except I ordered and installed everything myself.

Remember, my pc has water-cooling and therefor cost a little over €2000 ($2615.92). But with just the bare essentials (motherboard, processor, memory, DVD-drive, SSD, Graphics Card, Power supply and a case) it just would be €989 ($1293).

Another option, rather than the available stores, is going shopping thru the internet and having one built to your specifications. Grim's info plus someone on the phone you'll order it from should fullfill your needs. Be prepared to lay out $13 to 15 hundred bucks. A friend of mine does graphics and is happy with the results even tho the cost was high. No sense short-changing yourself.

shiit, too fast with spell & grammar check.

Must for CG work:
-enough and fast Memory; minimal 8Gb @ 1333MHz
-good fast processor; minimal 4 cores @ 3.0 GHz
-a dedicated Graphics Card with enough memory and clock speed
-a power supply with at least 750W; for future expansions in mind (example: running 2 graphics cards)
-a fast Hard drive or preferred a SSD; or both (use the ssd for windows and the hard drive for data)

>>15428 WOW, that's a leap back in time! You most definitely MUST get a new one! Just wow..even my laptop is faster :D

In CG 2 things count:
-Enough memory (aka RAM) 8mb to 32Mb; this depends on the motherboard. I would suggest minimal 8Mb @ 1333MHz..whatever your wallet agrees with ;)

-And an Intel processor i5-2500k @ 3.4GHz gives a lot of bang for buck. Because it uses 3 settings (low [1.6GHz], standard [3.4GHz] and high [3.6GHz] output) it doesn't use much juice when you just browse the web but when you need it like with CG it gives you it's full potential.

Having a dedicated Graphics card is a must for CG work. Don't be cheap with it either. Therefor before you purchase you must ask what kind of power supply it has; I'd suggest minimal 750W cause you might need to expand with an additional graphics card.

The hard drive is equal important, speed of the drive and type of transfer. The faster the drive the more smooth your CG work is, most common type of transfer is SATA which is faster than IDE. Just something to consider. If you want the BEST and money isn't important go for a SSD. These suckers are really fast, much faster than the 'old' hard drives. I would suggest that but again it's your wallet.

If you got more Q's I'll happy give you the A's :)

everything you wanted to know about my computer but were afraid to ask!

Download the simple tool here:
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.60-setup-en.exe

Once installed it will give you details about your pc.
make snapshot from all the tabs and post them here :)

It looks like a decent pc but don't expect too much from the graphics card..

What are your current specs? Maybe it's cheaper to buy a new graphics card.

link from bestbuy - - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Refurbished+Pavilion+HPE+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/4612361.p?id=1218497910118&skuId=4612361

I generally don't like to buy used stuff, like clothes or food, but this is electronics!

It seems quite a lot for a used pc. But I need more info, send us the link or just plant moar info here :)
Processor speed (mostly in GhZ), what kind of graphics card, What kind of psu (power supply unit), Type of motherboard and name.

I would actually recommend buying a new one (guarantee), look at best buy

first, this is what i know about computers:
1. turn it on
2. use the keyboard and mouse to make the stuff on the screen do what i want

I have an older HP at home and the graphics card is a nightmare. The system is slow and I need something faster for my CG work.

Does anyone have experience with refurbished computers? I see a few with Intel i5 processors, 8MB Ram, 1TB hard drive, nvidia graphics card.. for about $650.

Is that a good deal?

It probably needs at least a 1000W PSU or maybe 2.

Is this the threesome version for computers?

More POWER!!!