Best Investment? Trust me, it pretty much is the best bang for the buck.
Nids any Phenom ii x4 and a radeon 5770.
Investment =/= bang for buck.
First of all, if you are going for bang for buck in the phenom range.
Do not go with one of AMD's cheap X4 processors, Instead go with the top of the line X2.
Why? AMD's cheapest X4 processor, is just a four core version of their lowest end dual processor.
And as most programs still suffer from poor multi-core threading, you would see a much larger benifit from a much much faster Dual core than a slower quad core. As you will only use 1-2 cores of the quad core at any given time anyway.
Second of all... The bloody 5770? really?
Wanna know how much a 5770 costs?
$149.99
Wanna know how much a 1Gb 460 costs?
$159.99
The bloody 768MB 460 which Still performs better than the 5770
is $149.99
That's some awfully good bang for buck there.
Also FYI, it's not ATI Graphics anymoreIt's
So that would be, AMD GRAPHICS, and AMD PROCESSOR
sheesh if your going to be a fanboy, at least get the facts about your own company straight.
And now onto my Investment =/= Bang for buck.
If you were going to make a solid investment, you would not look for the cheapiest piece of crap plot of land to buy, or go get a whole bunch of stocks that are selling for $0.01 a stock.
That's called wasting money, not investing it.
The same thing applies if you were looking to make an investment into a decent computer.
Why on earth, would you buy a new computer that can't even play the latest games fully. I completely understand is if all you have to spend is ~$400-600 on a new computer, then I would completely understand.
But if you are looking to make a smart INVESTMENT, why would you buy last generation's low-mid range technology.
If you were trying to make an investment, you would purchase somthing that has a good chance of still being up-to-date for a year or so, not somthing that is already out-dated.
Honestly you guys have done this to me several times already.
In-fact I remembered I specifically asked for advice on buying a laptop on the forums.
I said I wanted:
1920x1080 resoultion
Professional Graphics card (firepro or Quadro)
and non-gaudy looks.
Since this was going to be a work labtop which I would do CAD work on.
What was recommended to me was:
1420X800 resolution
460m or 5870m Graphics
and in Glossy ferrari red plastics.
BUT IT WAS BETTER BECAUSE IT WAS 900 DOLLARS LESS.
Even if the consumer 400 series has been known to be horrendous for CAD work.