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[quote=Anonymous]Agreed with the comments above.  The questions listed are good.  Micro Center is good--they can help you find parts that meet your needs and budget, and their prices compare reasonably well with online stores.

For general reference, "entry level" would be about $500, plus $100 or so for a basic monitor, if you don't already have one.  $1k gets you something decent.  $1500-2k is probably the sweet spot for price/performance.

The problem right now is timing:  there is a shortage of graphics cards (which are essentially for gaming) right now and the prices have been driven way up.  Your choices right now are to buy an older model on Ebay (say, a GTX 960 for ~$100 or so) and upgrade it later, or over-pay for a new model.   If you do the former, make sure that you have a beefy enough power supply (750-850 watts) to accommodate a high-end graphics card later.  Everything else (CPUs, RAM, storage) is reasonably priced right now, though.

If you really want a new high-end GPU today, a pre-built machine may be a better value.  This is not generally the case, but it may be right now.  Pre-built machines have the advantage of a single point of contact for warranty issues, but often skimp on things like power supplies and cooling.[/quote]

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