Picking the right components for a new computer system or upgrade can be a daunting task. The PCSTATS ShoppingList is a guide to help you get good PC gear, because it's filled with suggestions we'd actually buy ourselves. Below you'll find three ShoppingList's which you can use as a general set of guidelines for what to get, or where to start looking. PCSTATS covers the basic components needed to assemble a full PC system and lists the average $USD price each part retails for. Use the ShoppingList as a guide to build a better "white box" system, or follow our recommendations to the letter - it's totally up to you.

UPDATE: We're considering cancelling this feature on PCSTATS, but before that decision is made we'd like to hear from you. How often to you look at the ShoppingList? Do you find it useful? Will you miss it when it's gone? Speak up and let PCSTATS know!

PCSTATS Shopping List Assistance
$500 Budget System Parts List August 2009
	Avg. Price*	Description / Model No.		Review
	$85	AMD Athlon II X2 245 Dual Core Processor	Get $ Price
	$92	Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard	Get $ Price
	$100	HIS H485FN512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB Video Card	Get $ Price	Click
	$34	PQI Power Series 2GB DDR3 1333MHz memory	Get $ Price	-
	$60	Seagate 500GB 7200.12 Hard Drive	Get $ Price	-
	$20	Lite-on 20x DVD Rewriter	Get $ Price	-
	$38	LinkWorld Black Midtower Case w/ 430W PSU	Get $ Price	-
	$110	Hanns-G Boston Simulated Woodgrain 19" LCD Monitor	Get $ Price	-
	($112)	Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System OEM
	-	Also Consider: Keyboard, Mouse, 3.5" Floppy Drive, 56K Modem, Speakers.
	$539	Estimated Overall Price
* All prices are approximations and are listed in $CDN for simplicity.
Notes: Our budget systems remains remarkably capable thanks to low prices on AMD's new Athlon II processors and the new price point of the Radeon HD 4850.

PCSTATS Shopping List Assistance
$999 Mainstream Parts List August 2009
	Avg. Price*	Description / Model No.		Review
	$169	AMD Phenom II X4 2.8GHz 920 Processor	Get $ Price	Click
	$148	Asus M4A78T-E Motherboard	Get $ Price
	$65	G.Skill 2X2GB PC2-8500 1066MHz Memory kit	Get $ Price	-
	$217	MSI Radeon HD 4890 1GB Videocard	Get $ Price	Click
	$92	Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB Hard Drive	Get $ Price	-
	$22	LG GSA-H54N 18X Write DVD Optical Drive	Get $ Price	-
	$100	Raidmax SMILODON black case with 500W PSU	Get $ Price	-
	$179	BenQ G2200W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor	Get $ Price	-
	($112)	Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System OEM
	-	Also Consider: Keyboard, Mouse, 3.5" Floppy Drive, 56K Modem, Speakers.
	$992	Estimated Overall Price
* All prices are approximations and are listed in $CDN for simplicity.
Notes: The mainstream system has gone quad-core with the help of the AMD Phenom 920 processor. Having a Radeon HD 4890 and a terabyte of hard drive space doesn't hurt either.

PCSTATS Shopping List Assistance
$2000 High-End Performance Parts List August 2009
	Avg. Price*	Description / Model No.		Review
	$320	Core i7 920 2.66GhHz Processor	Get $ Price
	$205	MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 Motherboard	Get $ Price	-
	$110	OCZ XMP Ready 6GB DDR3 1600Mhz memory	Get $ Price	-
	$360	Sparkle Geforce 285 GTX 1GB Videocard	Get $ Price
	$91	Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB hard drive	Get $ Price
	$299	Intel X-25M 80GB 2.5IN SATA 2 Solid State Drive	Get $ Price	-
	$180	LITE-ON Black 4x Blu-Ray Rewriter	Get $ Price
	$90	Cooler Master ATCS 840 Full Tower Case	Get $ Price	-
	$85	Sunbeam PSU-HUSH680-US-BL 680W PSU	Get $ Price
	$270	Samsung Syncmaster 245B LCD Monitor	Get $ Price	-
	($199)	Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Operating System OEM
	-	Also Consider: Operating System, Keyboard, Mouse, 3.5" Floppy Drive, 56K Modem, Speakers.
	$2010	Estimated Overall Price
* All prices are approximations and are listed in $CDN for simplicity.
Notes: Not a lot has changed with the high-end system, aside from having enough room in the budget for Intel's excellent X-25M 80G Solid State Drive. This system will be able to stomp any game on the market at the highest possible settings.

Operating systems, keyboard / mouse, floppy drives, 56K modem, 10/100 network cards, and speakers are not listed separately or included in the overall target budget since they are very common requirements, or may not be needed.