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Advice on Gaming Pc
Praor
Member Posts: 519
Hey gang ,just a quick question. Looking to buy a new Pc as this one has hit the 3 year mark and the price range is 1500$ max. Any suggestions ? and no I do not want to build my own ( Unless it's put together at order )
Thxs
Waiting on Guild Wars 2
Comments
omg, I was just thinking the exact same thing. I hope one of the smart computer gamer type comes up with a good answer for us.
Motherboard $250 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188009
Processor $190 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
Video Card $210 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150209
RAM $135 x2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146568
Power Supply $70 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937
Total = $990 without case, harddrive, CD drives (that stuff is picky) You can get a setup identical to this from Alienware for about $500 more.
Make sure you get a strong, good power supply, my personal pick is Antec, been using them for years and never had one go bad or DOA.
Sorry for the pasting links, couldnt get the link tool to work.
"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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"There's no star system Slave I can't reach, and there's no planet I can't find. There's nowhere in the Galaxy for you to run. Might as well give up now."
Boba Fett
I'd personally go with an AMD/ASUS setup, intel is coming back but AMD is still the best for gaming, the power unmatched!
$249.99 AMD Processor
$198.99 ASUS Motherboard
Buy "Which PC" or "What PC" or whatever US equivalent consumer mags u got (not PC gamer).
They will usually have some kind of standardised testing between machines to compare performance etc, as well as giving details on warranties etc.
Smaller suppliers are often far better value than Dell or Alienware for example, and offer rigs as good as, which are customisable when ordering online.
this is a generalization but i assume it would cost somthing like this is you use your current case and monitor and harddrive
E6600 core 2 duo..... $350
2 gig ddr2 600(or what ever).....$300
motherboard......$200
800 watt powersupply (for the 8800 and possible upgrades for the future).....$150
Geforce 8800 gts.....$600
totaling around $1600 if you could scrounge some more money up
Build it yourself off of NEWEGG!!
Trust me on this one.. Last month after weeks of researh on alot of these Online Computer stores I decided to go with the Company that had the least complaints.. So what I did was bought a barebones system from this site and then the rest (Vid Card, Ram, HardDrive) on Newegg..
Anyways to make a long story short when I got the damn thing all I should have done was put the componets from Newegg that I got and bam it should have been up and running.. But hell no didnt work that way, the Heatsink (liquid cooling system) that came with the system I bought from this site didnt work (CPU was running 70c+)....So I put a different Heatsink in and it was still too hot so it appears that not only was my Heatsink bad but my CPU chip is defective too..Plus my motherboard (ASUS blah) appears to be garbage as well...
All in all I bought that system in December and its still waiting to get repaired by these people..So basicly I wasted about 700 bucks for a freaking dud...
If I had to do it over agian I would have just spent a extra 100 or 200 bucks and bought everything off of Newegg and built it myself..
Building your own CPU will also save you money now and in the long run, plus its really simple and there are tons of sites that can instruct you how to do it.
PS.. If you decide to go with Newegg my advice is stay away from ASUS( thier boards are crap now), P4 dual core (they are the hottest chips on the market).. Also make sure you read the reviews on the things your thinking about getting, most of them are deadon... I wish I would have listened to what people were saying about ASUS and the P4 x2 chips now...Could have saved myself alot of heart ache and misery...
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You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
.jpg)
Nah, I'm BSing. But nothing can beat the price of building your own. The online "build it yourself" companies charge like 30%-40% extra....but if you've got the cash, I say go for it.
The learning experience though is pretty cool.
Waiting on Guild Wars 2
I went with a barebone system from http://magicmicro.com/. A barebones system means that they build a computer for you which must have at least a Mobo, a processor, a power supply, and a case - the bare minimum to turn on. You can buy your own video card/harddrive etc from newegg and plug 'em in, or you can pick those up through magic micro as well. They'll even install windows if you buy it! The prices are a little higher than NewEgg, but they put it together for you.
What I loved about their site vs. other barebones computer options was the customization and choices. There are dozens of Mobos, video cards, lots of memory options...it really let me build the system I wanted.
So far, I had some major problems with my original system (stemming from a dead video card) but the MM support was super helpful. There's no check list of "is it plugged in? Ok, now is it on?"...the customer service guys actually knew about hardware.
I can't back 'em with a full recommendation due to the hardware problems I had, but honestly, that's just technology. It does that. I can say that they handled it pretty well and pretty quickly, and got me set up with a system that's working well (at least, for now!)
Laura "Taera" Genender
Community Manager
MMORPG.com
Most of the time all of your instructions will be in the Motherboard manual... if its a good manual.
Not all ASUS boards are crap. Sure I've got one crappy one from them but I really like my A8N-SLI Premium, have had zero probs with it. I'll also toss in my vote and say get an ASUS/AMD board.
Even though I'm also a fan of ATI video cards, I now have a 7600GT nVidia and I'm enjoying that as well. Not top of the line but for the price it works just fine for me. Could play NWN2 at near max settings at 1280x1014. Near max = Max with no shadows... since I think shadows are pointless anyways. With shadows on I wouldn't of been able to play at max.
P.S. I get all my goods from Newegg as well. Have never had a problem with them to date.
If you can't build it yourself, buy it here
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/Default.asp
Nothing beats building it yourself though. Just built a new one rescently for only $500 and it can play most games on its highest settings with alot of upgrade options.
Waiting on Guild Wars 2
I am a die-hard Dell user - have been for years. People complain about all the proprietary crap Dell puts on their systems, but it's never interfered with my gaming and I've played most of the games out there. Besides, all major computer manufacturers put their proprietary crap on their systems, so you can't win.
As for building your own? It certainly is a viable alternative if you have the patience to do it. However, I know professional computer techs who prefer to buy rather than build for the simple reason that it can take a lot of time and troubleshooting to build your own. Buy one and if something isn't working right, send or take it back, and in that respect, you'll probably have an easier time doing that going with a brand-name company. BTW, isn't Alienware owned by Dell now? They still sell under the brand name, but in essence, you're getting a Dell.
My philosophy when buying a new computer is to stick to a middle-of-the-line configuration. IMHO, it doesn't pay to get top-of-the-line because it's only top-of-the-line for such a short period of time. $1,500 is a good benchmark and you should be able to do more than okay at Dell with that. The configurations Dell has right now are a little old and I suspect they may be updating their system lists very soon. You might want to wait a couple months before you buy.
Also, with Dell, make sure you go with a full-sized case. The slim style may give you power and overheating problems, especially if you play graphic-intense games.
I've been eyeing cyberpowerpc for months now. It looks good to me.
My main hesitation is in waiting for the new tech coming out in the next few months: DirectX and AMD's quads. I wonder if it's the right time to buy. I'd rather hold off a couple months if it means I can get a core 2 duo system for less. And I'd rather save myself a couple hundred bucks by not overkilling on a graphics card before I know how the new DirectX affects lesser cards.
Any thoughts?
P.S. Oh, yeah. And I'm terrified of trying to build a system myself and ending up ordering a bunch of square pegs for round holes (aka. incompatible parts)
Definently wait for April. *nods*
And check out Magic Micro PCs. They're a really good company, too.
Laura "Taera" Genender
Community Manager
MMORPG.com
If that does not make your red flag shoot up (which it should if you have a ounce of sense).. Might I suggest you go to www.epinions.com/Cyberpower_Inc_Online_Stores_Services/sec_~opinion_list/pp_~1/pa_~1 and read some reviews.
Taera I to have used Micro Magic, I will not comment much right now either good or bad because im in the process of having them fix my system as well.. They have been pretty helpfull though, but I bought my computer in December and to be honest I should be playing on it right now and I cannot... I will update on what occurs (good or bad) when I get my system back. Hopefully I will have some good news to report, because they do seem to offer very competative prices.
Bottom line as I said before (OP) just build it yourself off a site like newegg or at a computer parts store.. You will thank me trust me.
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You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
Then go to a Computer site liek the ones mentioned in this thread, and build your dream computer.. But instead of ordering it, write down the names of the parts and then go to Newegg and order the exact same parts.
------------------------------
You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
I have a dual core cpu with 3800+
2 Gigs of ram
I have 2 cards operating in SLI mode, they are both 7800 GTX's.
and i have an 8 year old monitor hehehe, but it does the job.
I'd be keen to know how it will handle AoC and Vanguard. As i'll definatly be playing one of those, they both look like something i've been waiting for.
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MMORPG's I've Played: World of Warcraft: 10/10 - Rappelz: 7/10 - Ragnarok Online: 8/10 - DnD Online: 2/10 - Runescape: 6/10 - LotR Online: 5/10 - Anarchy Online: 7/10 - CoV: 8/10 - Rohan Online: 8/10 - Guild Wars: 7/10 - Flyff: 8/10 - Warhammer Online: 8/10
My HARDCORE Story