Build a gaming PC or buy one?

[Chewie]

What is a PSU and which one is the graphics card on that? the one thing Im willing to splurge on is the graphics card.

Also I guess I would need a copy of Windows so thats another 100 bucks

PSU= Power Supply

HD5770 is a graphics card, not the greatest, but I think it's supposed to be pretty good value for money.

Go to Tom's Hardware: Hardware News, Tests and Reviews it's really helpful for this kinda of thing.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

This what I am planning

 

[Chewie]

Why do you want a m11x for?

 

[P Squared]

For the graphics card I'd recommend Nvidia Geforce GT 240. Its a very good and affordable gpu.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

PROCESSOR       Intel? Core™ i7 640UM (4M Cache, 1.2 GHZ with 2.266 GHz Max
Turbo Frequency) - Overclockable        edit
OPERATING SYSTEM        Genuine Windows? 7 Home Premium (64-bit)        edit
MEMORY  8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz edit
HARD DRIVE      500GB SATAII 7,200RPM   edit
EXTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE  Iomega SuperSlim DVD Portable Writer    edit
MOBILE CONNECTIVITY     No Internal WWAN Antenna Installed      edit
Personalize
WARRANTY AND SERVICE    1 Year Basic Plan       edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE       McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months        edit
ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIONS   Recycle Your Old Dell or Non-Dell Branded
Equipment at No Cost With The Purchase of a New Dell    edit
My Software & Accessories
SYSTEM COLOR    Alienware M11x, Soft Touch Stealth Black        edit
ALIENFX COLOR   Quasar Blue     edit
OS CUSTOMIZATION        Alienhead 3D    edit
PRE-INSTALLED GAMES     Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed     edit
My Accessories
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
VIDEO CARD      1GB NVIDIA? GeForce? GT 335M
LCD PANEL       11.6-inch WideHD 1366x768 (720p) WLED
SOUND OPTIONS   Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1)
ADOBE READER    Adobe Acrobat Reader
AC ADAPTER      Alienware M11x 90W A/C Adapter
NETWORK CARD    Integrated 10/100 Network Interface Card
AUTOMATIC UPDATES       Automatic Updates: On
WEBCAM  1.3MP Web Cam
Standard Nameplate Trigger      Standard Nameplate
WIRELESS CARDS  Alienware M11x a/b/g/n 2x2 MIMO Wireless

Like this is configuration I was looking and I am getting this config for 1500$

That is 72,000 INR.

 

[Chewie]

For the graphics card I'd recommend Nvidia Geforce GT 240. Its a very good and affordable gpu.

I'd say that's too cheap for Mark. He's looking for around the $200 mark I think.

Tom's Hardware would suggest the GTX460 or the HD5830. Or for a bit cheaper, the HD5770 (like I suggested)

 

[SciD]

I recently went to purchase GTX 460 but its way to expensive for my budget and I would have needed a new SMPS as well. So ditched the plan for moment and will upgrade old system to i7, 8 GB RAM and MSI motherboard. Total budget Rs. 30K including GTX 460.


There is no fun going for any card less than GTX 460 as it smokes ATI's high end cards as well.

 

[sohum]

$800 should get you a very powerful machine. I built a Core i7 machine around this time last year for under $800 -- iMac? $1601.37 reasons I will not switch anytime soon! | sohummm.com

Mark, I'd go and post on Slickdeals.net about this. They have a thread called "Build Your Own AMD/Intel Computer" and if you post some information, they'll be able to help you out with the latest deals.

Don't believe the hype about warranty, you'd be overpaying at Fry's/BestBuy. The warranty is provided by the manufacturers--in the case of HDDs you get a 5-year warranty and many other parts are lifetime warranties. The only thing Frys/BB would get you (for an extra added cost) is that you wouldn't have to talk to the manufacturers.

Newegg is your best place to start as they have a lot of bundles for cheap and have a very good record of RMAing if one of your components shows up busted. Since you live in the US, you shouldn't be paying overpriced places like BestBuy/Fry's (although Fry's retail does have good deals from time to time).

First order of business is deciding AMD vs. Intel. Once you decide that you can decide your processor and you can go from there to mobo and RAM. After that all other components are pretty much independent. All new HDDs (or really HDDs from the last 5 years or so) will be SATA-II so they should be compatible. PSUs are mobo-agnostic. Cases are also mobo-agnostic for the most part (except if you buy a micro-ATX case and pick up a full size mobo--could be a tight fit, then). Most cases will come with fans. If you don't have at least 2-3 fans you may consider investing in a cooling system.

Really, though, your first order of business is to choose a processor. I would go with a Core i7 (the cheapest one is currently $280, the 860, which is what I've got and has been impressive). i5 is not as much targeted towards gaming, imo. You could of course go with an i5 now if your budget is tight and then upgrade to an i7-860 since they use the same socket type. I would once again strongly encourage you to go post on the Slickdeals.net thread since you're going to get the best prices.

 

[pcfan123]

Wow thanks for that sohum.

I will deffo check out that site and you have already sold me on the i7 processor.

I was going to go newegg but did not want to because of warranty, however now I am reconsidering since it is so much cheaper.

I guess now that I have my processor picked (i7) I should look for motherboards?

Will start to compile a list of what I am building and start buying the parts next week.

 

[sohum]

Microcenter is one of the cheapest retail stores, btw. They don't have one in Austin unfortunately but if you're in Houston in the next couple of weeks, you should check out their deals before going.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I want a nice PC capable of running games like Bad Company 2 and current sports games on high settings.

Basically I was wondering if I should try to build one or buy a "gaming" PC from a retailer.

I don't know too much about hardware so building one scares me a bit. The only part I can reuse is probably my harddrive. Other than that I have to buy everything.

I was thinking of buying this one:

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / AMD Phenom™ II Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive - HPE-210y

but it has a lot of features I don't care for.

So suggestions/ comments? etc

I plan on using this thread as I build my PC to ask question so please help me out.

I know what you mean, but I usually go the build route - only someone else does the building for me. Still much cheaper than getting it off the shelf and you can choose exactly what you want in there.

Can I ask why you want a PC capable of running games when you have a ps3?

Because a PC is obviously much better than a PS3

For gaming? How?

I'd much rather have a good PC than a ps3, it only makes sense. But I thought consoles were the way to go for gaming, especially if you already have one.

As Mark says below, games are much cheaper. Graphics are generally better overall - AA/AF, better draw distances and higher resolutions. Nearly every game that comes out can be modded in some shape or form on PC. Let's take Oblivion as a great example - its years old now, but people are still coming back to it time and again on the PC! The mods for it are amazing - some small changes, some add new features, some add questlines and right now, there is a Lord of the Rings mod being made!! Another example would be the 1st person mod for GTA IV. Putting you actually in the car gives driving around the city a completely different feel. You ain't getting any of that on consoles.

Games are cheaper on a PC

I actually always wanted a nice computer, need it for video editing as well.

Ok so I already have a nice monitor, I just need the CPU (the main part)

my noob knowledge tells me I need

-motherboard
-processor
-RAM
-Hard Drive
-graphics card
-sound card
-Power supply
-Fan
-Case

Am I forgetting anything? how can I know if I can still use my old HD. If its out of date and slow Id rather buy a new one, how can I check how fast it is? I think its about 250 GB so it can't be too old.

Remember with things like PSUs: buy cheap, pay twice - that's speaking from bitter experience. Of course you want good quality hardware all round, but the PSU is the thing giving it power - if that's rubbish, you could end up wasting a lot of money.

I have a Corsair 650w PSU that came with a five year guarantee - I would imagine that's a company who are confident in their product. If you're building it yourself, make sure the PSU has enough power and the right specs to feed everything in there - it's usually better to go higher than exactly the power you need, especially as that'll give you room for future upgrades.

Regarding the HDD, you can get a 500gb drive for not much these days - 250gb will be eaten up fairly quickly, especially if you keep a lot of big games on your system as well as music collections.

 

[sohum]

I have the Corsair 650W as well.

Generally speaking, you will very rarely need massive amounts of power for your PSU and most people buy a super-powerful one just for bragging rights, not for actual needs (these people probably don't have to pay their own electricity bills, either!). There are several reports and articles done on websites such as AnandTech and TomsHardware that has information about that.

With HDDs, you'll wanna pick up another one since HDDs are cheap these days. I'm still uncomfortable about terabyte HDDs being trustworthy (even though I have three of them, haha) but you could probably grab one for about $75 on Newegg. I would personally recommend the WD Caviar Black--comes with a 5-year warranty. The Caviar Green comes with only 90 days which is kinda risky for an HDD.

Also, building a PC is fun and not very difficult. Think of it like very high-tech legos. If you're concerned, you should go get yourself a anti-static glove from Fry's--it costs like $10 and will ensure that you don't destroy your hardware while assembling it. I built my machine on a carpet, though, and everything seems to work fine.

 

[Cricketman]

Ok sweet will start to look into it, my budget is around 650-800 bucks. If I can make a decent PC for that I will be glad.

I plan on buying everything from either

frys.com or bestbuy.com so I can get warranty for the expensive parts.

Check out newegg.com. They have like every single part and I heard they're customer service and what not is great. Cheap too.

Woops looks like Sohum beat me to it :o

 

[MasterBlaster76]

I have the Corsair 650W as well.

Generally speaking, you will very rarely need massive amounts of power for your PSU and most people buy a super-powerful one just for bragging rights, not for actual needs (these people probably don't have to pay their own electricity bills, either!). There are several reports and articles done on websites such as AnandTech and TomsHardware that has information about that.

With HDDs, you'll wanna pick up another one since HDDs are cheap these days. I'm still uncomfortable about terabyte HDDs being trustworthy (even though I have three of them, haha) but you could probably grab one for about $75 on Newegg. I would personally recommend the WD Caviar Black--comes with a 5-year warranty. The Caviar Green comes with only 90 days which is kinda risky for an HDD.

A 90 day warranty for an HDD? Don't touch that, eh?

 

[sohum]

Yeah, it's an "environmentally friendly" HDD which means it basically shuts down when not in use. Kinda annoying whenever you access files for the first time since it takes 15-20 seconds to spin up.

I think they switched to 90 days recently. I have a Caviar Green that came as part of an enclosure and when I looked up the serial number on their website, it had a 3 year warranty.