Question for the PC gamers

[chrisleakfan4life]

I'm planning on saving up for a new PC as i currently use a couple dinosaurs(ive mentioned this on here).

I'm looking for something that can play some of the more recent games particularly i want to play Star Trek Online.


Now i don't know much about computers(but i am learning about them-Computer Science Major) and from what ive gathered is you basically need an Intel Core I5 or I7 plus a really good Nvidia Graphics card and probably 6GB + of memory for a gaming PC(just an example).

I'm not looking to build my own as i don't have the skills to, but can anybody point me to a few PC's that i can buy that are ready for gaming?

I know Dell has the Alienware brand but i always hear people call Alienware overrated. I checked out Newegg and they sell gaming PC's from brands i have never even heard of.

I usually stick to console gaming but there i do want to play Star Trek Online and perhaps some of the other more recent games like Star Wars The Old Republic or w/e its called.

Any help would be appreciated thanks.

[yarmond1]

Not sure what your budget is, but check this place out:

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/

I didn't feel like messing with building my own but I also knew I didn't want a buy an overpriced mainstream brand cpu either. I have been quite happy with the one bought from this place last year. Not too expensive and you can get as top of the line as you want to. Everything can be customized.

[helix139]

You really will overpay for a gaming PC unless you build your own. As for not having the skills, if you can build with legos you can build a PC. It's not hard at all anymore. Put the components together (they usually only fit together 1 way and its kind of idiot-proof. we can help you choose components if that is an issue), install the OS, and you're good to go. It only gets complicated if you're trying to overclock or watercooling, etc. Neither is really necessary.

That said, Alienware is decent stuff,and occasionally you can run across a good sale on one of the midrange alienwares. Check the dell outlet for alienware also.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Agreed, building your own PC is something everyone can and should do. Real money saver.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

A lot of course depends on a great graphics card, which may end up costing $500+ alone if you want a state of the art gaming rig.

[chrisleakfan4life]

Agreed, building your own PC is something everyone can and should do. Real money saver.

I got a couple friends that could probably build one.

Sent from my iPhone using GatorCountry

[GatorFan89]

Well, first thing is your budget? Do you have a budget? Is there a price you'd like to stay under but wouldn't have an issue going a bit over? What do you want from the PC? Do you want to play games fully maxed out or do you just want to play games and get good performance with decent settings?

Those are the keys, your budget and the performance you want from it. I could link you something in 10 minutes with all of the parts if you gave me an idea of what your budget is and the performance you want.

Also, as everyone else has said, don't buy it from Alienware or Dell or w/e. Build it yourself or have someone else build it for you, because you'll save lots of money. My computer cost around $1700 but if I had it built through one of those companies it'd probably be somewhere around $3000.

To give you a perspective I paid a lot for my PC, but in the end my PC will wreck any game that comes out for the next 2 years at least. Also, the amount of money you'll save on games alone will be significant. I have around 60 games on my Steam account, for Xbox I probably would have paid around $1000 for all of them, on Steam I've paid probably $300 because I got almost all of them when they were on sale at some point.

As for hardware, it's all relative. In terms of a graphics card AMD and Nvidia both make great cards, it's really your own preference. You usually pay a bit more for Nvidia than AMD, I have two Nvidia cards (SLI) and love them, but I'd also get an AMD for a good price.

As for CPU, Intel makes better CPUs and you'll usually pay more. The thing here is you get fanboys that have their head either up Intel's rear end or up AMD's. Intel CPUs are better, but you won't see any huge gap between an Intel or AMD CPU. And I'll say this honestly, if you're playing games at a high resolution, the CPU isn't really a factor as more stress is thrown at the video card. I have an AMD CPU and I get the same FPS in games as people with the same system and an i5-2500K. I'd say get what brand you'd like better, I wanted a six core CPU and wasn't going to pay $700+ for the Intel hex core, so I got the fastest AMD six core.

[td21]

I own a computer company that specializes in custom computers... like gaming... hit me up if i can assist

[Jonas]

You definitely don't NEED the specs you listed to get into computer gaming. Those specs will give you max settings, at a crazy high resolution.

You definitely need to figure out your budget first. If you want those specs and not build it yourself, that could easily cost 3 grand. I don't think it is ever that worth it to spend a whole lot for PC unless you are rich. Those high end components are likely to drop in price significantly in a year. So always getting the best specs isn't a good value proposition.

[GatorFan89]

You definitely don't NEED the specs you listed to get into computer gaming. Those specs will give you max settings, at a crazy high resolution.

You definitely need to figure out your budget first. If you want those specs and not build it yourself, that could easily cost 3 grand. I don't think it is ever that worth it to spend a whole lot for PC unless you are rich. Those high end components are likely to drop in price significantly in a year. So always getting the best specs isn't a good value proposition.

It wouldn't cost him 3K if he was building it himself, maybe if you bought it through Dell or Alienware or another place where it is pre-built.

My computer is in the enthusiast range which is extremely high end, something that you'd build for max settings that is also future proof. Mine cost $1,700 and I built it myself.

The only way it would come close to hitting $3000 is if he was buying some BS he doesn't need like an i7 3980x / 990x / 980x and tri-sli'ing GTX 580s or trifiring Radeon 7970s. Plus if you're gaming, the i7 2600/2700/3960K or the i5 2500K are all better than the i7 extreme CPUs which are $999.

[chrisleakfan4life]

Something with decents specs and settings would work for me.

Sent from my iPhone using GatorCountry

[GatorFan89]

Something with decents specs and settings would work for me.

Sent from my iPhone using GatorCountry

I'll link you to some parts, I'll make sure the price is good w/good performance. Give me a few mins...

[GatorFan89]

Case - Antec 300 - $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066)

Motherboard - ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 LGA 1155 - $149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265)

CPU/Processor - Intel i5-2500K 3.3Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU - $229.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072)

Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws X (8GB) DDR3 1600 RAM - $46.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428)

GPU/Graphics Card - ASUS Nvidia GTX 560Ti DCII - $249.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425)

Hard Drive - Western Digital Cavair Black 750GB 7200RPM HDD - $149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283)

Power Supply - Corsair TX750 v2 - $104.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021)

CD/DVD Burner - HP 24x Multiformat DVD Burner DVD+R/+RW - $23.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140041)

Total Price - $1026

That computer will get you good performance and that's a good price, too. If you are willing to spend a little more I can move your GPU up to something a little more powerful. The one I gave you is an overclocked 560Ti, which means it's faster than the standard model but it is the same price as the reference card (non-OC'd card). I'm not sure if you plan to overclock your processor or not, if you do then you'll need a CPU cooler which I can recommend for you.

[helix139]

Wait to build until a couple months from now and pick up a gtx660 video card

[GatorFan89]

Wait to build until a couple months from now and pick up a gtx660 video card

There's no price on it yet, but the consensus right now is that it will be around 400-450.

Some 'supposed' specs for the 600 series were released a while back with prices also, the 660 was set around $400 and was on par with the GTX 580 in terms of performance, so if he's going to pay that kind of money he should just get a 580, as the 660 will be the same price/performance.

[helix139]

There's no price on it yet, but the consensus right now is that it will be around 400-450.

Some 'supposed' specs for the 600 series were released a while back with prices also, the 660 was set around $400 and was on par with the GTX 580 in terms of performance, so if he's going to pay that kind of money he should just get a 580, as the 660 will be the same price/performance.

The 660 won't be 400-450. More like $319 based on the leaked specs. It will also run a heck of a lot quieter and won't be as big physically.

[GatorFan89]

The 660 won't be 400-450. More like $319 based on the leaked specs. It will also run a heck of a lot quieter and won't be as big physically.

NVM, I was mistaken with the 660Ti, yeah the 660 is on par with the 580 with the 660Ti being a bit faster than the Radeon 7950.

Some of the specs are believable but the GTX 680 being 40% more powerful than the 7970 seems a little ridiculous.

[chrisleakfan4life]

Case - Antec 300 - $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066)

Motherboard - ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 LGA 1155 - $149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265)

CPU/Processor - Intel i5-2500K 3.3Ghz Sandy Bridge CPU - $229.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072)

Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws X (8GB) DDR3 1600 RAM - $46.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428)

GPU/Graphics Card - ASUS Nvidia GTX 560Ti DCII - $249.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425)

Hard Drive - Western Digital Cavair Black 750GB 7200RPM HDD - $149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283)

Power Supply - Corsair TX750 v2 - $104.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021)

CD/DVD Burner - HP 24x Multiformat DVD Burner DVD+R/+RW - $23.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140041)

Total Price - $1026

That computer will get you good performance and that's a good price, too. If you are willing to spend a little more I can move your GPU up to something a little more powerful. The one I gave you is an overclocked 560Ti, which means it's faster than the standard model but it is the same price as the reference card (non-OC'd card). I'm not sure if you plan to overclock your processor or not, if you do then you'll need a CPU cooler which I can recommend for you.

Thanks for the help Gatorfan89 i appreciate it man. Around 1k is what i would be looking to spend maybe a little more if needed but it will be a few months before i can as im busy with school right now.

As far as games, the only 2 i really want to play right now are Star Trek Online and Star Wars The Old Republic so im looking for something that can run those decently.

[GatorFan89]

Thanks for the help Gatorfan89 i appreciate it man. Around 1k is what i would be looking to spend maybe a little more if needed but it will be a few months before i can as im busy with school right now.

As far as games, the only 2 i really want to play right now are Star Trek Online and Star Wars The Old Republic so im looking for something that can run those decently.

No problem man, glad I could help out. In a few months the Nvidia 600-series will be out so you could probably replace the 560Ti with a GTX 660 for $50 more, either way that computer I listed would be fine to run STWTOR and Star Trek Online, the 560Ti is a good card, a ton of people have it and it gives you good performance for a good price. Also, Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPU's will be out in a month or two so when you upgrade you could replace the i5-2500K with the Ivy Bridge model which is the i5-3570K and it will be priced exactly the same.