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By Nick Olsen
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In 1985 Nintendo started a revolution when it...
HomeFeatures PC Gaming Is Cheaper Than You Think, Here's A Guide
PC Gaming Is Cheaper Than You Think, Here's A Guide
Posted on Sunday, January 22 @ 11:14:00 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack
It's no secret that PC gaming can be pricey, but the people who have told you that it costs thousands of dollars to build a gaming PC are full of hot air. Sure, you can spend that much if you choose, just like you can buy 70" 3D LED TV to melt your brain while you play your favorite console game, but the fact remains that a modern PC isn't very expensive and has a lot of productivity to offer.
There are some great PC games coming out this year, such as Guild Wars 2, Diablo III, and even the new StarCraft II expansion, Heart of the Swarm. You've probably thought of buying a new PC, as many others have, so we've decided to head on over to Newegg and Amazon to see how much it really costs to get a command center on your desk.
Before we get started, please note that the prices listed are based upon the prices available through Newegg or Amazon on 1/21/2012, excluding any rebates available.
Gaming on a Budget
Case: Antec Three Hundred [$59.99]
Power Supply: Corsair CX V2 500 [$49.99]
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 960T [$114.99]
Heatsink: Stock [$0]
Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD [$99.99]
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 2 x 2GB [$29.99]
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6850 [$149.99]
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB [$89.99]
Total Price = $594.93
I recently ran a build similar to this one, except the graphics card was a 5770 instead, which is slightly less powerful. This setup is capable of running every game at around medium settings, including the likes of juggernauts such as Crysis 2 and Metro 2033 in an efficient manner. Assuming you're running at resolutions of 1680 x 1050 or lower, you'll also be able to turn some settings like anti-aliasing up to bring a sharper image to your display.
The Power House
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 [$89.99]
Power Supply: Corsair TX650 [$89.99]
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge [$229.99]
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus [$26.99]
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68Z-D3H-B3 [$122.99]
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 2 x 2GB [$29.99]
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560Ti [$249.99]
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB [$89.99]
Total Price = $929.92
For a few extra hundred dollars this build offers a few better components, namely the legendary i5 Sandy Bridge. Sandy Bridge is currently considered the most competitive architecture on the market, and although it's a bit on the expensive side, it outperforms anything AMD has to offer by quite a margin. In addition, the GTX 560Ti is a best-seller at several vendors due to its high power to cost ratio.
Mr. Future Proof
Case: Corsair Graphite 600T [$159.99]
Power Supply: Corsair TX650 [ $89.99]
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge [$229.99]
Heatsink: Thermaltake Frio [$54.99]
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 [$204.99]
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1600 2 x 4GB [$46.99]
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 [$339.99]
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black [$129.99]
Total Price = $1256.92
If you choose to get the build above, chances are you'll end up the popular guy at school. Okay, maybe not, but anyone you know who understands computers will admire you. What this build offers above the previous setup is that it has some more horsepower, and its cooling potential will give you an opportunity to overclock your CPU and/or GPU to push the rig even further.
Buying a PC all comes down to how much you'd like to spend, and how future-proof you want to be. No matter how much you decide to spend, I urge you to make sure you get a high-quality case and power supply. The power supply is what drives the PC, while the case is in-charge of keeping air-flow in check. If a computer doesn't get a healthy amount of electricity, and begins to run hot from not being able to breathe, danger will ensue.
Also, the computer cases chosen are recommended but cases typically come down to looks, although more powerful systems run much warmer and thus a moderately more expensive solution is needed. You'll also notice that each setup is missing peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse, operating system, and monitor. Those components are purely up to you to decide on, and even if you don't have a monitor you can choose to hook it up to a television since all of the graphics cards above support HDMI.
Building a PC isn't something you learn overnight, but there is a large community out there of people like myself who considered it a hobby after our first time doing it. Don't be intimidated, and if you really want to see what 2012 has to offer in the way of eye-candy (DirectX 11, Tessellation, etc.), then a few hundred bucks invested in a PC is your best option.
Ok... probably gonna get a lot of hate here... but what about laptops? It's not that i hate building my PCs, I've been doing that for years. It's just i just want a comfortable and easy to play Starcraft 2 in a coffee place type of computer. Any suggestions on where and what to get that just cost around 1000 dollars?
There are two things you need to know about laptops before gaming on one.
1) They're more expensive since the components are smaller. 2) They run much hotter and as such need to be played in a cool environment to keep them from overheating.
In addition to proper cooling, you're going to want to find a laptop with the following:
1) A dual-core or quad-core CPU operating at 2.6GHz~ or more. 2) At least 3GB of RAM. 3) A non-integrated graphics card.
The graphics card is usually where laptop gamers cut corners. Most laptops use integrated graphics processing found on the motherboard which is meant only for basic operations, not gaming. Make sure that whatever you get comes with a graphics card and which one you get should be based on your budget. For under $1000 you should be able to get a laptop with an Nvidia 550m, which is a budget card, but one that will run Starcraft 2 without issue.
Asus makes a really solid gaming laptop, its called the G73. It has 6 gigs of memory, a mid to high grade graphics card and 1TB hard drive. I actually own it. I can run Starcraft 2 at 55fps on ultra settings. I have been really happy with it.
I guess you are assuming most people have one but in case they don't (or they need a new one) a monitor's price would have to be considered, adding anywhere from $100-$300 and up
You're right, but do people consider the price of an HDTV when they state how much consoles are? That's my point. Good point, and thankfully monitors are extremely affordable right now. I just purchased an Asus 1080p LED Backlit monitor for only $169.99 two weeks ago.
Most video cards today have HDMI which means you can hook up that rig to an HDTV and not need a monitor.
Add Xbox controller for windows which you can buy and you have more powerful 360. Some of the guys I know play Skyrim like this, in their living rooms.
A lot of helpful advice can be found on Tom's Hardware website. They have some articles under "Best gaming PC under $700/$1000/$2000" and they test a lot of components and compare them to one another.
There are also monthly articles where they test the new GPUs, CPUs. In the GPUs case it's called "Best Graphics Cards For The Money" and at the end there's a hierarchy chart where they rank every GPU that has been released so far (since the Nvidia TNT) and rank them, it's very useful.
You're right! There are some great sources all over the internet. If you're going to put down over $500 on something like a PC, you should do a little research so you don't feel any buyer's remorse.
On average you can get a good pc for 500 or so, upgrade a few pcs over the years and no prob, and games from previous pc will run on new one. New consoles every 3 yrs or so and no reverse compatibilty, no mods, no free dlcs, memory cards... bah. I do own a PS2 but its played more netflix dvds than games the past 2 yrs.
Prices are a bit misleading. Instead of calling an OS a peripheral, it should be quoted in price. Many first-time PC buyers are going to have a kb/mouse laying around. Many are not going to have an OS disc handy.
The reason PC gaming is so expensive is that they become obsolete so quickly. If I buy the latest playstation or xbox then I know I will have it for 5 years at least (baring some unforseen disaster) but with a pc, the life span is much shorter. My desktop will turn 3 years old in a couple of months and it is already showing it's age. I upgraded to a gtx 460 about a year and a half ago and that pretty much considered out of date already. I was pissed that when I did the auto recommend setting for skyrim it set me at the second highest setting rather than the highest settings.
So yeah, you can build a rig for much cheaper than you could buy in a store but regardless of how you get it, it is a never ending money pit. You will forever be upgrading parts. That is why pc gaming is so expensive.
You bought a PC three years ago amd it can run Skyrim on the second highest settings. And that's a problem? You think a console can do that? Even at the second highest settings you're running it at a far greater resolution and detail level than a console. They don't magically get better as time goes on, so a PC that can run games better than a console will still be able to do so down the line, the only exceptions being something akin to Metro 2033 that was designed to look good on PC.
Well said WILLS. It's a GOOD thing that better hardware is constantly being released, but to say that your setup is obsolete is simply not true. Consoles have lasted 5+ years but the visual quality seen on console games is the equivalent of Low for some of the better looking PC games. Your 460 is SIGNIFICANTLY better than what the PS3 or Xbox 360 come with which are roughly a 7900GT at 550MHz. You're able to play any multiplatform games at 4x or better the visual quality of a console, and with a higher resolution.
By the way, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, etc. all release hardware in roughly one-year cycles. No matter what you buy, it'll be replaced by a newer generation of product at less cost within months. That's why anyone who is serious about playing at maximum settings gets as powerful of a system as possible so even when newer hardware comes out, it'll still be considered high-end.
Yeah, but now you guys are changing the discussion from price to looks. I know games on my pc look better than on my ps3, I was never arguing that. What I was saying though is that I had to pay for extra upgrades to do that. I brought up the graphics card cause like you said they come out like every year. Yeah, my 460 is way better than what is in the ps3, but it isn't as good as that 560. So say I buy that 560 for $250.00 then I will be paying $250.00 the next year for the next card that comes out. Well, I don't have to but there are people who do because they want to have all the newest and best parts. It can be an expensive hobby if you like to play all the newest games with all the settings cranked as high as they can go.
And don't get me wrong, I like gaming on my pc. I spend way more time on it than my ps3.
The difference between a 460 and 560 is quite small. The 5-series was most notable for its power consumption reduction over the 4-series. The misconception that is keeping you from understanding our point of view is that you demand that you play every game on the highest settings. That's the same as someone who is addicted to having the newest phones or car, of course its expensive. Whatever you had before your 460 was likely better than what the PS3 or 360 had, so the upgrade was nice but not necessary to have a gaming PC. My whole argument in this article is that you can build a gaming PC that'll play every game on medium settings for years to come without spending nearly as much as most people think they would.
I'm currently running a laptop that's 3 years old, and has dual 260M GTX cards in it. If you think your 460 is outdated, you should see these cards in operation. And yet, I can still basically run most games at just below maxed settings. You really don't need a top of the line card for most games, just something from the series before that used to be top end, but is now dirt cheap.
Some of my friends can't understand the pull of PC gaming. This year is quite heavy on releases! With diablos return it will probably bring a few friends back :-) nice rigs in this guide.
They're probably not playing the right games! There are several genres that I prefer on consoles, and vise versa. Have them try an MMO, RTS, or FPS on PC!
I was trying to keep the prices down. The 580 or 7960 and a 2600k would have jumped the price up an additional $300~. A 2500k and 570 will have no problem running games on great settings for a long, long time, hence future proof.
I am sort of interested in the Alienware x51, so I can hook it up to my flat screen TV easily, and keep the PC my wife uses separate from my gaming stuff. I don't generally need a high end rig. Do you think it is worth the cost if I went with the 999 option?
It may be. I have an alienware laptop, I can guarantee you that most of their stuff is overpriced by a fair amount. If you want a desktop, there are much cheaper options. The only real benefit is the warranty when going with pre-built. Of course, if you want a laptop, that's your only option, but the x51 isn't one, of course.
I just looked at the Alienware x51 and the $949 setup includes hardware that can be bought for under $600. In my experience all Alienware solutions have a $200 - $600 mark-up from what it'd cost to build it yourself. Also, don't worry about warranty because virtually all components you can buy individually come with a nice warranty.
Mr. Future Proof ... I just literally bought almost that exact rig yesterday.
Case: Antec Three Hundred Versatile Mid Tower Gamer Case Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series HX750 Modular Power Supply CPU: Core™ i5-2500K Processor, 3.30GHz w/ 6MB Cache Motherboard: P8Z68-V Pro / Gen 3 w/ DDR3 1600 Memory: Ripjaws X Series 8GB PC3-12800 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (2 x 4GB) Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 1GB GDDR5 Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200rpm SATA III w/ 16MB Cache OS: Windows 7
The only downside is that the Antec doesn't have 3.0 USB front ports, but when trying to cut some costs, you have to make little sacrifices. The video card is also on the lower end of the better cards, but I plan on getting a second one when taxes come. Seeing how the PC was for the wife, she insisted on getting a legit Windows 7, so that also increased the cost.
With a 2 year in house warranty extension on the motherboard, video card and power supply it came out to $1,275.00. This thing is a frickin tank though!
Asus makes a really solid gaming laptop, its called the G73. It has 6 gigs of memory, a mid to high grade graphics card and 1TB hard drive. I actually own it. I can run Starcraft 2 at 55fps on ultra settings. I have been really happy with it.
I only skimmed a few of these posts but I didn't see anyone mention the AMD APU line when it came to laptops. If your looking for a gaming laptop on the go those things are amazing. My friend has one with the A4 chip and it is able to play. Wow, SWOTR, Skyrim, starcraft 2, battlefield 2 bad company and many others one semi decent settings. And if the demo of the Trinity line is any indication at CES this year the next get of APU's will be even better. These are all DX 11 compatible graphic CPU's btw and kick the **** out of anything *cough* intel will call on board graphics still. He also paid about 400 for the laptop about six months ago to give you an idea of the price range.
If you really want bang for your buck the AMD APUs aren't a bad option, but not optimal. They reserve a portion of processing for graphics acceleration, which means that not only do you get only moderate CPU performance, but the GPU performance is similar to what you'd find in an extremely cheap card. You're better off getting a $90 CPU with a $60 graphics card than the A8 Llano.
Great post Jonathan. Even though GR is still my favorite gaming site I feel that you guys don't give as much attention to PC gaming as you did back in 1998, when I 1st started visiting.
Those who are willing to spend even more than "Mr. Futrureproof" should visit HardOCP for advice and guides. The guys over there are pretty serious with their rigs, and most people run Eyefinity setups. I also run Eyefinity and nothing is better than playing an fps @ 6036x1200
Tom's Hardware is great for $500 builders.
Those looking for gaming laptops should also consider Sager along with Alienware and Asus.
I don't know how to build my own comp. So let's say I were to buy a PC right now, this is what I would buy that would fit my price range:
It is a Dell XPS8300 Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor (8MB Cache, 3.4GHz) Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs 500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 545 Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability Wireless: Dell 1501 Wireless-N PCIe Card Network Card: Standard USB 2.0 + 10/100/1000 Ethernet Sound: THX® TruStudio PC (a dedicated Soundblaster card is an extra $60). It has 6 USB 2.0 ports and a multi card reader. It includes mouse and keyboard but no monitor. I have no idea what the case, power supply or motherboard are, although I'm guessing those that are computer savvy will know just from looking at the brand and model.
It costs: $899
My questions would be: Is it underpowered? Is it overpriced? Is it both or is it a good value? What components would be considered weak links in this configuration, meaning that it would be worth to pay a bit extra right now to upgrade in order to avoid having issues in a short term. Would it be able to run the most recent games at high settings?
That looks like a great PC. I just went through Dell's site and looked at it a bit more and there are a few things that worry me. It only allows you to upgrade the GPU to a 6770 or 545, which are both on the low-end of the scale. I'm willing to bet that the power supply and motherboard included aren't very good.
If you're looking to buy a pre-built PC for gaming, I recommend buying one from a vendor that specializes in gaming PCs. There are a couple I looked at a few weeks ago which don't have insane prices and have great customer support, but I don't really want to advertise them. A solid Google entry should reveal them. :)
Thanks for your reply. To be honest, I don't like PC gaming just consoles. However, I figure that if a computer is powerful enough to run the latest games, it should hold for several years for non-gaming stuff. Case in point, my desktop is 11+ years old (with minor upgrades throughout the years). I'm not much into buying stuff just for the sake of having the latest things (I'm looking at you Anthony) hence when I buy a new one (or any electronics for that matter) I want it to last for a long time. You could mention the names of those sites you reference btw, I don't think anybody would object. It's great to have other options open up for researching a purchase.
what are your guys thoughts on using a solid state drive or, for a more reasonable price, a hybrid drive? I have one (hybrid drive) in my current laptop which I don't use for gaming and it works really well. Id think that it would also work very well in a gaming PC as well. Opinions?
For general computer use, solid state is the best "bang for your buck" improvement you can do for your PC. The difference in read speed is substantial.
I don't have any experience with hybrid solutions. However, I have heard they have a lot of potential but are currently unstable. Many people have had issues with hybrid configurations. If you try it out let me know what you think.
Ive had a hybrid drive in my laptop for a while now with no issues, but Im not really working it too hard. I might need to build a gaming pc with a hybrid drive and see how it goes. I'll at least have a backup just in case though.
Jonathan_Leack your comment to my post makes very little sense as I am mainly stating something about a gaming laptop on a budget. Also I have a A8 APU in my media PC downstairs. It runs rings around any game I would play with my PC on my HD TV which is nothing fancy usually. Thats for my gaming rig upstairs, however I have even been able to get it to do metro 2033 with some DX 11 settings working and Deus Ex HR running with all its DX11 running at a little over 30fps with the A8 chip. Your comparison to a cheap CPU and GPU is totally unfair when your not looking at what your using the competents for. The APU chip saves me room in the case and there is less heat to deal with when your dealing with a small media box that has 4 terabytes of storage crammed into it already. My argument with a laptop still stands though I wish you had bothered to read my comment then just assuming i was talking about PC build
hehehe.....I've just spent about 2 weeks reading about building a PC, but now as I sum up all the information I gathered about PC components etc. i found it really time-eating.
As I would like to ask someone instead: Is it pointless to start looking into these things when I'd like to build a PC as soon as after this summer? (which is like 7 months from now, in which a lot of technologies can get improved or replaced).
Well there's no doubt about it, new technology will be out by the time you're ready to upgrade. However, your time isn't wasted because what is current will still be great but will be available for a lower price point.
By this Summer Nvidia will have their 7- series cards out, AMD will have most if not their full 7000 series line out, and Intel will have Ivy Bridge available. I'd recommend looking at products from these listed technologies because they'll be new, but picking something one series behind won't hurt.
Thanks for reply! Originally i was thinking about GTX 560Ti SLI but in SLI mode cards doesn't stack up their memory and from what i've heard, 1GB is not enough for Battlefield 3 for instance. I will look around for 3GB GTX 580 or some 570 with more memory. The good thing is, that i can buy another card when theres not enough juice for new games (after long, long time). Together with Intel 2600k (which has pretty good value too) it should be good enough setup to kill anything.
Is motherboard important for performance too or just for connectivity?
Another thing: can i hook PC up to a fullHD TV? I have ps3 too so i can use monitor or TV for both. I just don't know if i should buy a solid monitor or plasma TV.
It's true that VRAM is becoming the new bottleneck for GPUs. However, 1GB is good for now assuming you're playing at 1080p or lower. Battlefield 3 is currently the largest VRAM vampire, and the only other games to my knowledge that eat up more than 1GB only do so on Ultra settings.
Your motherboard choice is only important for:
a) Supporting your hardware. b) Providing features.
Some motherboards have a BIOS with more options, support SLI and even three-way SLI, have more PCI slots, etc. The most important thing I've found for choosing a motherboard is making sure it's made by a reputable company with a quality warranty. A motherboard will not affect performance unless you're looking to overclock and need the proper BIOS options, or if the motherboard doesn't support one or more components in your rig.
Most modern video cards come with a mini-HDMI or HDMI port which is perfect for hooking it up to a television. Even if yours doesn't have an HDMI port, you can use an adapter to convert the signal.
I recommend the ASUS Direct CUII GTX570 - takes up 3 pci slots on your case/mobo but is incredibly fast... I'm running a Mr Futureproof rig, but with 16GB of Corsair Vengeance ram on an ASUS Gene-Z mobo and with an intel i7-2600.
That graphics card is THICK, but a great option. I believe it's overclocked and comes with a non-reference cooling design. However, if I were to recommend a non-reference PCB I'd point toward the MSI Twin Frozr. It has arguably the best cooling on the market leaving room for plenty of overclock, and the design is solid. With that said I personally prefer ASUS over MSI, but that's more of a personal thing.
I'm currently using the EVGA 570, and I listed it on the rig in the article simply because EVGA has a GREAT reputation for support. It's not the "best" 570, but if you ever have an issue then you'll be glad you chose EVGA.
Yeah, most gamers don't tend to add any PCI cards to their rig beyond a graphics card - the mobo I'm using with this graphics card onboard has no free PCI slots accessible due to its size! But I use an external Edirol UA-25 soundcard and wouldn't add any other PCI cards, so size isn't an issue for me.
The card itself is factory overclocked to 742mhz, so it's the fastest out of the box, and competes with the stock 580's. If it isn't the most powerful 570 out of the box, it certainly could be with a little tweak.
ASUS haven't let me down with any of their products in the past, I used Crosshair mobo's before this, and this is my first fully intel & nvidea rig, as I've always been an AMD & ATI budget guy before now! ...i've never felt such an improvement in an upgrade - moved to this machine from an ASUS Crosshair with Athlon 64 X2 3200+ with an ATI HD5750 and 4GB of ram running 32bit Windows XP...
Hey I'm looking to upgrade my parts John are you still alive because this thread is Dead but I'm a survivor.Should I wait til the supposedly nvidia GTX 790 or settle with the GTX 690. And I was hoping if you could answer that would it be future prof for a great amount of years?
Hey I'm looking to upgrade my parts John are you still alive because this thread is Dead but I'm a survivor.Should I wait til the supposedly nvidia GTX 790 or settle with the GTX 690. And I was hoping if you could answer that would it be future prof for a great amount of years?
Hey I'm looking to upgrade my parts John are you still alive because this thread is Dead but I'm a survivor.Should I wait til the supposedly nvidia GTX 790 or settle with the GTX 690. And I was hoping if you could answer that would it be future prof for a great amount of years?
Hey I'm looking to upgrade my parts John are you still alive because this thread is Dead but I'm a survivor.Should I wait til the supposedly nvidia GTX 790 or settle with the GTX 690. And I was hoping if you could answer that would it be future prof for a great amount of years?
[ Editor's Note: As Nick Olsen is a writer for Theory of Gaming, this won't be counted in the monthly Vox Pop prize. However, it is very much a worthy read. ]
By Nick Olsen
Co-founder, Theory of Gaming
In 1985 Nintendo started a revolution when it...
Jonathan_Leack
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1) They're more expensive since the components are smaller.
2) They run much hotter and as such need to be played in a cool environment to keep them from overheating.
In addition to proper cooling, you're going to want to find a laptop with the following:
1) A dual-core or quad-core CPU operating at 2.6GHz~ or more.
2) At least 3GB of RAM.
3) A non-integrated graphics card.
The graphics card is usually where laptop gamers cut corners. Most laptops use integrated graphics processing found on the motherboard which is meant only for basic operations, not gaming. Make sure that whatever you get comes with a graphics card and which one you get should be based on your budget. For under $1000 you should be able to get a laptop with an Nvidia 550m, which is a budget card, but one that will run Starcraft 2 without issue.
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Add Xbox controller for windows which you can buy and you have more powerful 360. Some of the guys I know play Skyrim like this, in their living rooms.
Bras
Joined: Jul 2008
They have some articles under "Best gaming PC under $700/$1000/$2000" and they test a lot of components and compare them to one another.
There are also monthly articles where they test the new GPUs, CPUs. In the GPUs case it's called "Best Graphics Cards For The Money" and at the end there's a hierarchy chart where they rank every GPU that has been released so far (since the Nvidia TNT) and rank them, it's very useful.
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So yeah, you can build a rig for much cheaper than you could buy in a store but regardless of how you get it, it is a never ending money pit. You will forever be upgrading parts. That is why pc gaming is so expensive.
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
You bought a PC three years ago amd it can run Skyrim on the second highest settings. And that's a problem? You think a console can do that? Even at the second highest settings you're running it at a far greater resolution and detail level than a console. They don't magically get better as time goes on, so a PC that can run games better than a console will still be able to do so down the line, the only exceptions being something akin to Metro 2033 that was designed to look good on PC.
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
By the way, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, etc. all release hardware in roughly one-year cycles. No matter what you buy, it'll be replaced by a newer generation of product at less cost within months. That's why anyone who is serious about playing at maximum settings gets as powerful of a system as possible so even when newer hardware comes out, it'll still be considered high-end.
C_nate
Joined: Apr 2009
And don't get me wrong, I like gaming on my pc. I spend way more time on it than my ps3.
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Case: Antec Three Hundred Versatile Mid Tower Gamer Case
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series HX750 Modular Power Supply
CPU: Core™ i5-2500K Processor, 3.30GHz w/ 6MB Cache
Motherboard: P8Z68-V Pro / Gen 3 w/ DDR3 1600
Memory: Ripjaws X Series 8GB PC3-12800 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 1GB GDDR5
Hard Drive: Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200rpm SATA III w/ 16MB Cache
OS: Windows 7
The only downside is that the Antec doesn't have 3.0 USB front ports, but when trying to cut some costs, you have to make little sacrifices. The video card is also on the lower end of the better cards, but I plan on getting a second one when taxes come. Seeing how the PC was for the wife, she insisted on getting a legit Windows 7, so that also increased the cost.
With a 2 year in house warranty extension on the motherboard, video card and power supply it came out to $1,275.00. This thing is a frickin tank though!
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
Daddio
Joined: Nov 2008
Daddio
Joined: Nov 2008
tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011
Daddio
Joined: Nov 2008
Imnickson
Joined: Jul 2006
Imnickson
Joined: Jul 2006
Merlin
Joined: Oct 2005
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
hopiamani
Joined: Oct 2011
Those who are willing to spend even more than "Mr. Futrureproof" should visit HardOCP for advice and guides. The guys over there are pretty serious with their rigs, and most people run Eyefinity setups. I also run Eyefinity and nothing is better than playing an fps @ 6036x1200
Tom's Hardware is great for $500 builders.
Those looking for gaming laptops should also consider Sager along with Alienware and Asus.
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
usaglory
Joined: Mar 2009
It is a Dell XPS8300
Intel® Core™ i7-2600 processor (8MB Cache, 3.4GHz)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 545
Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Wireless: Dell 1501 Wireless-N PCIe Card
Network Card: Standard USB 2.0 + 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Sound: THX® TruStudio PC (a dedicated Soundblaster card is an extra $60).
It has 6 USB 2.0 ports and a multi card reader.
It includes mouse and keyboard but no monitor. I have no idea what the case, power supply or motherboard are, although I'm guessing those that are computer savvy will know just from looking at the brand and model.
It costs: $899
My questions would be: Is it underpowered? Is it overpriced? Is it both or is it a good value? What components would be considered weak links in this configuration, meaning that it would be worth to pay a bit extra right now to upgrade in order to avoid having issues in a short term. Would it be able to run the most recent games at high settings?
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
If you're looking to buy a pre-built PC for gaming, I recommend buying one from a vendor that specializes in gaming PCs. There are a couple I looked at a few weeks ago which don't have insane prices and have great customer support, but I don't really want to advertise them. A solid Google entry should reveal them. :)
usaglory
Joined: Mar 2009
I'm not much into buying stuff just for the sake of having the latest things (I'm looking at you Anthony) hence when I buy a new one (or any electronics for that matter) I want it to last for a long time.
You could mention the names of those sites you reference btw, I don't think anybody would object. It's great to have other options open up for researching a purchase.
phobic
Joined: Sep 2011
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
I don't have any experience with hybrid solutions. However, I have heard they have a lot of potential but are currently unstable. Many people have had issues with hybrid configurations. If you try it out let me know what you think.
phobic
Joined: Sep 2011
Merlin
Joined: Oct 2005
phantomasko
Joined: Oct 2010
As I would like to ask someone instead: Is it pointless to start looking into these things when I'd like to build a PC as soon as after this summer? (which is like 7 months from now, in which a lot of technologies can get improved or replaced).
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
By this Summer Nvidia will have their 7- series cards out, AMD will have most if not their full 7000 series line out, and Intel will have Ivy Bridge available. I'd recommend looking at products from these listed technologies because they'll be new, but picking something one series behind won't hurt.
phantomasko
Joined: Oct 2010
Is motherboard important for performance too or just for connectivity?
Another thing: can i hook PC up to a fullHD TV? I have ps3 too so i can use monitor or TV for both. I just don't know if i should buy a solid monitor or plasma TV.
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
Your motherboard choice is only important for:
a) Supporting your hardware.
b) Providing features.
Some motherboards have a BIOS with more options, support SLI and even three-way SLI, have more PCI slots, etc. The most important thing I've found for choosing a motherboard is making sure it's made by a reputable company with a quality warranty. A motherboard will not affect performance unless you're looking to overclock and need the proper BIOS options, or if the motherboard doesn't support one or more components in your rig.
Most modern video cards come with a mini-HDMI or HDMI port which is perfect for hooking it up to a television. Even if yours doesn't have an HDMI port, you can use an adapter to convert the signal.
MarkyBee
Joined: Mar 2007
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
I'm currently using the EVGA 570, and I listed it on the rig in the article simply because EVGA has a GREAT reputation for support. It's not the "best" 570, but if you ever have an issue then you'll be glad you chose EVGA.
MarkyBee
Joined: Mar 2007
The card itself is factory overclocked to 742mhz, so it's the fastest out of the box, and competes with the stock 580's. If it isn't the most powerful 570 out of the box, it certainly could be with a little tweak.
ASUS haven't let me down with any of their products in the past, I used Crosshair mobo's before this, and this is my first fully intel & nvidea rig, as I've always been an AMD & ATI budget guy before now! ...i've never felt such an improvement in an upgrade - moved to this machine from an ASUS Crosshair with Athlon 64 X2 3200+ with an ATI HD5750 and 4GB of ram running 32bit Windows XP...
idhoy11
Joined: Jul 2012
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
gamingpcfreak12
Joined: Aug 2012
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
kmoney4u4
Joined: Mar 2013
kmoney4u4
Joined: Mar 2013
kmoney4u4
Joined: Mar 2013
kmoney4u4
Joined: Mar 2013