Posted: 1/12/2013 2:54:28 PM EDT
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I'm looking to get my first dedicated gaming pc and the whole process has me confused. I suppose I am up for building, but parts compatibility and what is truly needed to run certain games has made me unsure. The games I am looking to play are...
Rome Total War 2 SC2 Hear of the Swarm LOTRO WoW Diablo 3 Everquest Next Elder Scrolls Online I am looking for something that is upgradable but not a 1500+ gaming rig. Thinking an Intel corei5 and running Windows 7? Rome 2 will be the most demanding graphically i think. What about the alienware x51 (i5, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640 1GB GDDR5) Kind of lost here and don't want to halfass it, but don't want to have and under gunned system or get ripped off buy buying instead of building. |
| I've been a big gamer for years. Almost anything you buy over $800 will perform extremely well for desktop gaming. Technology has far surpassed gaming engines. Most off the shelf $650 walmart PC's will game extremely well. You'll want to focus more on your sound system IMO |
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If you go Alienware your getting ripped off for a logo.
Do you own build. For $1,500 you can build a beast. i7 Sandy and 16gb matching ram (4x4) (GET A GOOD MOBO) Get a 570 GFX (No reason for anything more for the near future) SATA 3 HDD to match needed storage size and a SSD (about 128gb for OS and MMORPGS (large, multizone loading) Get a large well vented metal case, avoid water cooling. Wait till Feburary. (Prices usually are at the lowest as new tech releases, plans for new tech come out, computer shows open up and Newegg wants your tax return! ;D) All this said I'm still running an i7 920 and 10gb ram with a 550ti and SATA 3 HDD and I still can run BF3 on Ultra no lag. I'm upgrading next year. |
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Quoted:
If you go Alienware your getting ripped off for a logo. Do you own build. For $1,500 you can build a beast. i7 Sandy and 16gb matching ram (4x4) (GET A GOOD MOBO) Get a 570 GFX (No reason for anything more for the near future) SATA 3 HDD to match needed storage size and a SSD (about 128gb for OS and MMORPGS (large, multizone loading) Get a large well vented metal case, avoid water cooling. Wait till Feburary. (Prices usually are at the lowest as new tech releases, plans for new tech come out, computer shows open up and Newegg wants your tax return! ;D) All this said I'm still running an i7 920 and 10gb ram with a 550ti and SATA 3 HDD and I still can run BF3 on Ultra no lag. I'm upgrading next year. i5 is perfectly capable for gaming. i7 gives marginally better performance. 16GBs of RAM is completely unnecessary for gaming, especially on a budget. Why the hell would you recommend an old graphics card?  Current generation is better for cheaper.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
If you go Alienware your getting ripped off for a logo. Do you own build. For $1,500 you can build a beast. i7 Sandy and 16gb matching ram (4x4) (GET A GOOD MOBO) Get a 570 GFX (No reason for anything more for the near future) SATA 3 HDD to match needed storage size and a SSD (about 128gb for OS and MMORPGS (large, multizone loading) Get a large well vented metal case, avoid water cooling. Wait till Feburary. (Prices usually are at the lowest as new tech releases, plans for new tech come out, computer shows open up and Newegg wants your tax return! ;D) All this said I'm still running an i7 920 and 10gb ram with a 550ti and SATA 3 HDD and I still can run BF3 on Ultra no lag. I'm upgrading next year. i5 is perfectly capable for gaming. i7 gives marginally better performance. 16GBs of RAM is completely unnecessary for gaming, especially on a budget. Why the hell would you recommend an old graphics card? Current generation is better for cheaper.He said no more than $1500 and wants it to last/upgrade. $1,500 with the above build would leave money on the table. i7 Sandy will carry him till his next build years and years down the road. i5 is great for most now but for an extra $$$ why not. Marginally to todays standards yes, but the i7 will continue to chug through more than an i5 in the upcoming releases through time. 16gb RAM is CHEAP these days and a matching set works best. If he gets 8 now and 8 down the road it may not preform as well. A 570 isn't "OLD" its just not part of the NEW generation. Its more than powerful enough to handle anything today yet cheap enough to be replaced in 2 years when needed. The 600 series in the reasonable price ranges are marginally better except in power consumption (much better) but i'm guessing a few cents a week to run a GFX card isn't worth the extra price) |
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MaximumPC wrote up a build using the best parts for the money (bang for the buck), yes it's a few months old, but it still makes for a good build at a decent price. Parts list and links: (prices reflect Oct 19, 2012) CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K $219.99 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SZ0E1K/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=wwwcareyholzm-20&... VIDEO CARD: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 DVI-I/DVI-D/HDMI/Displayport SLI Ready Graphics Card GV-N660OC-2GD $229.99 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00942TK8I/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=wwwcareyholzm-20&... MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte Intel Z77 Dual Thunderbolt ATX Motherboard (GA-Z77X-UP4-TH) $195.96 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LTB3KS?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... SSD: Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT256M4SSD2 $187.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2JL2A?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwcareyholzm-20&... HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200 3 TB 7200RPM SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST3000DM001 $148.85 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T3GRLY?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... CASE: NZXT Phantom 410 Mid Tower USB 3.0 Gaming Case - Black $99.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006I2H084?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... RAM: Patriot Memory 8 DDR3 1600 Extreme Performance Viper 3 Series Kit (PV38G160C9K) $38.99 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LTJJM2?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... CPU COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-R2) $31.24 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... POWER SUPPLY: Corsair Builder Series CX600 600 watt 80 Plus Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel and AMD Platforms ATX 700 CMPSU-600CXV2 $69.98 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2T2UQ?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativ... TOTAL COST: $1222.98 (AS OF OCT. 19, 2012) |
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Looked around on tiger direct and picked these parts out...
C13-2750 ::Corsair CX500 V2 CX Series CP-9020047-US 500W Power Supply - 80 Plus Bronze, 120mm Fan, Active PFC, 90~264V Input, Supports Full Tower Cases, Single +12V Rail(5.2 lbs) $69.99 TSD-1000AS7 ::Seagate ST1000DM003 Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive - 7200RPM, 64MB, SATA 6Gb/s(0.1 lbs) $79.99 C13-1012 ::Corsair XMS3 Desktop Memory Kit - 8GB (2x 4GB), PC12800, DDR3-1600MHz, 9-9-9-24 Letency, XMS Heat Spreader(2.25 lbs) $48.99 A455-2042 ::ASUS P8Z77-V LX Intel 7 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket H2 (LGA1155), Intel Z77 Express, 2400MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, CrossFireX Ready(1.8 lbs) $124.99 M452-0661 ::MSI GeForce GTX 660 N660 2GD5/OC Video Card - 2GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0(x16), 1x Dual-Link DVI-D, 1x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, DirectX 11, SLI Ready, Overclocked(2.15 lbs) $229.99 I69-3570K ::Intel Core i5-3570K BX806237i53570K Processor - Quad Core, 6MB L3 Cache, 3.40GHz (3.80GHz Max Turbo), Socket H2 (LGA1155), 95W, Fan, Unlocked, Retail(0.9 lbs) $219.99 SUBTOTAL--- $773.94 what parts am i missing besides a case and OS (win 7)? anything i could downgrade on to save more dough? Keep in mind the games I'm looking to play. Thanks for helpin out so much. |