Gaming PC?

[tomthetank]

I'm looking into a good gaming computer but not to sure what is out there at the moment, I've looked at cheapest alienware desktop but I've read there is better products out there for the money?
I would be willing to spend little over

 

[saps]

If you are willing to build it yourself you will save a lot of money versus buying a pre-fab

 

[NYCHitman1]

If you are willing to build it yourself you will save a lot of money versus buying a pre-fab

+1.. custom build is the best way to save yourself some $ and avoid bloatware

I'm looking into a good gaming computer but not to sure what is out there at the moment, I've looked at cheapest alienware desktop but I've read there is better products out there for the money? I would be willing to spend little over

 

[gallandof]

build a custom rig through linux on there and have some fun!

 

[Snow_Fox]

I've built my own rig and I[m upgrading it this week

I just built it about 3 months ago or so.. and now I'm finally getting rid of my hand me down graphics card.

Have any questions feel free to ask.

Accept no pre built. Do it yourself!

Not only do you save money on the cost of the machine itself, you save money because, you now learn to troubleshoot and fix your own problems.

Never rely on the local best buy moron again! Or dells "warranty" ect ect.

 

[jroc]

+1.. custom build is the best way to save yourself some $ and avoid bloatware



You can look at www.ibuypower.com if you aren't very tech savvy.

www.cyberpowerpc.com is another good one.

And www.pricewatch.com. It has a list of places that custom build PC's.

 

[Rota]

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! will almost always have the best prices on individual parts. I've spent thousands there over the last few years building computers.

If you want gaming, DON'T EVER buy a pre-fab computer. You will get absolutely price gouged. Do a little research and build it yourself.

 

[Cyanogen]

Anyone here got steam??? Add me
marcusalier

Just Tell Me Your From... Here!

 

[drfoss]

Building is the best way to go. Its fun, easy, and tailored exactly the way you want. My two year old system still going strong. Everything bought from Newegg though look out for their CPU prices, they seem to be higher. For example at Microcenter an i7 930 is $199 but Newegg its $289 so check local stores.

 

[UncleStalin]

Building it or just buying the parts yourself and getting someone else to build it ( like i did lol) is wayy cheaper and you can get more bang for you buck.
When i got mine it would have probably gone for retail 3000 grand , but i picked it up for 2000 with monitor etc etc.
I recommend if you are going to buy the parts your self, and you are looking into budget systems, go for Amd processors and ATI Graphic cards.
Yea they wont be as powerful and Intel and Nvidia but IMO i like ATI better for pure performance.
Try an AMD Phenom 2 processor and Ati 5000 series grahics card.

 

[Rota]

playing games on pc is such a nice way. i love to play shooting games on my pc, but some times you can not play big games because of limited reconfiguration,

What?

 

[shawn1224]

You can look at www.ibuypower.com if you aren't very tech savvy.

Thanks, I put together my dream machine

Case::Zalman GS1000 Plus Full Tower Gaming Case Black
Case Lighting::Sleeved LED Case Lighting - Orange
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction::Advanced - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion::[6-Port] NZXT Internal USB Expansion System + Bluetooth Module
Processor::[= Six Core =] AMD Phenom™ II X6 1100T Black Edition Six-Core CPU
Processor Cooling::Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System (AMD) - Enermax Dual Silent High Perfornamce Fan Upgrade (Push-Pull Airflow)
Memory::16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card::ATI Radeon HD 5970 - 2GB - CrossFire Mode (Dual Cards)
Motherboard::[CrossFire] ASUS Crosshair IV Formula -- AMD 890FX w/ 3x PCI-E 2.0 x16
Motherboard USB / SATA Interface::Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface
Power Supply::1500 Watt -- SilverStone ST1500
Primary Hard Drive::240 GB Corsair Force Series F240 MLC SSD - Dual 240GB Drives (240GB Capacity) - RAID 1 Data Security
Data Hard Drive::256 GB ADATA S599 MLC SSD - Dual 256GB Drives (256GB Capacity) - RAID 1 Data Security
Optical Drive::[12X Blu-Ray] Pioneer BLU-RAY Re-Writer, DVD

 

[Knewz]

Alienware

 

[NYCHitman1]

Thanks, I put together my dream machine

Case::Zalman GS1000 Plus Full Tower Gaming Case Black
Case Lighting::Sleeved LED Case Lighting - Orange
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction::Advanced - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion::[6-Port] NZXT Internal USB Expansion System + Bluetooth Module
Processor::[= Six Core =] AMD Phenom™ II X6 1100T Black Edition Six-Core CPU
Processor Cooling::Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System (AMD) - Enermax Dual Silent High Perfornamce Fan Upgrade (Push-Pull Airflow)
Memory::16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card::ATI Radeon HD 5970 - 2GB - CrossFire Mode (Dual Cards)
Motherboard::[CrossFire] ASUS Crosshair IV Formula -- AMD 890FX w/ 3x PCI-E 2.0 x16
Motherboard USB / SATA Interface::Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface
Power Supply::1500 Watt -- SilverStone ST1500
Primary Hard Drive::240 GB Corsair Force Series F240 MLC SSD - Dual 240GB Drives (240GB Capacity) - RAID 1 Data Security
Data Hard Drive::256 GB ADATA S599 MLC SSD - Dual 256GB Drives (256GB Capacity) - RAID 1 Data Security
Optical Drive::[12X Blu-Ray] Pioneer BLU-RAY Re-Writer, DVD

 

[Sweet Chaos]

Building is def the best option, but whether or not you build I would NOT recommend going with Alienware. I have an HP Elite that is as good or better than any Alienware and it was half the price.

 

[Dark Jedi]

If you buy alienware your paying for the name. you can get better components for half the price and build it yourself. Its not hard to build your own. I built one a few years back and not one hiccup. hardest choice is processor AMD or Intel. then its graphic card and then memory lol. well everything is a hard choice. hee hee. but its fun to build one and turn it on and it boots up. then you say proudly I built that. if it dont boot you can then say should of bought a dell. lol

 

[NYCHitman1]

If you buy alienware your paying for the name. you can get better components for half the price and build it yourself. Its not hard to build your own. I built one a few years back and not one hiccup. hardest choice is processor AMD or Intel. then its graphic card and then memory lol. well everything is a hard choice. hee hee. but its fun to build one and turn it on and it boots up. then you say proudly I built that. if it dont boot you can then say should of bought a dell. lol

Hey, not true! I had received my mobo d.o.a. from Newegg but that wasn't anything a quick RMA couldn't fix.

 

[tylerdurdin]

or you can get yourself a old used dell e521 and a nice graphix card and just play games.

 

[psi chick]

+1.. custom build is the best way to save yourself some $ and avoid bloatware



You can look at iBUYPOWER if you aren't very tech savvy.

we bought a gaming pc from ibuypower about a year ago. we decided to go that route because it was a whole $50 more than it would have been for us to build it ourselves and we were able to configure it exactly the way we wanted. so to save the time and money, we just bought it. didn't get an os on it so no issue with bloatware. so it can be just as cheap to buy one, as long as you don't bother with best buy or any of that crap.

 

[Snedd]

All of my PCs with the exception of my first Dan 486 have been custom builds. The Ars system guide is usually a good place to start, although they don't seem to keep it as up to date as they used to. In my experience you can save yourself a bit of money this way and get a better quality build (better case, quiet fans).

There are couple of downsides. For one expect to become the general PC fixer/builder/upgrader for all your friends and relatives.
The second is the odd occasion when something goes wrong and you burn time trying to track down the faulty component. Doesn't happen very often though.

 

[Snow_Fox]

we bought a gaming pc from ibuypower about a year ago. we decided to go that route because it was a whole $50 more than it would have been for us to build it ourselves and we were able to configure it exactly the way we wanted. so to save the time and money, we just bought it. didn't get an os on it so no issue with bloatware. so it can be just as cheap to buy one, as long as you don't bother with best buy or any of that crap.

Lol... you have no idea how wrong you are.

my build was 200$ cheaper than ibuypower or cyberpower.

BTW DO NOT USE CYBERPOWER!

and FWIW no matter how "cheap" those websites are... there is no gaurantee your not getting second rate parts..

Just because your custom build is only 50$ cheaper DOESN'T mean it also isn't much higher quality :/

Never ever ever worth it to buy premade.

Unless you want plastic over your heatsink like my poor friend here.

This is too good it needs its own thread... - PC Forums - Desktop Computer Forums and Discussions

(Cyber Power) The eagle has landed...again.... - PC Forums - Desktop Computer Forums and Discussions

No matter how good the "deal" is.. you can usually save minimum 200$ over people who "build it for you"..

I remember one guy in one of my classes said "Its not worth my time to build it myself".

Well.. I WISH he would have paid me to do it for him. 200$ an hour is a pretty good job.

If it really only cost you 50$ more to buy it from a store, I'm surprised you didn't immediately ask "well whats wrong with it?". I mean shipping alone is like 25$ on something like that.. and even in china with slave labor there is still another few dollars to pay a laborer to put it together.

So how can they afford quality parts for that cheap?

At least with newegg.com you know why its cheap.. your cutting out the middleman..

 

[turn_key]

I would have to agree with the custom build. I've been gaming and building PCs for a long time and nothing can beat the price of scratch build. I used the same case and power supply but only spent around around $400 for an upgrade last year. I can run Half-Life 2 with all the bells and whistles on.

My 2 fav places to shop is the local Micro Center - Computers, Electronics, Computer Parts, Networking, Gaming, Software, and more! for parts and Cheap Software, Cheap AntiVirus Software, Cheap OEM Software, Cheap Microsoft Software, Cheap Adobe Software for OS and anti-virus.

Good luck

 

[ElasticNinja]

Thanks, I put together my dream machine

...


All for the LOW LOW price of $ $10,912.00

I just love doing that, customising your build online
Tho as said, your best doing it yourself if you have the know how, but that probably applies less to laptops

 

[turn_key]

I've always been fond of Falcon Northwest... sure... $1,250 for a custom paint job but it makes it faster right?

Mach V Desktop Computers for Gaming and Business | Falcon Northwest