Help in choosing new gaming desktop :)

Akkad

New Member
Hi all,

I'm a hardcore gamer but I have never built my own computer in the US (I have built computers before elsewhere) and its pretty hard choosing what to buy from the hundreds (or thousands) of parts and options I have here!

I need help in choosing whether to buy a whole computer from some company or is it better (especially in terms of price) to buy the computer as parts and assemble them on my own? I would appreciate all the help you can give :D Depending on your answers I will proceed with other questions. My budget is 700$ (but if I can MAX setting for games for a cheaper price I don't mind! :D) I would like to play games like BF3 Skyrim etc on max settings.

Many thanks in advance!
 
you won't be able to max almost any new games at that price, sorry but it takes alot too max a game, i'm not sure but i think it's still over a thousand to max out crysis from 2007, but it was made to be that way, but bf3 will take a ton to max, i mean probably over 2000 now for max on high res., but at that budget you can get medium to high easily now, and probably medium on bf3, the price jump from 1 setting to the next like doubles the diff for every time, like 200, to 400, to 800 or more for max, but there are also prebuilts that are good, but a built will suit you better in this case so yeah, i'd say go to a i5-2500k($220), a mobo for around 100-125, then win7 for 95, make sure oem builder version and 64-bit, 8gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram for (~$80 or less), 1tb sata 6gb/s hdd for around $50, a 5-600w psu for around $50-60, leaving only 90 for a gpu, so i'd try to work up another few bucks to get like a $120 gpu, but really if you watch the sales on newegg then you'll be able to drop all the prices a good bit, and microcenter always has a good deal on the i series cpus when i look if you live close to one, sorry to dissapoint you and i wash things were that cheap too, but games are very expensive these days
 
you won't be able to max almost any new games at that price, sorry but it takes alot too max a game, i'm not sure but i think it's still over a thousand to max out crysis from 2007, but it was made to be that way, but bf3 will take a ton to max, i mean probably over 2000 now for max on high res., but at that budget you can get medium to high easily now, and probably medium on bf3, the price jump from 1 setting to the next like doubles the diff for every time, like 200, to 400, to 800 or more for max, but there are also prebuilts that are good, but a built will suit you better in this case so yeah, i'd say go to a i5-2500k($220), a mobo for around 100-125, then win7 for 95, make sure oem builder version and 64-bit, 8gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram for (~$80 or less), 1tb sata 6gb/s hdd for around $50, a 5-600w psu for around $50-60, leaving only 90 for a gpu, so i'd try to work up another few bucks to get like a $120 gpu, but really if you watch the sales on newegg then you'll be able to drop all the prices a good bit, and microcenter always has a good deal on the i series cpus when i look if you live close to one, sorry to dissapoint you and i wash things were that cheap too, but games are very expensive these days

Thanks :)
That suks :confused: that i cant max it at 1k$, what has the world come to!
So do you think i should buy a full one or buy parts and self assemble them? And why must they be "make sure oem builder version and 64-bit"
Btw, so I wont forget, how will I know if all the parts run smoothly together (if I choose the assembling path)
Thanks for the links to the sites :) never used newegg before and never heard of microcenter, are they reliable? Also, is the i5 enough? mmore than enough? ok? I want the computer to last with me for a long time
 
i5s will last you a long time, but they are on the expensive side. Also, I'll argue that you can build a system for $1000 and max out games. My new bulldozer build is gonna be a little over $1000 with an ATI 6950, and it will max out games.

Now, you wanna make sure your RAM is the same speed as the fastest speed your motherboard can handle.

Then make sure the CPU socket on your Motherboard is the same as your CPU.

Besides that, most parts will be compatible with everything else. Most video cards are PCI express 2.1 x16, and most motherboards have that slot.
 
well for 1k you could, i was a little over on that, but i was also going off the 700 he said for the parts and all so that's why i was saying he couldn't max it for that, could go medium to high, but bf3 will take a crap load to max out, the demo was run on two gtx 580's i think it was, may have been 560's or 560 ti's, but think about that, that's over 500-800 for the graphics alone there, but they also probably were trying to make sure the fps never hit a snag or anything so you don't really know what you'll need
 
@claptonman yea, thats the advice im looking for, small stuff like RAM speed and CPU on the motherboard really make a difference, thanks :D. About the i5, so it will last a long time but does it perform smoothly with ANY task adn any game? For example, i know an i7 never reaches even 50% with any game, thats powerful, how would you compare an i5 to that.

@Benny Boy I know, where can i find such rebates and promos? i don't have experience with discounts when purchasing computers. And what is SB and Zambezie ? Thanks :) STALKER is a cool game btw ;)

@jonnyp11 Well, as long as i can max out SOME games, and do a medium on bf3, thats great!


@ALL Lets start step by step. First of all, is it cheaper to get a raedy assebled computer or shall i self assemble it. Secondly, if i self assemble it, which motherboard do you think i should build on? One that would have everything and is very upgradeable for the future
 
first, the i5 and the i7 are almost the same, just the i7 has a thing called hyperthreading, whivh makes each core take in information like almost 2, so it can do a little more at the same time, but truely isn't too much faster, it is, but in gaming there are hardly any benefits unless you do a quad sli or something that involves a ton of power to run all the drivers and send the info to the right places, so the i5 will be perfect.

second, sb means sandy bridge, a.k.a., intels second generation i series, or anything with a 2--- # behind the i3/5/7, they are just the fastest out at the moment, and zambezie is amd's next gen processor that will contain 4 modules equal to 2 processors technically, but truely is only 1.5 per module, similar the the hyperthreading but with more power behind it, but it isn't out yet and we don't know how well it will actually perform, and won't be out for another month to 3, so no need to worry about it at this point, and the discounts and stuff are on newegg and tiger direct, where they have daily and weekly deals, you just look for the section with all of them, for now as an example go to newegg and on the left of the stuff on the home screen there should be 4 option, one being see current email deals or something similar, that is what we are talking about

third, i was a little harsh, depending on your resolution, you will be able to max out a good many games, but the titles you named are notorious for going all out at the top end of their games, if you keep it at like 1280x1024, you can probably max anything out, but if you go to 1900x1200 or whatever it is for straight 1080p hd, then you won't max them out at all

fourth, assemble it for more reliability and you know exactly what you have and can do more with it, and for the motherboard, i'd say a lga1155 socket, and i'm not going to namea specific cuz i haven't gotten any and am not an expert on which are reliable and all, but that's why newegg put in the review section with eggs instead of stars.
 
yours came up after i posted, those are decent, but are basically an athlon quad, they will give you no where near the performance of an i5, and their graphics is equal to that of a 70 buck gpu, which will only play todays games on low res with good settings, and will not play bf3 beyond medium res with medium lowish settings
 
Great! thanks!
Yea, thanks for clearing the MAXing out for me, its ok if i dont max out EVERYTHING, i just wanna be able to max out at least some settings (i usually put shadows on lowest and textures at highest, for example).
As for the motherboard, how do you know all those details "athlon quad" & "graphics is equal to that of a 70 buck gpu, which will only play todays games on low res with good settings, and will not play bf3 beyond medium res with medium lowish settings"? Also thanks for clearing up the i5 question, i asked it several times and your the only one that gave the clearest answer.
 
I have some PCs and parts here which i would like to show you if you have time :))

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220058 (this certainly needs another PowerS) PC1

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229266
PC2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227353 PC3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131703 MOTHERBOARD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131765 MOTHERBOARD

Both of these motherboards have only ONE real PCI x16 slot (which is a reason why i don'tlike them, but they're cheap), am I correct? And PCI 2.0 is the best right?
 
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OK, thanks for saying that, the shadows take the most out of your gpu, on my integrated gpu i can't play anything if shadows are above low, so with them on low or off you should get great fps with high to max settings on good to high resolution.
 
OK, thanks for saying that, the shadows take the most out of your gpu, on my integrated gpu i can't play anything if shadows are above low, so with them on low or off you should get great fps with high to max settings on good to high resolution.

Yea haha
 
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