I tend to be very long-winded even when I try otherwise, so forgive me if this post becomes way too long or wordy.
First, a brief background. I'm going into my junior year at college, and for the past two years I've used a crappy laptop computer provided by my school. It got the job done, allowing me to write papers, do research, and perform other school-related tasks, but it really stifled my hobby in computer games. The laptop choked even on the original Halo running at the barest settings, so I was stuck mainly with old-school RPGs. (Don't get me wrong, those older games are some of my all-time favorites, but you can only play so much of them. Everyone loves a good 3D FPS now and again.)
This year, though, I've moved out of the school dorms and am living in a house off-campus, so the laptop is no longer necessary. I used to be able to lug it over to the library and hook myself up to write a paper there, but that trip is no longer practical and so I can get away with being tied down to a desktop. I'm looking forward to the advantages of a desktop, too - it'll be cheaper, for one thing, and I wouldn't have as much of a problem with overheating (which was a constant concern with the laptop).
So, now that the (probably unnecessary) background is out of the way, let me present my case. Long story short, I'd like to build a desktop that will be solid enough for serious gaming, but won't kill my bank account. I know that the two desires are usually mutually exclusive, but hopefully you all can help me put something together. I did see the thread at the top of the forum offering some general advice, but maybe there are other comments that can be made specific to my situation.
I don't have a specific price ceiling, but if it could be kept below the US$800 range it would be ideal. Lower is obviously better, but I could maybe go higher if there were some significant gain to be made for a bit of extra cash. Also, I don't need a monitor at the moment, but I may look into that later.
The machine should be able to handle basic tasks, of course - word processing, maybe some light graphics manipulation and that sort of thing - but it will be built for games above all else. I don't really have "expensive" taste in games, but I would like to be able to reach a certain level. That is, I'm not into all of the latest shooters and other hugely demanding games, but I did get addicted to Oblivion on my desktop at home (which barely ran it with all the settings turned down) and would like to be able to run it comfortably. Any other game I would be playing falls far below the requirements of Oblivion, and so if I could put something together that runs Oblivion then I know everything else would work out alright.
One more question, then I'll cut it off for now: I am not computer illiterate, but technology is not exactly my specialty, either, so will I be able to assemble something on my own? I've managed minor upgrades with no problem, including things as simple as installing a new graphics card or hard drive or stick of RAM, but I'm afraid I would be getting in over my head if I tried to build an entire rig from scratch. Is that the case, or is the process straightforward enough that a reasonably intelligent fella could figure it out?
Thanks for trudging through my little dissertation, I eagerly await any comments.
First, a brief background. I'm going into my junior year at college, and for the past two years I've used a crappy laptop computer provided by my school. It got the job done, allowing me to write papers, do research, and perform other school-related tasks, but it really stifled my hobby in computer games. The laptop choked even on the original Halo running at the barest settings, so I was stuck mainly with old-school RPGs. (Don't get me wrong, those older games are some of my all-time favorites, but you can only play so much of them. Everyone loves a good 3D FPS now and again.)
This year, though, I've moved out of the school dorms and am living in a house off-campus, so the laptop is no longer necessary. I used to be able to lug it over to the library and hook myself up to write a paper there, but that trip is no longer practical and so I can get away with being tied down to a desktop. I'm looking forward to the advantages of a desktop, too - it'll be cheaper, for one thing, and I wouldn't have as much of a problem with overheating (which was a constant concern with the laptop).
So, now that the (probably unnecessary) background is out of the way, let me present my case. Long story short, I'd like to build a desktop that will be solid enough for serious gaming, but won't kill my bank account. I know that the two desires are usually mutually exclusive, but hopefully you all can help me put something together. I did see the thread at the top of the forum offering some general advice, but maybe there are other comments that can be made specific to my situation.
I don't have a specific price ceiling, but if it could be kept below the US$800 range it would be ideal. Lower is obviously better, but I could maybe go higher if there were some significant gain to be made for a bit of extra cash. Also, I don't need a monitor at the moment, but I may look into that later.
The machine should be able to handle basic tasks, of course - word processing, maybe some light graphics manipulation and that sort of thing - but it will be built for games above all else. I don't really have "expensive" taste in games, but I would like to be able to reach a certain level. That is, I'm not into all of the latest shooters and other hugely demanding games, but I did get addicted to Oblivion on my desktop at home (which barely ran it with all the settings turned down) and would like to be able to run it comfortably. Any other game I would be playing falls far below the requirements of Oblivion, and so if I could put something together that runs Oblivion then I know everything else would work out alright.
One more question, then I'll cut it off for now: I am not computer illiterate, but technology is not exactly my specialty, either, so will I be able to assemble something on my own? I've managed minor upgrades with no problem, including things as simple as installing a new graphics card or hard drive or stick of RAM, but I'm afraid I would be getting in over my head if I tried to build an entire rig from scratch. Is that the case, or is the process straightforward enough that a reasonably intelligent fella could figure it out?
Thanks for trudging through my little dissertation, I eagerly await any comments.
can... Good luck, just remember CF is here to help
