Need help buying a good gaming computer. :)

[TelephotoBat]

I'm sure you guys get this title a lot. >.> If there's a place you can point my direction towards, that would be great.

Anyway, I'm looking for a good gaming computer. I'd build one, but I'm timid and I think at this point in time I'd rather buy one online, as BestBuy sucks and I doubt I'll ever buy from a store again.

Here's basically my requirements:

1.) About a $2000 budget. I can go higher or lower, but I'd like to say $2400 is my MAX, including a monitor.

2.) I'm going to be playing Starcraft 2, diablo 3, and FFXIV. At least, these games are my big hits of the year. However, I'll also be playing plenty of new FPSs, RPGs, and RTSs that come out. Basically, I need it to run NEW games.

3.) I think my biggest problem is I want to run them on High settings. I can settle for medium settings on really beastly games if that's what I *have* to settle for, but SC2, Diablo 3, and FFXIV are going to need to be run on close to max for me.

If you guys want to give me some websites, I'd be grateful. I hear alienware is pricey, but I've been recommended www.ibuypower.com because you can actually sit and customize the product with what I need.

So, my final question:

What do I absolutely NEED to put in a new computer? In terms of memory, cards, etc.?

I thought for sure I posted this topic about an hour ago, but I don't see it anywhere on the site and it says I've made no threads nor posts. >.> If this is a double thread, please disreguard this one and answer the questions in my first XD It went a little more indepth.

Thanks again, guys! Any advice, websites, or comments welcomed.

 

[mihir]

Since you are not interested in building your own PC you can try this config.

CPU - AMD Phenom II X6 1090t
Motherboard - Gigabyte/Asus/MSI AM3 Motherboard with atleas 2PCI Express Slot something Like Gigabyte UD5
RAM-GSkill Ripjaw 2000MHz 4GB (2X2GB)
GPU - ATI HD 5870/NVIDIA GTX 480
Case - Coolermaster HAF X or Antec 1200
PSU - Corsair 750TX/Thermaltake 750W
HSF - TRUE 120
Monitor - Nec EA2311
Keyboard and Mouse - Microsoft Sidewinder
HDD - Samsung Sinpoint F3 1TB.
SSD - 64Gb

 

[maroon1]

CPU + motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.430493

GPU - GTX 460 also comes with free just cause 2 game
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

Case + PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.440193

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=Samsung_Sinpoint-_-22-152-185-_-Product

DVD burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

This PC can easily run all the games you mentioned on high settings and it is much cheaper than mihir build

 

[joh06937]

i would highly recommend building yourself. even if you really don't know much now you will still be able to get help on things that you can't quite get right. after all, that's what we're here for

mihir's build looks pretty good. here's what i'd go with:
cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849&cm_re=1090t-_-19-103-849-_-Product
very good 6 core cpu.
motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644&cm_re=890fx-_-13-131-644-_-Product
asus is a great brand and the new 890fx chipset is excellent. with this board you also get usb 3.0 and sata 6 gb/s.
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=g_skill_ripjaws-_-20-231-303-_-Product
g. skill ripjaws. excellent set. 1600 mhz is plenty.
gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&cm_re=5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product
hd 5970. VERY powerful card. it should last you quite a while and it has dx11, eyefinity, and low power consumption.
psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009&Tpk=corsair 850
enough wattage for even dual 5970s and it is corsair, which is an excellent brand for psus.
case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225&cm_re=haf_x-_-11-119-225-_-Product
HAF X. newer case by coolermaster. looks great and will have plenty of room for all of your things.
heatsink: there are way too many to choose from, so i'll just put one that i think is good up: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010&cm_re=h50-_-35-181-010-_-Product
h50 all in one watercooling.

grand total: $1715, but that doesn't include a hard drive.

 

[mariiam]

For gaming, I would go with intel i7 930 or i7 860 both which are better than PII X6 in gaming

 

[joh06937]

actually, i am going to change my mind and say get a phenom II 955 b.e.:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=965-_-19-103-727-_-Product
for gaming, that will be plenty.

new total: $1595.

 

[TelephotoBat]

It seems you guys are deadset in having me make my own desktop! It'd help my pride knowing I could make my own comp, and it would be cheaper, but...

I'm still worried about messing up :\ so I have a few questions:

1.) How long generally does it take? And with a guide, and no real knowledge of saudering and connecting parts, what are my chances of mistake?

2.) What are the chances something goes wrong when I boot it up for the first time? Obviously it depends on how well I do, but I read stories on here about home made computers not booting up or not working with the monitor, etc. It's stuff like this that scares me, and I need some reassurance. XD

3.) Do I need extra wires, components, etc. that aren't tallied into the price? I wouldn't mind buying them, but I need to know EXACTLY what I need. D:

4.) And finally, the guide in the sticky at the top of the page isn't outdated, right? Or is there another that works better by today's standards?

thanks again! someone reassure me I'm still leaning towards buying a comp, but building my own would be rewarding and cheaper...

 

[joh06937]

It seems you guys are deadset in having me make my own desktop! It'd help my pride knowing I could make my own comp, and it would be cheaper, but...

I'm still worried about messing up :\ so I have a few questions:

1.) How long generally does it take? And with a guide, and no real knowledge of saudering and connecting parts, what are my chances of mistake?

2.) What are the chances something goes wrong when I boot it up for the first time? Obviously it depends on how well I do, but I read stories on here about home made computers not booting up or not working with the monitor, etc. It's stuff like this that scares me, and I need some reassurance. XD

3.) Do I need extra wires, components, etc. that aren't tallied into the price? I wouldn't mind buying them, but I need to know EXACTLY what I need. D:

4.) And finally, the guide in the sticky at the top of the page isn't outdated, right? Or is there another that works better by today's standards?

thanks again! someone reassure me I'm still leaning towards buying a comp, but building my own would be rewarding and cheaper...

you won't have to do any physical modifications to the parts. you basically need to plug everything into their correct places and install the o.s. chances of mistakes are somewhat small (and almost always fixable) but the chances of physically harming the components is very small.

as long as you get components that are compatible (and all of the listed things are) then you should be fine.

the psu will come with all necessary cables. the only thing you might need to get is a sata cable. the motherboard should come with at least 1 ide ribbon and will most likely come with 2 sata cables. if you get 3 or more sata components, then you might run into trouble since components don't always have the necessary cables. however, with that build, you should only need 2 sata cables, one for the hard drive and one for the dvd drive, so you should be good to go without having to buy any extra cables. down the road if you want to do some expert cable management so that when people look in the window on the side of the case they are amazed, then you might consider getting different cables. but for now, you're good to go :good:

i haven't looked at the guide in a long time but it should be up to date. for some things you'll have to refer to your motherboard manual (where to put ram sticks for dual channel) but other than that, the guide should be okay to use. and remember, before freaking out about anything that happens, just ask us i built my first computer without having any real knowledge (hell, i'd bet everyone on computerforum.com did).

 

[mihir]

It seems you guys are deadset in having me make my own desktop! It'd help my pride knowing I could make my own comp, and it would be cheaper, but...

I'm still worried about messing up :\ so I have a few questions:

1.) How long generally does it take? And with a guide, and no real knowledge of saudering and connecting parts, what are my chances of mistake?

2.) What are the chances something goes wrong when I boot it up for the first time? Obviously it depends on how well I do, but I read stories on here about home made computers not booting up or not working with the monitor, etc. It's stuff like this that scares me, and I need some reassurance. XD

3.) Do I need extra wires, components, etc. that aren't tallied into the price? I wouldn't mind buying them, but I need to know EXACTLY what I need. D:

4.) And finally, the guide in the sticky at the top of the page isn't outdated, right? Or is there another that works better by today's standards?

thanks again! someone reassure me I'm still leaning towards buying a comp, but building my own would be rewarding and cheaper...

1.Since its your first time it will take around an hour including cable management.
2.The only thing you need to be dead careful about while building your own PC you dont break any of your parts and the CPU and the CPU socket arrow should be in the same direction.
3.You just need one + screwdriver.
4.The guide will do just fine.

 

[Shane]

CPU + motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.430493

GPU - GTX 460 also comes with free just cause 2 game
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

Case + PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.440193

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=Samsung_Sinpoint-_-22-152-185-_-Product

DVD burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

This PC can easily run all the games you mentioned on high settings and it is much cheaper than mihir build

I like that build,however dont get the 796mb version of the 460....get the 1Gb model its better.

 

[mihir]

Get this monitor

http://www.necdisplay.com/Products/Product/?product=a8f8336f-6f87-4065-b3ad-c2fa8204f2a0

 

[maroon1]

I like that build,however dont get the 796mb version of the 460....get the 1Gb model its better.

1GB model is better but most of them are out of stock

768MB model is not bad at all. It is still faster than HD5830 and can easily run all games he mentioned in high settings

 

[mihir]

I wouldnt go with i5 since 1156 wont be futureproof.
AM3 is the way to go now.
Since the BullDozer will be backward compatible with the Socket AM3.
And GTX460 is a good card but when you have the budget why shouldnt you go for a better card like a GTX 480 or the ATI HD 5870

 

[fastdude]

How about crossfiring a 5830, and going with an AM3 setup?

 

[mihir]

How about crossfiring a 5830, and going with an AM3 setup?

Never Crossfire when you can get a single card with same performance.

Disadvantages of Crossfire.
1.More Power
2.More Heat.
3.Occupies 2 PCI slot.
4.Not much room for Upgradibility


If you go for a single card then you can CF/SLI it in the future.
Crossfire is only an option when your card begins to falter in performance in the future so you can CF it.

 

[fastdude]

Fair enough. It was just a suggestion

 

[TelephotoBat]

Thanks for all the help so far! I've made a couple of newehh wishlists and now I'm just comparing between the two. The only problem is, it's hard to compare what you don't know so much about. ;(

Both lists are on the first page of the topic, by maroon1 (About 900$) and joh (About $1600). Obviously one's better than the other, but if both can run the games I enjoy at max settings (Namely SC2, Diablo3, FFXIV) then would I be better off getting the $900?

Or should I just fork out the extra 700$ while I'm ahead, so I don't have to worry about upgrading anything anytime soon when a cool new FPS comes out?

Also, a list of necessities I'll need besides the components for the computer? I don't really need specifics, but tell me if I'm missing anything.

- Mouse
- Keyboard
- OS (Windows 7?)
- Monitor (Thanks for the recommendation and the help Mihir :])

-Now, I noticed no listing of DVD drives/Hard Drives. So I looked up a Hard Drive and just added it to the total:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136496

This seems pretty good to me, and it's not going to break my bank, but please inform me if the setups I've been reccomended already come with a Hard drive that I just don't know about.

-As for the DVD drive, same question. Does it come preinstalled somewhere in the list? XD Or is that another extra to buy?

Both seem pretty cheap considering, but I like to know EVERYTHING I'll need to make this thing work. >.o

-And finally, if I'm missing any important items in my list so far, point them out.

Thanks again everyone! Sorry to be a bother with this.

 

[mihir]

maroon1's config is not futureproof 1156 is a dead socket.
I would go with AMD for now since AM3 socket is futureproof.

 

[maroon1]

maroon1's config is not futureproof 1156 is a dead socket.

Most people with i5 750 or i7 860 are not going to upgrade any time soon. These CPU are going last you for long time. You can easily skip next generation processors, and buy a new CPU after 2 or even 3 years which would need a new socket anyway.

How about crossfiring a 5830, and going with an AM3 setup?

Two HD5830 in crossfire is overkill. The games he is playing are not very demanding

Single GTX 460 or HD5830 is more than enough for him

 

[joh06937]

Most people with i5 750 or i7 860 are not going to upgrade any time soon. These CPU are going last you for long time. You can easily skip next generation processors, and buy a new CPU after 2 or even 3 years which would need a new socket anyway.



Two HD5830 in crossfire is overkill. The games he is playing are not very demanding

Single GTX 460 or HD5830 is more than enough for him

yes but he also said he would like to play new fps at max settings (right?). so when something like crysis 2 or a different game that is even more demanding comes out and he wants to have 8 AA at a nice, high resolution, i don't think a single 460 would be enough. a 5970 obviously would and should last him a very long time...