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Looking for a new gaming computer.
WonderweissM
Member UncommonPosts: 127
in Hardware
I would like to start with that I do not know much about computers, and I need a new computer.The one I have now I baught at Best Buy because of the fact I know little about computers. I have a HP Pavillion Dv7 Notebook PC:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2410M CPU @2.30 GHz 2.30GHz
Ram: 8.00 GB
Idk what else to add to help inform anyone about my computer.
Comments
What's your budget? Is a desktop okay for you? If you need a laptop for some purposes, then you could probably keep using the one you have, and use a desktop for gaming.
Desktops will be your best bet when it comes to gaming computers. a $600-$700 budget can get you a really nice computer. If you can afford that or a little bit more just try to find the most up to date processors, graphics card, mother board and hardrives. Also make sure they have plenty of ram and memory (suited to your gaming needs.)
just get an imac, they are good for everything and anything. and you can run window games on bootcamp,parrallels,or cross over.
An iMac gets you most of the drawbacks of a laptop, but without the portability, and then also Apple's price premium on top of that. And then you also have the wrong OS, so you have to mess with that yourself. If the intended use is gaming, then an iMac is a terrible choice.
I feel like macs are not good for gaming. I used to have one and it seems that their hardware has to be updated often to keep up with games, (of course I was playing World of Warcraft and such.) However with desktops the hardware and software can stay in tact for awhile and can even be used after it expires.
^ troll post or terribad english? QQ
anyway OP just give your info to quiz and hell set you up with a machine. Make sure you give your budget, if you need a moniter,keyboard mouse, windows operating system.. And which country you live in. Perf if you can tell us what games you intend to play and if you need to have amazing graphics or if you can live with medium settingness.
You say $800-$1200 budget, which is a big range, but that's fine.
You also say you prefer a laptop. If you're a business traveler who spends a lot of time in hotels and want to play games there, then sure, a gaming laptop makes sense. But if you have the idea that a laptop is just like a desktop except smaller, then that's wildly wrong.
Desktops offer a number of major advantages over laptops:
1) higher performance
2) lower price tag
3) less likely to break
4) much easier to fix if they do break
5) practical to upgrade, rather than having to replace the entire thing as soon as one part isn't good enough
6) much better ergonomics
7) much easier to get a sensible hardware configuration
8) much longer useful life expectancy (due to several of the above factors)
Laptops offer portability and not much else. If you badly need portability, then it may outweigh everything else. But if you're going to use it like a desktop, and can use your old laptop for whatever you need a laptop for, then there's no reason for you to consider a gaming laptop.
So, do you really need a gaming laptop, or will a gaming desktop work for you?
Well, I am a college student and I was just feeling like I would want to chill on the couch with my friend and play. But reading what you said, I may want a desktop computer.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150822151678&clk_rvr_id=345559113722
nuff sed!
Indeed.. "Ebay" nuff said:
Good processor
Wrong speed of RAM, plus no brand given
500gb sata "III"? not likely
ASUS P8H61 H61? no thanks
500W PSU can garuntee it's a $20 one that'll blow the rest of the system
550ti terrible gpu unless on a very low budget
Low price for this PC but there's a reason, it's absolute crap.
The only reason i ask these questions is to help the OP. You may have valid opinions about the pc, but without anything constructive to say you just sound like you don't know what you are talking about.
1333 MHz memory isn't really a problem. For the seller to call that "Fast Access Branded RAM" is rather ridiculous, though.
Sure, the hard drive will use SATA 3. Officially the SATA organization wants you to call it SATA 6 Gbps, but it's also SATA revision 3.0. Calling it SATA III is unusual, but not really lying. On the other hand, calling a hard drive "excellent performance and silent operation" is lying.
The easiest to explain problem with the motherboard is that you're paying a ton of money for a Core i7 K-series processor for the aggressive turbo boost and unlocked multiplier. Then you get an H61 motherboard that hard disables the overclocking that you paid so much for, and cripples the turbo boost for good measure. You don't get a discount on the processor by pairing it with a motherboard that disables the stuff that you paid extra for in the processor. So this falls under the category of, either the seller is an idiot or else he thinks you're an idiot. Or both.
Remember the whole bit about SATA 3 above? Well, the motherboard doesn't support SATA 3 at all. So even if the hard drive did get any benefit from SATA 3 rather than SATA 2 (it doesn't), it would still run as a SATA 2 device because that's all that the motherboard supports. So emphasizing that the hard drive is "SATA III" isn't merely unusual, but deceptive.
Even apart from that, it's a low end, feature-barren motherboard. For example, only two memory slots, only four rear USB ports, and only four SATA ports.
A bad power supply can fry your system. A really bad power supply is actually likely to fry your system. And even if it doesn't, it can cause all sorts of different problems from damaged hardware to system instability to random weird things that are a major pain to diagnose. If you're picking parts yourself, it isn't worth risking all of the problems that a bad power supply can cause. When someone comes in wanting the cheapest gaming system they can get, I might recommend integrated graphics, but I'm sure to recommend a decent quality power supply (typically Corsair CX V2 or Antec EarthWatts Green for severe budgets).
Even companies like Dell and HP that try to sell you long-term tech support contracts might have no problem with going cheap junk on a lot of parts, but will avoid the really awful power supplies just to save themselves money on tech support. Their target customer base won't notice if a computer is 20% slower than it should be because the company that sold it to them did something stupid. But they will notice if the computer dies.
A basic rule of thumb is that if a company is including a good power supply in a computer, they'll tell you what it is. That's a selling point, at least to people who know what they're looking for. Equivalently, if they won't tell you what the power supply is, then it's probably because it's a piece of junk and they don't want you to know.
The problem with a GeForce GTX 550 Ti is that it's almost invariably overpriced. For most of its life, it was basically the same performance as a Radeon HD 5770/6770, except that it used more power (which is bad) and cost more. Today, the comparison is to a Radeon HD 7750 instead, which uses less power yet and has a better feature set. Even for the same price, I'd rather have a Radeon HD 7750 than a GeForce GTX 550 Ti--and the 7750 is almost invariably cheaper, too.
If you need a new gaming computer and you are relatively lacking in knowledge about computers I suggest avoiding self-builds and private sellers.
Go with pre-built from a company. You may not get the absolute best bang for your buck, but having a tech-support number is highly useful for people that either cant (for whatever reason) deal with or dont want to deal with the issues on their own.
On a side note... I find myself reading threads that Quizzical posts in.
A gaming laptop is probably less suitable for that than you think. Gaming laptops tend to be big and heavy, as in, about 8 or 9 pounds. They also run hot, so contrary to the name, you don't want to actually put one on your lap, in spite of the name. Hard drives don't like the sort of shaking that a laptop sitting on your lap is likely to endure. You also need to keep them plugged in, and you'll probably want a real mouse of some sort, which is awkward to use as you described.
If that's all the reason you wanted a gaming laptop, then I'd strongly recommend that you get a gaming desktop instead. If you're a lot richer than you're letting on and don't mind playing games on low to moderate settings, then you could try getting a very nice $2000 gaming desktop now, and then when the Trinity ULV laptops show up in a month, also paying perhaps $1000 to get a Trinity ultrathin with a 256 GB SSD instead of a hard drive. If your response to that is "that's too expensive" (which is the response that most people should have), then just get a gaming desktop and use your old laptop for whatever you need a laptop for.
Next questions:
1) Are you in the United States? If not, then which country are you in?
2) Are you able to assemble a computer from parts? I can pick out parts for you, but can't assemble them. If you can, ti will save you perhaps 10%-20% to do so yourself rather than having to hire some other company to do so for you.
If you haven't assembled a computer before and think it sounds scary or difficult (which is the typical reaction), then it's a lot easier than you think. The motherboard and case will come with very detailed instructions, and all that you have to do is to follow the directions. If you're sufficiently clueless about computers that you wouldn't be able to diagnose and fix the problem if someone unplugged the power cable, then maybe you shouldn't try it. The same applies if you can't or don't know how to use a screwdriver, which is the only tool that you need to assemble a computer, with the possible exception of scissors to get parts out of their packaging. But if you've commonly plugged keyboards, mice, and monitors into a computer, then you could assemble one from parts if so inclined.
Im looking at alienware/dell computers or laptops, I have not decided which one yet exactly.
No, no, no. Even if you can't assemble parts yourself, don't buy from Dell. You can get something better for cheaper elsewhere.
Quiz, I have been looking around, and the computers from cyberpowerpc.com look pretty promising. I am looking at the Fang III - Rattler right now. Any suggestions?
If that's what you want, then make sure you configure it right.
Processor: Core i5-3570K
Motherboard: Not anything Biostar; some other options will substantially limit overclocking if you want to go that route
Video card: Radeon HD 7770
Power supply: Corsair TX750 V2; this is really important: don't pick something else at random thinking it's a better deal. It's not.
It would also be nice if you could get an SSD, but it's stretching your stated budget. At their prices, a 120 GB Corsair Force GT probably makes the most sense. You can then add a hard drive in the "data hard drive" section.
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If you're unwilling or unable to build your own, then be sure to post your entire build before buying it, in case you configure something wrong.
Also, if you buy something from CyberPower PC, make sure you check with several different configurators. Often, you can get exactly the same hardware at different prices, depending on your starting point. And don't get rushed into a quick decision, thinking that they have a special deal that ends tomorrow or whatever. They always have some special deal on, and when it ends, they immediately have another--and often one that is nearly identical to the one that just "ended".
Whats the difference between i5 and i7?
The i7 costs more. For gaming purposes, that's about it.
The main performance difference is that a Core i7 has hyperthreading, which can improve performance by up to 30% in programs that could put eight cores to good use if you have them. But games can't, so this doesn't matter.
1.) I was wondering what the memory and hard drive means in terms of what they do and what are some good options for them.
2.) The default motherboard they choose is [CrossFireX] ASUS P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2x PCIe x16 (1 Gen3, 1 Gen2), 2x PCIe x1 & 3 PCI (Extreme OC Certified)...Is this okay?
3.) Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. And sorry for all the questions.
Here is what I plan on getting this http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1E6PK8
I'll let someone else chime in about the cyberpower you linked but I would suggest you give AVAdirect a chance over Ibuypower or cyberpower. They don't have the best reputation for customer service which means if you aren't very computer savvy yourself you could potentially find yourself in a frustrating situation should an issue arise. AVAdirect offers decent pricing with quality builds with a good customer service (based on customer reviews).
http://www.avadirect.com/
I'll have to look more into it. It sems alittle harder for me to decide what parts to choose on computers weith less options, but I'll try to see if It compares to the computer I tried to put together on Cyberpower
Due to all the "free upgrades" you will most likely spend more money on AVAdirect for the same computer (although that is not guaranteed). Much like any other product on the market sometimes you pay more for names and other times for quality. In this case it would be the latter. Also, if you aren't sure on which parts to pick you could simply offer your bottom/top dollar you are willing to spend and ask someone like Quiz to see what he can come up with using a site he feels offers a fair price/quality product.