Can Someone Help Me Buy a New Gaming PC?

T

txdave34

CAG Veteran
I am well past due for a new PC. My trusty gaming PC is now over 5 years old, and it just can't handle the load anymore. I am dying for a new pc, I got the cash, but my lack of knowledge is killing me here. I've never built a PC from stratch, and the thought of buying all these parts, and crossing my fingers that it will boot up does not appeal to me.

I have several options, but none of them really are solid chooses. I don't need a high end machine, just something between 500 - 700 that will run all the latest games. Here are the choices I'm facing:

1. Buy a custom used desktop off Ebay - it is always hit or miss if I can snag a great deal. I've been outbid on every one. I found this one tonite #260084737726. How much do you think this PC is worth? I've always used intel processors so I have no idea if AMD 3500 is really fast or not. I do want a fast processor because this is the one component I never want to have to upgrade.


2. Buy a Barebones System off Ebay - I am comfortable with barebones. If you can get me the motherboard, CPU, heatsink, fans and power supply, I can hook up the rest. Yet, the choices are limited in my search. One guy sells a celeron 3.2 barebones. I've always heard celerons were suckiest gaming processors. I'm really interested in this one #150089082489. But I need some hardware gurus to tell me the cons of this system.


3. Buy Cheap on Newegg and put it all together - I really don't think this option will work because the reviews are so mixed on the cheaper parts. I found a nice looking intel motherboard for 95 bucks, but some of the reviews said it died in 48 hours. I can't risk it.


4. Find barebone system elsewhere - Honestly, I don't know where to look. The local shops insist on using only their parts so screw that. I want a nice case that lights up, not their butt ugly ones such as the barebone systems no www.cpu4u.com.


Any advice would be appreciated. I'm tired of missing out on all these great PC games!
 
Intel's Core 2 Duo line processors are the best on the market now, so you'll want one of those. You could wait for AMD's quad-cores, which are slated to come out sometime this summer.

$500-700 is kind of a low range. If you can set aside somewhere like $1200, you'll have a computer that will last you much longer.

If you can wait, then wait a few months for more DX10 graphics cards to come out so you won't have to re-upgrade later.
 
Yeah, you need a bit more. Can you salvage anything from your old PC (monitor and CD/DVD drive are usually the only things).
 
If want a custom made one I recommend Ibuypower or cyberpowerpc, great service and they are fast. Plus keep your old monitor and keyboard and speakers you can save yourself money. I think you can get a decent gamming rig, a low end for less then $500. And they usually have monthly specials. Hope that helps
 
I actually know a couple of the guys at CPU4U in Longview ... but the reason I don't shop with them is because of the fact that they charge a lot more versus Best Buy and the online stores like Newegg and Zipzoomfly, plus their stock is not as current as I would like for it to be.
 
maybe configure a low end machene from ibuypower or cyberpower, and upgrade the mem, cpu, and gpu as you have the money.
 
[quote name='uli2000']maybe configure a low end machene from ibuypower or cyberpower, and upgrade the mem, cpu, and gpu as you have the money.[/quote]

Wow, this must be a dead forum. I expected more replies. I decided to take the plunge and build the dang thing myself. I ordered everything off of NewEgg. I don't understand why you guys say it's impossible to get a good rig under $700. I got a intel motherboard, dual core processor, 1 gig ram, 256 mb video card and 320 gig sata hard drive all for under $500 bucks! Now hopefully I wont blow everything up. lol
 
Here's a cool deal from Dell until tomorrow.
Anyone know if this box can play the cool games?
Maybe with a videocard upgrade?

Dell SB - Optiplex 320 Desktop with 3.0GHz P4, 20-inch LCD Monitor & 3yr Warranty
new.gif

$499 with Free Shipping
Click through and choose the 20-inch LCD upgrade to get this deal at Dell SB. Price is $429 + $70 (20-inch LCD) = $499. Free shipping. This is a great price for a Dell desktop with 20-inch LCD and 3yr warranty. I'd recommend upgrading to at least 512MB memory.
Features Include:
3.0GHz Pentium 4 Processor
Windows XP Home
256MB Memory
80GB Hard Drive
48x CD-ROM
Select > 20-inch LCD Monitor [+ $70]
3yr Warranty
Expires: 2/28/2007
 
[quote name='txdave34']Wow, this must be a dead forum. I expected more replies. I decided to take the plunge and build the dang thing myself. I ordered everything off of NewEgg. I don't understand why you guys say it's impossible to get a good rig under $700. I got a intel motherboard, dual core processor, 1 gig ram, 256 mb video card and 320 gig sata hard drive all for under $500 bucks! Now hopefully I wont blow everything up. lol[/quote]

Indeed... if you're willing to buy parts seperately and put it together yourself, you can usually cut costs as opposed to buying a pre assembled one.

Sounds like a fine rig.
 
Nobody said that you can't get a system that will play games for under $700. How long that system lasts is a different story. Plus, some of us asked you questions and you didn't respond...

BTW, I'd really like to know what components you got... I'm assuming you got the Seagate 7200.10 320GB HD which is around $90, meaning you spent $410 on a processor, graphics card, memory, mobo. I hope you got a C2D processor and not a Pentium D or Core Duo... I'm also hoping you got a good graphics card rather than one of those shared memory ones.

So you have $200 for a PS, optical, case and monitor (unless you're going to reuse an old one). Get to it and show us what you got.
 
[quote name='radman99']Here's a cool deal from Dell until tomorrow.
Anyone know if this box can play the cool games?
Maybe with a videocard upgrade?
new.gif

$499 with Free Shipping
Click through and choose the 20-inch LCD upgrade to get this deal at Dell SB. Price is $429 + $70 (20-inch LCD) = $499. Free shipping. This is a great price for a Dell desktop with 20-inch LCD and 3yr warranty. I'd recommend upgrading to at least 512MB memory.
Features Include:
3.0GHz Pentium 4 Processor
Windows XP Home
256MB Memory
80GB Hard Drive
48x CD-ROM
Select > 20-inch LCD Monitor [+ $70]
3yr Warranty
Expires: 2/28/2007[/quote]
Looks like the CPU and LCD are fine, but...

256 MB of ram won't even run Vi$ta (not that I reccomend Vista, I haven't used it yet), but point being you won't be playing high end games with that. 512 is standard for general use, and I feel like anything less than 1GB of ram on a gaming machine is not worthwhile.

80GB hdd? Figure you partition about 20GB for the OS and programs, or they at least take up a similar amount, and you've got 60GB to work with. Load some random programs and probably some music (unless you're completely uninterested in digital media of any kind) and that will fill up REAL fast. Shit, UT2004 and HL2 take up about 5-6GB each on install, more w/ mods, add-ons, etc. Installing/re-installing is a bitch, too, so I like having enough space to keep things around for awhile.

48x Cd rom? As in, not even a burner? A lot of newer games are either using DVD's as standard or will be in the next year or 2, so a DVD drive or burner is pretty important. Of course, you can get a DVD-RW for $30, so you could always add one on later.

Of course, if you're on a budget and willing to put up with and/or compensate for some of these problems (excluding the RAM upgrade, it being the only necessary change if you want to game) then it might be a decent machine. Just make sure that P4 isn't a Celeron!

(edited once for a few typos. doh!)
 
Here's my 1month-old cheapass "gaming rig":

- Dell E521 (AMD dual core 2.2ghz, 250gb hdd, dvd/rw, winXP): $319 shipped (military discount) with Vista upgrade shipped separately
- BFG GeForce 7600GT 256MB: $90 after rebate from Newegg
- Corsair DDR2 2GB XMS2-5400 675MHz: $180 after rebate from Fry's (if you want to save money here, you can get by with 1gb)
- Sell 1gb of ram that came with system on ebay: expecting around $50 (conservative estimate)
- Sell Vista upgrade on ebay: expecting around $99 (conservative estimate)

Total cost: $440 (even less if auction items sell for more)...runs pretty much everything that I throw at it (HL2/CSsource, GuildWars, Company of Heroes, etc.) maxed out (although I'm not sure how "future-proof" this system may be, but I'll be happy to get 2-3 "gaming" years out of it for this price) .

Basically, if you don't want to build from scratch you can get away with a solid base system (think dell or hp) with a good processor and just upgrade the graphics card/ram (with the gfx card being the MOST important). Just shop around and check out sites like fatwallet/slickdeals for deals on systems and components (this thread helped me out alot: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=105443&t=429854).

Hope this helps...GOOD LUCK!!!
 
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