Topic: Advice on buying or building a PC or Laptop

[PatMan33]

Sorry for the delay. Been in Charleston for the last week or so.

Just to get on your first point, it is correct that a good PC doesn't cost more than a thousand dollars. The problem occurs when you add the word "gaming" to your searches. That's the codeword that tells manufacturers that you're ready to be ripped off. There's no such thing as a gaming PC, there is just the PC. And you can run games (good games) on a relatively inexpensive PC.

I can put a small package together for you with some hardware options and have it to you maybe by tomorrow (my girlfriend is coming up today so time will be in short supply for a bit). And if by chance I forget, shoot me a PM telling me to get my ass in gear, Gorman.

One thing I need is your budget. Is five hundred the max? If you went up to seven hundred you could get something MUCH better; however, I understand if money is tight and I can work with five.

[Gorman Conall]

Sorry for the delay. Been in Charleston for the last week or so.

Just to get on your first point, it is correct that a good PC doesn't cost more than a thousand dollars. The problem occurs when you add the word "gaming" to your searches. That's the codeword that tells manufacturers that you're ready to be ripped off. There's no such thing as a gaming PC, there is just the PC. And you can run games (good games) on a relatively inexpensive PC.

I can put a small package together for you with some hardware options and have it to you maybe by tomorrow (my girlfriend is coming up today so time will be in short supply for a bit). And if by chance I forget, shoot me a PM telling me to get my ass in gear, Gorman.

One thing I need is your budget. Is five hundred the max? If you went up to seven hundred you could get something MUCH better; however, I understand if money is tight and I can work with five.

700$ would be acceptable if its from a place I can make payments too, don't be in to much of a hurry, it may be a month or so before I can actually order it. Regardless I really appreciate the help.

[PatMan33]

Alrighty, thanks for the info. I'll see what I can do for you.

[GroxGlitch]

Hey guys, I'm looking at a computer from Best Buy and wanted a second opinion before I throw myself at wanting it (The deal is I get a new computer for my birthday, and I want a good computer that can run games without lag, not necessarily at their max levels.)
Here are the stats:
Dell Inspiron desktop computer:
AMD Athlon II X2 Processor
ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics Card
4gb memory
500gb hard drive
Price: $369.99 (without the monitor, so add approximately $50, and a two year protection plan is $70 so add that in too)

Does that look worth the money? The Dualcore processor, Radeon graphics card, nice hard drive size, and of course rather low price are all good to me (looking at Dell's computers, they were all about $800+, and didn't have a decent graphics card or anything. Of course, they were laptops, sence the desktop link took me to Alienware, which isn't happening at about $1200!)

[PatMan33]

What would you say is the most-taxing game you would play on this system?

It'll run most games, but you might encounter some lag issues with newer ones. And it'll be obsolete much-more quickly. It may be worth your while to keep saving until you can get something better.

[eropS]

Hey guys, I'm looking at a computer from Best Buy and wanted a second opinion before I throw myself at wanting it (The deal is I get a new computer for my birthday, and I want a good computer that can run games without lag, not necessarily at their max levels.)
Here are the stats:
Dell Inspiron desktop computer:
AMD Athlon II X2 Processor
ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics Card
4gb memory
500gb hard drive
Price: $369.99 (without the monitor, so add approximately $50, and a two year protection plan is $70 so add that in too)

Does that look worth the money? The Dualcore processor, Radeon graphics card, nice hard drive size, and of course rather low price are all good to me (looking at Dell's computers, they were all about $800+, and didn't have a decent graphics card or anything. Of course, they were laptops, sence the desktop link took me to Alienware, which isn't happening at about $1200!)

Eh... What kind of hard drive is it?

And I agree with Pat in that you should pocket that money and save to get something better later. AMD and ATI aren't necessarily bad, though I personally find them to be inferior to Intel and Nvidia.

Newegg.com actually has a lot of summer sales blazin right now if you are a part of their newsletter/email (which is free to sign up for, and i recommend you do, got me a GTX4600 for 99$ and a bunch of other great deals that led to me building a new computer in June). I suggest that you maybe peruse that site to see if you find and desktops you may like there, too.

[munchkin5]

I've got an ATI/AMD computer at the moment, and it's better than any NVidia/Intel computer I've ever had, also, if you're running games, get a dedicated graphics card.

As other people have said, you'll have to spend a bit more to get a computer that'll run games into the future. Shop around the market for places that'll do custom builds, (or build it yourself if you're feeling confident, though i don't recommend it), they're usually cheaper. Just make sure the warranty they offer is decent.

[Yetsuo]

Could someone link me to the program you guys use to get world maps please.

[Kaizer]

Been looking at a computer again

so far I have

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberPower-1TB-GXi250/16672337?ci_sku=16672337&ci_src=14110944&sourceid=1500000000000003142050

does it get pats seal of approval?

[Oviraptor]

That computer should work fine.

Things to note, however:

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 is the lowest end Direct 11 video card they offer, so you probably won't be playing on max settings. Also, it never mentions the power supply wattage anywhere, so it's probably not very big. It should be fine for the card that's in it, but if you ever want to upgrade the video card, you'll probably need to upgrade the PSU as well.

[PatMan33]

Considering your current setup this looks as if it should be fine.

What do you plan on using this for? Any particular games you had in mind? The Cyberpower line of computers is a decent affordable line of gaming systems. You're not going to get massive power but you will be able to get most games to play reasonably well.

[Kaizer]

stuff like WoW/rift/dawn of war/red alert 3/monday night combat

maybe skyrim

[PatMan33]

You should be fine. Just don't expect to get Skyrim at max.

*thumbs up*

[Brutus]

Heya everyone. Over Christmas a few friends of mine were kind-hearted enough to gift me some games over steam. It's probably time to replace my laptop and I have a budget of about £450 ($700), at most I could maybe get £550 ($850).

I was just wondering if I could get some advice on getting the most out of my budget for a laptop, I'm not really sure where to start and everyone keeps saying to me that a little knowledge can make you'r money go alot farther. I'm aiming to be able to handle games like Skyrim and Portal 2 comfortably. Maybe even scrape Mafia II in (to be honest I have no idea how aspirational I'm being here, maybe I'm dreaming).

Thanks in advance guys.

[PatMan33]

Hey Brutus! Haven't seen you in a while.

I'm a bit busy at the moment but I'd be happy to sit down with you (possibly later today or whenever) and look through some options for you. I'll try to put something together tonight and PM it to you.