Alright, so most of my years of gaming has been spent on the counsels. Well, I want that to change. I am trying to switch over to the PC, which I have only been using more recently for strategy games- which I really only currently use five. Two of which can barley run nicely on my computer which is a old Compaq. I think this was my family's first real PC computer we got when Windows Vista just came out for private companies- in 2006. So, it's old and barley works on today's products. Anyhow, back on topic. I am trying to look for a nice gaming computer. Problem is, I know nothing about how good one is because I am no computer expert. I also found that they are VERY expensive compared to a normal computer. What I found ranged from 1,800 to the highest one which was almost $4000. I need advice on were I can find a decent priced, yet good gaming computer.
Mine cost 1200$ and i run all my games on the highest settings with 1080p and I got from form a small company so my advice go find a small company near you and get it custom built, they usually give you good warranty and they do know how to fix computer.
I really have not thought of small companies. I have always looked at the big-box stores, and what not. I never saw the full difference between a $1200 gaming computer and a $3800 Alienware. Thanks for the advice.
o got a gaming laptop (though advertized as a media laptop/HD video laptop, they jack up the price with the word GAME on it) for about 1000. The Good: can play the games the same as any PC can Can Travel Not as heavy as you would expect The Bad: Gets hot as hell the keyboard is uncomfertable probobly going to suffer from defects. get an extended warrenty. DONT BUY FROM HP, THEY OVERHEAT!!!!!! Go with at least the i5 processor or whatever the AMD equivilant is, make sure its an NVIDIA or ATI video card, ask the store if it can play games and has at least 1GB of DEDICATED (not integrated) Video memory.Also, at least 4GB of ram. Also, HDMI is realy nice, Rome: Total War on the big screan in the living room is fantastic!
I got a 'gaming laptop' also (though it's too old already =p), it's good for the mobility, but it does get hot as hell (80+ ºC here on stress - but the weather is hot) and it costs a lot more than a desktop PC It's been a while since I don't take a look at hardware, and I don't know how much are you thinking in investing (and I don't know the price of any of this stuff where you live) but I think a Nvidia GTX 460 + or ATI 5770+ is what you should look for on graphics, and I don't know about CPU, but I think an i5 2,8 GHz+ is ok with the minimum config for the video cards I said (gaming in general don't demand too much from cpu). these are the essential parts, but not all you should be worry about, you should have at least 4Gb on RAM, keeping their clock and brand in mind (I think 1,333 MHz is the fastest, and Corsair and Kingston are the best). For the HD, you should go for 7200 RPM, and chose how much space you think you will need... 500GB is enough for me. Seagate and Samsung are the only ones coming to my mind. For the motherboard, I don't really know any details, but I know Asus have really good ones, and maybe Gygabyte? And you can't forget about the power suply unit... I think 750W + for the config I said? =P well, do some research first, look for videos for games you want to play on similar config. PCs on youtube... check the prices, and aways pay atention to the details. Really, if you don't know about PCs, it's kind of complicated to check the details... try to go to a store in which you trust, some people may try to fool you into buying something overpriced and you may feel disapointed if something isn't as good as you thought it would be... Just for a 'lame price check', this PC on a brazilian website would cost R$ 3670,00, which is ~ U$2000 I think (but since this kind of stuff is really expensive in Brazil, I think you may find a similar config. for U$1500... Idk): * 1 x CPU: Intel Core I5 760 2.80GHz Quad-Core LGA 1156 Box * 1 x Motherboard: Gigabyte Core i3, I5, I7 (LGA 1156) | GA-H55M-S2HP * 2 x Ram Memory: Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333MHz. * 1 x Hard Disk: Seagate HDD 500GB SATA2 7200RPM * 1 x Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 1Gb GDDR5 256-bit * 1 x Optic Driver: Samsung Gravador de DVD * 1 x Power Suply Unit: Corsair 750W | HX750 * 1 x Software: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
I got a $375 Dell Inspirion Desktop, and after purchasing it, went out and got a Nvidia Geforce GT220 or 920 (not sure) graphics card, and I run all the total war games on the highest settings as well as all my other games. No lag, nothing. It works perfectly fine. Also the power supply is only 350, but its never had any problems
Build your own pc its not too expensive or hard and you gain experience from it. Or just buy a mid range pc and upgrade a few pieces.
I agree, with something like Alienware you are paying (an arm and a leg) for the brand name, the symbol and the look.
