I'm looking in to buying a good gaming desktop, and I need some advice. Should I build my own or buy one off the shelf? And, would I be able to run something like Crysis at a respectable level for under 1,000?
Buying a Gaming PC, help!
- Thread starter anNIALLator
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Short answer (regarding Crysis): no.
Long answer: Yes, but it won't be pretty. You would have to turn the graphics down really low, and, even though it will still look just as good as the high-end graphics on most other games, your computer will start to lag and freeze when you get to the bigger battles/end-boss.
I'm speaking from experience, as a guy who got an $800 computer and stuck a $300 video card and a $200 power supply inside. On the entire mission preceding the end-boss (and including said end-boss), I had to turn down the graphics to minimum on everything, and it still crashed my computer every time except one (the one time I beat it).
It really depends on how much you want to spend, though. If you have the money, I'd suggest checking out Alienware, as they are renowned for having the best gaming rigs in the business. I have heard good things from people who build their own, so that might be an option, but you'd need the know-how and expertise to get it done (or know someone/pay someone to do it for you).
Either way, though, to get a respectably decent gaming rig, you'll be looking in the range of $1500 to $2000, at the least.
Long answer: Yes, but it won't be pretty. You would have to turn the graphics down really low, and, even though it will still look just as good as the high-end graphics on most other games, your computer will start to lag and freeze when you get to the bigger battles/end-boss.
I'm speaking from experience, as a guy who got an $800 computer and stuck a $300 video card and a $200 power supply inside. On the entire mission preceding the end-boss (and including said end-boss), I had to turn down the graphics to minimum on everything, and it still crashed my computer every time except one (the one time I beat it).
It really depends on how much you want to spend, though. If you have the money, I'd suggest checking out Alienware, as they are renowned for having the best gaming rigs in the business. I have heard good things from people who build their own, so that might be an option, but you'd need the know-how and expertise to get it done (or know someone/pay someone to do it for you).
Either way, though, to get a respectably decent gaming rig, you'll be looking in the range of $1500 to $2000, at the least.
If you decide to buy a pre-made in the hopes of slowly upgrading it, then for the love of god do not buy an HP. I made this mistake, and the level of bullshit I have had to go through is unreasonable. Their support SUCKS.
P.S. I just finished installing a Phenom 2 quad core processor black edition(you can get 'em for $235 at new egg) and it is FAST.
P.S. I just finished installing a Phenom 2 quad core processor black edition(you can get 'em for $235 at new egg) and it is FAST.
You can build if you're ok with not getting a warranty, but if you build it right you, should have no problem. I would just get anything with Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad, NVIDIA GeForce 8000 or 9000, 320GB of HD and at least 2GB of RAM... that should get you started with Crysis and Assassin's Creed. Oh and also try to get a DDR3 system.
Sorry to be so blunt but...WRONG!TundraWolf said:
Do not buy Alienware, its overpriced.
If you build your own rig you could easily get Crysis running at max, or near max (depending on your screen resolution)
Some thing I'd recomend:
Core 2 Duo. Most games aren't even optimised for 4 cores, Quad's produce alot more heat so you won't be able to overclock much.
Asus Motherboards. I only have good things to say about Asus. They overclock realy nicely and incredibly stable.
Nvidia. They have the best bang for your buck and arguabily the best drivers.
Things to avoid.
Cheap memory. Avoid companies like Hynix for you system. Companies like Crucial Corsair and OCZ are the ones I'd recomend.
DDR3. DDR3 is the next step in RAM but from what I understand, is that there isn't much of a performace gain (yet) and the price increase for it, is alittle out of your budget.
Finaly. Research Research Research, Because if you find something thats cheap, theres proberly a reason for it.
This. Alienware is the (insert name of trendy clothing company here because what do I know about trendy clothing) of the computer world; expect to pay 15-20% more than you would assembling the system yourself just because of the brand name.Bluntknife said:
I note that your profile lists your location as northern Ireland, so I don't imagine that I can just tell you to shop around Newegg. But still, doing research is key, and see if you can find a retailer available to you that does price-matching or at the very least prices their merchandise competitively. My previous rig (approx. build price: $750) handled Crysis well on all High settings, which makes this
completely wrong.TundraWolf said:
I won't say that building your own computer is EASY, but considering the money you save, and the peace of mind you have knowing exactly what is in, and on, your computer, it's worth the effort. If I can do it, it's not that hard!
Well, I got one of these [http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?product_code=FQ563AA%23ABA&aoid=20715&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=FQ563AA#ABA] just last week and I plan on getting a new video card for it. (If I fuck up, my father works with computers for a living and unlike many of the horror stories we've all heard he's actually quite competent.) Maybe a bit overkill, but it should work. I'd recommend at least 2 Gigs of RAM although more and more games are starting to want 4. Go with an Nvidia 8800 or 9800, a Core 2 Duo processor, and a 550w power supply if you plan on building one. All subject to tweaking of course. (Feel free to prove me wrong, Escapists.)
Again reiterating people's points.
1) Don't buy from Alienware, they overcharge, their customer service is mediocre at best, and it is far better to know how a PC works then having some one else do it for you.
2) I just built a rig for $800 on newegg (Plays Crysis on High), probably ~$650 after all the rebates (also save money if you have a screen, mouse, keyboard, Windows CDs already).
Also if buying from newegg sign up for their weekly deals in your email, you can get silly ammounts of discounts from their promo codes, I ended up with about $120 off from promo codes.
So in summary, you can save a good chunk of money from saving on rebates, promotions, and building it yourself, whereas buying it from a company you pay sticker price for everything.
1) Don't buy from Alienware, they overcharge, their customer service is mediocre at best, and it is far better to know how a PC works then having some one else do it for you.
2) I just built a rig for $800 on newegg (Plays Crysis on High), probably ~$650 after all the rebates (also save money if you have a screen, mouse, keyboard, Windows CDs already).
Also if buying from newegg sign up for their weekly deals in your email, you can get silly ammounts of discounts from their promo codes, I ended up with about $120 off from promo codes.
So in summary, you can save a good chunk of money from saving on rebates, promotions, and building it yourself, whereas buying it from a company you pay sticker price for everything.
No, at least as far as I'm concerned, you're right. And that's not a terrible system you've picked up there. I might suggest you hit up the 9800 line if you've got a bit of extra cash- future-proofing is always good, you know.DarthHK said:
On a side note, I see that the site says the computer comes with a "Multimedia leyboard". Does it connect to the computer through ley lines [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line]?
Yeah building your own is sooo much better than getting a box rig. And not to sound like a broken record here...yes Alienware is for people with a lot of money and no idea what a computer is. And NewEgg is by far the best place to buy parts. Not only will building your own be cheaper for better parts, but building it will help yourself if something goes wrong down the line that you may be able to fix it yourself. If not you then I'm sure you know a computer nerd who'd love to help. For PC geeks, building a new computer is what home interior decorating is to Ryan Seacrest. My brother is getting out of the Marines soon and he wants me to build him one and I'm stoked to finally get him into PCs.
Oh and personally, Crysis' only reason for being is as a stress test for DX10....but I digress...to each his own.
Oh and personally, Crysis' only reason for being is as a stress test for DX10....but I digress...to each his own.
Under a 1000 off the shelf handling Crysis is not going to happen.anNIALLator said:
The reason you build your own, which I would recommend, is because it is cheaper and it let's you push specific points in your system (video / RAM whatever) and allows you to access new technologies that are not standard in off the shelf models or that you cannot find together in an off the shelf model.
1000 is not a good number for a gaming PC. I'd budget 3000 to make sure all your bases are covered, but when it comes to a gaming PC, as much as you possibly can and more. If you are looking for benchmarks, check out off the shelf gaming PC's. A low end off the shelf model should provide you with the kind of budget to build a fairly decent gaming PC, and a low end "gaming PC" is different from a low end "PC" make sure you are clear on that.
where im living theres a shop thats selling gaming computers at £250 with 3gb of RAM and are able to run crysis I really dont get it
I would actually suggest Alienware. Their computers are built to run games but the price in a little high but it's worth it. They actually have some of the better Tech support that I've seen. Their quality overall is actually pretty good too.
http://www.alienware.com/products/aurora-desktop.aspx?SysCode=PC-AURORA-R5&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT Here's an awesome gaming pc but it's more toward the cheap side. but it's what I'm running and I've had no problems.
I guess that it all depends on your opinions of what you like. I like the Alienware computers because they're made for gaming specifically.Vlane said:
Since you're in the UK, I can reccomend http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk, which is where I bought my new computer.
It's a happy median between building one yourself or buying one off the shelves, since you can custom build your own by choosing exactly what components you want, but as they put it together and test it for you, you also get a good warranty.
When you're designing your PC, if you make a mistake like not selecting a powerful enough PSU, or choose 4gigs of ram with a 32-bit OS, then they'll tell you, so that you don't waste money unnecessarily or buy a computer that will crap out quickly because it's overloaded.
I can also say that their customer service is top notch.
It's a happy median between building one yourself or buying one off the shelves, since you can custom build your own by choosing exactly what components you want, but as they put it together and test it for you, you also get a good warranty.
When you're designing your PC, if you make a mistake like not selecting a powerful enough PSU, or choose 4gigs of ram with a 32-bit OS, then they'll tell you, so that you don't waste money unnecessarily or buy a computer that will crap out quickly because it's overloaded.
I can also say that their customer service is top notch.