How much is a good gaming PC?

[chuckman1]

I really want to get a gaming pc howecver don't really know how to build one.
I currently have NO gaming capabilites with my pc, not even Half Life 1 (etc.).
Please give me recommendations, a price, and possibly links.
Post suggestions anywhere from ok gaming pc to great gaming pc.
Links would be appreciated and I would appreciate if you could give me multiple suggestions.
Thank you.
(Google yielded no results I truely understood)

 

[Nova5]

What's your budget, exactly? Without that info, no one can really give you any useful advice. Just random stabs in the dark.

 

[Eleuthera]

You say your current PC has no gaming capabilities at all, but you do have a PC?

When I built my current system (about a year and a half ago) it came to a total of around 1100 Euros (1400-1500 US$ I think), but that was including a monitor (~150E) and Windows (~110E) so just the system (you might be able to salvage a few more bits from your old system (CDRom, Harddrive)) somewhere around 850-900 Euros for an above average system that'll last you at least 3 years without needing upgrades.

I can link you to the Dutch site where I got mine, but that's probably not going to help you much. Premade systems are more expensive generally for the same quality.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Honestly the sky is the limit, but... I paid about $1300 for mine four years ago and am just now needing to start replacing things. I have a buddy who probably spends twice that much on his PC every year. So it really just depends on your budget and how important it is to you ahaving the best of the best.

 

[Killermud]

There are many manufacturers who specialise in Gaming PCs for example : Alienware, LanSlide and Origin PCs to name a few, but seriously if you want to get the most for your money, you should build it yourself. I spent ~£750-850 ($1200) for my PC and monitor last year, which can run any game on highest setting and I probably wont need to upgrade it for another 2-3 years. I would recommend some hardware websites, but sadly they are all UK websites so you wouldnt be able to use them as your in the USA.

 

[chuckman1]

I mean I'd need a completely new computer and lets set the cap at about $800 although less is better.
About how good would things like these be and how do they compare?
PROCESSOR 1 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E6700(3.20GHz,2MB L2,1066MHz)
PROCESSOR 2 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E5700(3.0GHz,2MB L2,800MHz)
MEMORY 1(Not HDD)6GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMS
Memory 2 4GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMs
The first choice is $630 and comes with a 19" HD monitor.
The second choice is $420 and doesn't come with a monitor.

 

[Snork Maiden]

Just to back up the prices listed already: I paid £450ish for mine, but poached a lot of stuff like HDD, monitor, CD drive and even some RAM from my old PC a couple years ago. I'll throw my hat in the £600-700 "get everything I need" ring.

 

[Killermud]

I mean I'd need a completely new computer and lets set the cap at about $800 although less is better.
About how good would things like these be and how do they compare?
PROCESSOR 1 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E6700(3.20GHz,2MB L2,1066MHz)
PROCESSOR 2 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E5700(3.0GHz,2MB L2,800MHz)
MEMORY 1(Not HDD)6GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMS
Memory 2 4GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMs
The first choice is $630 and comes with a 19" HD monitor.
The second choice is $420 and doesn't come with a monitor.

The processors you have listed are pretty similar except the E6700 is slight faster, with a slightly faster cache speed(dont really need to worry about that), the memory again looks the same except the first example has an extra 2GB of space, but you have not given us the RAM Speed or the latency timings so im guessing they are the same.

These 2 components are not the only things you should be worried about when it comes to PC gaming, a big factor is graphics cards, without one you will be playing most games on the lowest setting as the basic graphics chip in the Mobo will not be good enough for newest games, id recommend either something from the Nvidia 400 series or something from the ATI radeon 5800/5700 series. You should also look into what Motherboard you will be getting and also a decent power supply cant hurt.

 

[Nova5]

I mean I'd need a completely new computer and lets set the cap at about $800 although less is better.
About how good would things like these be and how do they compare?
PROCESSOR 1 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E6700(3.20GHz,2MB L2,1066MHz)
PROCESSOR 2 Intel® Pentium® dual-core E5700(3.0GHz,2MB L2,800MHz)
MEMORY 1(Not HDD)6GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMS
Memory 2 4GB DDR3 SDRAM - 4 DIMMs
The first choice is $630 and comes with a 19" HD monitor.
The second choice is $420 and doesn't come with a monitor.

The processors you have listed are pretty similar except the E6700 is slight faster, with a slightly faster cache speed(dont really need to worry about that), the memory again looks the same except the first example has an extra 2GB of space, but you have not given us the RAM Speed or the latency timings so im guessing they are the same.

These 2 components are not the only things you should be worried about when it comes to PC gaming, a big factor is graphics cards, without one you will be playing most games on the lowest setting as the basic graphics chip in the Mobo will not be good enough for newest games, id recommend either something from the Nvidia 400 series or something from the ATI radeon 5800/5700 series. You should also look into what Motherboard you will be getting and also a decent power supply cant hurt.

Seconded. The graphics card (or integrated GPU, as the case may be) will be the do-or-die for a good gaming rig. Unfortunately, I'm not that up to date on lower-price-range cards these days, so I don't have much advice to offer. I can say that nVidia would be the horse to bet on these days, if only from a reliability standpoint.

 

[Hader]

I wouldn't see $800 getting you a good gaming computer that will last you long enough. If you want something that will be worth the money and pay it back with how long it will last, I would say a minimum of $1000 is necessary.

I currently have a Toshiba Qosmio X505 laptop that I got for $1500 ($1400 on sale though). I love it, and I take good care of it, and with its specs it should last me quite a while from now.

 

[Nova5]

I wouldn't see $800 getting you a good gaming computer that will last you long enough. If you want something that will be worth the money and pay it back with how long it will last, I would say a minimum of $1000 is necessary.

I currently have a Toshiba Qosmio X505 laptop that I got for $1500 ($1400 on sale though). I love it, and I take good care of it, and with its specs it should last me quite a while from now.

The Qosmio line's pretty awesome. I had an X305 for a couple of years, and it was a damn fine machine. Ended up trading it in for a tower, after I left my last job that required a lot of moving about. I could see purchasing another in the future.

 

[Hader]

The Qosmio line's pretty awesome. I had an X305 for a couple of years, and it was a damn fine machine. Ended up trading it in for a tower, after I left my last job that required a lot of moving about. I could see purchasing another in the future.

It is definitely a good one for me, seeing as I do move around quite a bit. Even if I didn't though, I would still have it, it's a fine gaming laptop for it's price. I love it to death.

 

[chuckman1]

About how much would one with the power of say an XBOX 360 cost?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

About how much would one with the power of say an XBOX 360 cost?

The computational power or the gaming power?

There's a huge difference between the two.

 

[chuckman1]

About how much would one with the power of say an XBOX 360 cost?

The computational power or the gaming power?

There's a huge difference between the two.

Umm I don't understand can you tell me what you mean by computational power and gaming power.
I know I want gaming power but I'm not sure what you mean.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

About how much would one with the power of say an XBOX 360 cost?

The computational power or the gaming power?

There's a huge difference between the two.

Umm I don't understand can you tell me what you mean by computational power and gaming power.
I know I want gaming power but I'm not sure what you mean.

To be blunt, a PC running the same hardware as a 360 would barely qualify as an entry level computer let alone a gaming PC. At my place a PC with that sort of low end hardware would qualify it as a doorstop or impromptu coffeetable.

However, 360s do more with less, so to speak, because it's operating system is streamline toward only handling games. Also console games are much better optimised than PC games most of the time as the PCs tend to have more power for developers to fall back on rather than working within the confines of a console and having to come up with efficient code instead.

What I'm asking is do you want a computer that uses the same sort of hardware as a 360 or one that will give you a comparable gaming experience to a 360?

 

[chuckman1]

snip

A compareable gaming experience.
Better hardware couldn't hurt.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

snip

A compareable gaming experience.
Better hardware couldn't hurt.

So you're looking for something that will play most current games at medium graphics settings as the baseline minimum. For $800 that's doable even including monitor, keyboard, etc... It won't impress hardware whores or win you any "my ePeen is massive" contests but you'll be able to have a decent-to-good gaming experience with it. If you make the $800 for the case and guts alone then you can build a much better rig.

 

[chuckman1]

[quote="RhombusHatesYou" post="538.257643.9737232.snip[/quote]
Ya I already have a pretty good widescreen monitor that's probably 720p.
It's widescreen and I can definately save money by not buying a monitor huh?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

It's widescreen and I can definately save money by not buying a monitor huh?

Yep. Depending on where you live, cutting out the cost of a monitor can let you get a couple of better parts, such as higher performance models of the CPU and/or GPU, than you'd otherwise be able to afford.