Allright, so for uni this year I bought a Macbook Pro, which is terrible for gaming and silly me thouhgt "It's allright I won't use it for games." While Valve titles are fun and all, I really want to get into better PC gaming. The budget is around $2000 give or take, and I want something that will run the most advanced titles out today e.g. The Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 and comparable graphics levels. My understanding of hardware is fairly limited beyond that I need as many and as powerful processors/fans as I can get. I also plan on assembling it myself. So basically I'm asking what parts I should be looking at buying
tl;dr I'm building a new gaming console trying to keep the price at around $2000 hit me with your ideas.
I'm not sure about the hottest parts as of right now, as my monster-of-a-computer is a bit older. However, I can tell you that you probably don't need even $2000 to get a high-end computer. In fact you can keep your budget around 1600 or so. My (self-assembled) computer ended up costing about that much and I can play most every game with the highest settings.
Also, regarding your comment about hardware: You'll need to invest in a good graphics card too. I myself use GeForce GTX580, which is quite awesome one. Also, if you got the money for it, try to get SSD hard drive, it makes everything a whole lot faster. I'd recommend a 100 gig-ish SSD hard drive and a 1 tera second hardrive to store your images, music, movies and whatnots on.
Try some one like ibuypower [http://www.ibuypower.com/] or comparable, since you don't know how to do it your self.
on the parts front these are just equivalent to give a base line.
i5 2500. 3.3 ghz quad core that is a ripper performance wise.
4 to 8 gb (giga bytes) of system memory, speed isn't terribly important here since it's so fast now saturating it pretty damn unlikely.
Graphics card: Nvida 560 ti/ATi 6850 as a baseline if you want performance, they are at the lower end price wise, but don't really bother going lower.
primary HDD: would recommend at least a vertex 2 60gb minimum, this is just for your operating system and to make the system boot fast and nothing is faster then a SSD, if you can afford a 120 gb version, go for it since then you have space for your main game at the time which will kill load times.
Storage: this is where you go mechanical, since space is massively cheaper on the normal HDD (hard disk drive) you might even want to go external with this since you have a laptop too.
monitor: 24 incher at 1920x1080 native resolution I like iiyama but it's what you can get really and none of them are horrible since the tech is pretty mature at this point.
You can probably just buy that + a Radeon HD 6850 for $149, and you'll have your gaming PC for not even $400.
If you're confident, you can even do a core unlock on that Athlon II x3, or overclock the thing.
Since you're a Uni student, I would assume that you have a way to install Win7 for free. Most colleges offer students a large discount or a MSDN subscription with a site-licensed product key.
If you have to pay for XP install discs or Win7 install discs, it'll cost another $100 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986]or so, but the beef of your cost will probably be the GPU. Motherboard/CPU/RAM can usually be found in a combo deal, sometimes partnered with a case or PSU.
Either way, even if you purchased the parts individually and not as part of the "supercombo" here, it wouldn't even be 1/3rd of your budget. $500-$700 would be plenty to build something from scratch, even less if you have a decent case, power supply, or hard drive from a previous machine.
For more comprehensive analysis, definitely look up benchmarks - do some research if you have the time - look at hwcompare.com, look at tomshardware, etc.
I am NOT including peripherals in this price. If you're looking for "gaming-grade" keyboards, mice, headsets, speakers, mousepads, whatever, those are separate, but you can get some pretty good deals.
I basically agree with you and the links to the NewEgg bundles is a good way to get all you need, but this is some one that bought a mac book pro, they aren't good on value.
Better to point them in the least complicated direction than the most.
Allright, so for uni this year I bought a Macbook Pro, which is terrible for gaming and silly me thouhgt "It's allright I won't use it for games." While Valve titles are fun and all, I really want to get into better PC gaming. The budget is around $2000 give or take, and I want something that will run the most advanced titles out today e.g. The Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 and comparable graphics levels. My understanding of hardware is fairly limited beyond that I need as many and as powerful processors/fans as I can get. I also plan on assembling it myself. So basically I'm asking what parts I should be looking at buying
tl;dr I'm building a new gaming console trying to keep the price at around $2000 hit me with your ideas.
item number 230603872676
it's a INTEL Core i7 2600 3.4GHz DESKTOP COMPUTER PC 1TB HDD, 8GB of ram for $650
you can get a 580 with it for an extra $500 but you will have to talk with them (in wich case you will need to upgrade the power supply, about an extra $80)
and a 24inch full HD led monitor for $190 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230605329448#ht_839wt_1141
total cost is less than $1500 (I think, have not added it up)
that is a very capable gaming machine, if you select agility 3 hdd
you really cant go wrong selecting those components, and if you want more graphics horsepower just slap another card in it
i'm not 100% on eu-us rates but it's WELL within your budget i know that much.
you could get those components locally fairly easily, i don't think oc ship's to the us
you'd be able to buy a load of games to go with it too. maybe some peripherals as well
I basically agree with you and the links to the NewEgg bundles is a good way to get all you need, but this is some one that bought a mac book pro, they aren't good on value.
Better to point them in the least complicated direction than the most.
Actually the Macbook Pro was for uni and primarily running Pro Tools and Logic etc. and compatibility with the Mac's at uni I always knew it was going to be terrible for games I just thought I'd use my Xbox and not the computer. Also My cousin and one of my friends were telling me about gaming pc's the built (both can run the Witcher 2 on mid-high graphics settings for around $1500, so $2000 seems completely reasonable to me.
Do you want to spend 2000 dollars because you feel like actually using some of the cash in your money swimming pool, or are you suck in the 90s and STILL believe you HAVE to spend thousands of dollars on a gaming PC... failing to realize you can easily get an incredibly powerful rig for under 1000 dollars, or perhaps even under 600 if you play your cards right?
Do you want to spend 2000 dollars because you feel like actually using some of the cash in your money swimming pool, or are you suck in the 90s and STILL believe you HAVE to spend thousands of dollars on a gaming PC... failing to realize you can easily get an incredibly powerful rig for under 1000 dollars, or perhaps even under 600 if you play your cards right?
Can you hold out until Bulldozer launches (September) or until Intel's 2011 chips launch (officially Q4 2011 which is very soon)?
My machine (which is over specced I'll admit) cost about $1000 Australian (without peripherals, M+KB, Monitor, Printer, Scanner, Wheel/Pedals, Joystick and 5.1 sound) and we have terrible prices on components. The prices have dropped on the components I chose (especially the GTX 580, I paid too much) and my machine runs the Witcher 2 on high settings.
Can you hold out until Bulldozer launches (September) or until Intel's 2011 chips launch (officially Q4 2011 which is very soon)?
My machine (which is over specced I'll admit) cost about $1000 Australian (without peripherals, M+KB, Monitor, Printer, Scanner, Wheel/Pedals, Joystick and 5.1 sound) and we have terrible prices on components. The prices have dropped on the components I chose (especially the GTX 580, I paid too much) and my machine runs the Witcher 2 on high settings.
Staticice [www.staticice.com.au] is a cool searchable database of tech prices from a bunch of Australian retailers.
Although I bought my parts from a combination of:
MSY (poor service and I've heard they have a dodgy policy on returns, but usually the cheapest prices).
Computer Parts Land aka CPL (They have a big ad in the Green Guide of The Age, that is also available as a PDF on their website, I don't think they show up in Staticice).
Centrecom, (I live around the corner from a major Centrecom shop, sometimes convenience beats price).
PC Case Gear aka PCCG (Odds and ends like fans).
Scorptec, (I like the customer service they offer in store, and they usually have a good range of item in stock).
These are all Melbourne based (except MSY) but they all have online sales.
I also re-used a lightly modified Antec P-193 case that I already had, but there are good quality cheap cases on the market.
Staticice [www.staticice.com.au] is a cool searchable database of tech prices from a bunch of Australian retailers.
Although I bought my parts from a combination of:
MSY (poor service and I've heard they have a dodgy policy on returns, but usually the cheapest prices).
Computer Parts Land aka CPL (They have a big ad in the Green Guide of The Age, that is also available as a PDF on their website, I don't think they show up in Staticice).
Centrecom, (I live around the corner from a major Centrecom shop, sometimes convenience beats price).
PC Case Gear aka PCCG (Odds and ends like fans).
Scorptec, (I like the customer service they offer in store, and they usually have a good range of item in stock).
These are all Melbourne based (except MSY) but they all have online sales.
I also re-used a lightly modified Antec P-193 case that I already had, but there are good quality cheap cases on the market.
AMD's next generation of processors (Bulldozer) is coming out very soon and Intel is launching new high-end processors later this year.
Wait for those. Current high-end processors (the kind that go in $2000 PCs) are outdated and you should definitely wait for the next generation of processors and chipsets. It's only a matter of weeks.
$2000 is a hefty sum and will buy you the kind of number cruncher you need for multi-monitor gaming.
Unless you are into that, consider spending a bit less (like $1500) and spending the money on a good display instead. All those graphics details are pointless on a 24" 1080p display.
I doubt you will come back to read this but the 6750m is the faster graphics card option for the macbook pro 15inch and 17inch. and although it is no beast it does allow you to play modern games at at least medium settings smoothly (most on high because they are console ports)
having said that I would if I were you go with my prevues recommendation (core i7 desktop with gtx580) because it should be able to max all games at 1920x1080
Allright, so for uni this year I bought a Macbook Pro, which is terrible for gaming and silly me thouhgt "It's allright I won't use it for games." While Valve titles are fun and all, I really want to get into better PC gaming. The budget is around $2000 give or take, and I want something that will run the most advanced titles out today e.g. The Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 and comparable graphics levels. My understanding of hardware is fairly limited beyond that I need as many and as powerful processors/fans as I can get. I also plan on assembling it myself. So basically I'm asking what parts I should be looking at buying
tl;dr I'm building a new gaming console trying to keep the price at around $2000 hit me with your ideas.
Look you really don't need to spend 2000 bucks on a new computer if you want to play everything on ultra-high. Shop around a bit and you'll be able to do it for 1200 bucks(including 70 bucks on aftermarket cooling) like i did. Here's my rig which runs everything at 60fps+ when it's overclocked slightly.
Prices are listed in pounds sterling. No pound sings due to the Escapist no liking them for some reason.
Intel i5 2500K : 160 (This can safely and easily be overclocked to 4.0ghz)
ViewSonic 24inch : 150
Geforce GTX 560 : 150
MSI P67A0-C45 : 87
Suza NeoXblade : 57
OCZ 600W ModXStream : 56
Samsung 1TB : 46
Corsair 1600mhz 8GB RAM : 46
Creative Inspire T10 Speakers : 37
CPU Cooler : 20
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse : 20
DVD Read/Writer : 16.00
I doubt you will come back to read this but the 6750m is the faster graphics card option for the macbook pro 15inch and 17inch. and although it is no beast it does allow you to play modern games at at least medium settings smoothly (most on high because they are console ports)
having said that I would if I were you go with my prevues recommendation (core i7 desktop with gtx580) because it should be able to max all games at 1920x1080
Ahk, I was looking at the Mac more as a sound machine than a games machine and didn't think I'd play games on it, I've experimented with wrappers and boot camp but it's just too much of a hassle to get working so I've decided to go all out.
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