Need Help trying to get a Desktop

Sionnach Rua

I realize this is the wrong way to go about this. But I need some help trying to get or I guess build a gaming desktop. My Laptop just started crapping out on me and well hell I'm having a breakdown cause this was the worst fucking time for it to do this. So sob story over. I'm looking in the budget of about the 900 range. I'm going to start reading the Computer building thread and try to understand this, but to be honest a lot of that stuff still goes over my head. I'm a carpenter's son, and right now I'm trying to learn the business. Going to apologize on how badly this is written right now. I'm having a stress overload.

Okay, so I'm going to try to learn up on the comp building process. I currently own a dell studio xps 1640 laptop. I want to switch over to a gaming desktop. I want to get/make something good. I hope this is possible with a 900 dollar budget. Atm I know next to nothing about making desktops, so being lazy, and also cause I hear Bannon rave about his awesome Alienware, I found that newegg has some refurbished Alienware gaming rigs. Since my knowledge is lacking I don't know if they're good, bad, or just plain too risky.

Could I get some help in trying to figure in what to do in the procurement of a gaming rig? I want to get something that's pretty good now, but has the ability to upgrade.

To anyone that is willing to read through this mess I put up, and willing to give me a hand I genuinely and sincerely thank you.

-Sionnach

TychoCelchuuu

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/163335/computer-build-thread-7970-ghz-edition-proves-amd-can-do-something-right

floobie

What follows is a random, quickly typed mind barf of knowledge. I tried to keep things not too specific, because my knowledge on specific components is likely out of date by now. But, the general concepts should still apply and help you.

It isn't nearly as difficult as you think it is. Unless those refurbished Alienwares are hella cheap, I'd suggest just building your own. If you have any friends who have done it before, recruit them for assistance. Pretty much every component only fits where it should. Truly messing something up is pretty difficult. For specific components, I always suggest optimizing price and performance. Basically, for any given component, buy the one right before the price increase suddenly becomes much greater than the performance increase. Many websites help you figure out precisely what that entails. I used the hell out of Firing Squad back when I built computers. General pointers:

Case: Bigger generally means more room for expansion and easier to work on. I'd suggest spending about 100-150 bucks on something half decent with a few case fans included. Don't get one with a power supply included... the power supply tends to suck. I've had great luck with Antec, personally. If you get something good, you'll have very little need to upgrade it for a long time. I have a friend still using his 10 year old Thermaltake case. There's absolutely no reason for him to get a new one. Just rip out the old components and throw in some new ones every few years as needed. Buying something good once will ultimately save you money, because it will definitely last.

CPU: This may be outdated information, but as I understand it the Intel Core i5 2500k is pretty much perfect for gaming. It's quad core, pretty powerful, and since most games are more GPU dependent, plenty powerful for gaming. It's also quite reasonably priced. Getting something more powerful will probably cost a fair bit more.

RAM: Just get 8gb of DDR3 RAM. Make sure your motherboard can support it. Ideally 2 sticks of 4gb or 1 stick of 8gb. Feel free to go higher... but I'd argue it's overkill right now.

Motherboard: Any Asus or Gigabyte motherboard that can accommodate the CPU and RAM. Go here and play around a bit: http://www.memoryexpress.com/SystemConfig/Default.aspx This is my local computer part store. They have a nice system builder tool. Once you choose the CPU, it'll automatically filter the results to only show compatible motherboards.

GPU: I'm probably totally behind here. But, I've been happy with AMD graphics... the 5850, 6850, 7850, or whatever they're on strikes a nice balance between price and performance. They also don't require really beefy power supplies or a crap load of slots on the motherboard, so that's nice.

Power Supply: Due to personal experience, I'll just say get a Corsair 500 or higher watt power supply. Totally reliable and they seem to be highly rated. Go for modular... this means you can unhook unused cables and not clutter your case up.

Hard Drive: If you want maximum performance and storage, get two drives. Get a decent but smallish (say 60-120gb) SSD as your boot drive. Install the OS and games on there but nothing else. It'll speed everything up dramatically. Make the second drive a regular 1 or 2 TB drive. Keep all your files (music, videos, photos, documents, etc...) on there.

Other: Throw in a DVD drive. Might as well. 30 bucks or so. You can also get a Bluray drive if you're so inclined, but as I understand it software players tend to suck, so it might not be worth it. If you expect to use Wifi, make sure you buy a Wifi adapter card. Again, 50 bucks at most. No big deal.

OS: Not much choice here for gaming. Grab an OEM copy of Windows 7.

Yeah. The computer build thread can probably help you a lot more. But, there's a start.

Griswold

@Sionnach Rua



If you're ok with mail-in rebates, here's a build that clocks in around $920 when all is said and done. You could trim to a 500GB hard drive to save money, or there's a slightly cheaper Zotac 560 Ti on Newegg as well (EVGA has a lifetime warranty).

There are good guides on the 'net about how to build a PC, but the short version is that it's easier than you think it is.

You'll get substantially more bang for your buck at $900 (or at any price) by building your own instead of getting a Dell/Alienware.

hth

Sionnach Rua

Thank you all soooooo much. I apologize again for being that guy who posted prior to reading all he could. I'm still working through it and that uhm I think its called the computer building bible? Varega also gave me some help.