Want to get into PC gaming

[Ronin685]

Hi I'm trying to get into pc gaming and i want to buy a prebuilt system but have no idea what to get. Unfortunately i have a limited budget $1200 is the max i can do.
I have seen adverts in pc gaming magazine ibuypower.com leaning toward the Battalion 101 HEL-80 Notebook stock for $1219. I have had a dell 4400 with no problems and would like to stay clear of Vista (at least for now).

Any links or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[gators1223]

build it yourself you can get more for your money

 

[cutthroat]

What prompted you to get into PC gaming? Are you looking to play a specific game? Laptops aren't particularly good for gaming, the graphics hardware is usually a couple of generations old. Newer models meant for gaming are really expensive.

If you can tell us what games you want to play, we can tell you what hardware you will need.

 

[Ronin685]

Basically it was World of Warcraft. I started to play it on my pos machine and was hooked. But i hopefully would like to play games like battlefield 2142 or LOTRO. Building it myself may be cheap but if i screw it up (which is likely) it would cost more to repair right? Also there is a store in my city called SWS that has prebuilt systems that look good. http://www.shopsws.com/Pre_Built_Systems.htm Multi Option 3 and ill add more ram and a Geforce 7600 or 7900 GT later. This is a tower because the laptops don't look good in my opinion.

 

[cutthroat]

I really didn't like your options with that store. The only system that was close IMO to a gaming PC was the SWS Extreme, but it was short 1GB RAM, and it's power supply is insufficient to upgrade the video card to a DX10 model which you will want to do by next year likely.

It would be better if you can find a store where you can pick ALL of the parts and they put it together for you.

 

[ausch30]

cutthroat, I didn't read your whole post then looked at the link and thought the same thing. That SWS Extreme is the only thing that comes close, good CPU good motherboard but it doesn't specify RAM brand, the GPU is dated and the PSU underpowered. to the OP if you might consider building yourself there are a million resources on line to help you. Just the other day someone went from part selection to complete working system just using these Forums for guidance. If you are concerned and would like the safety of a warrenty I would say your best bet would be to just buy a system from one of the big OEM's. But if you want to try to build there are a lot of people who who will help you along the way.

 

[Ronin685]

The Multi build from sws is merely a starting point the things like the power supply i will replace later my question is for a little under $1000 is it a good starting build. If not and I am to build it myself a little searching came up with these sites. http://www.techspot.com/article/34-core2duo-gaming-under-1000/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/48737/high_performance_gaming_pc_for_under.html
The first site doesn't mention what model tower to use while the second recommended the Cooler Master Centurion 534. I have a Dell Dimension 4400 tower.
Two questions, is it hard to build it for someone who's only computer technical experience was to pop in a ram card. And is this a good build keeping in mind that i can upgrade to better components later?

 

[lmimmfn]

Two questions, is it hard to build it for someone who's only computer technical experience was to pop in a ram card.

Nope, its actually great fun finding the best parts for the cheapest price, then actually building it and when its up and running its seriously a great buzz knowing you did it yourself, especially if you've got groove UV or flashing LED's to show off to your mates when they call around
For $1100 you should be able to build a seriously kick ass rig.

Its great experience to build your own rig, and you will take most of the hit on your first build, i build my first PC last August and ram/gpu and harddrive replacements was the limit of my experience at that stage. But i got that machine up and running in about 5 hours, i built my new machine 2 weeks ago, took maybe 2 hours including a vista install, but of course there can be issues, for this build i originally got an asus p5n32-e sli board that just died, then i got it replaced and the bios got corrupted on that one so i changed to an EVGA board and it has worked a dream, i was just unlucky with the asus boards as im sure theyre not bad boards. If components fail you just send them back simple as that

Decide for yourself if you would like the experience and pride in building your own and if its worthwhile for your future pc gaming to know how to build your own, if that doesnt interest you buy a generic PC, the problem with that is you pay through the nose for the components you want

 

[Surferosa]

Basically it was World of Warcraft. I started to play it on my pos machine and was hooked. But i hopefully would like to play games like battlefield 2142 or LOTRO. Building it myself may be cheap but if i screw it up (which is likely) it would cost more to repair right? Also there is a store in my city called SWS that has prebuilt systems that look good. http://www.shopsws.com/Pre_Built_Systems.htm Multi Option 3 and ill add more ram and a Geforce 7600 or 7900 GT later. This is a tower because the laptops don't look good in my opinion.

WOW is not a game. Its an addiction.

As an ex-WOW addict, the good news is you really dont need a top end rig to feed your habit. 2gb of ram is a must: but going down an expensive dx10 card route is not a necessity. On the other hand, you'd prob be shooting yourself in the foot if you didnt buy a dx10 card now, so I'd have one on the list. Especially since you also mention LOTRO, which has a much higher demands of the gpu, as I understand.

As for build/buy, well youv'e come to the right place. I can give you these reasons for building:

1. Better value for money. For a top end gaming rig, you will save yourself 20-40% or your money depending on who you buy from.

2. Complete customisation. OK, theres a long road of research, knowledge to be gained and opionions to be sought. With self-build, you can end up with a pc built to your exact requirements. Luckily you found the right place. Read up- there are many people that came here with the opinion and have successfully self-built.

3. Satisfaction. I can't stress this enough. Once you succeed (which you will), you will get a massive sense of achievement. You may even get a skill / interest for life.

I can think of these reasons not to build:

1. Money is no object- so your not bothered about saving any.

2. You may not save money 1st time round. You are right- you could kill a motherboard / ram / even cpu & there goes your savings. But, if you reasearch, follow guides & instructions that you find on here- the probability of that happening is reduced massively. Take your time over it, and stop by here and ask questions when you need to.

3. You have no interest in what goes on inside a pc. I can't really do much about this one- if you don't like em, just buy one. Simple as.

 

[coldmast]

heck WOW runs on intel 945 integrated graphics {yuk}

so if you want a laptop you can spend $800 and still get a laptop that will play WOW.

I think StarCraft 2 will force me to buy a new computer

WOW requires
* Processor: 800MHz or higher CPU.
* RAM: 256Mb or more.
* Video: GeForce 2 or better
* Hard Drive Space: 3Gb or more available.
* DirectX 9.0 or above.

you have
DELL DIMENSION 4400; spec:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4400/specs.htm#1103387
Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz
128MB DDR SDRAM
20GB Ultra ATA/100
16MB ATI Rage Ultra 4x

buy a 512 stick of DDR PC2100, and a 8x/4x AGP video card, $100 tops altogether. All you have to due is learn how to pop in a video card .

Have 3GB free on Hard Drive?

 

[Surferosa]

Agreed- the only thing is that if you go down a heavily modded setup using lots of addons (esp Auctioneer), you need 2gb ram or y o u w i l l d i e f r o m l a a g i n I r o n f o r g e.

Anyways, WOW is dead since TBC. I'm a late Eve convert

 

[coldmast]

the HEL-80 has adequate cooling for continuous operation and would be good enough for some mid-range games. Nothing to write home about though.

check out some of those other $1200 rigs on the forum

day 2 of the system builder marathon covers this range sans monitor
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/09/system_builder_marathon/

 

[Ronin685]

Thanks for the help guys. Any sites with lists of components that will be compatible together and in the price range would be helpful. A part by part list of what is installed, that you know will work together, ill copy it exactly. Once again thanks.

 

[alcattle]

Tom's Hardware had a group of articles building 3 budgets with some info. Look at Newegg.com for prices and put together your own list.