Looking to upgrade my laptop

[fantasticfrank]

Hello,

Well I know I can't replace the video card on my Dell Inspiron 1545 which is kind of disappointing because this laptop has worked great for me.

Don't really play too many PC games, but I plan on getting Guild Wars 2. I checked the specs on my PC and compared them to the system requirements. Everything checked out except my video card of course. So I'm on the fence on whether to get a new laptop to use for "gaming" or if I should build a PC. Granted, I've never built a PC before, so I don't know where to start besides buying parts, and I'm pretty good with taking things apart/putting them together. I think this could be a good project for me, but since I've never done it before I'm a little skeptical. Does anyone think it's worth it for me to try or would I be getting myself in over my head? And if I had to buy a good laptop without spending over $1000, what would be recommended? Thanks in advanced

 

[mcnumpty23]

for gaming--build a pc

quite honestly its not that difficult

as long as you make sure all the parts are compatible its pretty straight forward if you are even slightly good at practical things

the fun bit starts when you push the power button the 1st time and your new baby doesnt turn on

 

[fantasticfrank]

Well I was looking on newegg for various parts, but I'm not an expert on what parts are compatible with each other. I don't know if you could point me to a list of parts and maybe a how to. I guess my next step will be to google it, but if anyone can throw any helpful hints/insights of what i make sure i do/don't do. I don't work with PCs often, but I do take things apart and put them back together all day at work, so I think I'm up to the challenge.

 

[basch99]

some hints - make sure your cpu and gpu is balanced - dont' cheap out on either especially if your making a gaming build - especially not the gpu. Next, your PSU and motherboard are very important as you want to pick the PSU that can handle your needs according to your case and motherboard. You need a motherboard that hits the sweet spot between features and price - for example if you want SLi/crossfireX, go with at least a two slot PCI-E X16 lanes in it. You need to make sure your motherboard is compatible with the cpu you pick! Also important is to not to pick Biostar because their support is in name only and they are a much smaller company than ASUS, GIGABYTE and the like. I'm also suggesting you pick a case with cable management as that will make things significantly easier for you especially if you don't have a modular power supply. Make sure, your case has adequate cooling prebuilt in relation to price. For example the Cooler Master Elite 430 case looks nice at 50 dollars, but that comes with only one fan, so for maximum air flow, you'll need to spend another 20 dollars to max out your cooling ability. Also, storage is important as you'll need a reliable storage to store your game data - look for at least a 7200 RPM hard drive. Be aware of warranties - some only offer you one and that's a bad sign that something's not up to quality. For the sweet spot in terms of performance, core i5 is always recommended. Ram should be 8GB minimum, get an Solid State Drive if possible to store your favorite games and reduce loading times. That's about all that I can think off the top of my head as an advice to you. Hope this REALLY helps!

 

[fantasticfrank]

Best answer selected by FantasticFrank.