Need help building a gaming pc

[MyBad]

If he is running a single vid card I would recommend the EVGA GTX560 TI with 2gb of memory.

 

[tupperware]

If he is running a single vid card I would recommend the EVGA GTX560 TI with 2gb of memory.

Good point, the price difference is very small, too.

But to be honest, if you game below 1920x1200 you'll be fine with the 1GB edition to save a few bucks. Though at this point, I'd take MyBad's advice and go with the 2GB. Similar to my 4gb / 8gb memory comparison above, The GPU I linked you is the 1GB edition but is a combo with a PSU, so you get a $10 combo savings. The difference between the 1GB and 2GB themselves is $20 so about $30 more if you bought the 2GB edition and individually bought the same PSU. I haven't checked to see if the 2GB edition is available in a combo.

Depends on how far you want to stretch your money, TheDallasDon. :laugh2:

This is why I hate building them for myself. I start with a low budget and then say ah what the heck, let's add this this and this too and before you know it I'm $100 or $200 over what I intended.

 

[Dallas]

He called us a bunch of geeks. Im still not helping out in this thread.

Next thing you know there will be another thread after this one from the OP once he gathers all of our years of experience into his so called "kick *** gaming rig"......I can see it now.............


"Hey Geeks...I got a virus....help."


No! Im not helping. :starspin :starspin :starspin




And I also still read your email and am perfectly ok w/ that now.

 

[Wimbo]

A console is a redheaded step child to a real gaming rig.

Not worth the hassle or time or expense. Games are built with consoles in mind, because therein lies the cash cow. True gaming PC's cost a fortune, and take endless tweaking, driver updates, driver downgrades, replacement video cards, etc. IMO, Simply not worth it unless you think most of the gaming fun comes from micro tweaking your PC.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Not worth the hassle or time or expense. Games are built with consoles in mind, because therein lies the cash cow. True gaming PC's cost a fortune, and take endless tweaking, driver updates, driver downgrades, replacement video cards, etc. IMO, Simply not worth it unless you think most of the gaming fun comes from micro tweaking your PC.

No. Really it's FPS that suck on console. I absolutely hate them on console. They also happen to be my favorite type of game.

 

[tupperware]

Not worth the hassle or time or expense. Games are built with consoles in mind, because therein lies the cash cow. True gaming PC's cost a fortune, and take endless tweaking, driver updates, driver downgrades, replacement video cards, etc. IMO, Simply not worth it unless you think most of the gaming fun comes from micro tweaking your PC.

....

No?

Installing drivers requires you to click buttons that say "Okay" and "Next" and "I Agree" this stuff is hardly complex or difficult and only has to be done when you want to upgrade the drivers. It does not at all require endless tweaking.. Not that you cannot do that, but it's not required. Jump in to the video settings of whatever game you're in and set your display details.

That's what is great, options. If you want to run on some crappier settings and get a lot more frames per second, you can. Or, you can opt for the best settings. It's really not even close, maxed out games on the PC demolish consoles.

I'll agree that it is more time consuming to install games and set them up on a PC compared to a Console and consoles do have their benefits, the positives of PC gaming far outweigh the negatives for capable PC users such as myself.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Actually, I have a PS3 and that damn thing ask me to download updates for both the system and the games. That is the same thing as downloading drivers and game patches.

 

[Wimbo]

Actually, I have a PS3 and that damn thing ask me to download updates for both the system and the games. That is the same thing as downloading drivers and game patches.

True, but then it always works. In my nearly 20 years of playing PC games, I have been caught many times with new game releases that my system can not support, requiring me to buy a new video card(s), more memory, etc. NVIDIA and ATI forums are full of people complaining about game crashes. Heck, this is why EA quit making PC titles - there are too many variables.

Telling the OP that he can build a gaming PC for $8-900 is disinginuous - whatever he buys will have a limited shelf life for PC gaming, requiring substantially more money to stay up to date. At least with consoles you know that you have full compatablity for the life of the console version, usually several years. For my money & time, it just makes more sense for me to buy a console.

I totally get it that those looking for the most powerful solution will find it with a PC. I have no problem with that. Just be ready to pay for it. My $0.02.

 

[tupperware]

True, but then it always works. In my nearly 20 years of playing PC games, I have been caught many times with new game releases that my system can not support, requiring me to buy a new video card(s), more memory, etc. NVIDIA and ATI forums are full of people complaining about game crashes. Heck, this is why EA quit making PC titles - there are too many variables.

Telling the OP that he can build a gaming PC for $8-900 is disinginuous - whatever he buys will have a limited shelf life for PC gaming, requiring substantially more money to stay up to date. At least with consoles you know that you have full compatablity for the life of the console version, usually several years. For my money & time, it just makes more sense for me to buy a console.


I totally get it that those looking for the most powerful solution will find it with a PC. I have no problem with that. Just be ready to pay for it. My $0.02.

With a Quad Core processor and a decent chunk of RAM the only thing you'd really HAVE to upgrade to get the most out of more recent games is the graphics card, which typically go for the cost of a new console and you'd need to upgrade every few years. You're forgetting that almost all games allow you to drop the level of graphics detail (along with running lower versions of DirectX) to allow them to run on inferior hardware. Most times, this inferior graphics mode is still better than what a console version provides in terms of quality.

So the only time you have to upgrade is when you want to max out the quality on the latest games and your hardware is more than a year old or so.

The OP specifically asked for the best gaming PC setup and I asked for his budget level. I'd say given that budget, that's about the best system you can build.

 

[YosemiteSam]

True, but then it always works. In my nearly 20 years of playing PC games, I have been caught many times with new game releases that my system can not support, requiring me to buy a new video card(s), more memory, etc. NVIDIA and ATI forums are full of people complaining about game crashes. Heck, this is why EA quit making PC titles - there are too many variables.

Telling the OP that he can build a gaming PC for $8-900 is disinginuous - whatever he buys will have a limited shelf life for PC gaming, requiring substantially more money to stay up to date. At least with consoles you know that you have full compatablity for the life of the console version, usually several years. For my money & time, it just makes more sense for me to buy a console.

I totally get it that those looking for the most powerful solution will find it with a PC. I have no problem with that. Just be ready to pay for it. My $0.02.

EA is still involved in PC games. Battlefield 3 is Dice in conjunction with EA.

Your console has a shelf life too btw. Not to mention if you want a game with real depth, you really have to have a PC game.

BF3 on console doesn't have the depth as BF3 on PC. I believe the Madden games were the same way. I had Madden 2009 on PC and console. I played the single player much more on PC than I did the console. The console was for multiplayer since more people played there.

Finally, games get better faster on PC than console. On console you are stuck with the same hardware for something like 10 years. 10 years ago, my PC was probably 1/20 as fast as the one I have today.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

If you're still in Tyler, I think it would be worth it to hit Microcenter in Dallas on 75. They run the best CPU/motherboard deals I've ever seen, and they don't offer them online -- only in-store.

 

[arglebargle]

EA is still involved in PC games. Battlefield 3 is Dice in conjunction with EA.

Your console has a shelf life too btw. Not to mention if you want a game with real depth, you really have to have a PC game.

BF3 on console doesn't have the depth as BF3 on PC. I believe the Madden games were the same way. I had Madden 2009 on PC and console. I played the single player much more on PC than I did the console. The console was for multiplayer since more people played there.

Finally, games get better faster on PC than console. On console you are stuck with the same hardware for something like 10 years. 10 years ago, my PC was probably 1/20 as fast as the one I have today.

Your smart phone is probably more powerful than your computer of 10 years ago.

I think the consoles are appropriate in certain circumstances. But there are always trade offs. You will have more options on a PC. The console is more of a sure thing. It's PC for me, as the games I like are definitely better on one.

 

[Reality]

True, but then it always works. In my nearly 20 years of playing PC games, I have been caught many times with new game releases that my system can not support, requiring me to buy a new video card(s), more memory, etc. NVIDIA and ATI forums are full of people complaining about game crashes. Heck, this is why EA quit making PC titles - there are too many variables.

Telling the OP that he can build a gaming PC for $8-900 is disinginuous - whatever he buys will have a limited shelf life for PC gaming, requiring substantially more money to stay up to date. At least with consoles you know that you have full compatablity for the life of the console version, usually several years. For my money & time, it just makes more sense for me to buy a console.

I totally get it that those looking for the most powerful solution will find it with a PC. I have no problem with that. Just be ready to pay for it. My $0.02.

When a console dies, you lose access to it for weeks while it is sent into repair. If your PC dies, you get a replacement part in 0-2 days and you're back up and running.

PCs can be upgraded, consoles have to be replaced.

#reality

 

[Tusan_Homichi]

If he is running a single vid card I would recommend the EVGA GTX560 TI with 2gb of memory.

That's what I have. It's great bang for the buck. There is absolutely nothing I play that isn't smooooooth.

 

[Warick]

If you're still in Tyler, I think it would be worth it to hit Microcenter in Dallas on 75. They run the best CPU/motherboard deals I've ever seen, and they don't offer them online -- only in-store.

I'm getting ready to build a new pc, and bought a new motherboard/cpu combo from Microcenter last week. I bought the AMD FX6100 3.3GHz, and got the Asus Sabertooth 990 FX motherboard for $50 off. I also bought 8 gigs of Corsair Vengeance DDR3. I bought an LG Blu Ray writer from Frys for $68.00.

I'm not really into gaming much anymore (except for Diablo 3 if/when it's released), but want something with a little muscle for video editing, etc.

 

[pupulehaole]

Dont mean to highjack your thread but im looking for a ****** Video Card for my computer mine are out of date. Budget of about 250-350$ someone point me in the right direction?

 

[tupperware]

Dont mean to highjack your thread but im looking for a ****** Video Card for my computer mine are out of date. Budget of about 250-350$ someone point me in the right direction?

~$250 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610 (If you game at a higher resolution 1920x1200 or above, you can go for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683)

~$300 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130738

~$350 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

So in order from cheapest to most expensive:

GTX 560 TI $249 (560 TI 2GB edition +$30)
GTX 560 TI 448 Core $289
GTX 570 $339

If you want, you could go the AMD Radeon 6950/6970 route but the majority of my experience is with NVIDIA and it's hard to beat the price/performance. Also, be sure there is enough room in your current case to fit these cards and you have enough power for them. Measure from the back (Where the various PCI/PCI-E etc slots) across to the HD cage or wherever your PCI-E slot is, measure across that to check how much room you have.

GTX 560 = 9 in
GTX 570 = 10.5 in


Here are some benchmark pictures:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/4/316840/original/OC Battlefield.png

http://media.bestofmicro.com/K/9/316953/original/M2033 1920.png

Taken from here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-ti-448-core-benchmark,3082.html

 

[pupulehaole]

~$250 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610 (If you game at a higher resolution 1920x1200 or above, you can go for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683)

~$300 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130738

~$350 Go for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

So in order from cheapest to most expensive:

GTX 560 TI $249 (560 TI 2GB edition +$30)
GTX 560 TI 448 Core $289
GTX 570 $339

If you want, you could go the AMD Radeon 6950/6970 route but the majority of my experience is with NVIDIA and it's hard to beat the price/performance. Also, be sure there is enough room in your current case to fit these cards and you have enough power for them. Measure from the back (Where the various PCI/PCI-E etc slots) across to the HD cage or wherever your PCI-E slot is, measure across that to check how much room you have.

GTX 560 = 9 in
GTX 570 = 10.5 in


Here are some benchmark pictures:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/4/316840/original/OC Battlefield.png

http://media.bestofmicro.com/K/9/316953/original/M2033 1920.png

Taken from here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-560-ti-448-core-benchmark,3082.html

Thx you sir for the information, I'll have to look this stuff up. Right now I'm on my phone I just want something that's top notch and will run my SWTOR a peak settings.