I’m a Mac gamer, which means I end up hearing the following quite a bit:
“zomg, as if it wasn’t lame enough that you play WoW, you play it on a Mac which means you suck even that much more.”
Yes. Well. I’ve decided that I need to broaden my horizons a little and try some other games, but the problem is that my MacBook Pro is running low on space, so I don’t really feel like partitioning my hard drive to run Bootcamp for games that only run on Windows. Therefore, I need to decide what to do:
1. Buy a new Mac, install Bootcamp / Windows
2. Buy a PC
3. Build a gaming PC
Right now I’m leaning towards the “build a PC” side of things, but my experience in that area is weak. What is the best gear (without going into insane, $3000-priced things)? What are the best sites to buy from? Help me out, this copy of Tabula Rasa isn’t getting any younger.
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94 Responses for "I need a gaming PC"
Super Terrific Happy Fun Gaming Machine: http://www.amazon.com/Build-extreme-gaming-under-bucks/lm/R1Q3B0T04RD5SF
V,
I built a “future-proof” gaming PC about two or three years ago and it still holds up today.
Personally, I like ASUS motherboards because of their flexibility and features along with their low cost.
For a videocard, I teeter between ATI and nVidia and today I’m on the nVidia side. I’ve had a dual 7800 GT SLIs running for about two years now and never had an issue.
Onboard sound may be good enough, but if not I’d stick with a Creative Soundblaster.
For a keyboard, there’s no comparison to the Logitech G15. Best gaming keyboard ever.
I use a Logitech MX-510 WIRED mouse. I despise wireless mice. They run out of batteries at crucial times and I don’t like how there’s a small delay when waking from sleep.
Intel or AMD? Well, you can go either way.
Some would argue that Corsair RAM is the best, but it depends on how badass of a machine you’re going to build. There are cheaper alternatives out there that will give you good performance if you’re not going to push your machine too hard.
I don’t do watercooling because it’s not necessary for me.
Fast and reliable hard drives are a must because you can load your maps/data faster. I use WD and they never failed on me.
To buy the stuff, newegg.com but I’m sure you can get good deals at Fry’s, and it’s more convenient.
And of course, a nice 24″ Dell monitor.
I don’t consider myself an expert, but I’ve fumbled through building my last two computers using parts from newegg.com. Selection was good and shipping was hassle free.
Assuming your MacBook Pro is full courtesy of your iTunes library I’d recommend shifting all of that stuff onto an external HD (or an old iPod) to free up space. Worked for me, and the PC games I’m playing right now are running real nice on the MacBook Pro.
Honestly, IMO, it really is not worth building a PC any longer unless you are really into the process. I am not a huge gamer by any means, but you can play most games well on a cheap PC these days. Just buy a low-end dual-core Dell PC, put XP on it, buy a 8600 GTS video card (or better) and bump up the ram to at least 2GB and you’ll be fine. I used to play Battlefield on this setup with the settings at the highest level.
Enjoy your games! Wish I had time to do the same…
Mark
If you’re new to building I’d recommend you start with a buyer’s guide. Ars Technica has a great feature every couple of months that tells you what to buy in order to get the most bang for your buck at three different price levels:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200708.ars
Pick one, order it up at New Egg and then find a guide for putting it all together. Ars has a good one for that, too. But really, putting it together is the easy part. It’s buying the components that gets tough if you try to research on your own.
Good luck! Post some pics of your build when you get to that stage.
I was in this situation recently, and I bought an Xbox 360 instead of a top-of-the-line Mac.
But I know that’s not the solution you need here.
Here’s the thing, though. If you buy a really nice Mac (or just upgrade your Mac’s hard drive) you’ll only need one system. As soon as you build a PC, you’ve got two separate systems to manage, you need space for two systems, etc. There’s something to be said about having only one.
If you’re just using your Mac for work, don’t sweat. I’ve got a G5 still and it works fine for work reasons.
If you want to build your own, mad props. It’s a lot of fun (it’s what I do) but being an intern at PCG an getting help from the gents at MaxPC helped me out. Downside is if something goes totally wrong you’ll get no support. If you do want to buy a premade PC check out ibuypower.com (cheap, slick systems). They do take a while to get out the door though.
http://www.tigerdirect.com
is a great place to buy components,
also http://www.newegg.com
Try this Arstechnica guide, aptly titled “Building the perfect beast.” They have 3 builds available: Budget Box, Hot Rod, and the God Box.
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200708.ars
I am (was) a pc gamer, that bought my first iMac (24″) in March. I have been desperately waiting for new releases on the mac platform. They are slow, but they are coming.
I recently went through the following experience. I had a new video card, and just wanted to upgrade my motherboard and cpu. So I broke my own cardinal rule and bought a bundled deal at an electronics store with the initials “F R Y s” (first mistake). I even bought a fresh hard drive. Came home tried to install vista, no luck. Ended up going to PC club, buying a namebrand motherboard, new memory (same chip). Tried to install vista, no luck. Bought another hard drive, a new video card. No luck. Finally had PC club build me a whole new gaming rig and try to install vista. It turns out my vista dvd had a tiny scratch somewhere. Had to buy another copy of vista and it works great. This is the type of headache I thought I was done with when I switched over to a mac (no problems there).
Bottom line of my experience, having PC Club assemble and test my machine more that made up for the hours of stress and headaches I had from a problem I would never had caught. I got a decent gaming rig (call of duty 4 smokes on it) for about $700 with a new vista cd. Hope this rambling message helps.
Think about giving this a go.
http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-under-800-321913.php
That way you get the best of both. A new PC cheaper than a Mac but still get to use Leopard.
You could build a decent gaming rig for £800 i reckon. Wont blow the pants off top amazing spec but will get you something that would play pretty much all games.
Prob something like a C2D 6600,4 Gb Ram, 500 Gb Hd, GeForce 8600
Chris
V, I know that a popular website for that in the US is http://www.newegg.com I think that your own Roger Chang bought some stuff there…
Actually that’s another thing you could try. Ask Roger C and Dan from PC Gamer, they probably know all about this.
All I can say is that I too feel like I need a PC for gaming…
I built my folks a couple of PCs with stuff bought from geeks.com. Those work out pretty good.
Adam over at Lifehacker put together a nice setup for a bit over $800 that would work nicely.
http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/build-a-hackintosh-mac-for-under-800-321913.php
I’d just replace that geforce 7300 with an 8800 and, unless you want an “extreme” $3000 machine, that should work nicely. If you want to go “extreme”, Fats’ example above would work.
Here’s what ya need
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz
at least 2GB DDR2 800Mhz
eVGA 680i SLI motherboard
(2) 512MB 8800GT for SLI
I really like the CoolerMaster RC-690 case. It’s a mid-tower design that has plenty of room for the pair of 8800GT’s ..The psu sits down in the bottom ..also has an e-sata port at the top with 2 usb2.0 ports. .Last feature I’ll mention here is one that will help in cooling a lot .. you can fit either 2 120mm or 2 140mm fans in the inside top. Very Nice. Hope this helps your decision making!!
Option 1 will save you cuts on your fingers from cheap PC case construction.
I used to Bootcamp into my MBP to play HL2. It was fine. Now with my iMac 24″, I played Episode 2 at full 1920 pixel goodness. Enough horses for some serious pwnage. But that’s me. I’d buy an Xbox 360 before I would build a gaming PC…
I’m assuming you’re familiar with building a machine, so I’d probably go that route if I were you. It’s cheaper. I myself am toying with the idea of building a rig for Crysis since mine is getting outdated.
You’ll probably do best to build it around a Core 2 Quad or Extreme which are obviously more expensive than their AMD counterparts (but also out-perform them). As far as a video card goes I’m an Nvidia guy so I’d be getting a GeForce 8800GTS at least. I generally get MSI mobos just because that’s what I’m most used to and have had the most luck with, and then max it out with 2+ gigs of the fastest RAM you can get.
Of course this is for a more heavy duty rig, if you’re only interested in WoW and Tabula Rasa you could get off significantly easier. Newegg.com is your friend. =)
forgot to mention the psu … Antec 1000W … plenty of room and plenty of power for future expansion. Sorry for the double post. Everything I mentioned in this post and my other one can be found at http://www.newegg.com
I second the vote for NewEgg. They have great hardware, reasonable prices and fast shipping. I was intimidated the first time I built a PC, but it really isn’t that difficult. Really the hardest part is deciding which components you want, but the building is pretty straightforward.
What about buying a Firewire hard drive and using it strictly as a Boot Camp volume?
I’d say buy a new Mac and install bootcamp. Best of both worlds. I think Robert Scoble once said Patrick mentioned WoW ran faster on XP running in Parallels, don’t know though.
So uh Mizz Belmont, don’t you date RYAN BLOCK!!?!?!
I’m sure asking him wouldn’t hurt! ;D
For info:
http://www.pcstats.com/ShoppingList.cfm
Buy from:
http://www.newegg.com
I have a 17″ MacBook Pro and a home built Vista Box. I dont like having two machines. I also travel and want to game on the road. So what I did was buy a 250GB drive from NewEgg and upgraded my Mac. Now I have plenty of space on my notebook to play with.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136123
I have a 24″ iMac, Wii and Xbox360. Which is all you really need. The only game I won’t be able to play is Crysis. Eh, it’ll come out on consoles (mark my words).
Just out today, Id get the new ATI Radeon HD 3850 video Card. But, Id wait for the new 45nm Intel chips to come out after Christmas. As for a supplier I like tigerdirect.com for the best prices.
Newegg.com all the way…here’s the basics I’d recommend (really though let your budget determine the system):
* Core 2 E6750
* 2GB RAM Corsair XMS2
* XP (not Vista unless you wanna bust out the money for 4GB of RAM)
* GeForce 8800 GTS (I dunno I never really like ATI’s drivers personally)
* Make sure you get a quality power supply (look for active power factor correction)
* Motherboards are a pickle for sure, I haven’t found one brand or model I love and trust but MSI, Asus, or Gigabyte are probably the top three companies I can think of…
* If you want a badass case I really like the Thermaltake Shark
I’m going to guess you could get a pretty decent system for $1200-1500.
Meh. Buy a cheap dual processor refurbished computer with Vista preloaded, buy an extra 2 gigs of ram for peanuts for 3 gigs total. Pick up a cheap, but decent performance Video Card for $130 or so (Nvidia 8600).
In a year or so, upgrade the power supply and video card to the Nvidia 8800 when it gets cheaper.
Voila.
Not that you need any more advice on this one, but a couple months ago I put together a gaming rig for under a grand that’s run everything I want it to so far:
http://tinyurl.com/ywfozv
I’d never built my own rig from scratch before, but I had someone who knew what they were doing kind of prod me in the right direction. It’s not that difficult - the hardest thing is putting the CPU onto the motherboard.
I’d recommend scouring the following for the best combination of components:
Weekend Fry’s Electronics Ads
Newegg.com
Buy.com
TigerDirect.com
You’re going to want a DX10 graphics card, which pretty much means nVidia. The 8600GT is on the cheap and in my tests gets approximately half the framerate of the 8800GTX in big, stressful games (but we’re still talking 40fps).
At this point you also want a quad-core processor, but I’d take an intel Dual-core before I took an AMD quad-core.
Feel free to hit me up with specific questions.
My vote is for #2 - building a machine is fun, but Im pretty sure that these days it will end up being more expensive than getting a new machine from DELL or whomever you prefer. I think my building days are over, unless its for a real specialized machine, like a media-center box where I want a specific case design.
There are a lot of ways to approach this. Either way you cannot really go wrong if you put in a little bit of research time.
What i believe is a good place to start besides Googling (computer magazine sites, computer websites, computer related articles and forums), is if i am out of the loop or new to something, is check up on what “professionals” utilize. Use them as a guide. Think of it like a cheat-sheet if anything. In this case i would visit some of the big computer resellers/manufacturers and see what are the common list of parts they are putting into a build computer depending on, 1), per budget, and 2), what the computer is for.
Dell.com is a good industry “standard”. Another company that i have found to be really helpful is: http://www.pugetsystems.com/ . Sheepishly: A couple of months ago I even called in and asked for advice, under false pretenses, they were spot-on and nice about it. :”)
The next step after gauging and using manufacturers as a measuring stick, I would stop by hardware analysis websites and brush up with what the “experts” recommend. Two sites that I have found to be real solid over the years are: http://www.anandtech.com/guides/ and http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/index.html . They provide up-to-date articles on building systems per build and/or need. Poke around!
When you have complied a list of parts, I would check out this forum thread on slickdeals, http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=553826 , and see if any of the parts that you want is a slick-deal!
If you are concerned with the integrity of a computer (reseller) website– if they seem shady or are unknown to you — checkout: http://www.resellerratings.com. Resellerratings has a comprehensive customer review compilation on a majority of websites out on the web that deals in basically any transaction. Just throw in an url into the “search” and itll tell you first hand experience of customers that have dealt with the website–besides comments they have an overall score and a recent 6 month score rating. No real need to throw caution into the wind even if the price of a part is enticing
It might seem a bit daunting, and it might seem as though there are a lot of “literature” to skim through, but it isn’t, really. I would like to think of the process in itself as rewarding as much as the end result!
Best regards with building your own (gaming) PC.
p/s.: WinXP(Pro) is the OS to go with. Vista still has some ways to go. service pack 3 is near the pipeline for WinXP as well–or so i have heard.
p/s.: This goes without saying, but the search feature on a lot of websites is everyone’s best friend—move over Labrador~
p/s.: Last but not least, there is always google!
Ask Jason Calacanis to buy you a wicked fast gaming PC!
well newegg.com is the best(and possibly the most well known)
now you have 2 IMPORTANT choices when it comes to getting a gaming PC, build or buy.
each has their pros and cons but i suggest building a gaming pc seeing as how expensive they can get if u buy them(the hp black bird goes for $4000-$6500). if you’re having trouble or ur just a little clueless on where to start/what to do, call one of your friends at CNEt surely someone there will know the inns and outs of building a pc(computer shopper magazine(owned by cnet) has an article on building pc every couple of months)
just a few specs you may want to consider
motherboard- this is the absolute first item you have to buy because everything else has to work with it(or else its gonna be a nightmare)
operating system - sooner or later you will have to get vista so go vista Home premium or Ultamate.
ram- 2 gigs with at least 800MHZ (preferably 1066 if you can afford it)
CPU- oh the dilemma, AMD or intel really doesn’t matter that much except that amd doesn’t have a widely available quad core chip out at this moment.(FYI- as much as intel boasts about its quad core chips its not really true quad core, they just took 2 dual core chips and stuck them together(genius))i would suggest a amd 6000+ (heres why http://www.gamespot.com/features/6160852/p-2.html)
hard drive- i suggest having 2 hard drives. 1 small drive at 10000rpm(to make sure ur games run as fast as possible). and 1 larger 7200rpm drive(for all ur “other” stuff)
GPU aka graphics card- this could be the most costly thing you buy for your computer(second only if you buy a intel quad core extreme CPU) according to an article i read a while back you can get close to the performance of a 500 dollar GPU while spending in the neighborhood of 250 dollars. the trick is to get a motherboard that has at least 2 PCI Express x16 slots and buy 2 512MB graphic cards.
cd/dvd drive- get 2 dvd burning drives. (or to save money make one of them a dvd reading drive)
thats about it for building a pc(the important parts anyways)
I don’t really have any strong recommendations (outside of a Core 2 Duo chip and 2BG of RAM) but I do feel strongly about this — if you want to avoid a lot of hassles, build a machine with Windows XP and NOT Vista. You’ll thank me later.
My suggestion is first be sure that upgrading your macbook pro and offloading itunes and graphics files, etc. might not be the way to go. Not the ultimate gaming machine and not a pc, but may be enough.
Second, unless you really want a very high end gaming machine (read expensive), then find a good upgradeable pc with good grade motherboard and upgrade it– again, passable pc gaming, but not the best, but easier and economical– while not the same as building, this will require research, but you can scale the build and dollars to match what you want.
Building is fine and there are articles that walk you through it, but it will still take time and research and not sure you uilimately save when you consider value of your time unless, you want to build a really high end machine.
Bottom line is how much machine do you want? Consider that first, then go to upgrading the mac, a new pc, or building from scratch.
Stay with Mac… my PC is dying and I plan of jumping ship and NEVER going back.
I suggest you go bootcamp if you have decent hardware on you Mac. Am doing the same and am playing battlefield 2142 on medium settings!!
Buy an iMac and run windows in Boot Camp.. You can get a 24″ screen and have the best of both worlds. If you really want a gaming PC i would say Dell XPS but with a 24″ or bigger display you could spend 2X more then doing the iMac.. just my 2Cents.. I myself have a MBP and a Dell XPS 1710 Gaming laptop but i do find myself running PC games on the MBP in boot camp
Do yourself a favor, stick with one machine.
Upgrade the internal MBP hard drive, or setup bootcamp on a external slim, bus-powered firewire drive.
I upgraded my MBP to a 250 GB drive so I could game and do my Mac stuff.
Try Slickdeals.net I know they had a Quad core PC awhile back for like $650. You would need to update the Vid card and add memory but you could get a stellar machine for about a Grand when it’s all said and done. Just a thought.
#1.) Mac Pro maxed out. Cost be damned.
http://www.newegg.com is reall great
i hear Mac Pippin is where its at
If it was me, I would build a gaming PC. Maybe you can make a Mahalo episode and get Jason Calacanis to foot some of the bill for it. It could be a tool for… hum… future research for a Mahalo episode on PC games… right?
Hi V,
First off you’re gonna get a buttload of (male, *cough*) readers coming out of the woodwork to comment on this post. It is the virtual equivalent of breaking down in your bright red sports car on a desert road with a short skirt on…
Current count: 44. Estimated total count: 163
Anyways. I would theorize you have 3 real options.
1) Purchase the best desktop Mac (iMac/Mac Pro) with the best perfoming video card in it you can afford. Setup with Boot Camp and enjoy the bonus Mac you got to assist with production of Mohalo or to store your deeply eclectic music/video collection.
2) Order a 250GB 2.5″ notebook drive and whisper sweet nothings in Ryan’s ear to get him to swap in the new drive into your MacBook Pro (not that you couldn’t do it yourself cause you totally could). Since you likely just added at least 50 more GB of storage to your lappy, setup a BootCamp partition with say 20-30GB and put Windows XP sp2 on it and feed your windows games addition.
3) Find a recently written Gaming PC build guide that contains references to recently released parts. While you might save money and get some level of better performance you’ll likely end up wasting time you may not have on ordering, assembling, troublshooting, installing before finally getting to enjoy your PC games. If you have an experienced PC builder within grasp this option becomes more attractive.
Here is a decent guide you can look at:
http://anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3148
Cheers and mahalo.
I’m going to recommend building a system for sure, but a rather different technique. Don’t go for insane top of the line hardware. I use systems of all kinds and brands in my work, both mac and pc, but I build my personal tower.
I buy parts that are middle of the road in terms of performance, but high in terms of quality. Then I upgrade often. For the price of one 8800GTS, you could buy the equivalent of a 7600GT once a year for three years. And in three years you’ll be much better off with the brand new mid-range card than with an aging top-of-the-line card. I find that an initial system can be built for around $750 and maintained at good performance for around $200-$300 per year indefinitely. ‘Hardcore’ gamers may scoff at this technique, but I bought bioshock and played it at max settings (except for AA) at 1920×1200 and had a blast and the primary components of this system cost me less than $400 dollars as upgrades over the past two years.
If you choose to build a system, be aware of the noise-level of the parts. Noise is one serious advantage of vendor-built machines. Another reason I find to aim for the middle is that you can more easily buy a silent (or near silent) box. Buy a few nice large fans and look for passively cooled cards, quiet cooling, etc.. I replaced my old XFX 6800 with a passively cooled 7600GT about a year ago and the old card sounded like a blast furnace, while the new one is literally silent and thus much more pleasant.
Finally, the advantage of building your own system is that you can tailor it to your own needs. I, for instance, work in film and save a lot of HD material, so my desktop is relatively low-powered CPU-wise(AMD Athlon 64×2 3800+,) but I have several terrabytes of internal RAID 1 (mirrored for backup) storage. My company recently provided me with an 8-core mac pro, which is sitting here in the same room. It’s a great machine, but not perfectly suited to my tasks, as only a few processors at at time can be used for encoding video and the desk is piled with external drives and a jungle of cables. So build your own and take a notch down on video card, but get a sweet monitor, etc..
Enjoy!
-Colin
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ -custom built pc for us lazy people or don’t have the time
As many have said, I wouldn’t build a gaming PC unless you really want the education. You will definitely learn a lot about how computers work, and it is valuable knowledge. However, if you are busy like most people, then I think you are much better off buying a 360/PS3/Wii which will give you all the games you probably want to play for about half the cost of an off the shelf gaming PC.
I had the same conundrum as I have an ibook that cant run anything and I hate windows. I decided that rather than spending money on a PC that would become obsolete v. quickly, i’d spend less money and get a super fun wii and 360 and enjoy all the gaming fun that way.
But if you’ve got money to spend……
p.s. why not just clear out your laptops hard-drive, better yet why not upgrade the harddrive, pretty painless when you can do a full clone via super duper or CCC
Honestly? I’d say buy a Dell XPS or similar and then add the necessary components, but if you just want to build a PC for kicks…
The best place to buy most items is probably NewEgg. Do not buy any of these components at Fry’s…don’t do it! If I were to build a PC right now, this is what I would grab.
Case: Antec P182
Power Supply: Corsair HX520
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.66 GHz)
RAM: YMMV, I tend to skimp here and buy whatever is within spec and has good reviews on NewEgg. Low latency DDR2-1066 in this case.
Video: GeForce 8800 GT or Radeon 3850 for less
Audio: SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
HDD: Any brand, 500 GB is the sweetspot in terms of price/capacity.
Optical: Samsung SH-S183L DVD burner
Misc: Get a nice beefy heatsink like the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme and maybe one or two extra 120mm fans from Nexus or Scythe.
I’m sure Ryan knows how to slap a PC together in case you run into a snag…it’s not that hard really.
I would look at a system that has room to go, especially if you do not want to pony-up $3K right off the bat.
Check out: CyberPower Gamer Ultra 8500 SE
* Processor Family: AMD Athlon 64 X2
* RAM: 1 GB
* Storage Capacity: 320 GB
* RAID: No
* Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 8600 GT
* Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
* Monitor Type: LCD Widescreen
* Screen Size: 19 inches
* Notes: $849 direct, $999 with 19-inch widescreen LCD monitor
Also, VISTA is not ready yet for serious gamers, IMHO. I’m a Mac user as well but if you want to get a PC that can be upgraded to your liking, this would be my choice…
You could easily upgrade to 2 GB’s of Ram, a top-notch sound card and a great set of speakers for a few more bucks! Top it off with another 320GB HD in a Raid configuration.
Here’s another vote for sticking with one machine. Why not just have the best Mac possible?
whatever you do, dont let anyone talk you into buying an ageia physx card until they have at least more games working with it and really have proven that it is worth the space in your machine and the money you spend on it. i will get one with my new gaming laptop and i am already really upset about it, because i wanted 1 gig of video ram instead but alienware doesnt offer financing yet so i had to go with dell and they think ageia is awesome and put it in and even give you ghost recon advanced warfighter 2 with the thing which is one of 4 games actually taking advantage of the freaking card at the moment and i am not even gonna play that game… best idea would probably be giving your money to someone who really knows what to do and have that person build the new machine. i wasted some ram when i first experimented with adding components to my system because the pc was still turned on. the ram block smelled funny though
In my opinion… I’d get a mainstream(non-extreme) Windows gaming machine. To do that you can go one of 2 ways, the-screwdriver-do-it-yourself route… or you can get one from a reputable vendor.
A couple opinions to keep in mind with either choice. I’d stick with an Intel Core2Duo processor, and a Nvidia 8800 series video card. I know there are fanboys and haters of both of those selections, but benchmarks don’t lie. The next thing I’d figure out early on is a budget. Decide how much you can spend on a gaming machine and stick to it. It’s ever so easy to skip down the yellow-brick road of gaming power, starting out with a 1500 budget and finishing with 2800.
As far as SLI or Crossfire, unless you’re driving a 30inch display, I think it’s a waste of money. Besides, you get 2 8800’s or 2900xt’s, and you also need the more expense motherboard, more expensive power supply, maybe water-cooling, etc.
Better to buy one 8800GTX than two 8600GTS’s. Last consideration, figure out what you can use from a previous PC or what you have now. Already got a monitor? leftover harddrive? 5.1 speakers from the last rig? Anything that you can reuse or that you don’t have to buy can be factored into your budget.
Now, the two paths in the road.
DIY option
Pros: Can save quite a bit of money, can pick EXACTLY the components you want, confidence builder, geek merit badge
Cons: Time consuming (depends how much a day of your life is worth), can be frustrating at times especially when you get a DOA part
I wouldn’t really go much over 1800 or so on a DIY system to get the best bang for the buck. You can go into it with a sky high budget and get a really killer rig, but with the frequency that upgrades come out and the fact that gaming rigs have half-life (pun intended) of about 3yrs before they become boat anchors and won’t play the ‘hot new games’… I think more than 1800 would start to go into diminishing returns.
Vista or XP on a DIY rig? Take your pick. Some will cry foul and say ‘Vista sucks’, okay… so what exactly are you Vista haters gonna run when Bill no longer supports XP? I still run XP myself, but eventually I know Vista is in my future. You might as well pick components that you know have Vista drivers and make the jump, especially since SP1 is now in Beta.
Some sites that have great lists of components/advice/example builds are
Ars Techinica’s latest Hot-Rod machine
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200708.ars/3
$1500 with no OS
Anandtech’s latest Mid-Range buyers guide
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3125
The Intel Mid-Range would be my pick, about $1500 with Vista
Tom’s Hardware Mid-Range system build
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/18/sbm_mid_cost_system/
Nice QuadCore machine with plenty of Nvidia GTX power for only $1500
One last piece of advice on a DIY rig….
cheap PC case = shredded fingers when building
don’t skimp on the case.
There’s only one place I buy my parts anymore… Newegg
The Retail/PreBuilt option
Pros: How much is a day of your life worth?, you open the box and it just works (most of the time), If you go retail you can get it NOW
Cons: More expensive than building, sometimes you have to settle for a part you’d like to swap out, some online vendors have several week leadtimes
Ahhh .. the boutique builders. When I say it’s more expensive, I mean it. At a site like Alienware or FalconNW you can really ramp up the dollars fast. I know what some people would say, “just get a cheap Dell/HP and put a 8600GT card in it”, and I think they’re wrong. I’ve done that and I know that a cheapo generic PC limits you in upgrading later. Just remember, cheap means exactly that… cheap. You get what you pay for. Pricewise you’ll be paying about a two to five hundred dollar premium over building yourself.
Some vendors that have gotten great reviews and have reasonable prices are
Maingear
http://www.maingear.com
Their ‘Prelude’ system is very affordable and built with great parts.
Velocity Micro
http://www.velocitymicro.com/
The ‘Gamer’s Edge’ machine is nice, they even have some systems available in BestBuy.
AVA Direct
http://www.avadirect.com/
The give you the freedom to build your machine with EXACTLY the parts you want. It’s like buying at Newegg but with an assembling fee.
and finally some more vendors I’d look at, but only if I was going to spend more than 3k
Alienware
http://www.alienware.com
Some people have been saying that since being bought out by Dell, their quality has gone downhill somewhat
Falcon Northwest
http://www.falcon-nw.com/
Legendary. Their custom paint jobs are a gorgeous.
Voodoo PC
http://www.voodoopc.com/
If you wanna drop 15k on a PC, I’d probably do it here.
so … in summary ….
Figure out how much you have to spend, and what you can use from a leftover system.
Decide between building it yourself, or buying direct/retail.
Pick out what you want, then buy it.
Fire up a game and enjoy!
Eric, she’s probably in the same position I am. The iMac doesn’t begin to cut it for the latest games, and the Mac Pro is more of a “workstation” than gaming machine. I don’t need a two dual-core CPUs for games. I don’t need fully-buffered RAM. The Mac Pro’s current high end gaming card is the X1900 XT, a 2 year old product… The next Mac Pro update is probably 2 months away.
newegg.com is great I’ve used them for years and never been let down on the video card side go for nvidias new 8800 GT they are so sweet
You just want to focus mainly on a great video card and ram. The rest doesnt matter much.
Use Newegg, I’ve been using it for years and havent found a better alternative.
eh..wtf…aren’t you dating that guy from engadget?
why dont you ask him???
is he too busy for you? if so, i’m always available
I can’t really add to what has been said, but I would point out that you the Mac queen,building a PC on camera (perhaps with a peanut gallery made up of TWIT.TV types) could be a good Mahalo segment since it would be different from the run of the mill type build a PC type stories.
Building a PC from scratch, it’s as easy as ABC. I thought you own PS and an XBOX. Why do you need a PC then?
@Davor - because there are games I’d like to play that AREN’T on consoles.
buy it. Even though it may be cheaper to build it, it was too much of a hassle my first time. Try Dell XPS desktops, and if you’re looking for a laptop, the Dell Vostro is nice, cheap (nice gaming setup (2.0 core 2 duo, 2 gigs ram, good gfx for around a 1000-1100), and has good graphics card (nvidia GeForce 8600M GT). And it is really sturdy, Mine fell twice from about a meter high, and nothing. If you’re going to build it, buy parts from newegg.com
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2144892,00.asp
article on current state-of the-art components for building. from digg a few weeks ago. building a PC is cake. what’s hard is deciding what to put in. i like NewEgg and Fry’s for parts. also, many net sites where you can buy assembled motherboard/chip/fan. good luck.
I try the practice of null. I sell my older tech items, and purchase my future tech within or just slightly above that limit. i.e. I sold my Laptop, and built my personal PC, by buying things on newegg piece by piece reading the reviews for each item. LOL, even for the fans I put in my case hehe.
Your best bet is to buy from newegg.com. I have built/assembled four gaming PCs in the past few years, and I have come across a liking for certain brands. First though, I want to say that if you are just learning about PC parts, Newegg is the perfect site. They have in depth “what you need to know” guides for every computer part, including what you should get for what you need. Back to brands– well, the most important choices you will come across are Intel/AMD for processor and NVIDIA and ATI Radeon for video card. I recommend the first on both, Intel and NVIDIA are currently the best of the two on price, compatibility, and power.
You can assemble a perfect gaming machine for ~900 not including monitor, I see a good amount of these comments have perfect suggestions. I’m sure if you do read one, you’ll read one of theirs. :p
2GB Ram = $80-$90
500 GB HD = $90-$110
600W PS = $50
Decent Intel Processor = $115
Motherboard with all attachments = $100
Video card = $100 for an NVIDIA 7800, $300 for NVIDIA 8800 GTS
DVD/CD Drive = $10
Fans/Case = $30 - $40
Good luck!
mmm i would totally build a rig myself but i think the blackbird 002 by voodoo and hp is really purty… http://h20435.www2.hp.com/ if you’re going to build a computer go all out =D i wish i had money to go towards a new computer
Don’t forget to add physical, fun activities to life! Remember rock climbing and other fun stuff. So, with that, I would try to pull myself from the computer as much as possible. Not easy.
Killer, a 600W PSU is overkill. You could probably run a pair of Geforce 8800GTs or Radeon 3870s on a decent 500W, and I really don’t think Veronica needs a two video card set-up.
A heavy-duty PSU is just going to add a couple of dollars to the utilities bill every month in addition to be louder and hotter.
Okay, don’t listen to me on that one! I just posted what I have, but if you don’t use a sound card (not truly needed, most motherboards have built-in) or multiple HDD that much isn’t needed. My apologies on that one.
If you do self-assemble your own, I would highly recommend Corsair RAM, an ASUS motherboard, and EVGA XFX for an NVIDIA Video Card.
V, I’ve still got this box laying around not being used: http://www.robotskirts.com/?p=607
Just add the video card of your choice (it has a cheapy in it). It’s in LA so I can have it dropped off at Mahalo. Make me any reasonable offer and it’s yours.
I have to throw my support behind buying a new Mac Desktop and Bootcamp, I do play my occasional PC Game, and Windows on Bootcamp runs fine on my 24″ iMac. If you want a dedicated Gaming Machine, you are better of building your own PC, you can build a better machine than buying one from Dell.
I use Mwave.com to build my computer. You can buy a Bare Bones system with case, MB, memory, and they will test the unit. Or you can get a motherboard/CPU combo, and you can even add memory. This is what I do. I pay a little extra for the assemble and test service.
You can pick the MB, then choose the CPU and choose from a wide selection of memory. I am fond of the ASUS Motherboards.
But putting it together is half the fun! There really is no way to fry anything, but all you have to do is sit down with your socks off if you’re edgy. Just don’t strip the screws on your case.
If you are going to build you own Gaming PC, I recommend buying from NewEgg.com of Mwave.com, I have bought most of my off the shelf components from both of them, I have had great service so far.
If you are going to build you own Gaming PC, I recommend buying from NewEgg.com or Mwave.com, I have bought most of my off the shelf components from both of them, I have had great service so far.
Hi - I think one of the best Windows PC’s available right now is the Mac Pro… look at the price of a comparably spec’d PC and you’re right up there costwise. Plus, you don’t -have- to be in Windows except when you unavoidably must play a Windows-only game. And with you being involved in video you can do real work on it in OS-X also…
Veronica,
I didn’t read everyone else’s comments, so this may have already been presented to you.
My advice, don’t bother building a gaming pc. Its a terrible investment all things considered. I built one almost two years ago, and it just sits around. Aside from my growing personal preference to play games on console, the whole experience of “building a gaming pc” is a downward spiral of disappointment.
If you’re like the majority of people who set out to do this, you’ll say you want to build something “not quite top of the line”, in an effort to save money. Then the time sink of researching begins. Slowly you decide to raise the bar of how you want to spec your machine. Eventually you’re spending at least 25% more than you originally set out to… only to find that 4 months later there is a better graphics card or cpu that u start thinking maybe you should upgrade to.
And worst of all, the value of your computer is less than half of what you paid for it in about a year. Hopefully in a year you’re still playing it and getting your moneys worth, but i’d hate to see you end up like me… just walking past your gaming PC all the time on the way to either your Mac or your gaming console.
Especially as an existing Mac user, I think you’d get more satisfaction from getting a Mac Pro to dual boot for games… That way even if you don’t game on it all the time: a) it is still a super powerful & very useful computer that you could enjoy using for something other than games b) as time goes on it will hold its value at least twice as well as a similar PC.
Cheers & keep up the good work.
+if u end up sticking with the mac, you should call on one of your friends at apple… or email me and make a friend at apple
I bought a gaming PC from Cyberpower about two years ago — I use it strictly for playing games with my Macs handling all other computing tasks. My gaming PC is starting to show its age — struggling to play Crysis (Athlon-64-4400, 2GB RAM, Dual 7800GT). Thanks to Intel Macs, I never have to buy another PC. My next desktop Mac will also be my gaming PC. Until then, I’ll limp along with the aging gaming PC and use my MBP for LAN parties.
If you do decide to get a dedicated gaming PC, I recommend looking into the custom build outfits like CyberPower. Back when I was shopping around, it was definitely worth going to them instead of doing it myself. I didn’t want to be the system warranter on a system I put together!
I vote for number 1, but if not, I suggest number 2.5. Get a fairly inexpensive factory made but then get another graphics card. That’s the most expensive part of a build-it-yourself anyway.
But still, I’d just get a new mac and use bootcamp until vmware fusion is able to play games right from os x. It kinda sorta almost can now, so hopefully it won’t be long!
That’s what I’m doing anyway…
So, you’ve gotten a ton of responses and I’m sure theres some good insights there, but I’ll try to give an ultimate response.
You can always continue to wait “just a little bit longer” trying to get the newest hardware that is going to come out, but no one wants to wait forever. The fact is, Nvidia and Intel are just about to release their latest “uber high-end” products, so if you want to have the “latest and greatest” for at least a few months, then you should wait for Intel’s latest penryns, and Nvidia’s latest 8950gx2 (or whatever the next gen equivalent of the 7950gx2 is).
OK, so now that you have that background, I’ll give you two main scenarios - Balance, and High-Spec.
Balance - 8800 gt ($200) + Q6600 ($300) + 2×2GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM ($200) + basic mobo, case, cd/dvd drives, etc. ($200) + 1tb HD ($300) = $1200
High-Spec - In this case, it would be best to wait because the latest highest-end Nvidia cards are not much better than the mid-range.
QX9770 ($1200) + 8950gx2 ($600) + 2×2GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM ($200) + mobo, case, blu-ray drives drives, etc. ($600) + 1tb HD ($300) = $2900
The CPU is largely just about how much power you think you need (and you should only choose the quad Q6600 over the dual E6850 if the games you plan to be playing will be utilizing multiple cores), but you shouldn’t skimp on the ram and the video card is crucial to the actual gaming performance since 99% of the games you will be playing will be bottlenecked by the graphics card at high resolution.
Hope that helps, free feel to contact for further insights.
[...] this year, but I still might get a little something-something for myself. Other than the gaming PC (which is a project in the works, for sure), I can’t really think of anything I need (or [...]
I did this sort of thing around this time last year, but with a box that would do all of my video encoding work. My older workhorse is slowly turning into a media server|HTPC|Interweb box it makes life very easy over the one box for all route, and once they are all networked its like you are working within them all at one time anyway.
As for the hardware I am a ‘get the best of 6~12 months ago’ builder so I built a rock solid encoding AMD dual core (£120 in Nov 2006) around a DFI board (RDX200 £30 new) Corsair HX 620 PSU x1650 Radeon 24 pipe (£85) 2GB G.Skill HZ’s (£100) with about a TB of HDD’s all in for about £600 with a supadupa Akasa case that did cost ~£95.
All that rig would need is a faster Gpx card if that is not up to it x1950XTX’s can be had for cheap money. Do yourself a favour an build a second box game PC.
I’d say if you know how to build a computer, go to Frys, buy all the parts and build a Gaming PC yourself. Or if you know someone who can build computers, then have them do it for you, if you ask nicely. hehe.
It’s lot cheaper, and you get what you paid for. Several months back I finally upgraded and I can run most any PC game(except for Crysis that is, but that really is the only exception) and the final price was a little over $600.
Or you can just buy a Gaming PC from Costco or elsewhere: http://tinyurl.com/2jzr2y - My friend just bought this Gaming PC and he says it’s amazing. The price is kind of steep, but what you get is well worth the price tag.
Anyways, give it some thought about what you want to do, because after all I’m sure you’ll be sticking with this Gaming PC for along while.
Hi Veronica,
If you’re looking at building, or even buying… you may want to check out the latest system guide at Ars. They’ve been doing this for years, and while I’ve never built one exactly to their specs, I have used their specs as a good starting point.
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200711.ars
Jason
Maybe I’m late to the party, but I wanted to chime in by suggesting the possibility of not only staying with a Mac, as many have already stated, but also staying in OS X!
There are a few Mac-focused game companies out there that are putting out some great titles, and some exclusives just for the Mac as well. Companies like Aspyr, Ambrosia, and *ahem* Freeverse.
(yup, I work for Freeverse!)
find the cheapest quad 4 you can find, with rebate i got one for 600 for my son , add 2 gigs of ram to what ever it comes with, add a middle of the road $200 buck card pci express card and you are set. thats just what i did for my son who’s heading off to college and his puter smokes all his current games. its better that my custom build puter.
$600 for a quad-core (sounds dirty!)? Do you mean an extreme? I think a plain old Core 2 Duo is plenty, and you can get a decent 2.13 GHz for a little over $180 (Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz 775) via newegg.
Nice template and blog design, although the text is a bit small for a fast reading.
Talking about Gaming PCs I think that it is better to stay with a vendor-made than a self-made computer.
Someone gave me this link once:
http://www.alienware.com/product_pages/desktop_all_default.aspx
Good luck gaming girl
I’m sure you’ve heard about the XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition already, but for your readers who haven’t:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/m1730_wow?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dgc=EM&cid=26383&lid=601037
u know wat u should do?
buy HP’s Blackbird 002…
dats just amazing…
If you’d rather buy a gaming pc than assembling one, but don’t mind spending over $1,000, then I recommend getting an Alienware pc (alienware.com), a Voodoo pc (voodoopc.com), or an HP Blackbird (hp.com/blackbird).
The alienware desktops range from $1,399 to $3,999. Alienware laptops go from $1,699 to $2,799.
VoodooPC desktops go from $3,940.32 to $5,824.10. VoodooPC notebooks range from 3,000 to 5,000 dollars.
The HP Blackbird starts at $2,399.
If you want a cheap gaming pc, you’d be best off building one yourself. Here are some good site: http://www.newegg.com and tigerdirect.com.
Tiger Direct is the best and cheapest, because instead of having to buy a whole bunch of expensive parts you can buy a bare bones kit that comes with a case, power supply and all the other neccessary things including cpu. The only thing is that you have to assemble some of the parts.
Since you said that your not too good with building PCs, I recommend that you buy a static wrist guard (around 5 bucks or so at a crafts shop). It prevents electric damage to parts when your building. As for putting it all together, you should be fine as long as you have manuals.
don’t buy from ibuypower.com my pc is crap ibuypower.com sucks
Yea newegg pretty much owns as far as buying computer parts go. They usually have some really nice prices. You can usually find some good parts just by browsing and seeing what other people rated them.
But seriously, if you only get two things, get the Antec 900 case and one or two nvidia 8800 GTs. They’re cheap and totally amazing. Unless of course you want to wait for nvidia’s new cards (probably the only way crysis will ever run on very high settings with out insane triple sli).
Finally of course, if you have a lot (like seriously a lot) of spare cash that HP Blackbird 2 looks really sexy and it runs quiet as a whisper
The best thing about it though is that its motherboard is compatible with nvidia’s sli AND ati’s crossfire so tons of upgrade options down the road.
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