Getting a real computer

[Syvelocin]

I know, it's about time. My crappy little Dell laptop is getting more than just a little agitating, with constant DCing and some games just not being playable thanks to Intel integrated graphics.

I'm a very technological person, but compared to some of you, a complete noob. So I thought I'd discuss this a bit before making an decisions.

My budget is AT MOST $1000, not going to completely build one. And more oriented toward gaming. All I really know at this point is that I want nothing Dell and no Intel graphics card. But I really don't know anything outside that. :P

[Magus]

A perfect gaming desktop will be just about that much. Not sure if you want a desktop.

[Cognizant]

You could build a fairly decent gaming computer for $800 (excluding the Windows OEM Licence if you choose to run windows).

[Magus]

You could build a fairly decent gaming computer for $800 (excluding the Windows OEM Licence if you choose to run windows).Gaming without Windows? Crazy? Yeah, DX11 will work on layers, yeah, sure. I believe you.

[Cognizant]

Gaming without Windows? Crazy? Yeah, DX11 will work on layers, yeah, sure. I believe you.

What?

[Steve Jobs]

Build from scratch.. greatest flexibility and lowest price. Maybe talk to a geeky friend you know who can help you through it, because it's through good cable management and overclocking that you can achieve what your computer can't otherwise :)

[gothicsanctum]

Might i recommend A Graphics card?
Nvidia GeForce GT 440 1GB
I used one for a while - Runs Skyrim on max settings just fine.
About 100$
Get one from ASUS, they have superior Quality

[SGTM]

Do not buy it build it, you will regret it and for a 1000 bucks its hard to get a good buy gaming PC i found.

I had the same budget as you and was able to build a quad core i5 gaming pc, 8gb ram, 1GB HD 5770 and a 1.5 TB hdd and a 850 watt PSU.


If need be you can look around sometimes local shops will build the PC for you for a small price.

[Vaulter]

Build it. It is rediculously easy to put it together in person, and most of the people on here can help you piece it together on Newegg and Microcenter so you know the best parts to order and get feedback. If you do think you'd want to build, just let us know and try and give us some requirements. Another good website is Anandtech.com in their general hardware forum you'll find hundreds of threads like this and lots of people to help you. But in VT you're less likely to get flamed haha.

@Vomitus LoL <3

@gothicsanctum haha he just said he doesn't want Intel Graphics =] ATI FOREVERRRR!!!

@SGT.Mays I really don't think you need that high of a wattage PSU...

[gothicsanctum]

Intel Graphics

That is a 100% Nvidia card, has nothing do do with intel.
Plus if you wanna play skyrim Nvidia cards are optimized for skyrim

[Vaulter]

That is a 100% Nvidia card, has nothing do do with intel.
Plus if you wanna play skyrim Nvidia cards are optimized for skyrim

Intel and Nvidia are like two redneck families that don't share their last name but are so intermarried it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. One day Intel will probably buy up Nvidia just like AMD did with ATI.

[Silicate Wielder]

My laptop is an HP and Intel graphics make me feel like I'm being held hostage in a cage made of FPS Lag Even though I got plenty of power in this, my graphics card is lazy. I would go with an HP laptop but if its got an Intel graphics card just go replace it with something better. I get Great customer support, its just delivery that can be annoying if yo u have them repair it at their HQ depending on where you live, in maine its two weeks return delivery while here in missouri its about 6 months return delivery. (I just moved from maine to missouri.

[Syvelocin]

So I have really no clue how to build a computer and no one who knows how to, except, well, my dad the computer nerd, but we have a distance issue there.

And I really don't know anything about specs. It's funny that I have to say I don't know that language when I completely grew up around computers as my dad's a software developer. But yeah, so I don't really know what I need but a sturdy gaming desktop.

My laptop is an HP and Intel graphics make me feel like I'm being held hostage in a cage made of FPS Lag Even though I got plenty of power in this, my graphics card is lazy. I would go with an HP laptop but if its got an Intel graphics card just go replace it with something better. I get Great customer support, its just delivery that can be annoying if yo u have them repair it at their HQ depending on where you live, in maine its two weeks return delivery while here in missouri its about 6 months return delivery. (I just moved from maine to missouri.

I'm going for a desktop but yeah, Intel graphics has just been a nightmare. I can't even update the thing because Dell's drivers haven't been updated for two years and Dell doesn't let you install Intel's up-to-date drivers. Minecraft has become unplayable, WoW DCs for no apparent reason, and it doesn't support OpenGL. My laptop is actually quite powerful, I'm very pleased with it, minus the graphics card.

But it's about time I think. The microphone jack is broken, I... accidentally broke one of the keys trying to clean the keyboard so I'm using a usb keyboard, I'm on my second power adapter as the first one just quit on me for some reason. So it'll be a birthday present to me.

[Silicate Wielder]

I forgot to mention this but if you live in a state where they have a law that you can get something like a laptop replaced or repaired for free if someone else damages it. My sister spilled a bottle of Coke on my laptop once (Thank god for the motherboard having been waterproofed) and well HP didn't give me the run-around about it being repaired and then it turned out they replaced EVERYTHING on it and even transferred the data on the old hardrive and transfered it to a new one for me so I wouldn't lose any data :D

[Magus]

$100 Case(I picked white, because of gender stereotype - there are other color versions, if you want to)
http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Phantom-Tower-Gaming-Case/dp/B006I2H04I/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379801&sr=8-15

$130 Card
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-OC-PCI-Express-N550GTX-TI-CYCLONE/dp/B004RJJDFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379871&sr=8-1

$130 Mobo
http://www.amazon.com/ASRock-LGA1155-Z68-Motherboard-PRO3-M/dp/B0050GD56A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-3

$200 Processor
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX80623I52500K-Core-i5-2500K-Processor/dp/B004EBUXHQ/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0

$50 8Gb Ram
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-6

$40 Power Unit
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Series-RS500-PCARD3-US/dp/B001G0WPLK/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380927&sr=1-3-spell

$20 Dvd Rom
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SH-222BB-BEBE-Internal-Software/dp/B006B7R9PU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381043&sr=1-2

$150 (Two of these, one for system, one for storage) Harddisk
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381098&sr=1-4

A Grand total of $700.

If you people think my choice of Gfx card is bad, then you have the 560 Ti versions. Those are $130 more expensive. Or a non Ti Gigabyte 560, which is $80 more expensive than that one.

[Skyhawk]

Well if you don't want to build the computer, you could try configuring one from CyberpowerPC with the hardware Vomitus posted. It'll cost a little more though because of labor.

[Vaulter]

$100 Case(I picked white, because of gender stereotype - there are other color versions, if you want to)
http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Phantom-Tower-Gaming-Case/dp/B006I2H04I/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379801&sr=8-15

$130 Card
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-OC-PCI-Express-N550GTX-TI-CYCLONE/dp/B004RJJDFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379871&sr=8-1

$130 Mobo
http://www.amazon.com/ASRock-LGA1155-Z68-Motherboard-PRO3-M/dp/B0050GD56A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-3

$200 Processor
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX80623I52500K-Core-i5-2500K-Processor/dp/B004EBUXHQ/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0

$50 8Gb Ram
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-6

$40 Power Unit
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Series-RS500-PCARD3-US/dp/B001G0WPLK/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380927&sr=1-3-spell

$20 Dvd Rom
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SH-222BB-BEBE-Internal-Software/dp/B006B7R9PU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381043&sr=1-2

$150 (Two of these, one for system, one for storage) Harddisk
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381098&sr=1-4

A Grand total of $700.

If you people think my choice of Gfx card is bad, then you have the 560 Ti versions. Those are $130 more expensive. Or a non Ti Gigabyte 560, which is $80 more expensive than that one.

My thoughts on this build:

Case: Love it, theres nothing gender specific about it, for girls, maybe they like white, for guys, its a big badass stormtrooper case.

Card: I'm an ATI fanboy, my opinion doesn't matter.

Mobo: Don't know anything about it, provided the sockets match it doesn't really matter. He doesn't know the features he wants well enough to know if that mobo is right for him or not.

Processor: Hes admitted to knowing very little about computers, why pick him an unlocked processor? Hes never going to overclock it, save money and get a non "K" processor, also, if you did get the "K" and chose to overclock it, you'd need an aftermarket Heatsink which just adds cost.

Ram: Probably the least important thing, the good thing about it is its 1600 ddr3, but I would say wait and check Newegg everyday for a shell shocker deal and get it as cheap as possible.

DVD: you can probably find one for even cheaper.

HDD: These are complete junk. If there is anything you take away from this post, don't spend the money on these drives. I love western digital, but Caviar blues are just a "branded" 7200 RPM drive. A samsung spinpoint f1 is going to be faster if you can still find them. Get either 1: a solid state drive to boot from and maybe install a few games and a huge secondary drive (7200 rpm so any games you install will at least boot quick-ish), or 2: A 500gb Caviar black with 64mb cache (ITS WORTH IT) along with a large and slow secondary drive. a 1.5tb 5400 rpm drive can be found for like 100 bucks on sale, and you get more space along and youll have plenty of space on the C-Blk for games and things that you need to boot quickly.

[Magus]

HDD: These are complet.... need to boot quickly.
I just quick picked them. If any money is left, an SSD is good.

Also, the GFX is an equivalent to 6770. Seeing them in the same price range.

[gone123]

$100 Case(I picked white, because of gender stereotype - there are other color versions, if you want to)
http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Phantom-Tower-Gaming-Case/dp/B006I2H04I/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379801&sr=8-15

$130 Card
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-OC-PCI-Express-N550GTX-TI-CYCLONE/dp/B004RJJDFS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336379871&sr=8-1

$130 Mobo
http://www.amazon.com/ASRock-LGA1155-Z68-Motherboard-PRO3-M/dp/B0050GD56A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-3

$200 Processor
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX80623I52500K-Core-i5-2500K-Processor/dp/B004EBUXHQ/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0

$50 8Gb Ram
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380678&sr=1-6

$40 Power Unit
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Series-RS500-PCARD3-US/dp/B001G0WPLK/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336380927&sr=1-3-spell

$20 Dvd Rom
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SH-222BB-BEBE-Internal-Software/dp/B006B7R9PU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381043&sr=1-2

$150 (Two of these, one for system, one for storage) Harddisk
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336381098&sr=1-4

A Grand total of $700.

If you people think my choice of Gfx card is bad, then you have the 560 Ti versions. Those are $130 more expensive. Or a non Ti Gigabyte 560, which is $80 more expensive than that one.

Most of that is fine except the power supply, rule number one with power supplies is don't cheap out, a $40 cooler master one will most likely stop working within months and a can fry your MB, CPU, GPU and ram all at once. Spend some more and get a good power supply, most of those cheap ones won't even deliver the rated power too.

[Magus]

Most of that is fine except the power supply, rule number one with power supplies is don't cheap out, a $40 cooler master one will most likely stop working within months and a can fry your MB, CPU, GPU and ram all at once. Spend some more and get a good power supply, most of those cheap ones won't even deliver the rated power too.So, do you think this one is good? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Supply-Cmpsu-500Cxv2Eu/dp/B0054PGE74/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1336458199&sr=1-5

[James995]

So, do you think this one is good? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Supply-Cmpsu-500Cxv2Eu/dp/B0054PGE74/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1336458199&sr=1-5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139033

Half the price, still Corsair, same wattage. It's also 80-Plus certified.

Or better yet...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

The one you posted, but $90 cheaper?

[gone123]

So, do you think this one is good? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Supply-Cmpsu-500Cxv2Eu/dp/B0054PGE74/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1336458199&sr=1-5

Corsair makes some pretty solid ones, but don't pay the $150 amazon has it for right now, go somewhere else and you should get that one for around $90. That one's also better because it's modular so you won't have to have a bunch of extra cables in your case.