Build/Buy Campater

[Fluffyumpkins]

I've been using my Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop for quite some time. In fact, checking the Dell product support page shows that I made this purchase on 1/3/2007. It's really starting to crawl these days, likely because of an older processor, 2 gb of RAM, and 60 gb HD. Pretty neat that I haven't had a single component fail outside of a battery that holds a charge for about 30 seconds.

Anyway 2007 came and went, and I need to build or buy a new PC. I'd like to get back into some PC gaming, so what do you guys think. Is it cheaper to build a gaming rig, or have the big PC companies finally lowered their prices enough that the effort of putting it together isn't really worth the savings? I haven't looked at hardware in years, so I appeal to the expertise of the IndyDDRangers.

[Potter]

build buodl buodl


i have 8gb of ddr3 ill give u in xchange 4 sometihng cool

[Riot]

Build. You probably want an i5 2500k processor. I can give you a link to a newegg wish list I have to build with specific other stuff like mobo and ram later tonight after work.

[Fluffyumpkins]

Build. You probably want an i5 2500k processor. I can give you a link to a newegg wish list I have to build with specific other stuff like mobo and ram later tonight after work.

That'd be cool. I was going to get a sorta cheap desktop, but I figured I might as well go nuts and put together a gaming rig so when people say, "Let's play Tribes together!" I won't cry myself to sleep. Not sure what I should expect to budget, but I'd like to keep it under a grand if possible. Kick me some case recommendations as well.

[Ho]

If you want a beefy laptop, I can probably get you a discount on a Lenovo ThinkPad.

[Fluffyumpkins]

If you want a beefy laptop, I can probably get you a discount on a Lenovo ThinkPad.

Thanks, but I'm leaning toward a desktop. Now that I'm out of school, my current laptop never leaves its place on my desk.

[Riot]

This is what I threw together a few months ago when I was thinking about building a new PC and talking to you about selling you my parts/PC. I still would sell my current PC to you which can run pretty much any game pretty well, but that's just an offer. You can build a very very good PC for a decent price these days, especially if your budget is 1000.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Publi ... r=12551169

The processor there is great, the best out right now price vs. performance. The mobo is really good as well, and you could go either way with the videocard. That card will for sure play most everything on very high settings, but you could also probably bump it down a step and still have a very powerful machine. You get what you pay for though, and that card is good. Check some of the latest video card benchmark comparisons on TomsHardware or Anandtech whenever you'd be ready to buy. RAM is pretty standard, just remember you need DDR3, and it's so cheap these days why not get 8gb. I have an SSD hard drive on there if you want speed, but you obviously can decide if you just wanna use a regular HDD. I put a 60gb for Windows and maybe one or two primary games you play all the time, but you'd need another storage drive for your hentai. I don't know if it's still price-bloated, but all HDDs were marked way up from the tsunamis last year affecting all the places that manufacture harddrives. The case is apparently out of stock, but just search Newegg under Case and sort by reviews and price to find one that you like the look and price of. Antec is usually always solid, and everyone seems to have the Antec 900. It's what I have, can't go wrong (5200+ reviews, 5 star).

Anyways, if you have questions let me know. I want to build a new computer soon too =/ MAYBE WE CAN BUY TWIN COMPUTERS AND PUT THEM TOGETHER... TOGETHER.

[Fluffyumpkins]

Anyways, if you have questions let me know. I want to build a new computer soon too =/ MAYBE WE CAN BUY TWIN COMPUTERS AND PUT THEM TOGETHER... TOGETHER.

Mine is the good twin and yours is the bad twin.

[Riot]

I have a $100 Newegg gift card I wanna use, but I really wanna sell my PC first =/ Plus I have a good video card in it and I might wanna keep a hard drive and will then need a new copy of Windows 7. There are little hurdles =(

[Fluffyumpkins]

I am also looking to build a media (ie. fanfic) box for streaming and such. Tell me about your old PC (or maybe you already did.)

[Riot]

It's got 4gb ram, an e8400 CPU (was basically top of the line dual-core in 2008, runs great) with a big ol fan on it, a 470 GTX (has HDMI out if you care) which I put in November 2010 when it was basically top of the line, and is still very similar to the $200 level cards out now, a 680i mobo with SLI (probably doesn't mean much, but it was good at the time and has slots open if you need special sound card or whatever else and need to move cards around for room), currently has my 10k rpm harddrive and a storage drive, but I'm guessing you'd have your own stuff and I might wanna keep those. Antec 900 case which is always great, but could use a little dusting =) It's got an additional cooling fan on the side I put on. Mobo and video card are EVGA, which is like the best company out there and they usually cover things that break really really well, if anything should happen.

IT'S ALSO GOT A DVD DRIVE! MOST IMPORTANTLY, EVERYTHING GLOWS BLUE!

I think my Mammy wants a faster computer since they still have the one they bought me at a PC store for FFXI when that came out in like 2002 lol. You guys should have a bidding war!

edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130593 Better than the one I listed in the wishlist. Save 30 bucks (after rebate), overclock it yourself. It's easy.

[Fluffyumpkins]

I bid you farewell.

[SoDeepPolaris]

NEW GEN PROCESSORS COMING SOON SO LIKE PRICES SHOULD DROP ON OLD STUFF AND STUFF.KIMAUDI5000.

[Potter]

good call on the gtx 570 riot, nvidia for life. cuda based realtime 4k color grading wut wuttt. Actually spending money on ati these days is akin to slowly cutting your dick off

also, oc'd mine a tiny bit in 5 minutes and now regularly play battlefield 3 @ 1920x1200 with all settings, and I mean all, on ultra. Dat real life

[Merk]

Build a 'puter, this should not be a question.

I was able to build a decent machine for 6 hundo and you should be able to do the same. Hard drives are kind of a pain in the ass right now since Taiwan or some shit blew up but here's what you can do:

- Use your TV in your room as your computer monitor. You probably won't get ballin' resolution but it'll save you a good $200 and it will be passable on games.

- Use your keyboard/mouse that you have for your lappy. This should be obv.

- Don't go balls out on top of the line components. Diminishing returns is rampant on pretty much anything that you can buy for a computer. You seem like the type of guy that doesn't get too boners for graphics so I'd say a mid-range 'puter would be good for you.

This is my vidja card: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Mini ... 722&sr=8-1 I don't play a whole lot of games (Starcraft II being the newest) but I haven't experienced any framerate issues on any of the games that I do play.


What is your budget?