I need a new PC for gaming and I'm torn between a whole range of options.

I've got a decent budget - around £2000 ($3250) - but I can't whether or not to buy something like an Alienware PC, try and make my own, go for a small custom builder or just get some cheap-o thing and thrash it until it breaks? I'd like something pretty high spec to play a range of games on (not just MMOs), but is it worth it?

Any input from people who've got experience in buying PCs from a range of sources would be much appreciated. I'm totally confused by the fact that custom PC builders seem to offer much better value for money.

Cheers,

Aryas

 INTERNET

Havent bought a PC from a comany sence 2001. Build them myself.

Ah wait, nice budget, alienware would be a wise choice, they are good configured gaming rigs,  another good gaming rig is Project War machine, they also have the most awesome PC caches in the world  projectwarmachine  <- theres the site, taking a look won't harm :)

regards, vlad

Woah, those Warmachine PCs look nice!

Not had a close look at it but I can tell you now the price of it would go thru the roof if you included shipping tot he UK!

Just so you guys know, I live in the UK so please try to recommend international or UK-based companies?

Anyone know what SCAN or Beast computers are like? (I'm googling 'custom PCs' atm)

Aryas

I was debating the same thing you are now. My Gaming PC's motherboard recently bit the dust so I figured it was time to go for a completely new gaming PC.

From the reviews I've read, Alienware is headed downhill. The cost doesn't justify the product/support any more. I also looked at CyberPowerPC. They had received awful reviews but most of the more recent reviews (I searched past 6 months) have been positive. They also have a wider selection of hardware when customizing your PC.

What I ended up doing was building a PC from CyberPower's website, and then looking that the pieces on Newegg.com. I ended up getting everything from Newegg and building it myself but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. There are plenty of web sites out there now that hold your hand through it so it wasn't too bad.

I voted to buy it from a major manufacturer, but that's because I play on gaming laptops which are a little bit of a challenge to try and build yourself.

If going the desktop route go with build it yourself, or custom builder because your budget can handle it.

Originally posted by Kyleran

I voted to buy it from a major manufacturer, but that's because I play on gaming laptops which are a little bit of a challenge to try and build yourself.

If going the desktop route go with build it yourself, or custom builder because your budget can handle it.

 

 I bought my laptop and desktop from ibuypower and have hade little trouble with them. However im going back to building my own desktops.

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Chases CEo of Ibuypower with plunger)

It was a long time ago I bought a store built computer.

The worst thing you can do is to buy something like Dell or Compaq, they always use cheap component.

There is 2 ways to get a great computer: Either you build it yourself or you get a store to assemble it for you, but you pick all parts yourself.

But it is true, custom computer will give you a lot more for the money. Companies like dell is trying to get extra money with getting some of the specs high (like ram and processor speed) but using slow memorys, crappy hardware and so on. A PSU that barely can run the computer is standard.

But if you bring a list of the components you want to your local store they usually can give you a good price and assemble it for you. That is the easiest way. Building it yourself demands some patience, and it wont hurt if you know someone with experience that you can call if something messes up.

I have owned a Dell once, had a few regular store assembled computers and have built a lot of computers, most my friends ask me to choose their hardware and assemble it (they give me a case of beer). Last time I bought a store assembled computer was in 1999, I got my Dell in 1997.

I bought the bare bones base unit (MB w/ dual core processor, 500 gig HD w/ OS, DVDRW and RAM and speakers) on sale, because I am a hardware guy not software, and the customizing/modifying pieces from newegg.  Replaced power supply, fans, and added video card and sound card, upgraded ram, bought seperate LCD display (widescreen) on a one day special w/ free shipping.  Total about $800 w/ the monitor.  Runs D&D, Champions, and has had no problems with my betas (was running CB of Fallen Earth on it with no problems), running a couple of others now.

Originally posted by Aryas

Woah, those Warmachine PCs look nice!

 

Not had a close look at it but I can tell you now the price of it would go thru the roof if you included shipping tot he UK!

 

Just so you guys know, I live in the UK so please try to recommend international or UK-based companies?

 

Anyone know what SCAN or Beast computers are like? (I'm googling 'custom PCs' atm)

 

Aryas

Best place to buy from is overclockers in my opinion, they offer some reasonably priced pre built pc's and a large amount of high quality parts to build your own with :)

considering your budget this could be a good pc to go for it will handle everything you throw at it

an i7 920 oc'd to 3.6ghz, 6gb's of ram and 2 hd5870's in crossfire

oh and if you decide to build your own head on over to the overclocker forums for some handy hints and tips or if you run into trouble :)

Originally posted by MonkeykingZX

Originally posted by Aryas

Woah, those Warmachine PCs look nice!

 

Not had a close look at it but I can tell you now the price of it would go thru the roof if you included shipping tot he UK!

 

Just so you guys know, I live in the UK so please try to recommend international or UK-based companies?

 

Anyone know what SCAN or Beast computers are like? (I'm googling 'custom PCs' atm)

 

Aryas

Best place to buy from is overclockers in my opinion, they offer some reasonably priced pre built pc's and a large amount of high quality parts to build your own with :)

 

considering your budget this could be a good pc to go for it will handle everything you throw at it

 

an i7 920 oc'd to 3.6ghz, 6gb's of ram and 2 hd5870's in crossfire

 

 

oh and if you decide to build your own head on over to the overclocker forums for some handy hints and tips or if you run into trouble :)

Overclockers is OK but I personally know a lot of people that have had trouble with them so I prefer to use eBuyer and Scan for most of my parts.

Originally posted by Psycho2k

Originally posted by MonkeykingZX

Originally posted by Aryas

Woah, those Warmachine PCs look nice!

 

Not had a close look at it but I can tell you now the price of it would go thru the roof if you included shipping tot he UK!

 

Just so you guys know, I live in the UK so please try to recommend international or UK-based companies?

 

Anyone know what SCAN or Beast computers are like? (I'm googling 'custom PCs' atm)

 

Aryas

Best place to buy from is overclockers in my opinion, they offer some reasonably priced pre built pc's and a large amount of high quality parts to build your own with :)

 

considering your budget this could be a good pc to go for it will handle everything you throw at it

 

an i7 920 oc'd to 3.6ghz, 6gb's of ram and 2 hd5870's in crossfire

 

 

oh and if you decide to build your own head on over to the overclocker forums for some handy hints and tips or if you run into trouble :)

 

Overclockers is OK but I personally know a lot of people that have had trouble with them so I prefer to use eBuyer and Scan for most of my parts.

You could probably say the same for Ebuyer and Scan. With PC Parts Overclockers are top notch.

AVA Direct.  Out of the 4 companies I have used to make my barebones and complete setup they have been the best in quality, parts, and speed.

I built mine, got the parts form Newegg. It's not the cheapest, but prices are good, selection is great and shipping is fast (where I was living at the time, I got my stuff next day with regular UPS ground). If you willing to take some time, shop around, and hunt down the really good deals on individual parts, you can cut even the newegg price in half.

Now you may understandably not feel comfortable building your own system and/or not have anyone to help you, and you can't just know how things go together, you need to know how to troubleshoot problems, and resolve hardware conflcts... because it will happen. Always. To some extent or another. There is no shame in not building your own PC. I can assure you my penis was plenty large enough before I started building PCs. If you aren't comfortable building your own, then the Custom Build shops offer good systems for good prices. Because shops like Overclockers, Cyberpower, and IBuyPower (and I've known people who bought from and where happy with all of them) are gamer-centric where manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc are business centric, you'll get a power gaming PC at a good price, much less for instance that what Dell would charge you to build and ship a custom PC in about the same amount of time.

DO NOT, I repeat >>>DO NOT<<< buy a on off the shelf from a retail store. Even if you find a PC you like you WILL spend WAY too much money on it. I'll put it to you this way, what cost $3,000 retail, costs about $1700 from a custom shop, about $1200 with Newegg parts, and about $800 if your willing to put the time into finding the really good deals.

Clearly you have enough money to buy a good gaming rig retail or from Dell/Alienware etc... but seriously, why spend the money when you don't have to?

You'd probably crap your pants if you saw what that kind of money could get you at a custom shop.    

If u can make one yourself then of course do that. It costs so much less and u dont have to worry about any bulls*#t ware on the cpu when u get it.

For purchase in the UK I heartily recommend PC Specialist. I tried them on a friend's recommendation recently and they were highly efficient and at a good price. They use the best components and you can customise the computer online and discuss your chosen configuration over the phone. They then keep you well informed and aim to deliver within a few days.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php

@OP - Newegg.com - but I don't know what experiences people outside the states have with them.

With that amount of money, I would highly suggest that you pick up the parts and assemble a PC yourself or with a friend. I would also recommend that you step back and think what are you going to be using it for. There is no need to buy the best if you only take advantage of it for an hour or two a month. You can fit togther a top-of-the-line PC for MMOs for 1/3 of that budget.

Things to keep in mind when buying or building:

• CPU: I would recommend staying clear away from i7 family this year. They are a superb chip with a larger price tag if you don't already have a DDR3 based system. Problem is - you will NEVER use it to it's full potential unless you are doing some serious number crunching such as video encoding, 3d animation, etc. So, it's not really worth the current price of the chip unless you know you are actually going to use it. Games won't ever take full advantage of it.
• Memory: Get the most memory you can afford now. It makes it easier to get a stable system  when your are dealing with all of the same model memory chips in the motherboard. Even pre-made computers have trouble with certain memory configs when you add extra memory later on. I would suggest atleast 6-8 gigs a minimum these days as memory is dirt cheap. At the moment, I am using 8Gigs in my workstation and have no need for virtual memory.
• Motherboard: No matter how good it appears - google it and look for user opinions and reviews. No board is perfect, they all have pros and cons. But, read the reviews and think if the Cons will affect you now or in the future. This includes pre-built systems. Some companies (like Dell) use their own boards. Avoid these like the plague. If the company will not inform you of the model motherboard that is being used, do not buy it from them.
• Video: Don't assume that you should buy a crossfire or SLI, just because you can. Chances are that you will own several games that don't support it and you will need to disable the SLI or crossfire - which will more than likely require an anoying reboot. If most of your non-MMO games support SLI, then consider it as an option. Otherwise, it's nothing more than added weight to your computer.
• Power Supply: Most often forgotten is the power supply. Don't fall into the trap of buying bigger wattage is better. Quality is woth many times more than quantity in this department. Check out the overclocker forums and other techy forums to see what has the lowest failure rates. I myself have an Antec 500 EarthWatt PSU. However, if I had a second video card or a CPU that uses a larger die size, I would need something else.

Although, personally, I would also think outside of the ("PC") box. Think about things that will make your more comfortable or give you a better experience every time you sit down in front of it. Things you can't necessarily get from the place that would sell you the computer - or at least cheaper if you bought the peripherals elsewhere. Such as a new desk, office chair, better mouse, external hard drives, speaker system or a 24+ 16:9 1080i capable monitor. With that budget, you could buy yourself a decent PC and  peripherals and still be under budget.

Build it yourself or have someone help you build it.  I paid $1250 for ALL the parts for the one I use now. When I went to a sight that you plug in the components you want and they build it, it totaled almost $4000!

If you are not  comfortable with that, try a local shop that will build for you with the components you desire. They can help you on that also and it will save you some $$.

Also as mentioned, go the Barebones Kit way is also a good choice. Tiger Direct it one sight that offers some pretty decent  Kits.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=31&name=Barebone-Kit

When I first tried to buy a gaming rig from the US it became a major hassel. And being from Canada, it really woulda costed more than the price...ya know shipping was extra, then you get nailed taxes at the border. So I dug around Canadian websites and ended up with http://www.ncix.com/ . Now I buy all my PC stuffs from them. Usually good prices and much better stuff than I can find around my area.

Got 1 of my 2 machines from these guys

www.digitalstormonline.com/compblackops.asp

Found a tower in the dumster and built the parts then added it. Costed about $250 and it runs all the latest games.

Like pretty much everyone else has said, build it. I shopped around for about a month, at all the standard companies, even Alienware. In the end, I bought the parts from Newegg and built it myself. Never built a computer before, it was no big deal. And I love my new rig. I saved a ton of money on the markup and got the satisfaction of doing it myself.

Basically any retailer may have what you need/want,so check any of them.

What you want is a system that CAN be overclocked.You want it to be able to O/C both FSb and the Multiplier.You want the fastest RAM you can get,I'm not sure what that is right now ,i have not been in the market for a few years now.

You also want the fastest chip HZ you can get, example a 3.2 or higher GHZ chip.This puts you up to date and can be overclocked later,when you feel it is time for an upgrade.This keeps you from having to upgrade as often,that is why i stress Overclocking capabilities.

IMO go for 8mb RAM if you can afford it,make sure it's the fastest you can get.

To be honest i am still running the 800 series GPU,so i cannot give you any information on how good the newer HD Graphic cards are.IMO i would go for the HD cards,and look for software that makes sure you get the most out of the cards abilities.Games and programs like the Ageia PhysX,are going to be using the power of GPU's a lot  more than past games,so you want a good card,again this can be Overclocked later when time for upgrade,again bypassing that costly upgrade.

Last point,is you can have a PC tech completely O/C everything for you right now,that way you are set for a few years and will not need any upgrades at all.Even if you do not O/C right away as it can wear out your components faster,you are ready to rock when you do want to O/C.

You need to weigh your option for O/C and cooling now or later based on ,it wears out your components faster and ,will the cost of an upgraded cooling system be cheaper now or later.I say this because although costs rise as years go by,you could buy older stock that is the same as you could buy right now and get it much cheaper later on.