Like the Title says, I am buying a new gaming desktop after christmas. My question is what are some good websites to buy computers (Like the ones they make for you)? I honestly do not want to buy the parts myself and make it because I do not want to mess anything. I have anywhere from 800-1,100$ to spend. Also, if it helps, I live in the U.S.

Thanks,

Wonderweiss

Originally posted by WonderweissM
Hmm, I will think about it. How would I go about it?

 here u go mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok

Originally posted by eric1000

Originally posted by WonderweissM
Hmm, I will think about it. How would I go about it?

 here u go mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok

I will have to watch these haha. Thanks!

Edit: Wanted to add now, is NewEgg also a good place to buy the parts? Or where else should I look?

Newegg is good - decent prices, return policy, and good at having stuff in stock. The nice part about Newegg is you can get everything here in one shopping trip, and not seriously overpay on the entire thing.

Amazon is also fairly good - a bit harder to search through, but competitive with Newegg.

TigerDirect and Frys can sometimes have good deals - they are more hit or miss. Frys stores aren't bad if you want to walk in and look at everything - a bit more limited selection but it's hard to find a brick & mortar store that actually sells components anymore.

How is this computer?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sQbj

Originally posted by WonderweissM

How is this computer?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sQbj

 First off change that windows 8 for windows 7 unless you intend to go with a touch screen later.  Secondly an i7 is a lot better than an i5 for gaming on a socket 2011 mainboard if the budget stretches to it.  Thirdly 8gb of ram is borderline these days, up it to 16gb.

The rest is okish but if you have the money look towards a better video card as well, something like a GeForce GTX670

Originally posted by eric1000

Originally posted by WonderweissM

How is this computer?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sQbj

 First off change that windows 8 for windows 7 unless you intend to go with a touch screen later.  Secondly an i7 is a lot better than an i5 for gaming on a socket 2011 mainboard if the budget stretches to it.  Thirdly 8gb of ram is borderline these days, up it to 16gb.

The rest is okish but if you have the money look towards a better video card as well, something like a GeForce GTX670

Disregard pretty much everything in that post. On your budget the parts you picked we're not bad. You are right going with the I5 & Z77 mobo.

I am unable to pick parts for you at the moment but hold tight and maybe Quizzical will chime in.

Here are some things I changed:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sRcd

Got rid of the CPU, because I found i7 cheaper at best buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel+-+Core%26%23153%3B+i7-3770+Processor/5513859.p?id=1218655167725&skuId=5513859

Still looking for a good video card to pick up

Originally posted by jdnewell

Originally posted by eric1000

Originally posted by WonderweissM

How is this computer?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sQbj

 First off change that windows 8 for windows 7 unless you intend to go with a touch screen later.  Secondly an i7 is a lot better than an i5 for gaming on a socket 2011 mainboard if the budget stretches to it.  Thirdly 8gb of ram is borderline these days, up it to 16gb.

The rest is okish but if you have the money look towards a better video card as well, something like a GeForce GTX670

Disregard pretty much everything in that post. On your budget the parts you picked we're not bad. You are right going with the I5 & Z77 mobo.

I am unable to pick parts for you at the moment but hold tight and maybe Quizzical will chime in.

Alright. I would like to add that I do not need a monitor, so my budget is around 800-1000 WITHOUT a monitor. (Still need keyboard, OS, mouse). Thanks :)

Disregard pretty much everything in that post. On your budget the parts you picked we're not bad. You are right going with the I5 & Z77 mobo.

I am unable to pick parts for you at the moment but hold tight and maybe Quizzical will chime in.

I have to agree with the above comment.  Disregard the other post.

I've built several computers - most with parts from NewEgg.  Budget builds are tricky.  it would take wayyyy to long of a post to explain everything, but you have to think in priorities.

Priority (In a gaming PC) = Good Graphics Processor Unit (GPU), Good Central Processing Unit (CPU), Low-Latency Random Access Memory (RAM) - (More is NOT always better.  Faster is.)  and a Motherboard capable of using all of the above to its fullest potential.

Think of it this way.  You're buying a car.  You could have a SWEET engine (GPU / CPU) but nowhere to drive it, or crappy tires.  A mainboard is the highway you drive on.

So, using the car anology, you have several decisions to make.:

- GPU will likely be your biggest expense - but it can be upgraded later, provided your system has a solid backbone (mainboard)  Balance the desire to get the best card out with the realization that it won't have enough "highway" to drive it on in a budget build.  Go medium range on this.  Get a top tier card from one chipset generation ago. (E.G.: The video card manufacturer ATI's current generation GPU is 7000 series.  Like a car, there are several tiers of that series.  Higher tier = more money = less likely to run at max potential in a budget build.  Get a 6000 series, medium-to-top tier card.)

- CPU: 2 manufacturers worth considering:  AMD, and Intel.  Haters gonna hate on AMD, because, in short, Intel is better.  Here's where a Cost-Benefit-Analysis mindset comes into play.  AMD is only a -little- bit less comparable performance-wise than intel.  Here's the kicker - again, like a car, there are several tiers.  Intel has i3, i5, and i7, each with tiers of performance.  A top-tier i5 will decimate a low-tier i7, and is much cheaper.  AMD is very comparible to Intel, still super-badass.  Top tier AMDs are just over $200, whereas top-tier Intels are approaching $1100.

(To the nerds out there, I know - it's "apples and oranges" in some aspects, but it's not worth giving the guy a college-level education on the difference of the two chips) .  

TL;DR - Go AMD on a budget build.  Always.

- RAM: Only ingorant people think more is better.  For a single-purpose system, more could be worse.  Don't think about the memory capacity; focus should be on speed.  NewEgg posts latency timings.  Less is better.  8-16 GB in the form of 4 x 4 sticks of DDR3 is all you need.  Find a balance that works for you.  Lower latency is more expensive when you're trying for more capacity.  Personally, I'd go 8 GB of RAM.  4 sticks, 2GB each, lower latency on the cheap.

- Motherboard:  Don't skimp out on this.  You could have the most badass GPU and CPU, but would be bottlenecked by the crappy "highway" you're using.  Just go top-tier.  If you want to upgrade later, you'll want current-gen board

Researching the parts is literally the hardest thing.  Everything else is Legos, man.  It's HARD to mess up assembly unless you're completely careless.  So long as all the peices are meant to go together, they'll do so easily.

For your OS - go Windows 7 OEM (It's like a builder's version of Windows - only $100).  Windows 8 isn't better or worse - just ... diferent.

I'm not spun-up on the compatibility of Windows 8, but Windows 7 isn't goign anywhere.  8 isn't a replacment, just a different form of an OS.

---

Originally posted by WonderweissM
Here are some things I changed:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sRcd

Got rid of the CPU, because I found i7 cheaper at best buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel+-+Core%26%23153%3B+i7-3770+Processor/5513859.p?id=1218655167725&skuId=5513859

Still looking for a good video card to pick up

---

Not to dissuade you, but:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

* Uses the same motherboard as the Core i7
* Is overclockable (K-edition), whereas the one you have from Best Buy isn't
* Will be identical in performance for gaming in nearly every single game for the useful life of the CPU
* $70 cheaper, also with free shipping, which means $70 more you can throw at your video card or nice SSD storage without sacrificing any game performance
* Is not from Best Buy, which I personally hate - but that's just a personal point for myself

---

Originally posted by RogueJD
For your OS - go Windows 7 OEM (It's like a builder's version of Windows - only $100).  Windows 8 isn't better or worse - just ... diferent.

I'm not spun-up on the compatibility of Windows 8, but Windows 7 isn't goign anywhere.  8 isn't a replacment, just a different form of an OS.

---

2 things to consider:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, right now, is $40 US (digital download - DVD is $70, valid only until Jan 31). It is an upgrade edition, so you'd need a copy of an older qualifying OS to legally use it, but it's a less expensive avenue for right now. Yes, it's Windows 8, but unless you can't qualify or until this deal expires, I don't see any reason to spend more money to run Windows 7.

The Metro/start page/touch stuff can be bypassed, and once you've done that, it's essentially Windows 7 with DX11.1 and really fast startup times.

Not trying to argue that Windows 8 or 7 is better, just throwing this out there as an option. When I normally do builds, I have traditionally used OEM editions myself. This is just a limited-time promotional type thing that you may be able to take advantage of.

---

Originally posted by RogueJD

- Motherboard:  Don't skimp out on this.  You could have the most badass GPU and CPU, but would be bottlenecked by the crappy "highway" you're using.  Just go top-tier.  If you want to upgrade later, you'll want current-gen board

---

Motherboards aren't quite so diverse any longer - sure, there are a lot of models, but it basically boils down to 3 things:

Brand Preference: Personally, I only consider Asus, Gigabyte, or MSI brand (and pretty much in that order) - because I've used these, I know the BIOS layouts and the utility software, and I've had very good luck with them. YMMV on other brands.

Power Circuitry: This mainly deals with the overclock potential of your motherboard. Higher end boards will have more "phases", or heavier duty power circuitry, so that they can better regulate the power to the CPU when you are trying to overclock them. If you aren't going to overclock, then it doesn't mean a whole lot. More phases doesn't necessarily mean it can handle more power (because there's no standard definition of what the capability of a phase is), but you can infer that 8 is probably better than 4.

Miscellaneous Features: This is what will really crank the price up. More PCI slots really costs money, especially if the board is triple or quad SLI/CFX. Things like built-in WiFi (which is probably crappy compared to something external), additional ethernet ports, extra USB slots, Thunderbolt ports, etc.

Figure out what features you need, and find the model that has them in the brand you trust. If you don't plan to CFX/SLI you can save a ton of money by just picking a motherboard that doesn't feature it (although nearly every board will offer 2-card support, you will pay more for one that does it well with extra lanes), whereas if you want to triple-GPU, then you'd need to pony up the extra dollars to get a motherboard that does support it. If you want to overclock look for the power circuitry and then hone in on the models that have it. There's no need to necessarily go "top-tier" on a motherboard - the price can easily double, and offer you no better performance.

You probably don't need as many features built-into the motherboard as you think: WiFi and Bluetooth are easily added on via USB (and probably better off for it). Multiple ethernet ports are pretty niche, as is Thunderbolt and Firewire anymore. Nearly every board is going to have built-in sound, and if you want to pay for more better sound, your probably better of going with a discrete card with high quality OpAmps and DACs.

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

---

Originally posted by RogueJD
For your OS - go Windows 7 OEM (It's like a builder's version of Windows - only $100).  Windows 8 isn't better or worse - just ... diferent.

 

I'm not spun-up on the compatibility of Windows 8, but Windows 7 isn't goign anywhere.  8 isn't a replacment, just a different form of an OS.

---

 

2 things to consider:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy
Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, right now, is $40 US (digital download - DVD is $70, valid only until Jan 31). It is an upgrade edition, so you'd need a copy of an older qualifying OS to legally use it, but it's a less expensive avenue for right now. Yes, it's Windows 8, but unless you can't qualify or until this deal expires, I don't see any reason to spend more money to run Windows 7.

The Metro/start page/touch stuff can be bypassed, and once you've done that, it's essentially Windows 7 with DX11.1 and really fast startup times.

Not trying to argue that Windows 8 or 7 is better, just throwing this out there as an option. When I normally do builds, I have traditionally used OEM editions myself. This is just a limited-time promotional type thing that you may be able to take advantage of.

So I can use that when I build the computer? Or do I need windows 8 to upgrade it? (Sorry if that is a stupid question).

Edit: Just read that you need windows installed on the computer to upgrade windows 8 Pro

---

Originally posted by WonderweissM

---

Originally posted by Ridelynn  

---

Originally posted by RogueJD For your OS - go Windows 7 OEM (It's like a builder's version of Windows - only $100).  Windows 8 isn't better or worse - just ... diferent.   I'm not spun-up on the compatibility of Windows 8, but Windows 7 isn't goign anywhere.  8 isn't a replacment, just a different form of an OS.

---

  2 things to consider: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, right now, is $40 US (digital download - DVD is $70, valid only until Jan 31). It is an upgrade edition, so you'd need a copy of an older qualifying OS to legally use it, but it's a less expensive avenue for right now. Yes, it's Windows 8, but unless you can't qualify or until this deal expires, I don't see any reason to spend more money to run Windows 7. The Metro/start page/touch stuff can be bypassed, and once you've done that, it's essentially Windows 7 with DX11.1 and really fast startup times. Not trying to argue that Windows 8 or 7 is better, just throwing this out there as an option. When I normally do builds, I have traditionally used OEM editions myself. This is just a limited-time promotional type thing that you may be able to take advantage of.

---

So I can use that when I build the computer? Or do I need windows 8 to upgrade it? (Sorry if that is a stupid question).

---

What you can do, and this is stretching the legality of it:

Download and run the assistant on a computer that qualifies now (basically any computer running Windows from XP through 7). You will be give then option to install Windows 8 on that computer (don't), or Install by Creating Media (which lets you save it to an ISO to burn to a DVD, or copy it to a thumb drive), which is the option you choose. Make sure to save/copy/print out your product key that you get when you do the purchase.

Either burn the ISO, or write the installation files to a thumb drive, however Install by Creating Media prompts you. It will get the files for both 32 and 64-bit installs (and you will be asked when you install - you want 64 bit for the most part).

You can then use that to install on your new computer, with your product key that you wrote down earlier.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.htm

Originally posted by Ridelynn

 

---

Originally posted by WonderweissM

---

Originally posted by Ridelynn  

---

Originally posted by RogueJD For your OS - go Windows 7 OEM (It's like a builder's version of Windows - only $100).  Windows 8 isn't better or worse - just ... diferent.   I'm not spun-up on the compatibility of Windows 8, but Windows 7 isn't goign anywhere.  8 isn't a replacment, just a different form of an OS.

---

  2 things to consider: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, right now, is $40 US (digital download - DVD is $70, valid only until Jan 31). It is an upgrade edition, so you'd need a copy of an older qualifying OS to legally use it, but it's a less expensive avenue for right now. Yes, it's Windows 8, but unless you can't qualify or until this deal expires, I don't see any reason to spend more money to run Windows 7. The Metro/start page/touch stuff can be bypassed, and once you've done that, it's essentially Windows 7 with DX11.1 and really fast startup times. Not trying to argue that Windows 8 or 7 is better, just throwing this out there as an option. When I normally do builds, I have traditionally used OEM editions myself. This is just a limited-time promotional type thing that you may be able to take advantage of.

---

So I can use that when I build the computer? Or do I need windows 8 to upgrade it? (Sorry if that is a stupid question).

---

 

What you can do, and this is stretching the legality of it:

Download and run the assistant on a computer that qualifies now (basically any computer running Windows from XP through 7). You will be give then option to install Windows 8 on that computer (don't), or Install by Creating Media (which lets you save it to an ISO to burn to a DVD, or copy it to a thumb drive), which is the option you choose. Make sure to save/copy/print out your product key that you get when you do the purchase.

Either burn the ISO, or write the installation files to a thumb drive, however Install by Creating Media prompts you. It will get the files for both 32 and 64-bit installs (and you will be asked when you install - you want 64 bit for the most part).

You can then use that to install on your new computer, with your product key that you wrote down earlier.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.htm

 

Wow thats quite smart. So on the computer I am building (No OS) I can use that CD to download the OS?

Also, I can't confirm this, but I have heard through the grapevine that you can also get Windows 8 for $15 US by going through:
http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/

And just putting in phoney information about your "qualifying computer" - basically typing anything in the fields will qualify, from what I've heard.