Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Looking for a decent gaming computer under 1.5k!
sunjenkwei
Member Posts: 133
in Hardware
I'm looking for a good desktop-replacement laptop or desktop that I can play without buying a new one for a few years. It should be about $1500 or under. I'm more tahtn willing to build it myself.
Please help! 
Comments
Would you be reusing any parts from an old system?
no
Do you have an operating system in mind?
--------------------------------
Desktop - AMD 8450 Tri Core, 3 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM, ATI HD 3200 Graphics, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) - Intel P8400, 2 GIGs of RAM, Intel X4500, Windows XP Professional
Well, for $1500 you could build a VERY nice system. I would look into building your own rig, it really isnt too difficult and you could have a computer that would cost close to $3k if you bought it from someone.
Do you have an operating system in mind?
Yeah Windows XP or VIsta.
Can you tell me the parts that I should get? Thanks.
Decent gaming laptop for around $1500? Hey, didn't someone here just write a review on something like that? Oh yeah, that was me.
Agent_X7 AKA J Star
[/URL]
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
Case - Your Choice (I suggest Coolermaster 690) ~$80
Power Supply - Corsair 520 watt Power Supply - $110 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Ram - G Skill 2 x 2gb sticks - $105 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Motherboard - Gigabyte P35 DS3L - $90 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Processor - e6750 Intel CPU - $190 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Video Card - Find an 8800GT somewhere for ~$250
Hard Drive - Seagate 500gb - $125 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
DVD Drive - LITE-ON DVD/CD Burner - $35 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Monitor - Acer 22inch Monitor - $270 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Keyboard - Your Choice ~$40
Mouse - Your Choice ~$40
Speakers - Your Choice ~$40
Operating System - Vista Ultimate (64 bit) - $180 - www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
Total - About $1,555 dollars.
I wasn't sure if you needed speakers/keyboard/mouse. I am sure you can find a cheaper monitor as well, just check your local bestbuy/compusa/circuit city ads for one. You can also cut back on the hard drive depending upon how much space you need. In fact, you could probably get an 8800GTS (G92 revision) if you don't need the keyboard/mouse/speakers and cut back on the hard drive. Its up to you though.
--------------------------------
Desktop - AMD 8450 Tri Core, 3 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM, ATI HD 3200 Graphics, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) - Intel P8400, 2 GIGs of RAM, Intel X4500, Windows XP Professional
http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=252
I have not heard good things for ibuypower.com/cyberpowerpc.com to be honest.
Check resellerratings.com for custom computer vendors if you don't want to build it yourself.
--------------------------------
Desktop - AMD 8450 Tri Core, 3 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM, ATI HD 3200 Graphics, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) - Intel P8400, 2 GIGs of RAM, Intel X4500, Windows XP Professional
Check out sites besides newegg also. there's zipzoomfly, directron, tigerdirect, and others.
For instance, zipzoomfly today had 2 gigs of OCZ ddr2 6400 for $39
They had a coolermaster 550w powersupply for $4.
Sometimes you get better deals from different sites. Just order all your parts from the same one when you do, or you'll get killed in shipping.
D.
I know, but I didn't have enough time to search for the best deals. I am sure you can find better on several components.
--------------------------------
Desktop - AMD 8450 Tri Core, 3 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM, ATI HD 3200 Graphics, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) - Intel P8400, 2 GIGs of RAM, Intel X4500, Windows XP Professional
BUILD IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=252
I'd get the Q6600 instead, bust bang for your buck, considering you don't want to upgrade for a few years. But everything else seems fine.
where can i get the case?
This isn't bad advice, some things I'd mention..
1. If you're buying a modern gaming PC don't buy any power supply with less than 4 rails on it. Just doesn't make since to gimp your psu right off the bat. If you arn't aware of what rails are, do a quick google on that so you understand the importance. Also you said you want a system that will last awhile and a 550 watt is barely meeting system requirements for a single 8800 board. If you ever plan to run SLI thats a minimum requirement of a 650 watt psu so you would already need an upgrade.
Try something like this.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002
Thats a 700 watt, 4 rail. Still a bit low on the wattage but sufficient enough to run two 8800GT ' s.
2. The board...I personally don't go cheap on something like my board. Since you are buying right now you should really spend the money and grab the new 780i chipset that just came out. Basically it's the 680i but with Support for PCI-E 2.0 which is what the 8800GT is capable of. Not to mention real triple way SLI.
http://www.evga.com/articles/385.asp Thats a link to EVGA's version, the one I'll be stepping up to from my 680i next week myself. Cost a bit more than 90 bucks but you always get what you pay for.
3. Far as the processor..well thats the part where you have to make your own call. Most hardware enthusiast sites such as Toms will tell you to go with the faster 6750 over the Q6600. Mostly due to the fact the 6750 overclocks like a madman (mines running at 4.1 with custom cooling stable) and since like two games on the planet currently use 4 cores. You're better off going with the faster dual core and just upgrade later on when quad is more used to a faster chip than what the 6600 is.
4. Operating System. XP, Vista...whatever. Not even getting into that debate. I will say this though. I personally dual boot my system between XP and Vista Ultimate...XP is what I still game on. You can save the money however on whichever choice you make. Microsoft is giving away your choice of XP Pro, Vista Ultimate, Office 2007 and so on. Only catch is you fill out a survey once every two weeks to use the software. After 3 months of surveys you no longer have to fill them out and the operating system is yours free. May want to keep that in mind if looking to save money for better hardware.
You have some good money to spend on a system as long as you don't get crazy and blow it all on Raiding up a couple raptor drives and crap. Worry about that later. Gaming systems depend on 4 things. CPU, a good motherboard, a good strong powersupply and obviously the video. Go cheap on those main parts and you just built a 1500 dollar system that will be outbench marked by a 700 dollar system that was built more wisely. If you can find ways to shave off stuff like a monitor you can toss in something like the new 8800 GTS 512 which is even dogging out our new 8800GT's. Have fun.
* Case - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$120
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* MoBo -Asus P5N32-E SLI
$195
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* CPU -Intel Core2Duo e6750 (2.66Ghz)
$190
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* RAM -Corsair Dominator 2GB (2x1GB) CAS-3
$244
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* Hard Drive -Western Digital Caviar 400GB 7200RPM SATA
$95
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* Power Supply -Corsair 520W
$100 w/rebate
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* Graphics Card- EVGA Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB
$310
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
* DVD Drive - Plextor DVD Burner
$40
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx
total 1.294 $
Hello,
If you are able to build your own search around for these parts and youll will have a kickass system for less than 1.5k. BTW go to tigerdirect.com or search ebay.com.
CPU- Intel Quag core 2.4 ghz 8mb L2 ($225-300)
GPU- Nvidia 8800 GTS 768mb GDDR3 PCI-E ($350-500)
MB- Asus M2N32- SLI motherboard (Intel 775, SLI if you choose to buy another 8800GTS) ($200-250)
HD- Maxtor 500gb SATA 16mb Buffer ($80-120)
RAM- 4x1gb OCX Platinum or GOLD pc6400 800hz ($180-250) Look on ebay for these much cheaper than retail and RAM is guranteed for life.
OS- Windows Vista Home premium...DX10 is the only reason. ($80-130) Buy an OEM version off Ebay.
If you go with the above setup you system will run any game on Max settings for at least the year of 2008, anything beyond that i cannot guarantee as the progression of technology and graphics are at an insane level lately.
I would not recommend buying this card due to the fact that it is outperformed by the 8800GT (which was mentioned in a few of the builds above, cost ~$250-300) and the new version of the 8800GTS (known on many websites as the 8800GTS G92 512mb, cost ~$350, some packages include a free game such as Crysis)
That's 8800 GTX I assume? The GTS cards were only in 320/640MB, although incidentally, you might want to check out the new (confusingly named) 512MB GTS.
But if you're not especially tech savvy, I'd seriously consider buying a complete PC from a custom system builder. That way you have the advantage of a single warranty covering the whole system, not to mention that a professional builds and installs everything for you; some will even do overclocking under warranty as well (here in the UK, at least).
^^ Agree. I've built my own PC for years, and built them for a number of OEM retailers during my career also.
Building your own PC can offer you some decent savings but there are draw backs.
* No "simgle warranty" if something breaks you have to take it out bring it back to the shop and get it changed. With a manufacturers warranty they'll regularly get an engineer to do the repairs for you.
* No OEM OS - This can add quite a bit to the pricing of your system.
* Theres a fair bit of work involved. Between researching what you are going to buy, sourcing it, buying it, putting the whole lot together, getting the cooling and power requirements worked out and then installing the OS and configuring all the various different drivers. At the end of the day theres no guarantee that all your parts will "play happy" with each other.
If you do get these compatibility problems they can be a nightmare to sort out.
Buying an OEM/pre built machine rules out all these problems and even though I've built my own machine for years when I was looking for my latest rig I spec'd what I wanted got as close as I could and bought a Dell. I've never looked back.