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Need advice on a desktop setup please.
lostfordays21
Member UncommonPosts: 5
I have a laptop now that I am going to use as mainly a school work/recording program setup. It is decent but not adequate enough now for the games I would like to play. As such, I am hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction of a good desktop rig for my gaming purposes. I am mainly want to game on The Secret World at the moment. I will also be dabbling in FFXIV:ARR once that comes out and maybe ESO as well.
The main issue is I am pretty much in a new area in the middle of nowhere with none of my old friends around to help me build a PC. Because of that, I'm looking to buy a pre-built desktop. I was looking on cyberpowerpc.com for desktops mainly because I can get a good payment plan through them. I have a limit at $1000, that can possibly go up to $1200 if needed. I realize that amount won't grab me something crazy but I just want a rig that can run the games smoothly at maybe medium settings if possible.
If anyone can help point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I know a fair amount of what is good to put in a PC, but not enough to feel comfy dropping that amount of cash on one. I would feel better if a few people here with more knowledge on the games (especially FFXIV and ESO) could give me some advice.
Thanks in advance!
Comments
Oh man, do not buy a pre-built. You do not need friends to help you set up a PC. There are so many Youtube videos that will run you through the process step by step and even troubleshoot you through issues.
You can even find blogs where people will post great computer setups with great deals that you will never find in pre-built machines.
The amount of time you have to wait for the pre-built machine to get to you, you can already have your self built machine up and running.
Do a little research. Watch some videos. Buy parts from here:
Newegg
I too would advise against buying some pre-built. You will get MUCH for your money if you buy the parts and put them together yourself. It's really easy, much easier than it sounds. For $1000 you could easily build something that would run most games on high settings no sweat. Sorry, can't recommend exact parts atm, I am sure someone else can
What are the specs on your laptop. If it was fine for games before but somehow is magically not good for modern games, it might just be as simple as your OS is bogged down and you need to do some spring cleaning. For the past 5 years there has not been a game to really push modern hardware. In the desktop space even the most demanding games should not strain a Core 2 Duo with an HD4850 or GTX260. In my opinion games will have their specs increased again suddenly as more developers focus on the new consoles over the next 2 years. It doesn't make too much sense with this standpoint to invest in a new system now at the beginning of an upward trend instead of the middle where you can see where the trend is going and the proper equipment to deal with it.
When it comes to financing. NEVER get a payment plan for a consumer good. In fact here is advice for stability. In your savings you should have 8 months of funds that should support your current budget. When you have that basic safety net, then save for other goods. Loans in most cases are a bad idea. Even things that have a positive impact on your credit rating like Auto, Student, and Home loans are bad investments. You should always save and plan to pay in full for all products. When there is a reason to get a loan like a Student Loan where the payoff is after your graduate, than first work to save 30% of the tuition costs. That will be about $20k. Once you do this its a lot easier to support yourself in college, you will get a lot more out of your education, and you will most likely make a good college/major choice with the knowledge of what it took to get that $20k. Also colleges like students who have a few years work experience. Especially Graduate schools.
So you don't currently have a desktop... does that mean you also need a monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers (or headset?) and everything has to be $1000 - $1200?
KB and mouse can be had for next to nothing but monitor + speakers will eat around $300 of that, leaving you with $700-$900 for the PC itself. Is that what you want?
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
First off, I have the mouse, keyboard, and monitor on hand. They were all given to me by a friend. At most I would need speakers which I probably have a setup laying around in my closet atm. Secondly, I am not taking out a loan for this computer. It is 12 months same as cash, which I already have half of the money ready to be put down on the thing. At most, I would probably have this thing paid off in three months. Third, my laptop is damn near five years old. You are right that I could run these games but not very well! If I'm going to be doing things I like to do like dungeon runs and raids, I would like something that can handle all the madness and not chug along during the action. Considering I usually play as a tank class, I want to be on top of things and not cause someone to get killed. Like I said in my first post, the laptop is good for school/recording programs and sometimes the recording programs cause it to bug out.
I kind of knew people would say DO NOT BUY PRE-BUILT! That doesn't surprise in the least bit. I know it is more cost effective to build one yourself and I have considered doing it. I just want some advice on a decent pre-built rig for the time being. I don't want advice on how and when and where to spend my money, how to work my finances, and BS about the state of technology.I appreciate all the feedback and concern but please if you have some advice for me that deals with what I asked, I would love to hear about it.
Thank you.
Personally If I were going the prebuilt route I would look at AVADirect.com.
They have some already configured or you can choose which parts and configure your own. I would stay away from cyberpower and ibuypower personally. I have heard some horror stories from them and they will put cheap junk parts in your PC if your not very specific about what you want.
i.e. A 1000w power supply, sounds great if you dont know any better. But unless stated otherwise it would be the cheapest one they could put in there. With avadirect you have a great selection of parts to pick so you wont get any junk unless you pick it.
Thats what I would do at least.
I will try to give input for you, once you settle on a place, you want to still configure it some, and at least change the power supply out. Well, I will do some stuff from cyberpowerpc
Intel Z87 i5 configurator:
Corsair Carbide 200 case (cheapest name brand with USB 3.0 I think)
i5 4670IK processor
Asetek 510LC liquid cooling that comes with it, can save some money to go with stock, but its $20...up to you.
Gigabyte Z87-HD3 motherboard that comes checked, theirs a MSI MB for $9 less if you like MSI more.
8GB DDR3 1600 memory "corsair or major brand', add $14/19 you can pick your brand/type.
7950 3GB video card
Corsair builder series 600W 80+ bronze power supply
1 TB WD blue hard drive (Can save $9, by getting a unnamed generic, I wouldn't)
120 GB Samsung 840 SSD drive, little older, but still a good drive for the price on their builds, do not get their Sandisk, they will give you a old model that is crap....So if you want a SSD, this is it, unless you want to go as low as 64GB.
24x CD/DVD drive that comes clicked.
Windows 7 or 8 64 bit
Unclicked their keyboard/mouse.
System cost: $1209
Modified systems:
1. No SSD drive, 7970 graphics card instead $1194
2. No SSD drive GTX 770 video card instead $1187 (haven't looked at how these new cards stack up yet)
3. No SSD , cost savings $1103
4. No SSD, 7870 2GB graphics card $1031
Theres some options for you that all seem decent for games.
I do not agree with the above post's suggestion to forgo the SSD. A gaming rig demands performance from all components. If you choose to rely on the mechanical hard drive, you will suffer from performance that hasn't improved significantly since 7200 RPM drives came out in the 90s. If you don't mind waiting a few minutes each time your computer boots, then waiting an extra 30-90 seconds at each loading screen, go ahead and forgo the SSD. If you do want fast loading times and <60 second boot times (my laptop boots in 17s) make sure the SSD is in your build and is used as the primary OS and game drive.
SSDs take discipline to use. They are performance drives, not mass-storage devices. If you download movies, music, or other media which don't require the performance of a SSD, store those on a mechanical drive. You also shouldn't expect to install every game you own all at once. Depending on the size of the SSD, you may have to only keep 3-6 large games at a time. You may be able to back up some game files to a mechanical drive if you know what you're doing. That can save you from having to re-download many games.
most good computer part websites also have a 'system builder' or 'computer configer' or whatever. Play with that, do NOT buy though that(IE don't click 'buy' on the finished product lol) but instead take note of the partrs u pick.
You can play around with it some, reserch the parts(for issues, etc) and make a better desicsion without having to 'look up' if part A will fit with part b. The system builder things on most sites will narrow down your 'valid choices' as you pick items(IE if u pick a AMD 3M+ chipset mobo, it will not list intel and/or diffrent pin AMD cpu's)
Then, after u check ou teach part, decide what u want. (Another peice of advice is, for the most part, do NOT buy 'newest' tech, buy stuff thats 3-6 months old, IE has been on market that long already, this way, any and all reaserch WILL find SOMETHING on them from the consumers, not just the retailers/manufactures. Its a good way to see if a product will have issues for you later or not. And, more importantlly, the cost will be a fully 1/3 off 'new' tech prices, if not more.)
One more thing: Start with a nice (Good name, solid stable rails) Psu, and a good case with nice airflow(Compared to rest, these will be 'cheap' for decent choices, and picking a crappy psu can and often WILL screw a system up, and a good tower just gives you room to work and build your new baby)
then pick a mobo, and build it from there.
And yes, listen to these two. Don't touch win8 unless u wanna have your pc act like a bloody smartphone.
Sorry about all the spelling mistakes, my spellchecker fails and im too tired/sore/lazy to fix :P
I have Windows 8, and I do not have a tablet or anything else, and I operate from the desktop. It is no big deal, and they have the 8.1 coming out. A few things are harder to find, but I don't get the 'hate' for it. I use it like it was 7 for 95% of what I do.
Uhm, re-read my post, I didn't suggest to forgo the SSD, it is in the first system I suggested, I was just giving options on the other ones, incase he wanted to buy one later and put it in. I have a Samsung 840 in the build, which is a quality SSD, a little older, but the best price point on cyberpowers site for 120ish GB.
Windows 8 isn't that bad. If you install a Start Menu program and use the desktop instead of the metro junk, it will feel like Win 7 with a mouse. Patch 8.1 will include a start menu.
@Xthos
I know you weren't trying to suggest dropping the SSD as the primary option. I just wanted the OP to think about how useful a SSD is for a gaming system
For a PC:
Windows 7 and Windows 8 operate about the same, in that, one isn't really any faster than the other for gaming or everyday tasks.
Windows 8 will be supported for another year or two past Win7 just by virtue of being released a year or two later, and has DX 11.1 support (Which Win7 may get, but probably not, and probably won't matter that much anyway). There are a few under-the-hood niceties about Win8, but nothing groundbreaking that really sways the decision one way or the other.
As far as the "touchscreen/start menu/etc" - that's all easy to work around, and you can make Win8 look and feel identical to Win7. Here's one free program that does it, I'm not sure how 8.1 will look, but may not even need a third party program after that.
Classic Shell
You can make the case that you shouldn't need a third party program to make Win8 look like Win7, but it's not a huge deal to me at least.
There was a promotion where you could get Win8 for a deep discount; that has long since expired, and now Win7/Win8 are comparable in price. Being comparable in price, go with whichever your most comfortable with. But I won't be so homophobic about Win8 to pay extra to downgrade, or take a whole lot of steps in order to specifically avoid it.
I see sales on Windows 8 still, I think to try to push it more, I have seen it for as low as $70-80 at various sites. I got mine for $80 from Newegg (20% off sale).
The turning off and such is a little odd, but I usually leave my computer on and let it go into sleep mode due to inactivity. Other than that, probably less than 0.5% of what I do, I have to mess with the metro interface. I will be messing with it more soon, once I set up some more music stuff, but that will mostly be using the app, not the interface as a whole.
Yeah it is different, but it also will probably give you better functionality with a Xbox if you are inclined to own one (I do not), a windows phone (I do, and it is why I got windows 8 and the phone when I did as a ecosystem).
So I would say if you know someone with Windows 8, go check it out, and make your own decision, people I know must be the exceptions, because everyone I know or people they know actually either like it or it doesn't bother them. I also do not do anything odd on my computer, I mostly game, browse the internet, do music, and that type of stuff. So I understand that certain tasks, if done a lot, may or may not be less convienent, if they are (not aware of any, but know it could be true).