[FONT=&quot]My current laptop is a piece of crap that is acting as my main computer, useless as a gaming computer, and as an video/image editor[/FONT].

I'm going to "accidentally" drop it next week.

In preparation for the accident, and being woefully ignorant on how to build a desktop computer, I'd like to ask for some help building a something for gaming.

I'm thinking spending around 600-700 dollars

Currently I'm just shopping on newegg for the parts. This is what I've come up with.

CPU and motherboard
Memory (Getting 4GB)
HDD
Case
Video Card

 

I've never built my own computer, but I would look at more than 2GB of RAM.

Towers fine, as is hard disk. Make sure you've got enough for a decent monitor too.

The graphics card looks fine - lots of memory to play with too.

Good luck making it work ^.^.

 

I'm not exactly a wiz with computers, so if I get some technical terms wrong, don't flame me.

Currently I'm using a laptop and it works just fine, even with newer games. Of course with very demanding games like Oblivion and Dawn of War I have to lower my settings, but overall it's a good pc.

My specs:

Dual core with 1.72 Ghz
1.000 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300
Windows XP

I would suggest getting a stationary instead of a laptop, although that might be a given.

Use a Logitech laser mouse but not cordless. A cordless mouse has the tendency to stop working and is costheavy in batteries or whatever. If not Logitech, then another brand known for quality. Only the best for a gaming pc, right?

Dual core is a must for a gaming pc imo and the higher the Ghz, the better.

2.000 RAM should do just fine for any game you might play, but it really depends on what's going on your desktop while you're playing. Keep the activity down (close Internet Explorer and what-not) and you can get by with just 1.000. Roughly I believe the price of RAM is around 5 Ram per US dollar.

Don't get Vista! It's the bane of all games.

Get a good cooler and silencer for the harddisk. Those suckers get hot and fast easily and I've heard it's even worse when the pc is selfmade, but that might just be my bad memory acting up again.

I would recommend NIVIDIA for graphics. Some like to use 2 graphic cards at the same time an while I've never tried that, I have been told it doesn't work all that well.

If you manage get all of these things mashed together along with a nice comfortable chair and a good speakers, you should get the ultimate gaming experience.

I hope I was of any help and I'm sure you know at least half of the stuff I just wrote, but good luck anyways.

EDIT: Just looked at the links you've provided... You should do just fine, mate.

 

Your choices seem to be decent. You could take an AMD Phenom II X4 940 for the same price or a little less, not quite sure how they stack up against each other, you could have a look at some benchmarks.

250 gig is not that much, unless you have some other spare HDDs lying around. For less thann $100, you can get 1 TB, so I'd take that. Something like this if you insist on Seagate for example.

I'm not sure about the video card, at that price it's a solid choice, but I don't know how good it really is. If you want something a bit better (like 46 to 35 fps), have a look at this. But that figure (46 to 35) is at 1680x1050 with 4xAA, so if you have a lower resolution, a 250 would suffice. If you do take a GTX 260, make sure you pick a 216 one rather than a 192. The 192 might be a bit cheaper, but the 216 has better value.

A ram?

 

Lol, no. It's what we call memory in Denmark. I thought it was the same in english, but it seems I was mistaken.

 

Check out http://techrepo******/articles.x/16721/1

They have a quarterly updated blog that details good deals etc for building a new computer. With your budget you should check out their "econobox" system. 502.93 cents not including shipping ;b

 

I thought/heard that the new Phenom IIs are rather good and have good value for money, as opposed to the old phenoms.

 

If what I have is decent and the best bang for my buck, I'll be picking it up. Thanks, everyone.

 

I think a Phenom II instead of the Intel chip might give you a bit more bang for the buck, and I've seen some great reviews on some of the new socket AM3 ones that were just released (see: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680). I'm pretty sure the rest of your setup will still work with those, but you might want to check on compatibility.

 

Most of my family are engineers and programmers... I just may get a repaired laptop instead of a brand spankin' new desktop.>_>

But if things go the way they should, you'll get yourself a busted laptop sans hard drive, Zombie.

 

How much RAM do you have? I've heard that with people that only have 2gb or so and try to use vista have an awful time running any games and such. Mainly because vista will use half that or maybe more just trying to run....

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To the author, best of luck with your new computer. I see you wrote your current computer is a laptop, so might I recommend getting a decent monitor too? No point having some shitty box monitor from your cupboard and wondering why your games look horrible.

 

The i7 is definitely better than the phenom but the price difference is high and for not much diff performance. I7 is better for doing rendering and the like, but the phenom has about the same performance in games.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=293&Itemid=63&limit=1&limitstart=4

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=293&Itemid=63&limit=1&limitstart=6 (Same at high res)

 

They aren't telling him to get icore 7, but Duo Core. Icore7 is a waste of money unless a) you have money tob urn and b) you do insane multitaskign w(browsing, listening to music, and watching a movie does NOT qualify as multitasking). Unless you are a professional whose job requires a computer with lots of processing power (programmer, graphics designer, etc) you do not need an icore7.

Finally I also support getting intel over a,d, just not icore7

 

Meh, i would think that the phenom 2 for around $220 which is a 3.0 ghz quad proccessor would definitely be worth the money.

 

So, my laptop survived its attack from a cup of water, and it still runs like a champ.

Anyway, I've come across some funds to purchase a spankin' new desktop. My budget is 800 dollars, but it's flexible.


CPU
I was thinking about picking up an i5, but the Core 2 Duo should suffice, right?

Motherboard
Case and psu combo
RAM
GTX 260
HDD

Feedback on my choices would be appreciated, thanks.

Edit: I'm not sure if 500W is good enough.