So, my current PC is a little over 2.5 years old and I got about 1800 USD to drop on a new one. I will be buying it around mid June so that leaves me with over a month to decide.

I am not good with hardware. My current PC (assembled) while not outright malfunctioning isn't that great in terms of hardware compatibility. So thinking of taking the other route, I am currently looking at Lenovo Ideacentre All-in-one B520. Or the soon to release B540P or A720.

My main priority is gaming. Everything else is a plus. I prefer Intel to AMD.

Any suggestions? Should I stick to assembled PC instead?

Also, I am about 90% sure on a PC, but I might chose to go for a laptop instead since I do not have one right now.

 

If your main priority is gaming I'd really advise against a laptop. Sure, you can use one to play games, but anything beyond mobas and you're going to run into severe heating problems.

And for 1800 bucks you can easily assemble a rig of beastly proportions.

Current part-guide

No idea how good those Lenovos are, but I'm pretty confident in saying that with that amount of cash any PC you build yourself is going to outshine those preassembled ones.

Just something I quickly threw together:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake CLP0564 101.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($129.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 1.25GB Video Card ($278.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec 750W ATX12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ Adorama)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.97 @ Newegg)
Total: $1079.75
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-19 11:02 EDT-0400)

Without SSD, monitor, OS, keyboard and mouse. This PC is easily going to run every modern game out there for only 1100 bucks. There are a lot of things that you could upgrade, obvious choice would be a SSD. Slightly better GPU and CPU, maybe up to 16gigs or RAM.

If you actually want to spend all of your money you could go SLI as well.


Seeing as you live in India I have no idea how readily all of these parts would be available, and how much shipping you'd have to pay, but as far as I'm concerned building your own PC is always worthwhile.

I can only heavily recommend /r/buildapc, where you can quickly find others that are picking parts for a similar pricerange. Or just make a post yourself.

 

Thanks, I will look into it.

What is its use? (Like I said, I am not good with hardware.)

This is the main problem. I am pretty sure none of the sites you listed will ship to India. If I look for parts here, I will easily have to spend 300-400$ extra.

I have a friend travels frequently to US, I originally planned for him to buy the PC when he would go there next time.

Now, I will first state again that I suck about hardware so feel free to point out how wrong I am. The third model on this page costs 1250. And has (compared with the build above),

core i7 (better than i5)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 2GB (I think you picked a newer model but this one has more memory, I know that memory isn't everything, so I am curious how better exactly is the one you selected?)
8 GB DDR3 (same)
2TB HDD (twice)
Blue Ray Drive (better than just optical)

I think the things even out more or less? And this costs about 150 $ more but gives a 23 inch screen (with touch and 3d), keyboard and mouse which would cost me more than 150.

What am I missing here?

Also, any idea about cooling systems in these All-in-ones?

Thanks a lot for the help!

 

SLI is basically buying 2 graphiccards and using both of them in conjunction. Expensive, requires a mainboard that supports that and depending on the program some fiddling with the settings, so you're probably not going to want that.

The CPU is clearly better, that's true. This GT 555M though is LEAGUES behind most modern cards, because it's designed for notebooks.

Cooling is one of the things. In most preassembled PCs you'll find cheap, noname RAM, HDDs and stock CPU fans, which are prone to overheating. But admittedly, we're talking about Lenovo here, so I can't really say anything for sure.

This graphics card is abysmal. It's going to bottleneck the CPU so hard..

As it is you'd probably be fine with playing League of Legends or something similar, but as soon as you start up a graphic intensive game you're likely going to run into problems.


Depending on whether you need a new monitor, OS, keyboard and mouse and how difficult it would be to get some parts, you're maybe going to be better off buying one of these All-In-One solutions, but this one is crap.

 

The problem is I will in no way be able to assemble the system and I had rather not risk it anyway. Hiring someone to do it is possible but trying to get the parts individually from US will be hard for me, buying from India will not only be expensive but it will be hard for me to even find some of the latest stuff.

Can you suggest me some other All-in-ones? And what is your opinion of Alienware? I have heard that it is just very overpriced, but my sources aren't that great either so I just wanna be sure.

Also, how different will the no-name RAM and HDD in the AIO be compared to Corsair DOMINATOR and WD CB?

(And yes I will need a new Monitor, Keyboard & Mouse (wireless) preferably, speakers if I do go for the assembling route.)

More importantly, how much do you think an assembled PC with the same specs as the model of Lenovo B520 I showed you roughly cost?

Thanks again!

 

All-in-one PCs are designed for entertainment rather than gaming - they typically have laptop-level graphics (that's what the m designation on the card means) and laptop-level cooling since all the parts are crammed into a monitor-sized box. You're much better off getting even a pre-assembled tower PC (with separate monitor) than an all-in-one. It would likely be cheaper as well.

Honestly, the RAM and the HD won't make all that much of a difference between a pre-assembled PC and a home-built one. RAM-wise, it will have higher latency and run at a lower clock speed, but the difference won't be enormous. The HD, depending on where they source it from, is hit or miss, though they're not that easy to screw up. The biggest worries are QC (i.e. how well did they put everything together) and the power supply. Pre-assembled PCs almost always use cheap, minimally-rated power supplies that don't last very long and have very little headroom for expansion. With the all-in-one, you also have the problem of limited upgrade paths due to lack of space and odd form factor.

As far as laptops go, the Asus G-series laptops are pretty good. I have the G53 (last year's model), and it's capable of playing Skyrim on Ultra settings. It's really a laptop in name only though - it weighs a ton and is pretty massive for a 15" laptop. Cost me about $1000 US a year ago.

Edit: Alienware (and Dell in general) is overpriced and gimmicky. They do use some good parts, but you'll pay through the nose to get them.

Also, the only real difference between an i7 and an i5 is hyperthreading - the i7 has it, the i5 doesn't. Afaik, no games use hyperthreading, so if your priority is gaming, the i5 is significantly cheaper and will do just as good of a job.

 

Thanks for the info. I will check out the ASUS Laptops. BTW, i7 and i5 might not be that different. What about 3rd Gen as compared to 2nd Gen? So far I have only seen 3rd Gen on Alienware or Dell.

Can you give me some ideas where to start learning? I mean I have opened up the CPU a few times to clean, or put ram out and back in but that's about it. Sooner or later I will have to do this by myself and I had rather start now.

A quick Google search gives a lot of technical stuff. What exactly does this mean?

Thanks, I was looking for a good hardware forum, this will definitely help me.

I will!

I have been thinking about this. See right now the thing is I have a current PC with i7, 6GB (NO-NAME) RAM, 1TB (NO-NAME) HDD, nVidia GTX 275. I bought it September 2010. It can play most of the games I play as of now, CS 1.6, TF2, Minecraft, L4D2 and others usually on that level. But as I said before, the build does have some issues, I will try and have them fixed soon.

I have considered your buy a PC and small laptop idea, but that leaves me with 3 systems, 2 PCs and 1 Laptop. I wish I could somehow transform my current PC into a Laptop somehow. That would be perfect.

As you can see, I have no idea what to do. Any suggestions? :|

Thanks for the help!

 

Well, I'm not an expert and you really haven't been specific about the problems with your current build, but fixing/upgrading it seems like the more economical choice.

Ivy Bridge is the 3rd generation of the current Intel processors being phased in to replace Sandy Bridge. Again, I'm not half as knowledgeable as some people here, but I think the performance upgrade is not dramatic. As Cheddar said, it may be a good time to buy a Sandy Bridge unit.

 

I don't know what Dual Channel means. BTW I have i7 920 if that helps.

I am going to take Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. But the PC/Laptop is only for gaming, my current PC serves well for any educational needs I have.

Small screen isn't that great for me but I will look at it.

Well I am not too happy. I just feel that the PC never lived up to its potential. Like I have this problem. Say I start it up in the morning (meaning it has been shut down for a while). And start playing say Minecraft (or any game really). In about 1-2 minutes, it would start lagging with the whole cracking sound as if my hardware is melting. But if I stop the game, restart and then play it, it works PERFECT. I have no idea why it happens, I have looked online several times. It's not a hindrance but more of an annoyance.

There has been a situation change. My Dad has a Laptop (from his office) which he doesn't rally use. It's an HP ProBook, has i5 but no GFX AFAIK. I can use it from my portable needs. I doubt I will be gaming on the go.

BTW my current PCS mobo is ASUS RAMPAGE II GENE. And stock cooling I think.

If I do decide to only upgrade my current system, what would you suggest?

 

First, on the monitor front I have a 22'' Samsung Lavender. Is it good enough?

I would rather build a new PC than upgrade this.

And this is my current pc: http://i.imgur.com/Z0yl5.png

You can find more on my motherboard here: http://in.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/Rampage_II_GENE/ It does have SLI.

If I decide to sell it, how much do you think I will get out of it?

 

OK, so basically, what I am going to go for now is a new PC, custom build. Since 1800 is enough for it, I won't sell my current one for now.

Now, if I am not selling the current PC, I will need a monitor and Keyboard-Mouse for the new one. Apart from that the configuration listed by Trig on the second post sounds great. I would probably like to add an SSD to that list. And Ivy Bridge i7 instead of the i5 he put, do you think it would all fit in 1800?

 

Holy shit that looks perfect.

But shipping to India remains the problem. Like I said I planned to have my friend buy the all-in-one, which is fairly simple. But will he be able to find all this stuff in one store? Any other way how I can get it here? I can pay whatever extra might be needed for overseas shipping but none of these sites (amazon, newegg) do that AFAIK.

Other thing, I am not really sure what overclocking is/how it is done. Is it necessary?

I really hate not knowing anything about this stuff. If I want to learn, where do I start? I have been watching videos on assembling PCs on youtube right now.

BTW no I don't need Windows, I have it already.

---------- Post automerged at 11:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

Wait. Amazon ships here. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_596184_tips?nodeId=596188

Expedited shipping ***Automotive, Computers, Electronics, Home, Personal Care, Kitchen, Outdoor Living, Sports, Tools, Toys

Per shipment - $13.99
Per Item - $2.49/lb

I have no idea how much all of this will collectively weigh. Any ideas?

 

I am not planning to get the AIO anymore.

I am also watching videos now. I found this one by Newegg

I can buy the case here then? At best the entire thing would be 15lb not more. (I think) So thats roughly 42$ shipping. I don't mind paying it since it saves a lot of hassle.

He does not live there, he is a pilot and travels back and forth frequently.

So, the build you posted a few posts above looks pretty good. I will do a bit more research, post it on other forums and so on. I will not be ordering before 15 June most likely, so I will look out if anything new/better comes along.

Now, since I will be getting new Monitor, any suggestions? And a wireless keyboard/mouse set?