Best way to get into PC Gaming

[crepesack]

www.newegg.com

build your own pc. It's cheaper and the pride you get from constructing your own will motivate you to play it.

 

[GoldenShadow]

This is true, yet just an example of future proofing. 32bit software runs faster and the extra ram cannot be used anyway by a single game in most cases.

 

[Jazzyluv2]

its not too hard to build a compy

Cheap build that will run almost everything is

AMD phenom 2 X4 (non black edition)
a cheapo micro ATX case with AM3 and 4 rams slots
get 4 gigs of 1066 ram either in 1 gig sticks or 2 2 gigs sticks
a 750 gig hardrive for around 50-60
a 9800 or if you want a more future proof bullshit get a 4000hd series of 200 series from Nvidia
a cheapo cd/dvd drive

a cheapo micro atx case or mid size atx case

20 doller sennhieser headset
get about a 150 buck 24" 1980x1080 monitor(i still use my CRT cause its overall better than LCDs)

get windows xp

and your all set. Make sure you buy thermal compound and a good case fan if you got an oem CPU

and that is all you need for a good compy

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Tip: Dont spend a vast amount of money, no matter how much you spend now in 2 years time it WILL be outdated technology, go for upper-mid range parts.

get windows xp

Yes, buy an outdated OS for which support will only last for another ~year.

a 9800 or if you want a more FUTURE PROOF bullshit get a 4000hd series of 200 series from Nvidia

8800/9800's are such a waste of money to get now, considering how cheap the 4000 series is it'd be insane to go for old Nvidia models.

 

[Hiphophippo]

(Brrr, laptops are awful.)

Yours maybe. Mine's sweet.

Remember too, I did say the cheapest way was to build a desktop and that it would also provide the best specs for the price.

I just enjoy my laptop. Runs nearly anything maxed out. Good enough for me, and only 900 bucks to boot.

I'm guessing the nearly comes into play when you mention a certain CryTek game.

Yea, but it does run it real smooth on high. Not "very high" but high is still pretty sweet looking.

Pretty well like playing myst on very high.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Yea, but it does run it real smooth on high. Not "very high" but high is still pretty sweet looking.

Pretty well like playing myst on very high.

Gaming laptops. ""

Totally worth the money they cost.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Yea, but it does run it real smooth on high. Not "very high" but high is still pretty sweet looking.

Pretty well like playing myst on very high.

Gaming laptops. ""

Totally worth the money they cost.

Mine was 900 bucks new. And it was.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Mine was 900 bucks new. And it was.

Now ask yourself is it worth the ~25% extra you paid for the size, 20 minute long battery and vastly reduced hardware lifespan.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Mine was 900 bucks new. And it was.

Now ask yourself is it worth the ~25% extra you paid for the size, 20 minute long battery and vastly reduced hardware lifespan.

1-Yes, because mobility is important to me
2-Wouldn't know, I keep it plugged in wherever I go. It's a traveling desktop.
3-It's a secondary. As I've said, I keep a nice desktop around too for when I'm at home and can be bothered to get off the bed.

As I've said before, for your average (read: most) person interested in getting into PC gaming it's just common sense to build your own desktop, but for some people the mobility of a laptop is appealing. I just prefer them. I do a pretty large chunk of my gaming outside of home.

 

[GoldenShadow]

Well I only got the G15 (gen 1) because of the layout and because it has lit keys. I love the thing. The technology that its built on is something I never considered. I just assumed that an expensive keyboard would be more durable than cheaper ones. I looked at several keyboards and I need a standard layout with a detached number pad and full size backspace and enter keys. Plus it has a switch to turn the windows key off so you can't accidently hit it during a game to bring up your start menu and minimize your game. I never use the LCD screen or the G15 programmable buttons.

 

[Klepa]

If you don't want to assemble it yourself, I'd suggest going to a smaller dealer, like a guy running his own business. He can probably assemble it for you for free, and will know more about gaming PC's, their performance, and PC's in general, than 95% of the escapist.

 

[Samuel Adams]

STEP 1:Go to newegg.com to get the parts then build it yourself.
STEP 2:Get Steam and buy The Orange Box* =P



*Step 2 not necessary but HIGHLY recommended

 

[BENZOOKA]

(Brrr, laptops are awful.) You absolutely want to buy the parts and assemble your PC by yourself. For that you need to know a thing or two though; ask, if possible, from a friend who knows lots about computers and building them. The physical building is a child's play compared to finding the parts that'll suit your needs, have good value for the price and of course they need to be compatible with each other. Also you should avoid bottleneck issues in performance. Having a high-end graphics card with a mediocre processor and loads and loads of slow memory on a x86 OS, for example, is not the best scenario. The best way to get that information would be to learn those things yourself, but that takes some time.

It's always fun to build your own computer, choosing the parts for a few weeks and considering the best possible options available for the determined price. But when you end up building about a dozen for friends and family through time, it can begin to feel slightly frustrating.

The first thing you want to do, is to determine the budget. That's really important to settle it before-hand (unless you're rich or something), you can always expand it later a bit if you can't help it. And also for starters: if/when you know something about computers, try making computers in web shops' shopping carts. It's fun and it'll help put some perspective into it.

This is why I bought a PS3. I take my hat off to you sir, a person who obviously knows what he's writing about. I spent over three months trying to buy a PC, but you've got have friends or family members to advise you. It is rather complicated, don't you think?

Appreciate it. It's not too complicated. I find it quite simple, but I guess it's just something you either know or you don't. I've known the basic computer stuff, for almost 10 years now, required to pick the parts or assemble one and so on. If a few month passes without knowing what new technologies or standards have become, it only takes a glimpse of a tech magazine and browsing some web stores.

P.S.
Never had an own console in my life, but PS3 is so tempting. As NHL 10 isn't for PC, UFC would be great, and so on. Also naturally the Blu-ray drive.

 

[Sevre]

People on the site can help you build it, and then you can explore our wonderful world.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

(Brrr, laptops are awful.) You absolutely want to buy the parts and assemble your PC by yourself. For that you need to know a thing or two though; ask, if possible, from a friend who knows lots about computers and building them. The physical building is a child's play compared to finding the parts that'll suit your needs, have good value for the price and of course they need to be compatible with each other. Also you should avoid bottleneck issues in performance. Having a high-end graphics card with a mediocre processor and loads and loads of slow memory on a x86 OS, for example, is not the best scenario. The best way to get that information would be to learn those things yourself, but that takes some time.

It's always fun to build your own computer, choosing the parts for a few weeks and considering the best possible options available for the determined price. But when you end up building about a dozen for friends and family through time, it can begin to feel slightly frustrating.

The first thing you want to do, is to determine the budget. That's really important to settle it before-hand (unless you're rich or something), you can always expand it later a bit if you can't help it. And also for starters: if/when you know something about computers, try making computers in web shops' shopping carts. It's fun and it'll help put some perspective into it.

This is why I bought a PS3. I take my hat off to you sir, a person who obviously knows what he's writing about. I spent over three months trying to buy a PC, but you've got have friends or family members to advise you. It is rather complicated, don't you think?

Appreciate it. It's not too complicated. I find it quite simple, but I guess it's just something you either know or you don't. I've known the basic computer stuff, for almost 10 years now, required to pick the parts or assemble one and so on. If a few month passes without knowing what new technologies or standards have become, it only takes a glimpse of a tech magazine and browsing some web stores.

P.S.
Never had an own console in my life, but PS3 is so tempting. As NHL 10 isn't for PC, UFC would be great, and so on. Also naturally the Blu-ray drive.

The Blu ray drive is indeed tempting; it was the second biggest reason I decided a purchase a PS3, as oppose to the 360. I suppose it is a thing you can just do or not, I found upgrading a PC to stressful and difficult. I guess this situation is similar to speakers; you can buy all the parts yourself, spending a little more money, but having more of what you want, or you can buy an all-in-the-box, which is less, and easier to maintain, but which does not match the technical specifications of the former.

 

[BENZOOKA]

(Brrr, laptops are awful.) You absolutely want to buy the parts and assemble your PC by yourself. For that you need to know a thing or two though; ask, if possible, from a friend who knows lots about computers and building them. The physical building is a child's play compared to finding the parts that'll suit your needs, have good value for the price and of course they need to be compatible with each other. Also you should avoid bottleneck issues in performance. Having a high-end graphics card with a mediocre processor and loads and loads of slow memory on a x86 OS, for example, is not the best scenario. The best way to get that information would be to learn those things yourself, but that takes some time.

It's always fun to build your own computer, choosing the parts for a few weeks and considering the best possible options available for the determined price. But when you end up building about a dozen for friends and family through time, it can begin to feel slightly frustrating.

The first thing you want to do, is to determine the budget. That's really important to settle it before-hand (unless you're rich or something), you can always expand it later a bit if you can't help it. And also for starters: if/when you know something about computers, try making computers in web shops' shopping carts. It's fun and it'll help put some perspective into it.

This is why I bought a PS3. I take my hat off to you sir, a person who obviously knows what he's writing about. I spent over three months trying to buy a PC, but you've got have friends or family members to advise you. It is rather complicated, don't you think?

Appreciate it. It's not too complicated. I find it quite simple, but I guess it's just something you either know or you don't. I've known the basic computer stuff, for almost 10 years now, required to pick the parts or assemble one and so on. If a few month passes without knowing what new technologies or standards have become, it only takes a glimpse of a tech magazine and browsing some web stores.

P.S.
Never had an own console in my life, but PS3 is so tempting. As NHL 10 isn't for PC, UFC would be great, and so on. Also naturally the Blu-ray drive.

The Blu ray drive is indeed tempting; it was the second biggest reason I decided a purchase a PS3, as oppose to the 360. I suppose it is a thing you can just do or not, I found upgrading a PC to stressful and difficult. I guess this situation is similar to speakers; you can buy all the parts yourself, spending a little more money, but having more of what you want, or you can buy an all-in-the-box, which is less, and easier to maintain, but which does not match the technical specifications of the former.

Valid point, sir. It must be pretty much the same thing when talking about speakers, as you said. For that, I do not have the knowledge required for being confident about buying such an audio system. Never thought of it that way before though. The high-end audio price tags are rather terrifying, and I'm more than content with decent sound cards and usually prefer headphones. Pardon the derailing by the way.

 

[Nomanslander]

Never ever buy a pre-made PC for gaming....it's practically the number 1 rule in PC gaming.

Oh and don't spend a lot of money on the best parts unless you want to bring it up later in forums to to wage epeen wars...lol

Most of the top-of-the line parts are ridiculousness expensive the first couple months until a better version comes out...and by that point the price drops dramatically.

Middleware is still good for 99.9% of games out there, I have a core 2 duo with a 250 GTS and it still works fine with every title out right now.

The only game I can't get into right now is Shattered Horizon which demands directX10 and visa+...plus a quad processor.

Parts you can sill get with middleware prices today....=)

 

[JaymesFogarty]

(Brrr, laptops are awful.) You absolutely want to buy the parts and assemble your PC by yourself. For that you need to know a thing or two though; ask, if possible, from a friend who knows lots about computers and building them. The physical building is a child's play compared to finding the parts that'll suit your needs, have good value for the price and of course they need to be compatible with each other. Also you should avoid bottleneck issues in performance. Having a high-end graphics card with a mediocre processor and loads and loads of slow memory on a x86 OS, for example, is not the best scenario. The best way to get that information would be to learn those things yourself, but that takes some time.

It's always fun to build your own computer, choosing the parts for a few weeks and considering the best possible options available for the determined price. But when you end up building about a dozen for friends and family through time, it can begin to feel slightly frustrating.

The first thing you want to do, is to determine the budget. That's really important to settle it before-hand (unless you're rich or something), you can always expand it later a bit if you can't help it. And also for starters: if/when you know something about computers, try making computers in web shops' shopping carts. It's fun and it'll help put some perspective into it.

This is why I bought a PS3. I take my hat off to you sir, a person who obviously knows what he's writing about. I spent over three months trying to buy a PC, but you've got have friends or family members to advise you. It is rather complicated, don't you think?

Appreciate it. It's not too complicated. I find it quite simple, but I guess it's just something you either know or you don't. I've known the basic computer stuff, for almost 10 years now, required to pick the parts or assemble one and so on. If a few month passes without knowing what new technologies or standards have become, it only takes a glimpse of a tech magazine and browsing some web stores.

P.S.
Never had an own console in my life, but PS3 is so tempting. As NHL 10 isn't for PC, UFC would be great, and so on. Also naturally the Blu-ray drive.

The Blu ray drive is indeed tempting; it was the second biggest reason I decided a purchase a PS3, as oppose to the 360. I suppose it is a thing you can just do or not, I found upgrading a PC to stressful and difficult. I guess this situation is similar to speakers; you can buy all the parts yourself, spending a little more money, but having more of what you want, or you can buy an all-in-the-box, which is less, and easier to maintain, but which does not match the technical specifications of the former.

Valid point, sir. It must be pretty much the same thing when talking about speakers, as you said. For that, I do not have the knowledge required for being confident about buying such an audio system. Never thought of it that way before though. The high-end audio price tags are rather terrifying, and I'm more than content with decent sound cards and usually prefer headphones. Pardon the derailing by the way.

No pardon, derail as much as you need.