Buying a gaming PC

[Smituta]

So I am looking to buy a PC that can play games well. I'll be honest, I'm really interested in Valve games, L4D2 and Team Fortress 2 and whatever else might come down the (steam) pipe in terms of mods, sequels, new IPs, etc. Yes I have a 360 and I can (and probably will) continue to play a lot of games on it, but I'm also interested in some other mutliplayer games my friends play (not WoW), and BioWare's games like Dragon Age and (if I can't resist it) the KotoR MMO. So I want a PC that is beefy now and won't need an upgrade in 6 months.

For a while I've dithered (in the parlance of our times) over building my own beefy PC (and all the concurrent headaches and mistakes that this PC-building novice would likely incur) and just saying screw it and buying one that's assembled by a pro. I know having someone else build me one would be more costly, but as I said before: screw it.

I've decided that if I haven't had the motivation to research, purchase, and assemble a new PC by now, it's not gonna happen. So I'm turning to you folks: where can I get the best bang for my buck online? NewEgg? TigerDirect? Dell or Gateway or what? Should I spring for one of those i7 processors or is that tech too new and too expensive to be worth it? What graphics cards are best? How much RAM do I really need? I'm asking for suggestions but really just hoping you can point me toward the right online retailer.

Coming in under $1000 would be ideal. Advise away!

 

[Ph33nix]

your best bet is to build it yourself for that amount of money. Don;t get an ALienware they are way over priced,
Asus' often have good prices and good computers, you just need to find a place that sells them.
HPs are often good. and I've had HPs last more than 9 years.
Dells are often overpriced. But can sometimes be good.
Gateway is sometimes good. Not always and sometimes they just fall apart.

 

[Tharwen]

[a href="http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/"]CyberPower[/a] do relatively cheap PCs with good service. If you choose one of their default setups and customise things like the case and keyboard you can't go wrong. I recommend not getting one from a large or famous company if you value your money.