Cheap Gaming Computer

[Ziodyne64]

I thought I'd ask the best gaming community I know this question.


I'm in the market for a cheap gaming computer. A friend of mine has suggested the HP Pavilion G6, which is the laptop that he has. I've seen it run FPS's smoothly, but I haven't seen him play anything else. I would like to play games like DC Universe Online, Elder Scrolls, etc. I don't usually play FPS's, generally action/adventure games, free-roamers, puzzle games. Basically, I want to be able to play pretty much the majority of stuff available on Steam. What should I do?


Also, before anyone suggests it, Alienware is not an option. I would love one, but it's way too expensive.

 

[DazZ.]

Don't buy a laptop, build it yourself.

Basically what most people will suggest, even more so when you're on a budget. Going to go ahead and assume you don't know much about hardware, so I'm sure people here could help you get a price list together if you throw out a ballpark budget number to aim for.

Another thing to add would be does it have to be completely new, or can we be using what you've got already and upgrade that machine, even recycling the OS would cut you down on price.

 

[ResonanceSD]

.

Well first you need to work out a budget.

www.tomshardware.com is an amazing place to start.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

That's pretty good for a start.

But here's the link you want, the $500 gaming PC step by step guide.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-overclocking-pc-building,3273.html

 

[Ziodyne64]

.

Well first you need to work out a budget.

www.tomshardware.com is an amazing place to start.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

That's pretty good for a start.

But here's the link you want, the $500 gaming PC step by step guide.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-overclocking-pc-building,3273.html

Thanks. That really helps.

 

[TrevHead]

I made the bad choice of buying a HP Pavillion desktop a couple of years ago, overpriced POS riddled with bloatware. Next PC I go back to building my own.

 

[anthony87]

I know this is about a cheap one but I just had to mention this PC....it's glorious.

[link]http://www.maximumpc.com/dreammachine/[/link]

Considering that the monitors cost around $1300 each, I can only imagine what the total cost is.

 

[Ziodyne64]

I know this is about a cheap one but I just had to mention this PC....it's glorious.

[link]http://www.maximumpc.com/dreammachine/[/link]

Considering that the monitors cost around $1300 each, I can only imagine what the total cost is.

That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

 

[anthony87]

I know this is about a cheap one but I just had to mention this PC....it's glorious.

[link]http://www.maximumpc.com/dreammachine/[/link]

Considering that the monitors cost around $1300 each, I can only imagine what the total cost is.

That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I know right? As soon as I win the lottery or stumble on some ancient treasure or something like that I'm gonna get me one of those and NEVER TURN IT ON. I'll just.....look at it.

 

[Volstag9]

Yeah, just build your own. That's what I'm trying to do now and it's not nearly as hard as you think it is.

Try to salvage a case and some other stuff from previous computers. You'll cut the cost down even more. I've only spent about $300 worth of stuff to build my next PC.

http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/gaming-desktop-computer.html - this is a guide a friend gave me, there's one on here entirely for a budget computer, tom's hardware is probably the best option anyway.

 

[Zakarath]

I know this is about a cheap one but I just had to mention this PC....it's glorious.

[link]http://www.maximumpc.com/dreammachine/[/link]

Considering that the monitors cost around $1300 each, I can only imagine what the total cost is.

I'd say that it's absurd. A $1200 rig will run any game at max settings; The only reason half the components in that machine exist is for specialized high-requirement operations like 3d modeling&rendering... and then they give it gaming graphics cards instead of workstation ones... and seriously, 1 TB of SSD? 12 TB of HDD space? 64GB of RAM? No one has any use for those numbers.

Back on topic, I built my own rig about 1.3 years ago:
AMD Phenom II 3.2 GHz x4 Black Edition processor ~$120
Some Gigabyte AM3+ motherboard ~$120
Asus-produced AMD Radeon 6850 HD video card ~$165
8 GB RAM ~ $50
1 TB HDD ~ $65
550W(maybe) power supply ~ $30
Case ~$30
DVD Drive $20

Not too pricy, and it hasn't yet met a game it couldn't handle. A little updating to catch up to modern tech, and you could probably get a similarly solid rig for not too much expense.

And, as said above, Don't Get A Laptop Unless You Really Need The Mobility. The one you mentioned is cheap, aye, but it's also got a very shit processor, the video card will probably struggle with many modern games, etc.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I thought I'd ask the best gaming community I know this question.


I'm in the market for a cheap gaming computer. A friend of mine has suggested the HP Pavilion G6, which is the laptop that he has. I've seen it run FPS's smoothly, but I haven't seen him play anything else. I would like to play games like DC Universe Online, Elder Scrolls, etc. I don't usually play FPS's, generally action/adventure games, free-roamers, puzzle games. Basically, I want to be able to play pretty much the majority of stuff available on Steam. What should I do?


Also, before anyone suggests it, Alienware is not an option. I would love one, but it's way too expensive.

Go to www.ncix.com it serves canada and the united states, just click the american flag icon for US prices, and away you go, I put a computer together on that site that can run anything out today on high settings for like... $450(canadian dollars) shipping included.
they also have some pre-built systems, but the real kicker is they will assemble anything you put the parts together in your "shopping cart" for like $50, and you can get an oem coppy of windows 7 or 8 or whatever you fancy for like $100(unless you already have an OS, then well you don't need one).

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Even if decide you can't be assed building it for yourself, get a desktop. A laptop will cost far more and be much less powerful.

There are a fair few places that will let you pick the components and then build it for you for a small fee, so if you're feeling lazy, I'd go down that route.

You'd save a lot of money building it yourself, though.