How to get into PC gaming?

[shadowsoul222]

So I've been wanting to have a nice PC gaming rig set up for awhile now, but everywhere I look I see people saying things like "I would but I can't be bothered to configure my computer right/unload $3K or more just to play the games I can play on my XBox" I'm mostly just curious as to how difficult it actually is to set up a gaming rig, and if anyone has any tips on how to do so cheaply (relatively) and easily without screwing up dozens of times first.

 

[Xeivous]

Youtube is a good source for videos on building computers, also you do not need 3k to purchase a computer that will make mince-meat of any game out for the next few years, assuming you build it yourself.

Use Newegg to buy parts and install yourself, you should just be able to upgrade the pc I assume your posting from by sticking in a few sticks of ram and a nicer video card if your motherboard and powersource allow it. That would set you back about 500ish depending on what you buy.

 

[shadowsoul222]

Youtube is a good source for videos on building computers, also you do not need 3k to purchase a computer that will make mince-meat of any game out for the next few years, assuming you build it yourself.

Use Newegg to buy parts and install yourself, you should just be able to upgrade the pc I assume your posting from by sticking in a few sticks of ram and a nicer video card if your motherboard and powersource allow it. That would set you back about 500ish depending on what you buy.

Actually this is just a laptop. So I was wanting to build one from scratch. I know that you can beef up laptops pretty good but I'd rather just go all out and do it "right" or whatever. Also I plan on taking my laptop with me to school and I wouldn't want to carry that much money around with me.

 

[Xeivous]

Youtube is a good source for videos on building computers, also you do not need 3k to purchase a computer that will make mince-meat of any game out for the next few years, assuming you build it yourself.

Use Newegg to buy parts and install yourself, you should just be able to upgrade the pc I assume your posting from by sticking in a few sticks of ram and a nicer video card if your motherboard and powersource allow it. That would set you back about 500ish depending on what you buy.

Actually this is just a laptop. So I was wanting to build one from scratch. I know that you can beef up laptops pretty good but I'd rather just go all out and do it "right" or whatever. Also I plan on taking my laptop with me to school and I wouldn't want to carry that much money around with me.

Yeah, you're going to want to get a desktop. Laptops are crap for gaming. I would consult more tech savvy people who are willing to put in the time for info. You'll need a case, dvd drive of some sort, motherboard, power source, ram sticks and a video card. Newegg is a good place to get stuff, if you can find a Frys they often have stuff on sale. I personally wouldn't recommend getting a gphx card that costs over a 100 bucks.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm mostly just curious as to how difficult it actually is to set up a gaming rig

Once you've had a bit of practice it's piss easy. These days takes me maybe 2hrs to go from boxed components to fully functional computer with all necessary software installed.

Easiest way to learn is to get your hands on some old shitbox PC and strip it down and rebuild it a few times.

Once you're confident at being able to do that without blowing anything up, it's time to start researching.

 

[Antari]

So I've been wanting to have a nice PC gaming rig set up for awhile now, but everywhere I look I see people saying things like "I would but I can't be bothered to configure my computer right/unload $3K or more just to play the games I can play on my XBox" I'm mostly just curious as to how difficult it actually is to set up a gaming rig, and if anyone has any tips on how to do so cheaply (relatively) and easily without screwing up dozens of times first.

Find an honest local computer builder. If your buying the works (CPU,Screen, Mouse, Other goodies) Your probably looking at around $1,100 CAD (Canadian funny money) for something decent and not on the verge of obselecense. If all you need is a system you can probably have something built for about $600-800 CAD that will handle most of what you'd want to throw on it.

 

[The Madman]

Building a computer from parts is no harder than putting together a piece of shelving or any other easily done home project, it's really just a matter of putting the right pieces in the right places. It really is that simple. Once the parts are in the right places and you're able to flip it on, inserting a windows disk and running the setup will pretty much take care of the rest. Once upon a time you'd have had to worry about BIOS and such, but nowadays that's all taken care of automatically unless you really want to tinker (Which I would suggest against unless you know what you're doing!).

I'm using a computer that's bordering 5 years old now and it's still capable of running just about anything out today on near maximum settings. This long console generation has been good for me in that since so many games are built with the 360 and PS3 in mind, even a relatively archaic computer like mine is considerably more powerful than either console.

You could easily build a computer much better than mine for under 1k, including the monitor and accessories. Still more expensive than your average console, but when you also take into account the amount of money saved on buying games thanks to services like STEAM offering such good deals and mods/clan communities adding life to older games which would since have been abandoned on consoles it quickly evens out. Games in general even retail are generally cheaper than their console brethren as well, which is nice.

Still, I wouldn't recommend PC gaming for everyone. It's a bit of an investment, and quite often running older games and hell, even newer games sometimes can require a bit of running about and troubleshooting. Requires patience. And if really you're just looking for a 'pop the disk in and play' experience then the PC probably isn't the platform for you. Nothing wrong with that, simply a matter of tastes. It's also why I'm so disgruntled that process such as patching and even installing have become common on consoles. I play console games to get away from that stuff.

But anyway, there you go. If you want specific hardware recommendations I'm sure there are plenty much more knowledgeable than me who could help.

Good luck and whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[Minigrinch]

Yeah, you're going to want to get a desktop. Laptops are crap for gaming.

Hey now, they arn't as good as desktops, but going so far as to call them crap? My desktops slightly beefier than my laptop, but guess which I use more since they can both run almost any game on full quality anyway?

 

[Antari]

Yeah, you're going to want to get a desktop. Laptops are crap for gaming.

Hey now, they arn't as good as desktops, but going so far as to call them crap? My desktops slightly beefier than my laptop, but guess which I use more since they can both run almost any game on full quality anyway?

Electronics Rule #1 : Heat kills components.

Laptops don't offer the same sort of cooling options a full size desktop can. Outside of that you can throw the same components into either. Its just a case of how long they'll last.

*Edit: In general yes your right, crap is too harsh a word.. however if you spend $3,000 on a ticking time bomb (laptop) ... Crap is an appropriate word.

 

[Kabutos]

CPU- Intel Core i7(930[BloomField, LGA1366],2600[Sandy bridge, LGA1155]) or AMD 1090T (HEXCore Thuban)
RAM- 6GB Tripple Channel, 8GB Dual Channel DDR3
GPU- Nvidia GTX 460/AMD Radeon HD 6850
HDD- 1 Terabyte 7200RPM (Seagate or Western Digital)
PSU- 750Watt PSU

Why would you go 1366. Also, the 2600 is like $80 more than the 2500k for no benefit in gaming. Also why would you go with AMD hexacores instead of the X4 955.

Also 4GB of RAM is all you need. And really only the 768mb GTX 460 is worth it anymore, otherwise just go with the 6850.

And 750w is a bit overkill for those parts.

EDIT: Oh wait, I remember you now. You're that 'nVidia complete GPGPU' guy. Why am I even bothering.

 

[Keava]

I don't know how it is in your country, but here, if you don't really know how to build a PC and can't afford the Alienware support fee included in price you just go to small computer shop and ask the guys there to build it.
They usually do it for free if you buy the parts from them, and more often than not are cheaper than any big outlets, plus they will tell you what about you need and how the parts work with each other.

And 750w is a bit overkill for those parts.

750W is good if you plan to expand to SLI/Crossfire setup, but yeah, for single video card 650W is enough juice.

 

[shadowsoul222]

alright so thanks for the imput. so am I right in assuming that the specific make and model of the parts (besides the video card) doesn't really matter as long as the specs are right? or are there better or worse parts?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Why would you go 1366.

To have an excuse to upgrade later this year when socket LGA 2011 launches.

 

[Kabutos]

alright so thanks for the imput. so am I right in assuming that the specific make and model of the parts (besides the video card) doesn't really matter as long as the specs are right? or are there better or worse parts?

Some brands are more reliable and have different coolers or factory overclocks and stuff like that, but if it works, it works.

One exception to this is the PSU. Go with a good brand like Corsair or Antec, and make sure it's 80+ certified.

EDIT:

To have an excuse to upgrade later this year when socket LGA 2011 launches.

Well yeah but 2011 is pretty much high end i7s which aren't needed for gaming.

 

[Corax_1990]

Started PC gaming when I was about 9 years old, playing games like Dune 2000, Dungeon Keeper and Populous (Y'know, back when Peter Moleneux made decent games). Always enjoyed PC gaming.

 

[Antari]

alright so thanks for the imput. so am I right in assuming that the specific make and model of the parts (besides the video card) doesn't really matter as long as the specs are right? or are there better or worse parts?

When it comes to parts ... in my world Budget rules. Which brand fits your budget. EVGA is a good bang for buck manufacturer for motherboards and video cards. As far as hard drive's go, avoid Seagate, in the last 2 years reliability has tanked. Western Digital and Hitachi are still going strong. In general for this sort of info, sites like Tomshardware.com can be very helpful.

 

[shadowsoul222]

although this may seem like a stupid question, but remember I've been out of the PC gaming circle for awhile so idk, but do any games use blu-rays or is that just for movies still?

 

[ElNeroDiablo]

Why would you go 1366. Also, the 2600 is like $80 more than the 2500k for no benefit in gaming. Also why would you go with AMD hexacores instead of the X4 955.

Also 4GB of RAM is all you need. And really only the 768mb GTX 460 is worth it anymore, otherwise just go with the 6850.

And 750w is a bit overkill for those parts.

EDIT: Oh wait, I remember you now. You're that 'nVidia complete GPGPU' guy. Why am I even bothering.

4GB with Windows 7 and Firefox 4.0/.1 is a REALLY bad combination if you do a LOT of websurfing. On average I will peak at 200-250 web pages open over any 24-hour period, and as such Firefox will chew up to 2GB (maybe even 2.5GB) of that 4GB, plus there's 7 who wants 512MB-1GB depending how much crap you've got it loading, and on top of THAT there's the Plugin-Container.exe to run all your Flash Files and Java in the webpages, a decent amount of YT surfing (even with 1 window and <30 tabs) will cause Flash to chew up to around 1.5 gig in order to store all those .swf files in the active RAM after loading them into the cache on the hard drive.

This is coming from someone running 7Ent on a i7 2600 with 4GB DDR3 soon to upgrade to 8GB with a second 4GB chip (fuck you Gigabyte, not everyone has "easy" access to single-sided 4GB RAM chips if they want to populate a board advertised as "16GB" but you crimp that with saying "only 2 paired double-sided chips ever, you want all 4 slots you gotta use single-sided 4GB chips"!), and has Firefox chew up a constant 1.5 gig of RAM when loading all my frequent forums (including Escapist) ~BEFORE~ I watch any web videos ~OR~ open a window for my list of webcomics I read.