PC Pros - Help me Get a Computer

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

My message to PC users (who fix and build PCs and know how they work) don't advertise that its easy, cheap and that anyone can do it. Because that's just not true it seems.

Well of course it's not going to be easy if you're not even going to put the effort in to learn how to do it.

A year ago I wouldn't have had a clue about how any of this shit works, but I watched some videos, looked on forums and the like and I'm now typing this on a PC I put together just a few weeks back.

It's not difficult to learn it and once you know how you weren't forget it, but if you're coming at it with an antagonistic attitude and have no intention of ever even TRYING to learn then we can't help you.

yepp this, there is enough user friendly youtube videos and guides out there for how to build pc's, and hwo to tell which parts are compatible.

hell, even pcpartpicker.com has a compatibility function (not perfect but works for 99% of items) to make sure any parts you add to your cart is compatible with the others.

it honestly takes maybe a weekend to become knowledge enough to know what you're doing and to be able to do it by yourself, but if you never put forth any effort, then you'll never learn and never get to have an awesome custom computer.

the days are gone where you had to smack your head against the instruction manual it came with for hours to get anywhere, even then those aren't that bad these days. As people have mentioned, nearly all pre-builts are going to charge you up the butt, because they have gotten away with it forever and they will continue to get away with it for as long as people like you continue to be as lazy as possible. I don't mean to talk down to you, but it takes maybe a 2-3 hours, and some safety consideration, to build a computer and have it up and running.

 

[Doom972]

$600, you will have trouble getting a "good" pre built PC.

To build a GOOD, like an actual machine that can run games on 1920x1080 on ultra, then you need to buy parts individually when they are on sale over a month or 2 period and build it yourself.

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

Is this a good PC?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberpowerPC-Black-Gamer-Ultra-GUA250-Desktop-PC-with-AMD-Quad-Core-FX-4130-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Monitor-Coo/17811825

As I said above, I really can't just buy parts and know how to put them together.

Pretty good, except for the graphics card. Just upgrade the graphics card to this one [http://www.walmart.com/ip/EVGA-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-650-1GB-GDDR5-PCI-Express-3.0-Graphics-Card/21899797] And you're all set. Although it is better to just buy a PC that already has all the parts.

You don't need to know how to put it together, just pay someone to put it together for you. It isn't rocket science, but not as easy as putting together a set of Lego. It requires a bit of patience, reading some instructions, and maybe watch a Youtube video.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

there are millions of guides online and on youtube. but its all square peg in square holes stuff mostly

biggest expense is your first build, as you'll have to get one offs like;
cable
KB&M
Monitor
Pad
case
speakers.
Hard drive.
Powersupply (750w depending)
and rarely have to replace them.

you'll need a motherboard and CPU which are compatable, check the motherboard specs
some RAM, 8GB of DDR3 is the sweet spot for now (IMO)
graphics card, recommend going midrange on this, but thats up to you

but at the end of the day, you don't sound that keen on getting in there n tinkering with it. maybe a console is a better fit for you

 

[TehCookie]

I guess buying a PC is a bit like buying a car. Unless you fix cars or know about them, you can't really put one together yourself.

If you trust a dealer to sell you a good one, you're likely to have some components come broken or really cheap (and therefore likely to break quickly).

So if you want a good affordable car, you have to build it yourself...

:| This is why people stick with consoles. They come put together, are extremely cheap, have no compatibility issues, don't come with cheap or broken parts and they function. Best of all you don't need to know how to make them. Unfortunately they don't support RTS and MMORPGs really.

My message to PC users (who fix and build PCs and know how they work) don't advertise that its easy, cheap and that anyone can do it. Because that's just not true it seems.

Thanks for your time guys this has been educational. I'm going to buy one of these prebuilt PCs and hope my luck holds out, because that's really all I can do. I don't have the time to learn to build them myself or the desire to. I might try replacing the power supply and graphics card though as that seems to be the important bits.

It's because you're asking for a cheap good pre-built PC. It doesn't work that way. You either have to pay more for a decent pre-built or educate yourself to build one. Also PC gamers lie, it's not cheap or easy. Computers have more possibilities than consoles, but you have to work or pay for it.

So if I were you I'd up the budget, educate yourself, or stick to consoles. I can't help you with PC details because I don't know much myself. It would also help if you say what problems you have when building PCs, from your previous story it sounds like you were being too forceful. The more details you give the more detail of a response you can get.

Since most games are multiplat unless you want to put effort into modding (which is just as much of a headache), graphics or KB&M it's fine to stick to consoles. I don't find PC gaming as great as others say.

 

[Bad Jim]

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

It has been very easy and cheap so far because most games have been designed around the Xbox 360 and PS3, which are pretty old. Even some laptops can run the games. But there are dark days ahead for the PC gaming master race, as the next gen consoles are pretty good, with 8GB of RAM and gpu's roughly equivalent to a Geforce 660 I think. And with next gen hardware comes demanding games.

My advice, if you don't have a pile of money, is to either buy a next gen console or wait until the spring or summer, by which time we'll know what kind of PC you'll need to run new games.

 

[loc978]

For $600, you could build yourself a nice midrange PC, or buy a piece of junk... with you being unwilling to assemble it yourself, I'd say the PS4 is really your best choice.

 

[gigastar]

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

Primarily because they dont actually buy a new PC all that often. The least they have to do is upgrade their graphics card after a year or two and theyre good to go.

Speaking of which, yes, it is highly reccomended that you biuld your own PC. Assuming your hands dont jitter as if you were going cold turkey off cocaine, then theres helpful videos all over Youtube that will guide you through the process.

 

[themyrmidon]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1MwUJ

As of writing that part list comes to $620, with $75 in rebates for a total of only $550. It is micro-ITX form factor (smaller and less intrusive), and includes an OS and mouse/keyboard. It also comes with 3 free games.

pcpartpicker.com is an excellent resource for building a computer. If you are open to that idea at all I'd suggest you check it out.

 

[Soundwave]

I bought a couple scratch/dent dell computers from their outlet store like eight years ago. Saved me a good 300-400 dollars for some supposed structural damage I couldn't even find.

Captcha: bath water

You might be right, captcha.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Honestly dude I was extremely intimidated when I decided to build my first pc earlier this year. Spending about $700 on parts and then stressing out about something going wrong was a serious concern for me. After that first time it's probably one of the easiest things ever. Stressful but easy. Aside from all the obvious pro's that go with pc gaming the biggest for me has been the pc becoming a hobby in itself. I want to know everything about computers now. Switching to pc is what led me to going to school for my CCNA.

 

[RicoADF]

$600, you will have trouble getting a "good" pre built PC.

To build a GOOD, like an actual machine that can run games on 1920x1080 on ultra, then you need to buy parts individually when they are on sale over a month or 2 period and build it yourself.

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

Is this a good PC?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberpowerPC-Black-Gamer-Ultra-GUA250-Desktop-PC-with-AMD-Quad-Core-FX-4130-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Monitor-Coo/17811825

As I said above, I really can't just buy parts and know how to put them together.

Alot of it comes down to where you live, also what someone considers 'good'. If you want to run the latest game on max settings for the next few years then a 'good' pc will set you back, if you just want to enjoy the games and dont mind the system settings going down from high/ultra to med then low for the next 3-4 years then 'good' can be a decent price. Once again depending how much effort and where you live. On that note, some details on rough location would help in that regard.

 

[Bellvedere]

Building a PC for the first time can be intimidating. The hardest part is definitely the learning about what makes a quality PC build. I can appreciate your lack of interest in learning about PC hardware as well as understand the frustration of not being able to find the ideal pre-built PC.

I have a couple suggestions:

Check out computer stores (normally ones that also sell parts) locally and online. Many will sell quality custom built PCs with brand name parts and can offer advice for what suits your needs, mixing and matching components within your price range. If it's online they'll generally have something like a list of PCs they regularly build/recommend with a description of what it's used for with the option to switch components. If you find something like this, you can always ask for a second opinion on internet forums too (both in terms of reasonable price and desired functionality). I'm in Australia so unfortunately I can't point you anywhere that might help.

Go to a site that has articles on "system builds". There's a [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/ars-technica-system-guide-july-2013/] number [http://techreport.com/review/25250/tr-back-to-school-2013-system-guide] of [http://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best-pcs-you-can-build-for-600-and-1200] sites [http://www.techspot.com/guides/buying/] that do it fairly regularly for different requirements and budgets. They normally have justifications for why they included each part, how the system will perform, as well as upgrade suggestions if you've got a little extra money to spare or downgrade suggestions if you want to save a little more. You can also take a look at the comments for other ideas however the credibility of those posting is not always obvious. You can then just buy what's in the list and take it to a computer store to assemble, or depending where you order, they'll sometimes offer assembly too. You could also try your hand at assembling yourself again. I wasn't building PCs pre-2010 but the impression I get is that it has become much more straight forward over the years.

 

[DrOswald]

I guess buying a PC is a bit like buying a car. Unless you fix cars or know about them, you can't really put one together yourself.

If you trust a dealer to sell you a good one, you're likely to have some components come broken or really cheap (and therefore likely to break quickly).

So if you want a good affordable car, you have to build it yourself...

:| This is why people stick with consoles. They come put together, are extremely cheap, have no compatibility issues, don't come with cheap or broken parts and they function. Best of all you don't need to know how to make them. Unfortunately they don't support RTS and MMORPGs really.

My message to PC users (who fix and build PCs and know how they work) don't advertise that its easy, cheap and that anyone can do it. Because that's just not true it seems.

Thanks for your time guys this has been educational. I'm going to buy one of these prebuilt PCs and hope my luck holds out, because that's really all I can do. I don't have the time to learn to build them myself or the desire to. I might try replacing the power supply and graphics card though as that seems to be the important bits.

PC gaming is a hobby. Console gaming is playing with toys.

I am not saying this to sound superior or to bash on consoles or anything. I love me some consoles and I would never say that being a PC gamer makes me better than anyone for any reason. But this is just a fact of how the two different approaches work. If you are not willing to get into a new hobby you should stay away from building your own machine and stick to consoles. Or maybe the Valve box.

The time between you starting this thread and giving up was less than an hour. This, to me, indicates you want a quick fix. You don't want to put in a great deal of effort for your gaming experience. You just want to play games, which is totally understandable and a perfectly legitimate way of approaching gaming. It just wont work if you want the benefits of PC gaming beyond steam sales and keyboard/mouse input.

To get the most out of PC gaming you have to put in the effort to become proficient at a number of skills. These skills are not hard to learn. Anyone can do it. It is easy. But easy does not mean effortless. Consoles are effortless. PC's are easy.

Second, PC gaming is not exactly cheaper than console gaming. Value in PC gaming is not about spending less, it is about maximizing your value per dollar. A PC gamer gets several times the value out of each dollar he puts into his hobby when compared to a console gamer. Both will spend about the same amount but a PC gamer will get far more out of the exchange. PC gaming is really cheap for what you get.

Based on what you have said in this thread I would recommend you stay away from PC gaming for the time being. Right now, a month before the next console generation starts, is about the worst possible time to buy a prebuilt PC. Wait a year and everything will be much cheaper as gaming pc manufactures have to catch up to play upcoming titles. Buy a PS4 in the mean time.

 

[Kathinka]

ok op, here is the solution to all your problems, no exaggeration:

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

this site is the best thing ever when building a pc with a set budged. pick a tier and go nuts.
also has tons of useful tips that answer almost all assembling questions at the bottom.

 

[Snotnarok]

$600, you will have trouble getting a "good" pre built PC.

To build a GOOD, like an actual machine that can run games on 1920x1080 on ultra, then you need to buy parts individually when they are on sale over a month or 2 period and build it yourself.

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

Is this a good PC?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberpowerPC-Black-Gamer-Ultra-GUA250-Desktop-PC-with-AMD-Quad-Core-FX-4130-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Monitor-Coo/17811825

As I said above, I really can't just buy parts and know how to put them together.

I don't recommend buying stuff like this from Walmart, many things they get manufacturers to make as a "walmart model" with lesser quality parts or reduced features.
Want a good cheap PC try newegg as you were looking plus a local PC shop, I use Microcenter they've got some stuff that's without the fancy box so you just may wind up with a nice quality HDD with no box or cables, but extra cheap.

 

[SinisterGehe]

$600, you will have trouble getting a "good" pre built PC.

To build a GOOD, like an actual machine that can run games on 1920x1080 on ultra, then you need to buy parts individually when they are on sale over a month or 2 period and build it yourself.

Why are people always saying its so easy and cheap to have a good PC if its not true?

Is this a good PC?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CyberpowerPC-Black-Gamer-Ultra-GUA250-Desktop-PC-with-AMD-Quad-Core-FX-4130-Processor-8GB-Memory-1TB-Hard-Drive-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-Monitor-Coo/17811825

As I said above, I really can't just buy parts and know how to put them together.

Mainly because of the fact, that we who know what we are doing, know what we are looking for.
Seriously, get a mate who knows the parts and go shopping with him - he will save you money.
Also if you want to run games, you don't need 1TB HDDs 500 is way more than enough use externals for the other crap.
Also cases, normal box works just fine cooling wise, just make sure everything is organized neatly.

But I'd say in your price range, that is a good one. Tho that GTX610 will put you back a bit. I got myself 660 for for 20-30 more and it has quite leap on performance.

To be honest I would recommend you to learn to fix up your computer from parts. It will save money and you can save a lot of money because you do not need to pay for the excess softwares and whatnot that go in to those prebuilt ones.

 

[TheBlakDrag0n]

If you ever come back here to see what we've all said michael87cn, I didn't see anyone else really mention actual pricing yet, but I've found over time that in any given year (I shop around every year even if I don't build a new PC) I could buy all the parts for a mid to top notch gaming PC for about $2000.00 total (less if you shop around over time for the deals as someone mentioned earlier).

So if you ever do decide to get into building your own...save up some cash, spend a bit more, go as "high end" as you can and even though you could spend more than double what you would on the current/newest console, you'll get a whole lot longer gaming life from your PC than you will from a console. These days consoles seem to become obsolete in 2-3 years and you have to spend $500-$700 again to be able to play the newest games. On a PC, all you may have to do is upgrade a few parts for a few hundred bucks...and that's normally only after quite a few years.

For a real example, my current gaming PC was built for about $1900.00 in 2005 and I've spent about $300 getting a bit more RAM and a newer graphics card since then. I'm running games like Crysis 3, Mass Effect 3, Starcraft 2, etc. in full detail at 1920x1080 resoluton with no problems. so I've gotten almost 10 years of high end gaming out of this thing so far and have only spent $2200.00 over that time.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

In order to break a prosessor you must have tried to install it on a mobo made for another brand's CPU chips.

That's not entirely true. I've seen some nasty-as-fuck cheap mobos with dodgy ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) mechanisms that have severely damaged CPU pins. Of course, if you're the kind of person that buys cheap, off-brand mobos from street vendors, you're only keeping your techs in work.

Beyond that, there are other ways to break a processr but they go beyond ignorant and require agressive stupidity.