Poll: Super Computer

[mfserious]

So, I've been pondering getting a really good computer for about a year. I would like to get one that can be upgraded to Windows 7 in the fall. Also, I'd like it to be able to play almost any game on full settings. I'm looking for the computer that can play "Crysis" without issues. I use "Crysis," because that game has to be the high end of video card abuse. I've been browsing online and stopping stores and hopefully will be able to pick one up before the end of the year. I do not posses the skills to build my own, which would be cheaper, but I'd like to know if I should wait for W7 to come out or buy now. I know waiting usually means a better pc later on, but I'd like to hear some suggestions from fellow gamers on good gaming pcs as well as any other advice you'd be kind enough to share.

 

[Nincompoop]

If OnLive turns out to be a total success, an expensive gaming PC will be rendered a waste of money.

OnLive will be available this winter, hence I voted next year.

This is what I'm doing.

 

[Rednog]

You posses the ability to build a pc by hand, trust me a monkey with one arm and a screwdriver can put together a basic rig. Also, crysis really isn't a huge benchmark anymore, a $400-500 pc can run it easily. Waiting will always mean a better pc, but the cost is always going to stay high for the newer pcs, but waiting also means a PC that was expensive now will be cheaper later.
But if you are deadset on buying a retail pc, wait till W7 if you like it, you would end up having to buy it separately which would cost you more, though some stores/companies offer a free upgrade to W7 for newly bought PCs.

 

[Whistler777]

So, I've been pondering getting a really good computer for about a year. I would like to get one that can be upgraded to Windows 7 in the fall. Also, I'd like it to be able to play almost any game on full settings. I'm looking for the computer that can play "Crysis" without issues. I use "Crysis," because that game has to be the high end of video card abuse. I've been browsing online and stopping stores and hopefully will be able to pick one up before the end of the year. I do not posses the skills to build my own, which would be cheaper, but I'd like to know if I should wait for W7 to come out or buy now. I know waiting usually means a better pc later on, but I'd like to hear some suggestions from fellow gamers on good gaming pcs as well as any other advice you'd be kind enough to share.

Take it from me, it is worth the money and effort to build your own PC. You'll get a far better gaming experience than that of an Xbox or even PS3 (which I own as well). Now is as good a time as any to build a new gaming rig.

For the love of God, though, do not buy an Intel Core i7 processor. They are overpriced and unless you plan on springing for the 965 Extreme Edition, they are outperformed by the AMD Phenom II X4 line for 1/4 of the price.

 

[YuheJi]

I think I heard PC Gamer say that there might be several deals with Windows 7. Like if you buy a PC at certain stores, you would get Win7 when it comes out.

 

[Kermi]

If OnLive turns out to be a total success, an expensive gaming PC will be rendered a waste of money.

OnLive will be available this winter, hence I voted next year.

This is what I'm doing.

Are people seriously putting stock in OnLine? I'll stick with my existing gaming consoles thanks, at least until Australia has good enough broadband to support this cloud service.

 

[mfserious]

You posses the ability to build a pc by hand, trust me a monkey with one arm and a screwdriver can put together a basic rig. Also, crysis really isn't a huge benchmark anymore, a $400-500 pc can run it easily. Waiting will always mean a better pc, but the cost is always going to stay high for the newer pcs, but waiting also means a PC that was expensive now will be cheaper later.
But if you are deadset on buying a retail pc, wait till W7 if you like it, you would end up having to buy it separately which would cost you more, though some stores/companies offer a free upgrade to W7 for newly bought PCs.

Any suggestions to where to look for to buy parts or any tips on this.

 

[Aac18]

Wait till next year, if your going for a very high end system then its smarter till wait until after windows 7 is out and its bugs are fixed due to its direct X 11 capacity. Also the first wave of DX11 Nvidia cards doesn't come out until next year (or November).

 

[DazZ.]

Next year, still after windows 7, but enough time for bugs etc to have arisen and it will have shown if its any good or not. DX11 Graphics cards will be around aswell, so take full use of Win7 if that's what you choose.

 

[koichan]

If OnLive turns out to be a total success, an expensive gaming PC will be rendered a waste of money.

OnLive will be available this winter, hence I voted next year.

This is what I'm doing.

Onlive is one of those 'good idea, but reality gets in the way' kind of ideas.

Even ignoring the bandwidth costs for now, i still see no way how they're going to solve the inherent lag problems in the internet infrastructure.

Current online game clients locally smooth out lag spikes and so on, onlive cannot do the same thing as your controller itself and video output is subject to the lag instead of the console in front of you

 

[Whistler777]

You posses the ability to build a pc by hand, trust me a monkey with one arm and a screwdriver can put together a basic rig. Also, crysis really isn't a huge benchmark anymore, a $400-500 pc can run it easily. Waiting will always mean a better pc, but the cost is always going to stay high for the newer pcs, but waiting also means a PC that was expensive now will be cheaper later.
But if you are deadset on buying a retail pc, wait till W7 if you like it, you would end up having to buy it separately which would cost you more, though some stores/companies offer a free upgrade to W7 for newly bought PCs.

Any suggestions to where to look for to buy parts or any tips on this.

Check out [a href="http://www.newegg.com"]Newegg[/a] for all your shopping, and be sure to read [a href="http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/step-1-materials-required/"]this guide[/a] if you don't already know how. It may look like a lot, but once you are done, you'll realize that it's a pretty simple process.

Good luck on your build, and remember that you can PM me if you have any questions!

 

[Abedeus]

Next year, when GPUs using DirectX11 come out, and i5.

 

[DemonI81]

You want to BUY a computer that will do all that? No.... *shaking head*
You need to BUILD one. You can build one for under $1000 that'll do all you want and more.
It is VERY easy, "I don't possess the skills..." Yes you do, everyone does. I promise, once you do it, you'll wonder why people buy pre-built computers it's so easy.

Things to keep in mind:
*The Power Supply, Motherboard, and case must all be of the same form factor, ie. ATX
*The first thing you should pick is your processor, build the rest around that. The processor will have a certain socket type. Once you pick your processor, look for a motherboard that supports that socket type and find the one that fits your needs best (connections, etc..).
*Now the mobo will have a form factor, ie. ATX. Look for a case that will hold this mobo, I suggest an Antec Nine-Hundred, great gaming case, tons of room and fans and quite. Also some cool blue lights in all the fans.
*After you pick your case, pick your power supply. Make sure it supports the proper form factor. Also pay attention to where it mounts in your case. If it is top mount, make sure it doesn't have a top exhaust fan, otherwise you'll be cutting a hole in the top of your case. Also, get at least a 850W one.
*Now you've done all that, you can start looking at your video card/cards. I'm sure when you chose the mobo you picked one that has a PCIexpress x16 slot or 2, so find a card/cards that work for you. Some mobos support hybrid SLI, with Vista and Windows 7 only though.
*Finally look for a sound card if you need one.

Now that this stuff is taken care of, you can either plan on swapping your old DVD/CD drive/drives and/or hard drive/drives into the new build or if you want to buy new ones.

If you decide to build one, you can PM me when you order all your parts (it could take up to a week for me to see the PM) and I can give you more detailed info about assembly.

I encourage everyone to build their comps and stop giving money to these garbage companies like Dell for overpriced, proprietary junk.

Newegg.com is your friend!

 

[melig]

"Also, crysis really isn't a huge benchmark anymore, a $400-500 pc can run it easily."

Not true, that is simply not possible mate. At least not on full everything-ultra-high-fry-pc-settings.

 

[mfserious]

I probably should've put an option to vote for "Build Your Own." But for a first poll post, I say I got some good feedback.

 

[Nutcase]

So, I've been pondering getting a really good computer for about a year. I would like to get one that can be upgraded to Windows 7 in the fall. Also, I'd like it to be able to play almost any game on full settings. I'm looking for the computer that can play "Crysis" without issues. I use "Crysis," because that game has to be the high end of video card abuse. I've been browsing online and stopping stores and hopefully will be able to pick one up before the end of the year. I do not posses the skills to build my own, which would be cheaper, but I'd like to know if I should wait for W7 to come out or buy now. I know waiting usually means a better pc later on, but I'd like to hear some suggestions from fellow gamers on good gaming pcs as well as any other advice you'd be kind enough to share.

My first PC's were "brand name" - there wasn't much choice back then. (I did swap cards, HDs and memory as needed.) Then I had a store build a PC with parts I handpicked. Then I built a PC on my own. With my current PC, I chose to again have a store build it with handpicked parts. It's a good call for you not to build your own - it doesn't save much money, and in fact it probably eats money if you assign any value at all to your time. (You'll find that most people who recommend building do not have a job.) Building makes sense for people who already have the skills and keep up with hardware, and/or for whom the act of building is fun/entertaining in itself. The building doesn't require much skill at all as long as it goes smoothly, but if one of the components is dead on arrival, you might be in a world of hurt. Especially since you, not being a hardware enthusiast, have no spare parts lying around.

The best option for you, IMO, is to find a good company that specializes in building low-cost gaming computers, and make an informed choice out of their stock set-ups. Possibly ask them to swap in a better graphics card if what they have in there isn't enough. Your countrymen should be able to help you with that. If you live in a decent-sized city, name it, because there might be a local shop like this. Shopping locally is very convenient if there are any problems.

 

[Sampler]

I'm running win7 perfectly fine on my three year old box.

Then again it is an E6600 OC'd to 3.6GHz and I've upped the memory to 4GB recently and replaced the gfc card with an ATi 4850 so it's not entirely three year old.

One bonus about building your own, you know what's in it and how it works. That said I don't know where you get the impression it'd be cheaper - if anything it costs you more as you look at parts and go "oh, for a few quid more I could have this, oh, for a few quid more I could have that" and before you know it you've got something three times the original budget.

For recommendations on where to buy depends on where you're based - if you're UK checkout www.CCLonline.com - they do some great gaming rigs on the cheap or you can use the custom build service for the parts you want plus a warranty or you could get a cpu/mobo/memory bundle and put the rest together yourself (as that would be the "hard part" i guess). So something for all levels of involvement all at a great price with exceptional customer service.

 

[Horticulture]

So, I've been pondering getting a really good computer for about a year. I would like to get one that can be upgraded to Windows 7 in the fall. Also, I'd like it to be able to play almost any game on full settings. I'm looking for the computer that can play "Crysis" without issues. I use "Crysis," because that game has to be the high end of video card abuse. I've been browsing online and stopping stores and hopefully will be able to pick one up before the end of the year. I do not posses the skills to build my own, which would be cheaper, but I'd like to know if I should wait for W7 to come out or buy now. I know waiting usually means a better pc later on, but I'd like to hear some suggestions from fellow gamers on good gaming pcs as well as any other advice you'd be kind enough to share.

You can get the windows 7 rc for free here [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx] and install the full version when it comes out.

There's also a PC hardware thread here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.105715].

 

[not a zaar]

If OnLive turns out to be a total success, an expensive gaming PC will be rendered a waste of money.

OnLive will be available this winter, hence I voted next year.

This is what I'm doing.

OnLive is a bunch of BS designed to funnel money away from naive investors.

OP, there are good prices in the market right now. Nobody can predict the future but you can get some good mid-top range stuff right now. It doesn't look like ATi or Nvidia are planning any major releases soon, so you're PROBABLY not going to see prices dropping drastically for a few months.
Also, don't forget that GPU >>>> CPU. Don't blow your money on a pointless Core i7 when games these days don't even utilize 4 cores. Get a Core 2 Duo and spend a bigger bulk on the graphics card, around $200 will net you a 4890 or a GT275, both excellent price/performance cards.