Windows 7: Gaming Machine - what's the best?

brady · 21 Jul 2011

I am looking for the best gaming machine on the market... I'm getting older now and am wondering who sells the best gaming pc on the market.
No budget if that helps.

pparks1 · 21 Jul 2011

If you want the best, build your own.

brady · 21 Jul 2011

I've been out of the building my own gaming pc for a while now. I wouldn't even know where to start

AstaLaVista · 21 Jul 2011

If money is no object, why don't you buy the best components out there (we can help you, we love to spend other people's money), contact a friend who knows (we all have one) and pay him to build it for you? You would be better off if you buy one from Alienware or the likes.

Pay me, I will build it for you.

linnemeyerhere · 21 Jul 2011

Like others are saying we can help you through the whole process which for you would be like riding a bike. But if you have truly no budget and you want the best as well as bragging rights as well as a piece with which would be best suited to be place on a pedestal and proudly displayed then there is only one source imho!
murderbox
Have fun and don't hurt yourself ! We are here for you when you land !

brady · 21 Jul 2011

Alienware was dominant a few years ago, are they still the leading gaming pc provider? I think they're put together by Dell/Insight now.

Thruthfully, I only play world of warcraft, but would like the pc to be able to handle the new game coming out by Blizzard late next year. I've never been able to play on a max or ultra settings and would like the ability to do so.

pparks1 · 21 Jul 2011

^ You won't require "the best" gaming box possible for what you want to do. In fact, I'd venture so far to say that buying "the best" is an absolute waste of money.....either way in a few years time, a $10,000 box will be outdated just like a $1,200 box. Perhaps not quite as much...but then again, you could have purchased 8 additional $1,200 boxes along the way.

If you want to play a game like WOW with all settings maxed, get a Core i7-2600k, any $400 video card from Nvidia or AMD, and 4GB of RAM and you can set the details on as high as they will go. No reason to spend more than $1500 for what you want to achieve. (Unless, you are doing 2-3 monitors and super high resolutions....and then you might need to go with a crossfire or SLI solution with multiple graphics cards). But if you want to play on 1 monitor and resolutions of 1920x1200...you only need a single video card to do that.

pparks1 · 21 Jul 2011

I recon that this would do it

Intel Core i5-2500 3.3Ghz Quad Core $209
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500

Asus P8H67-M LX (Rev 3.0) LGA 1166 Intel H67 SATA 6Gb/s mobo $88.99
Newegg.com - ASUS P8H67-M LX (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H67 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

G. Skill 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM kit: $29.99 (after $10 promo code)
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK

LG DVD Burner. SATA. $18.99
Newegg.com - LG CD/DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS70 OEM - CD / DVD Burners

Antec One Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower. $39.99 (after MIR)
Newegg.com - Antec One Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Western Digital Caviar Black 32MB Cache 500GB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard drive. $59.99
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

XFX Radeon 6850 1GB Video Card. $138.99 after rebate
Newegg.com - XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

OCQ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular Power Supply. $49.99 (after MIR and $10 promo code)
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP1 OEM. $99.99
Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

Approx $10 shipping for video card and mobo combined.

Grand Total: $746.

I'm not saying that is "the best" computer, but it would pretty much max out the games out there now and the one that you mentioned.

So, as you can see, you can get quite a bit of computer for very little money.

brady · 21 Jul 2011

That is quite a difference from the 5k alienware they were trying to sell me, haha. Would the Nvidia GTX 590 be over kill at this point? I guess, I would need to up the PSU to 1000 watt at that point as well?

Would a SSD be over kill at this point? Prices are kinda crazy for the SSD at this point in time, I can only imaging them dropping substantially over the next year.

stormy13 · 21 Jul 2011

Very nice.

Here's another reason to build your own. Similarly spec'ed Alienware,

Gaming Machine - what's the best?-alien.png

Had to use the 17 2500K and HD 6950 as they didn't have the i7 2500 or HD 6850, but even with the price difference in those two components doesn't justify it being twice the price.

Windows 7: Gaming Machine - what's the best?

Gaming Machine - what's the best? problems?