Buying a gaming pc help!

and a mainboard that supports gobs of memory [some will support up to 16 GB] Get a Direct X 10 capable graphics card with as much onboard memory as you can afford [think 512MB]. Get the 320 to 380 bit memory interface [think $600 USD for just the graphics card].

Most mainboards have 3 or more SATA interfaces. don't settle for just 1 SATA drive. Find a mainboard that supports RAID 5 with SATA and get more than 2 drives. Newer games that will be coming out will take up far more HDD space than todays games.

Don't skimp on your display. Many DirectX 10 graphics cards support HDTV as well as DVI. A 19" LCD display today is just standard fare. 32" displays or even Quad displays are better than just a skimpy 19" LCD. [see digitaltigers.com zenview powertrio display].

Basically many modern games demand one of two video chipsets - ATI or nVidia. Many won't install with an Intel or SiS or other video chipset.

You don't have to spend $500 on a video card. The price performance ratio really isn't there.

If you are buying now, I would recommend a card that supports Vista's HDCP; Midrange cards that support this include the Radeon 1600 Pro, 1650 XT , or nVidia 7900/8500/8600 cards - check the individual manufacturer's specs though.

James

I recently got a Velocity Micro ProMagix e2025... From Best Buy. Instant gratification (no waiting for delivery, pick it up and install!), Velocity Micro-quality.
And very similar to your specs, with a 512Mo VRAM dedicated nVidia graphic card (7600GS - not the top, but good enough to see the offer get steady on Direct-X compatible cards). Vista Premium installed (without any crapware), and I have setup a dual boot with XP that works just fine.
Highly recommended.
Go check http://www.velocitymicro.com/ (and your local Best Buy, too... I was surprised to see these machines at BB.
Cheers.

Hi

Your above config may suffice for basic games, but if you are consider Quake4, F.E.A.R., Flight Simulator X, etc., it will not suffice.

Building a gaming PC is not easy nor is it cheap. Most of all, a gaming PC is NOT a business PC that has a more powerful processor and more memory. Dell does have some gaming PC, but I do not know your budget, and these babies will cost upwards of $3000. A good compromise is TigerDirect, or a mom-and-pop shop near by. You may want to look at this configurable machine at Tiger. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3049087&CatId=1886

The heart of the gaming PC is not the processor, it is the Video card and therein will lie your problem. The good video card that is ruling the gaming market is the NVidia 88xx series. This supports SLI so you can add additional video processing power as required later, but each video card will require abut 400W of power if not more, and will produce heat like some thermal reactor, so you will need a specialised motherboard that is designed for heat, and a gaming case/cabinet which has at least 3 or 4 fans, one of which should be 120mm or greater.

The E6400 will suffice, but if you can afford it, go for an E6600 2.4Ghz Core2Duo.

Motherboard, I would recommend something other than Asus. They are having problems with many of their motherboards, especially the lower cost ones.

The DRAM you will need gaming memory that will run at 800Mhz GUARANTEED. Something like the Corsair XPS RAM. 2GB minimum, 4GB preferred. For example Quake4 in high res mode sucks up 1.5GB+ of memory. FSX sucks up 1.4GB. You sure don't want a memory swapping involving disk-writes in the middle of the game.

I have already explained about the video card. Get one with at least 512MB Video memory. If you find the 88xx too expensive, then the 7950XT will be the next step down. Another option is ATI's Crossfire.

Finally the power supply. You will need a 600W-700W dual rail power supply if you are with one high-end Video card, and a 1000W power supply if you are with 2 video cards.

In a Flat Panel, look for detailed specs. The regular panels that Dell offers, have too slow refresh rates and may not work for a fast paced game.

Other things are relatively minor.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Devesh

As indicated by others, get the highest DuoCore that you can afford along with memory, and definitely a good to great VC, 256 min up to 512, and don't forget you need to keep your box cool as well...
cheers

I'd get a better video card first.

Then, if budget allows, I'd either get a 10,000 RPM drive or two drives (don't have to be 320 GB each) and RAID 0 them (striping) for performance.

Also, very important, pay attention to the monitor. Get one with DMI input and very low response times. My LCD right now is a 2 ms response time and is nice. If you really play a lot of games, not sure you'd be happy with 6-8 ms response times.

Sounds like a Dell XPS that you're looking at. Here's what I'd consider.

1. The monitor - usually Dell bundles monitors in the package that have a Contrast Ratio of 500:1. I would opt NOT to have the monitor included and shop for one that has a minimum of 700:1 Contrast Ratio. The images are quite a bit better at the 700:1 level. A couple of great places to shop online are http://www.tigerdirect.com and http://www.pricewatch.com

2. RAM, RAM, RAM - I'd opt for 4G of RAM if that is possible for you. I just bought a 2G upgrade to my Dell XPS from Crucial for $135. So Dell may not be the cheapest way to go for that upgrade. (http://www.crucial.com)

3. Again, if it's feasable, I'd upgrade the CPU to at least a 2.4GHz and consider the 2.6GHz if that's possible.

4. I have no clue about the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator but if it has 256M RAM it should suffice quite nicely. If it doesn't have 256M you can always upgrade it through Dell or by purchasing a video card later on.

Those are my thoughts. Hope this helps.

You will never get the best Motherboard or graphics card or fastest memory from a DELL.
I might be Bias because I build these systems for a living Buut you will not be able to tweak alot of things on the MB let allone get the full power of what it is capable of from DELL. The sell average systems for the AVERAGE user. The are usually not as upgradable down the road when you need just alittle more power for that New game you just have to have!!
If you whant some more advise write mark@tek-plus.org.

I recommend building your own. You can get an excellent gaming system for a fraction of the cost. The site I recommend for components is newegg.com.

Also, when picking out your video card, it's all about clockspeed, not memory. Keep that in mind.

You have got a good start there. I am currently looking to purchase my next gaming rig so I have been thinking long and hard about this. I see others have chimed in with similar advice, but I will reiterate:

You need a standalone video card, the best one you can afford. I recommend one of the nVidia DirectX 10 compliant cards. nVidia has a whole line of cards ranging from around $150 to around $600.

Personally, I buy Alienwares for the specific reason that they offer me more choices then Dell or HP.

I also saw someone suggest that you stick with XPSP2 -- you'll regret that if you follow it. DirectX 10 is the next big thing in gaming and you don't want to miss it by not getting Vista.

Good luck on the quest -- I'll blog about my experiences when I finally decide to pull the trigger.

Very well put Dreux. $1500 is most definitely not enough, and compromising on the video will be the downfall of any gaming PC

I personally use an overclock 7950GT, the 8800 is still not value for money. However, I would disagree with you on the 256 Video memory. Even a basic game like Flight Simulator X, sucks up all 512MB of video RAM.

On the Hard Disk front, I find, with 2GB DRAM and the 512 VRAM, I can get away with 7200rpm SATA drives. The game takes a minute or so extra to load, but I can live with that. I have just a puny 200GB drive, and I am happy as a clam, even though I have Quake4, FSX, Call of Duty, Hitman, .... god only knows how many games loaded, along with about 40GB of Music, and another 10GB of photos. No video though.

I saw some good gaming systems at Tiger that can be brought up to spec for about $2000 - $2250.

No point spending $1500 and have yourself wishing for a new computer in 6 months. :))

Regards

Devesh

There has been a lot of good feedback for you. Basically you need a minimum of 2 gig. The more the merrier. Personally I would go with the pc-6400 ram since it is the new standard. It will stay relevant longer. I would start with 2 gigs and see how your computer performs to your needs. If you need more, then buy more especially if you could wait, it gets cheaper. You can always add it.

I imagine you are quite proficient with computers so I would reccommend you building your own. You can save money and get quality parts and select brands that have good warrantees. If you are looking for a site that you can trust, has great customer reviews of issues with the parts, great deliveries, no hassel return or rma, then www.newegg.com is you place. I use them exclusively and I never have an issue with them vs other sites. For HDDs I would buy Seagate because they have a 5 year warrantee even on the oem! Thats what I get and it is mondo cheaper. As for processor its a coin flip for either Conroe or the AMD X2 line. If you go with the Conroe the reviews for the 2.4 are quite stellar. If you go with the Conroe chip then you better overclock because that is why you buy it. It has the capability to go from 2.4 to 3.4!!! You cant find that sort of overclock anywhere. If you do then you need the right ram and a better cooling solution. Also they have improved the L1 cache and L2 for gaming purposes. Another site for part reviews is www.pcstats.com and of course www.tomshardware.com. They have good relatively unbiased tests of cutting edge parts.

Because XP is almost out of support you have to go to Vista. It is too early to trust it mind you but if you gotta go with Vista I would go with Ultimate simply for the extra perks. There is no real security difference between the versions just added bonuses. I would use Xp and once Vista gets going, then get it.

For the video card of course everything is PCI express now. Go to newegg and see the reviews. You will see which to stay away from, which have driver issues, noise problems ect... If you buy a Dell box you can make it a great upgrade with a high quality card and ram. Only problem you would have is power consumption where you would have to get a good one. If you are gaming a flat screen cant handle the refresh rates that a crt can. If you go with a flat panel then you need to cough up some serious moola. Flat screens are nice for space but not for gaming. They have come along way but they are not quite there unless you spend rediculous money. Also games dont need a huge HDD. Sure they page out during gaming but you dont need a mondo drive. The faster the drive the better and I use 7,200 IDE and they are fine. Sata is the new standard and like I said OEM drives are cheap with the same warrantee. Get a few and and you will be fine. Never forget just becasue Dell built it doesnt mean the warrantee is that great. You still have to talk to someone overseas. You buy a prefab box and you pay extra for that warrantee which isnt that great to begin with.

If you are looking for a gaming PC & would like something similar to an Alienware product, check out www.cyberpowerpc.com.

You can buy a pre-configured gaming system from them, or do like I did & have them custom build one for you with the components & software of your choice.

This way you can also eliminates all the bloatware associated with the name brand PC's.

I know I've commented elsewhere, but so many people determined to get you to spend a ton of $$, when it is not really necessary.

1) Your Processor. Believe it or not most current games are not processor intensive. Having a Core2Duo is good, and will give you a marginal improvement over a regular single core Pentium. Don't feel you have to get the faster ones, just wait. If in two years you are buying games that slow down your PC, you will find that faster Core 2Duos will be reasonably cheap (or quad cores).

2) Vista. Few games take advantage of DX10. If you really want them, then you have to go Vista. Otherise you may find, as I pointed out in another message, that older games run slower in Vista (of course having fast HW may compensate).

3) 19 inch Flat Panel. I am an old guy, I still use a CRT. They are still brighter and faster, though the gap is always gettings narrower with time. Many gamers find LCDs easier on the eyes. I also like having the higher 1600x1200 resolution on my CRT - thats important for gaming.

3) 2 GB of RAM. This is the sweet spot for most gamers today. A 32 bit OS will only recognise 3.5 GB. A big question of course is do you have more slots to add more ram.

4) SATA. In most games the only thing that HD speed has an impact on is load times, and even then its a wuestionn of waiting a few seconds more.

5) DVD RW - some games come on DVD these days, but again, has no real impact expect when installing games.

6) Video card As stated before, this is where you need to spend. But you can get a decent card for $200. If you are focussed on Vista and DX10, then look at the new 8600 series from nVidia. In most current games the difference between a card with 512 MB and 256 is negligible. I would much rather have a faster GPU with 256 than a slower one with 512.

7) Audio - $100 will get you a decent Soundblaster card that will take some load off the CPU. Consider if you are going for multispeakers. Again, you can delay that purchase now and add it later.

James

I have owned a Dell XPS 400 since they released them back in October 2005. I just built a new machine to replace it, and I did so for the following reasons:

1) Lack of space for better graphics cards (most high end cards for gaming run close to 10 inches in length nowadays), unless you buy an XPS 700 series (the only Dell with a case REASONABLY large enough to handle high-end graphics cards)

2) Lack of a good stock PSU (only 375 watts in the XPS 400), and difficulty upgradeing (check forums, lots of people have issues upgrading PSU's when it comes to Dell because they tend to use BTX instead of ATX). If you want a gaming machine that is going to run a good graphics card, you will need a bigger power supply. You don't sound like you're going to run SLI (2 cards at once), so if you're going to maintain just 1 card then a 500 or 550 watt PSU would probably suit you just fine.

3) Cooling. If you're buying an XPS machine it's closer to a gaming rig than other Dell lineups, however, if you really want to have a "gaming" machine that plays all the latest and greatest stuff, you WILL need a better graphics card and if we're talking Geforce 8800 whether it be the cheaper GTS version or the GTX, cooling is something Dell doesn't offer many options on. Those cards run very hot (GTX will get up to around 70 degrees celcius at least without 3rd party cooling)

Also, you have to look at what resolutions you want to play your games at. If you want higher resolutions than 1280x1024, new games coming out are going to slow you down with a 512 MB card. The Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB card is a great buy for the money. Higher res = need more video ram. Games are also leaning more towards using heavy use of shaders and moving away from high polygon counts as in the past, so video ram is becoming more of a necessity.

As far as graphics cards go in general, I would wait a few months - ATI is going to release a new line of high end cards that will force Nvidia to roll out something better than the Geforce 8800 GTX, which will drive prices down on those cards. I would pick up a GTX once prices drop because the card is a monster and it isn't going to remain in the 500-600 dollar arena for much longer.

I would personally re-evaluate your decision to not build your own machine because once again, Dell uses BTX cases and motherboards, which are NOT standard. Also, Dell tends to use chipsets that are pretty much junk for their motherboards. If you ever wanted to upgrade your processor and keep using your Dell, you are forced to keep using the motherboard. New chipset came out? Too bad. New type of socket? Sorry, can't upgrade with a Dell.

Also, now is a great time to build on your own because Intel just slashed prices big time on their Core2Duo chips that pretty much have put them right on par with prices of AMD and Core2Duo simply outperforms AMD right now.

I'm sure I have more rambling thoughts in my head but hopefully some of this was useful.

have you priced anything at a local PC shop?? somewhere that you can walk in, pull up a stool and talk about your purchase. you are the exact type of customer my business serves. at the $1500 mark i can build you at least that much PC and probably more. plus i do it with full warrantied parts. there are a huge number of us out here who will do the same thing. ask around about local lan partys and go to one. then ask about who they would trust to build them a system. a lot build their own but a name or two will surface.
i give credit to the big PC builders they have brilliant people in their marketing departments. they keep certain names at the tip of our tongues.
i feel that without looking at a local builder you are cheating yourself!

I just built a new PC that I am going to use for gaming as well as other things. At this time, I spent just over $1200 buying everything from Newegg.com. Notice I did not buy a monitor, keyboard/mouse or speakers because I have those things already.

Here is a list of what I have:

Case
iStarUSA S-U-H35
Mother Board
MSI K9A Platinum
Memory
2GB mushkin enhanced HP2-6400

Proc
AMD Athlon64 x2 4600+ 2.4Ghz socket AM2

Video Card
Sapphire Radeon x1950GT 256MB

Power Supply
Hiper HPU-4K580 580W modular

Optical Drive
LG GSA-H42LK BK DVD Burner

Hard Drive
2-Seagate Baracudda 7200rpm 250GB SATA

OS
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

I am in the process of ordering 3 more Hard Drives becasue the case has 5 hot swap bays in the front.

The monitor I have now is a 21" CRT. I'v ebeen looking at LCD and there is a 19" Hanns-G for $169 that the reviews on say are great for gaming, if set up properly.

The Sapphire video card that I bought does support ATi's Crossfire so if I wanted to add another card in the future I could. It also supports HDCP.

I would avoid Vista for a while yet because with anything Microsoft, it will have bugs for probably the first year where as XP has been out for several years and is pretty stable.

So, if you really wanted, you could build a decent gaming system for $1500 easily. Like others have said, it all depends on how much eye candy you want and what type of games you will be playing.

Hope this helps.

Good Base, but graphically unsound, unless you intend skimping with Dell and buying outside them.
Specifically the graphics (which I think is on-board) is v. low spec. You should be looking at ATI x1950 or NVidia 880 with SLi dual card capabilities.
Display wise, you should be looking for a Digital monitor (not Analogue) with digital inputs, so you can pipe digital graphics straight through with no conversion, for max quality and performance.
Spend thh extra, you will not regret it !

The OS will take it. My computer has 6 memeory slots and will handle 16 GB of RAM.

But if you are running XP, the max is 3.5 - if you put in 4GB it will only see 3.5. Your computer may be different.

James

I got 720$ in my existing machine - put together in the last 2 weeks (not counting monitor - samsung 204b- 300$ back in Nov06, or speakers)

Core2duo - E6300 - 183$
Biostar T965 MB - 105$
2gig OCZ 6400-800mhz memory 160$
Nvidia 7600GT - 100$
ANTEC 400watt PS - 28$
WD160AAJS - sata2 56$
Thermal take Soprano 3 fan case 80$

Everything but the HD and case were from new egg and had rebates of from 20$ (for Video card and memory, to 30bucks for PS). Case and HD were from directron.

You might need more video card - depending on game you want and more PS wattage. But it CAN be done on a budget.
PS, I have had minimal luck overclocking my E6300. It will go about 10 percent over rated speed and then check out.. Many said this thing should go 3.2+gig.. but I have not tried too hard yet.

AND NO, you dont want to try it with ANY integrated graphics processor.

The processor, ram, hard drive, all look good, but you definitely want to get at least a 256mb video card, preferably pci express, and a pci sound card, one of the new creative cards should be listed as an option for the Dell. I am not 100% sold on vista just yet. My personal preference would be to go with Windows XP Pro instead.
If you choose to go with the onboard video you will only be able to play many of the games on the lowest settings thereby losing the higher detail graphics. Also Windows XP will be much quicker with the 2GB of RAM compared to Vista. Vista tends to tie up more system resources.

The one thing I would do is upgrade to the excellent and over-clockable E6600 chip.
Cheers Allan

Take a look at April's PC World magazine, there is an article about motherboards, great pointer.

Good luck!

bigger cpu
don't load vista
get a proper graphics card!!
don't use integrated sound

...

isn't it amazing what some people suggest when they are spending someone else's money??
i still suggest local where you can offer some input but here are more ideas:
(1) pick a case that you like to look at. one with good air flow. a fan in the top is a bonus.
(2) an AMD or Intel dual core processor. yes, the intel's benchmark higher but they are both a high quality product.
(3) a proper motherboard for either processor. look for 4 ram slots and the ability to handle DDR2-800. HD audio is nice for on-board. sli/crossfire needs to be decided on at this point. if there is a 0% chance then don't worry about it or find a board that the second slot only runs at x8. who cares if you are not going to use it. plus get SATA2 if you can. i have been building with a lot of MSI boards lately. no real reason.
(4)2Gb of ram to start with. if needed add more. that's where the 4 slots come in handy.
(5) a 250Gb to 400Gb SATA2 hard drive with 16Mb cache.
(6)an Nvidia 7600GT or an ATI 1950 series video card. 256Mb of memory is fine as long as you get a card with the higher clock speeds. look for lifetime or double life time warranties.
(7) a "QUALITY" power supply in the 600Watt range. thermaltake, antec, coolermaster. any well recognized supplier. are there better?? YES!! if you decide on dual video cards then stick to the higher end of the scale 600-750watt, single card 520-650 watts. if it's a 600watt unit and it's only $39, pass on it!(8) when it comes to sound cards a true card is always better but if you are using a $9 set of 2.0 speakers, on-board is fine. decent 2.1 speakers then on-board HD or 6 channel. 5.1 speakers, then a card is the solution. creative is the largest supplier but i use diamond or turtle beach because of some quirks in creative drivers.
(9) i'm still fond of XP. extra so if you are planning to use any older printers, scanners or play older games.

is this a "real" gaming rig?? the answer is no! if you want a solid system that will play games then this will work and work well. anyone can build it and anyone can service it and best of all it doesn't break the bank. when the time comes just add two more Gigs of RAM, a new technology video card and game away!