Great Gaming PC for under $1,000
At the end of December, my wife’s PC finally died and mine was barely limping along. They were both over 4 years old. I have become disenchanted with pre-builts (read this about Alienware’s decline), so I decided I’d build them myself. I hadn’t done so for 15+ years so i was a little nervous about it. But they turned out GREAT (knock on wood).
Top Notch Gaming PC for under $1000
If you do all the rebates, you can actually put it together for about $870. I have tested the PC on Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2, The Witcher, and a number of other games. Every single game ran at max settings without even the tiniest hitch.
Check out the parts and let me know what you think!
[...] so for 15+ years so i was a little nervous about it. But they turned out GREAT (knock on wood). Top Notch Gaming PC for under $1000 If you do all the rebates, you can actually put it together for about $870. Check it out and let [...]
I’m out of touch on current computer hardware, but that looks like a good system for the price. My builds over the years tended to hit the $600 range(drives and case not included, as those typically moved from build to build), so that seems about right.
[...] nervous about it. But they turned out GREAT (knock on wood). Final part selections and details: Top Notch Gaming PC for under $1000 If you do all the rebates, you can actually put it together for about $870. If you are thinking [...]
Your Alienware-article made me chuckle. I wonder to whom they sell their premade systems. The geeks do not want them or could not afford them anyways, so it must be the wannabe-cool-kids! Harrrr!
I like your article. But in one year we will probably smile about the hardware. So I really like your links to “how to pick the correct component X,Y,Z” articles the most. This is the magic, plus some skills. No component works well when one of my friends installs it… if he would fix motherboards with a bubblegum, it would be a lot better than what he usually does!
One thing I slightly disagree with is to buy a “factory overclocked” graphics card. If you know you will replace the card in half a year anyways, do it. They are the hottest components anyways, no need to let them run at the edge.
My systems usually died to RAM issues. I made better experiences with Kingston Hyper-X modules and Samsung RAM than Corsair, but this has no statistical and real value, just personal experience. My friend Steve also had to replace his Corsair RAM already twice, maybe they screw them up during shipment to Europe or whatever.
Personally, I am using a 2 Ghz Merom, 4 GB DDR3 RAM with GeForce 9600M GT 17″ laptop from Samsung at the moment. Some years ago I switched to laptops and fell in love with the little, mobile buggers. OK, mine is quite a heavy one, and thus I called it “Bismarck”.
It is still unfortunate that laptops are not modular. You always have to replace the whole system, and if a component dies, there is little you can do usually. It is so much easier to repair a normal desktop PC.
At a certain point I also stopped playing hardware intensive games. Medieval 2 is probably the most demanding game that I have installed besides Fallout 3. Call of Duty: World of War is such a linear and boring piece of crap, the last shooter that really thrilled me was Far Cry 1.
I am all for innovative, pretty, and hardware friendly games! Me and my laptop love them. I guess I am the wrong audience for a gaming PC!
The only part of that which doesn’t make me immediately bust out the credit card shrieking “DO WANT! DOWANTDOWANTDOWANTDOWANT!” is your inclusion of a WD hard drive. All of my lecturers have made the same sort of skeptical ‘Werrrrrrr….” noise at the sight or mention of a WD drive. Apparently they have a reputation for packing it in at the worst possible moment.
Apart from that, looks like a great system! I’ll be sure to use it as a benchnote for the construction of my own horrible desktop beast.
My WD drives were reliable so far, yet despite their “whisperdrive” technology, they are actually noisy drives if you use them with APM. Why? The safe parking of the heads of my 2,5″ Scorpio Blue, a feature, makes a very distinct “CLICK” sound that often concerns people as supposedly being the infamous “click of death”, and it is annoying, too. Unfortunately, my latest two laptops came by default with WD drives.
I would have picked something else, too.
I have used tons of WD drives and never had any problems (*knock on wood*). I’ve never even heard of people having problems with WD. The one I have right now is very quiet sitting next to me. Of course, all you have to do for the above system is swap a different HD if that’s what you want. That’s the beauty of building it yourself!
I am hoping that soon a new generation of SSD (solid state disc) drives will be available. One that combines the speed of the DRAM-models with the permanent storage ability of the flash-type drives plus gets over the annoying “only X write cycles” limitation. This is what makes me hesitate to get such a drive right now. Utility software like Defrag is not necessary for such a drive anymore, but “wear level” management software that tries to use the whole of the drive evenly for data makes me somehow feel that the technology is still in children’s shoes and needs to mature.
Yeah SSD is looking pretty cool. Also the fact that it is completely quiet is a huge boon. I hate noisy computers.
A few months ago I too was in the market for a new computer. I was very tough trying to find a reputable company that had a reasonable choice. I ended up getting a company called Digital Storm to build my sytem. I highly recommend them!
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
Thank looks like a nice option if someone doesn’t want to build it themselves. But I have to say, it is not nearly as difficult or daunting as it seems. I hadn’t done it for 15 years and it really wasn’t that tough. If you know ANYONE who is into computer hardware, invite them over and work on it together. It is actually a fun way to hang out with a fellow geek.
Thank you for taking the time in posting this. Interesting read