My son wants a desktop gaming computer for $1400 or under, and he wants it from one source, already assembled. Who’s got tthe best deal?
IMHO, Dell has the best deals over all (I like their service and the price is pretty good). Their XPS line of desktops are pretty affordable, and you can customize a system pretty easily using their web page and see what your costs will be. They also do financing. You should be able to do under $1400 as long as you don’t have two large monitors and the best processor/video card/sound care in mind. IIRC, I paid about that for my last XPS system with a single 24" flat panel monitor and a fairly decent video card, plus 8GB of RAM.
HP also has some good deals, but Dell has always been my favorite overall for low end systems (they also have the Alienware line of gaming systems, but they are more upscale IIRC).
Ok, so, I was able to build out an XPS 8500, with the top of the line processor, 16 GB of RAM (standard Windows 8…if it’s for home you don’t really need Pro), 27" monitor, a regular 16X DVD drive (it’s more if you want the Bluray…you could save a bunch by going with a smaller monitor btw), 1TB hard drive, and AMD Radeon 7570 video card (adequate for most gaming) for $1359.00 (I’d go with the extended warranty which will add some to the cost…it’s worth it IMHO, since if you have a prob Dell will actually send someone to your house to fix it).
That’s a solid gaming system for under your price point…and you could save more if you went with some lesser things like the monitor, or default processor.
He just wants the box, no monitor or speakers.
Well, check out the Alienware X51 then…you can get a pretty kick ass system if you don’t need a monitor or speakers for under $1400…or the basic Alienware Aurora is under $1400 as it is, without customization. You can get a lot of system for $1400 if you don’t need a monitor or other things.
The Alienware X51 with:
[ul]
[li]i7-3770[/li][li]16 GB RAM[/li][li]GeForce GTX 660[/li][li]2 TB hard drive[/li][li]Blu-Ray reader/DVD reader-writer[/li][/ul]
is $1350 right now. That’s a pretty strong computer all-round. You could get slightly more bang for your buck with a custom computer from iBuyPower, but that requires a lot more hashing out with individual component selection.
Whatever you do, get a computer specifically designed for gaming. A regular old Dell won’t really cut it, but an Alienware should do you fine.
That’s a totally inadequate card for gaming. If you’re going to be spending $1400 for a gaming machine, the video card is the last thing you want to skimp on. The vast majority of games rarely use more than two cores on a cpu, so throwing a high end cpu into a gaming machine is also a waste of money.
Start with a decent video card and get a system based around that. IMHO, an AMD Radeon HD 7850 or nVidia GTX 660 based card is what you should be considering at a minimum. Take a look at what $1,000 can buy you these days.
Newegg.com has a PC configuration page you can use that’s a bit more useful than Dell’s site. Click the “Advanced” tab in the left column, then select the “GPU/VPU Type” in the drop down. You can go with ATi Radeon HD (7850/7870/7950/7970) or nVidia (660/660Ti) and get a pretty beefy system for around $1K.
I say IBuyPower.com - most of the other sites screw you by skimping on the graphics card. In a $1400 build w/no monitor or accessories, you should probably be looking at an I5-3570k as the processor and a AMD Radeon 7950 or NVidia Geforce 660Ti as the minimum specs. Most of the “gaming” computers you are going to find are going to skimp on the graphics card at the expense of either a more expensive processor (above I5-3570k does nothing for gaming), or just to take more profit.
Just about any Ibuypower config with an I5-3570k, Radeon 7950/7970 or Geforce 660 Ti or 670, 16gb of RAM, on a “Z77” chipset motherboard should be a great gaming system. Should be able to find one like that for under $1400.
I agree that a 7850/660 are the minimum for a “gaming” computer, but you should be able to get those in a system closer to $1k for it to be priced fairly.
Edit to add, skip the AMD processors entirely in this budget range. Some of the machines on IBuypower use Sandy-Bridge-E processors, which are fine but are overpriced - your best bets are the i5-3570k or the i7-3770k which are both Ivy Bridge processors (although 3770k is overpriced vs 3570k).
This is the one I have, and, incidentally, I am currently playing a game on it. Works great. Plug and play!
You’re right about the GPU, but wrong about the CPU. There’s no meaningful choices between 2 and 4 core CPUs at this price point, if anything there’s only 4 vs 8, so you’re going to get a quad core. Telling people not to get a quad core is pretty backwards. They’re ubiquitous and far more future proof, and more games are getting better multithreading. Some builds will get you an overly expensive CPU at the cost of an inadequate graphics cards though.
The 2500k or 3570k are the right price/performance points right now. Any $1400 PC I was going to build would feature one of them. 3570k is the better choice for most people - 2500k is only better for high end overclockers. That’s what the K is for, incidentally - it makes the CPU overclockable, and it’s very simple. It’s definitely worth getting the K versions if you have an option.
Now.. I have no idea what advice to give you specifically. I’ve never bought a pre-built computer or bought them for anyone else. If you built your own, which really isn’t very difficult, you could build a high end system for $1400. Those aforementioned Dells and Alienware strike me as overpriced for their specs. The 7560 card is definitely inadequate. In AMD nomencalture, the first number is the generation, second number is bascially the horsepower class - anything lower than 7 is budget/low end. The last 2 numbers are relatively minor differences. So anything less than a 7770 is inadequate, but if you’re going to spend $1400 on a computer, you could definitely go 7850, or 7950 (what I recommend). On the Nvidia side, your options are GTX 660 TI (the TI part is important, nvidia’s nomenclature is stupid), 670, or 680.
I could give you a specific 3570K/7950 build for under $1400 that would stomp anything Dell is going to give you if you want. I just looked into parts for a friend. I can’t really give any advice for what prebuild to get, but I can look over the specs before you buy one.
You just missed out on some seriously good sales around thanksgiving/cybermonday. I second the Ibuypower recommendation, I just got this from them during their sale for 1250:
Case(Corsair Obsidian Series 550D Gaming Case - Black)
Case Lighting(None)
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction(None)
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion(None)
Processor(Intel® Core™ i5-3570K Processor (4x 3.40GHz/6MB L3 Cache) - Intel Core i5-3570K)
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive(None)
Processor Cooling(Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid CPU Cooling System - Standard 120mm Fan)
Memory(16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand Free Upgrade to DDR3-1866 G.SKILL RipjawsX)
Video Card(NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti - 2GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 980MHz - Single Card)
Video Card Brand(Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA)
Motherboard(Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H – 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0)
Intel Smart Response Technology(None)
Power Supply(500 Watt - Corsair CX500 V2)
Primary Hard Drive(2 TB HARD DRIVE – 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive)
Data Hard Drive(None)
Optical Drive(24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black)
2nd Optical Drive(None)
Flash Media Reader / Writer(None)
Meter Display(None)
USB Expansion(None)
Sound Card(3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard)
Network Card(Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100))
Operating System(Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit)
In addition, some games are already CPU hogs (Valve titles for instance) and a beefier CPU will benefit you.
Believe me when I say that I would have bought my computer during the Black Friday sale if I had the money at the time. However, since I couldn’t buy it then, this is what I’m currently looking at on iBuyPower.
Case
Rosewill Thor V2 Gaming Case Black
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction
Basic - iBUYPOWER Harmony SRS Sound Reduction System Reduce System Noise
Processor
AMD FX-8350 CPU (8x 4.00GHz/8MB L2 Cache)
Processor Cooling
Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink
16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - G.Skill Ripjaws X
AMD Radeon HD 7870 - 2GB - HIS IceQ - Cooler, Quieter - Single Card
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 – AMD 990FX w/ 4x PCI-E 2.0 x16
500 Watt - Standard
2 TB HARD DRIVE – 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) 64-Bit
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Keyboard
iBUYPOWER Standard Gaming Mouse - Blood Red
3 Year Standard Warranty Service
Rush Service
Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship date by 12-14-2012
$1380
Just wondering if this is a good build or not.
[QUOTE=mikews99]
That’s a totally inadequate card for gaming. If you’re going to be spending $1400 for a gaming machine, the video card is the last thing you want to skimp on. The vast majority of games rarely use more than two cores on a cpu, so throwing a high end cpu into a gaming machine is also a waste of money.
[/QUOTE]
shrug It’s a matter of opinion and what sort of gaming you are going to be doing. I have a similar machine at work, and basically it plays every game that is currently out that I play, including Skyrim at the best settings with a decent frame rate. The first machine I listed had a 27" monitor and basically everything you’d need for a complete system for regular gaming…to me, it was the biggest bang for the buck. Since the OP came back and said a monitor and other peripherals weren’t needed, I recommended something a bit more upscale with a better graphics card.
No, stay away from AMD processors- slower performance in gaming and absurdly higher power usage. Also, ignore all non-80+ power supplies - they cost you big $$ in the long run on your utility bill.
Start here at ibuypower:
I show the basic I5-3570k + 16gb + z77 + Radeon 7950 + 600watt 80+bronze power supply + windows to be $1200, should be enough left if you want a gaming keyboard or anything else (although check amazon for that stuff- you can figure out how to hook up a keyboard or mouse).
Pairing a big monitor with a weak video card doubles down on the negatives - now you need to push a lot of pixels, and you can’t. Budget video cards are fine if you just want to make your $400 dell run most games well, but if you’re putting together a monster $1400 gaming machine, you certainly want more than a $60 GPU.
It’s only a weak video card if you are a total gaming geek…for most gaming, at least for the non-edge gaming folks it’s ‘adequate’. Tell me a game that this card won’t work for, because that system on my desk at works plays every game I play at non-minimal settings.
Again, it depends on what you are doing and what your requirements are. If you want to be at the highest level of graphics then that’s fine. I like Dell because if the machine breaks they will send someone out to fix it. Could I do it myself? Yeah, I could. I could build a system from scratch if I wanted to go through the hassle as well…just like I could change my oil. But my time is worth more to me at this stage in my life, and I don’t need the highest level of graphics to enjoy every game that’s out today or will be any time in the near future. ’
Niloc is my son, btw. How is the system he’s configured so far?
I’m not a big fan of AMD processors but other than that and the fact I don’t have any personal knowledge of the company he’s quoting, it looks like a good mid to high end system. SB is probably the one to ask though on this. I’ll bow out as I’m more an old fart gamer. 
I chose AMD because I couldn’t get non-liquid cooling with an Intel
Also wondering if I should upgrade the power supply