So, I've been using a laptop. It cost about $1050 and has fulfilled my needs up until now. But lately, it's been overheating, and often. When I could once play Crysis on high, I can hardly play games on low without it overheating. I tried playing Mass Effect 2 on the lowest resolution possible and with all graphic options off and it still lagged fairly badly, to a point where it wasn't worth the time trying to play, and it overheated.

So, now that I've had the experience of having a 'gaming' laptop, I'd like to try getting a gaming desktop. But I could use some help. What desktop would you guys suggest for a $600 limit, $700 if necessary?

EDIT: I saw this this computer, what do you think of it?

Build your own. Rockz or Excalibur will be along to post builds. Excalibur will recommend some over the top cooling system so you can overclock your system by 800%, but just ignore that part.

>prebuilt "Gaming PC"

No. Build your own, it's easier than assembling Legos.

Be forewarned of the people who oversell the ease building your own. It isn't hard, but it's not the walk in the park some make it out to be.

Building your own might end up saving you $100, or it can end up costing you more. There are possibile inconveniences like part incompatibilities, faulty parts, lack of parts (like wires), etc. I've suffered from this; When CAFG made a topic similar to this one and tried building it, he ended up regretting it. I'd go for a prebuilt, just because it's safer.

You can do several things if you go for a prebuilt. You can search for a complete prebuilt, or you can go for a mostly-prebuilt and just add on a graphics card and maybe a better power supply (what I did).
Here's something fairly cheap: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229194
It should not be able to play Crysis on high. However, it will be able to play pretty much anything decently, and, again, you can always use that remaining ~150 on an ATI 5770, which is definitely enough to have a good gaming experience (I don't know about Crysis on high, but I have only nice things to say about the 5770 in my desky).

If you leave out the good dedicated GPU requirement, you can search any outlet store (like Dell Outlet, where I got my desky) for a good deal, or, if you can't find one, just buy something from a major retailer. You don't need much for a desktop unless you have specific requirements. For gaming, you need a good GPU and a decent CPU (So a regular dual-core, a corei3, etc should be fine for you). For multitasking, you need memory; I use 4GB, and it's enough for me. I'd stick to at least 2GB, 4GB preferable, DDR3. For hard drive, you can't afford an SSD, so it doesn't really matter - just look at the capacity (there are minor differences between HDD manufacturers, but Rockz and Ex will be the ones to talk about that). With a power supply... Well, Rockz talks about the most efficient point of a power supply being at half of it's maximum, but I don't know anything about that. A 550 watt one should be fine for anything you choose (That's what I have in my desktop - 2.5GHZ quad core CPU, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 550 Watt PSU, ATI 5770 GPU).

So, basically, if you don't want to build it yourself and want to save more money, you can go for a fairly low end computer and tack on a strong GPU and possibly a stronger PSU (power supply). There are much less risks than building from scratch. Sticking in a new GPU really IS basically legos, and a PSU, just attaching the wires properly.

If you DO want to try building it yourself, good luck. If it works, you saved yourself $100. And probably used higher quality parts, whatever that means.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Dec 15 2010, 4:28 am by Centreri.

All OEMs will be the same. Get whatever. I'll draw up a $600 after rebate build tomorrow, but unfortunately you missed the best PSU deal in a while (Antec Neo Eco 620C for $65-$15). If you have any spare parts laying around it helps a lot (optical drive, old hard drive, monitor, case, RAM, etc...)

Also of note, that "gaming computer" is a complete fucking lie. It says it has a "powerful nvidia graphics" when in reality it has a GTS 210. The GTS 210, while decent, is on par with AMD onboard. It's barely enough to play SC2 on medium with crappy framerates. Sure it will own in some source games, but source is 6 years old.

Found a whole bunch. Your job is to figure out what you like and what you want to spend your money on. I've given you multiple choices for everything. The build is quite underpowered in the graphics department, but I don't think you care that much.

$50 G.SKILL Ripjaws (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 -There's a plethora of 2x2 or 4x1 kits out there for $45-$50. This is just an example. Ram speed/heat spreader/dual channel doesn't matter in the long run.
$140-$70 EVGA 01G-P3-1145-TR GeForce GTS 250 -Very old video card. Only reason it's viable is because it's $70 off, $40 MIR and "24HRSALE1215F" for extra $30.
$80-$20 XFX GT240XZHFC GeForce GT 240 1GB -shell shocker today. Only worthwhile if you really need that $10.
^$60 XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W -The idea behind this is it's $60 for supreme upgradability later. Not all that recommended, due to combo with above.
$55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB -It's $3 less elsewhere, but they don't provide a warranty, I don't think.
^$55 Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W -only worthwhile with combo.
$137 AMD Phenom II X4 955 -This is the going price for it.
^$89 GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3 AMD 870 -It's got a lot of features. I have one right now, but I'm currently experiencing problems with something or other (crashes, IDK if its the mobo or what).
$55 MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 -bare minimum motherboard. Only reason not to get it is for USB3, newer chipset, etc...
$17 Generic Sony DVD Burner -always the cheapest one with free shipping or one with a combo.
=Cases=
$80 COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II -awesome case
$73 LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58W -excellent case with a window. I'm disappointed in the Lancool line since they switched from aluminum, but it's still Lian Li (the best in cases, period).
$60 COOLER MASTER HAF 912 -excellent case. Filters are not optimal, but work.
$40 NZXT GAMMA Classic Series -oh rice. Hey, it's $40.
$60 Antec Three Hundred -decent case, terrible price. The problem is that it lacks features of similarly priced cases, and skimps on fans.

This would be my recommended build:

Note the 6850. If you replace it with the GTS 250, it's $600 almost exactly. Here's a few more good graphics cards:
$185-$20 Gigabyte GTX 460 1 GB
$150-$30 MSI GTX 460 768 MB
$193 Gigabyte 6850
$130-$30 HIS 5770

I like the 6850 best, but that's because it's newer, power consumption, no rebate hassle, and OCs as well as the GTX 460. The GTX 1 GB is probably a better buy since it's nvidia (better drivers), is much better in price due to rebate, and will do very well. This shouldn't weigh into your decision, but the board will do Crossfire (~95% of a real crossfire board), but not SLI (easily), and the PSU I linked will do two of either card easily.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Dec 15 2010, 5:34 pm by rockz.

Just wanted to say I've looked this over and although Rockz pretty much has you covered I'll be throwing in my two cents when I get the chance.

For now just hold on until I have the time to design you something.

Have you tried to fix your laptop overheating problem? Like taken it apart and got all the dust out of it?

Alright.
Rockz had you covered on 600$+ so I wanted to see what I could do for you on the economy side of things. I'll say first and foremost his has some CPU power and brand name advantages, while mine, though still solid, does what it can to keep the price tag low. Its up to you which is more important. Conversely, I feel my build could be used as a basis to tack on a heavier GPU and be around Rockz's build's price if you're still looking to drop some more money. You really can't go wrong either way.




Note that my build does have some overclocking involved but no crazy cooling or anything. That Phenom II X2 555 C3 has the chance to unlock into an X4 effectively making it a quad core. There's no guarantee that it'll work, but even as a dual core its a nice CPU. I've used the 555 in a number of builds including one I designed for BioAttk and he was very happy with his if I remember correctly.

Hope it helps.

I'd get the MSI 870 for $55 and the NZXT GAMMA for $50 over the biostar and rosewill. Also, that cpu is a whole dollar cheaper at superbiiz.

Gamma comes with no fans, MSI has screwed me over personally three times running.

Sigh it's always the little things, isn't it? The gamma comes with one fan, too. I guess Asus is the last brand that I haven't heard horror stories about their motherboards.

I would've stomached one bad board. Not two and a bad gfx. Which they refused to RMA.

Yes, fit my needs perfectly!

Also, I recommend going with the aforementioned 5770. I got an XFX. With minor OCing through Catalyst I was able to play Crysis on Ultra locked at 30fps. It probably could've gotten more.