Best Gaming Desktop for Less than $1K?

Originally Posted by furo

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Yeah if I'm going the custom build route, I'm really looking for the cookie cutter build of parts that is <$1k, which I seem to have some of the elements listed in this thread now; at least a good start for me. Not sure about finding enthusiasts though. I'm in a rural area, so I doubt I'd find that.

in the time that you've spent posting here/looking at prebuilts you could easily have researched what parts to get to build your own

Sorry I can't help too much with suggestions, but I don't think buying used is a good idea. Buying new you get full warranty and help. Building your own you need to followup individually and send in any bad part, it is a real pain. I don't think you save much money building your own computer anymore, vs. buying a great computer with a crappy video card and just throwing in a sick one or something.

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buying used can be meh, but regardless, you're pretty far off the mark. most prebuilts have PSUs that are just strong enough to power the stock parts, and as a general rule are a pain to customize

I didn't mean the whole computer is **** and the GPU will just rock the lightning. There are plenty of Dells and HPs out there that are beefed right up except they have a ****** graphics card. Throw one in and you are laughing, and they use the same powering unit. I've built a ton of computers and this is what I suggest now. Look up what is inside the best 1000$ computer you can build, and compare it to what you can get for 1000$ from Dell or your local box store on sale.

I'm serious on this, I want to see if my argument still holds up. It has been a few years. If anything I imagine I am more right these days.

Originally Posted by Cognacad

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I didn't mean the whole computer is **** and the GPU will just rock the lightning. There are plenty of Dells and HPs out there that are beefed right up except they have a ****** graphics card. Throw one in and you are laughing, and they use the same powering unit. I've built a ton of computers and this is what I suggest now. Look up what is inside the best 1000$ computer you can build, and compare it to what you can get for 1000$ from Dell or your local box store on sale. I'm serious on this, I want to see if my argument still holds up. It has been a few years. If anything I imagine I am more right these days.
dell/hp/whatever use the cheapest available options for hardware (and then overcharge you for them). please stop giving terrible advice. and before you start spouting bullshit about prebuilts having the same specs as something that you built yourself - remember that computer parts are like clothes: brands matter.

Originally Posted by vaalbara

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dell/hp/whatever use the cheapest available options for hardware (and then overcharge you for them). please stop giving terrible advice.

This, exactly. Spot on with your previous post as well.

Actually, if you find a Dell on a good bargain/coupon type deal, it might make a lot of sense to just start with that and upgrade the graphics card.

The Cpu / Ram / hard drive are all going to be pretty standard. They will mostly just cheap out on the power supply and motherboard. If you're not overclocking, the motherboard won't matter much though.

My brother bought this setup about 4 months ago:

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
AMD Phenom™ II X6 1045T + ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB
6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMS
1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
16X DVD+/-RW Drive

Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word &amp; Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook
2 Year Basic Service Plan
No Monitor
Software &amp; Services
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
THXÂ TruStudio PC™
No Dial Up Modem Option
Dell Laser Mouse

All for ~ $600 brand new. Add a good graphics card, and you're pretty much set. That wasn't even a great deal either, as he just wanted to jump on something quickly.

That 1045 is around 20% faster than the i5-750 in your setup.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all about building my own setup, but if you bargain hunt using coupons/etc you can actually get pretty close. The truth is many, many people are just too scared to try doing things on their own.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4456/s...buyers-guide/4 it has a good graphics card and uses the core i5 2500k (which can be overclocked) but is way more power than you need to play games

Originally Posted by hardisty17

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http://www.anandtech.com/show/4456/s...buyers-guide/4
it has a good graphics card and uses the core i5 2500k (which can be overclocked) but is way more power than you need to play games

Good recommendations all around from that.

Keep in mind that Anandtech looks at regular retail prices. If you follow slickdeals/fatwallet, you can find much better.

For example, they have a 1gb HD listed for $60. A good deal on SD can get you a 2TB drive for around $70-$80.

Originally Posted by vaalbara

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dell/hp/whatever use the cheapest available options for hardware (and then overcharge you for them). please stop giving terrible advice. and before you start spouting bullshit about prebuilts having the same specs as something that you built yourself - remember that computer parts are like clothes: brands matter.
Brands of video card and CPU matter, but when it the last time optical drive, motherboard drive, and even hard drive brand has mattered to one of you? I have built my own and researched the **** out of every piece and made sure everything was the best and highest performance and reliability, and it stills breaks down. The Dell that has been running since 2003 in my basement has never crashed. Of course its just chance, but it doesn't seem that the self-built beast is more reliable, and is certainly more of a pain to get repaired (compared to taking it to best buy etc.). Of course Dell gets the cheapest piece and overcharges, thats how they make money. Those computers are also so cheap because they buy millions of parts. You are going on newegg or whatever and buying one piece at a time, while dell is getting huge discounts. That is why I think you can buy a Dell and get the same specs for the same price (or less?). The only things that matter are CPU and GPU, the ram is all the same speed, the hardrive (assuming its standard) is the same speed, and all the other little things are the same. OOOH BUT ITS NOT A SUPER ASUS MOTHERBOARD who gives a hoot, it doesn't change anything. Edit: I am all for building your own computer, but that is because I love it and its a passion and I want to have control over everything. I don't suggest others do it, because they aren't nerds like I am. At the end of the day, they wouldn't notice the difference between my custom-built computer and their Del.. That being said, this does NOT apply to the really high end stuff. We are talking about 1000$ though. Edit2: I am serious about one of you laying out the complete specs (with shipping) of a custom computer for 1000$ and comparing it to a Dell of the same price. If the custom is much better that will shut me up.

Brands of video card and CPU matter, but when it the last time optical drive, motherboard drive, and even hard drive brand has mattered to one of you?

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all the time. cheap motherboards are flimsy, more likely to be DoA, and suffer from problems earlier down the road than quality ones. cheap psus will fry your system. cheap hdds are more prone to failure. i've had cheap RAM die on me in a year (which i used as an excuse to upgrade from 2gb to 4gb), but i'll give you the point on optical drives.

t the end of the day, they wouldn't notice the difference between my custom-built computer and their Del..

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yeah, i probably wouldn't notice a difference either if i didn't do anything on my computer more intensive than surfing the net and microsoft office. the point remains that it's still much cheaper to build your own system than to buy a prebuilt and try to customize it. whether or not you're interested in doing so is another beast entirely. also keep in mind that in my experience, recent dells have been shipping with the bare minimum motherboard functionality, and may not support customization at all. of course this only applies to the cheapo-mid range dells i've seen, so YMMV. also, that dell's quality has gone downhill in recent years (not that they were ever really that great).

Edit2: I am serious about one of you laying out the complete specs (with shipping) of a custom computer for 1000$ and comparing it to a Dell of the same price. If the custom is much better that will shut me up.

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find me a dell and i can very probably match the specs for less i understand the OP's reluctance to buy a used computer, but in the time since he's posted this thread he could easily have just done some quick googling or made a post on a tech forum about what to buy. if he doesn't want to put the effort in and has cash to blow, then ibuypower is fine - but don't ******* tell him to buy a prebuilt and try to bastardize it.

For gods sakes you'll need to upgrade the power supply at the very least so your new video card doesn't collapse the whole thing

Originally Posted by Cognacad

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Brands of video card and CPU matter, but when it the last time optical drive, motherboard drive, and even hard drive brand has mattered to one of you? I have built my own and researched the **** out of every piece and made sure everything was the best and highest performance and reliability, and it stills breaks down. The Dell that has been running since 2003 in my basement has never crashed. Of course its just chance, but it doesn't seem that the self-built beast is more reliable, and is certainly more of a pain to get repaired (compared to taking it to best buy etc.). Of course Dell gets the cheapest piece and overcharges, thats how they make money. Those computers are also so cheap because they buy millions of parts. You are going on newegg or whatever and buying one piece at a time, while dell is getting huge discounts. That is why I think you can buy a Dell and get the same specs for the same price (or less?). The only things that matter are CPU and GPU, the ram is all the same speed, the hardrive (assuming its standard) is the same speed, and all the other little things are the same. OOOH BUT ITS NOT A SUPER ASUS MOTHERBOARD who gives a hoot, it doesn't change anything. Edit: I am all for building your own computer, but that is because I love it and its a passion and I want to have control over everything. I don't suggest others do it, because they aren't nerds like I am. At the end of the day, they wouldn't notice the difference between my custom-built computer and their Del.. That being said, this does NOT apply to the really high end stuff. We are talking about 1000$ though. Edit2: I am serious about one of you laying out the complete specs (with shipping) of a custom computer for 1000$ and comparing it to a Dell of the same price. If the custom is much better that will shut me up.
I have built my own computer and nothing has crashed. Ever. I honestly dont know, as a person who has built his own computer, can give advice to NOT build it. It took me 2-3 hours to build it, cost under 1k with a LED 23inch monitor, razar gaming mouse/keyboard, and it runs every game out there in highest settings. IT TOOK ME 2-3 HOURS. Not a problem since. Also you get a sense of accomplishment and hey, you learned something.

Somebody please make a list of the components you would use for a sub-1000k computer.

I am in the process of building my first rig.

Currently newegg offers some good combo deals for i2500k CPUs

With a decent monitor, I am looking under 1k after all the rebates.

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=203098 Here is my thread. Yes I was a dumbass and didnt plug in my monitor cable into my video card, thats how marsupialed I was. That was the only problem I had. My build AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4ghz Quad Core (Can easily overclock to 3.8ghz on a good cooler) ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX Motherboard ZOTAC ZT-40404-10P SYNERGY GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W Modular PSU LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner -Black SATA iHAS124-04 Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Throw in a razar keyboard, 1080p LED 22 inch screen, razar mouse it came to 1k. Runs everygame I have under highest settings fine, Crysis 2, Shogun 2 Total war, SC2, etc. I dont overclock nor do I know how to overclock this. Anyone have a tip/guide how? Thanks to Whiteslashasian for helping me through the process.

lolol omg i can't believe you forgot to plug that **** into your video card.

overclocking is very easy. Just look up a video on youtube and you'll be a pro in no time.

I'm still running a e5200 @3.8 ghz and a ati5770 and I can still play most games fine :3.


@dmash. I'm sorry bro but your computer just isn't worth 800 dollars. Its old tech, and if you built your own computer you should know how quickly tech depreciates in value. Not hatin' just sayin'. Better unload it now though, cuz it really ain't gonna be worth **** in 6 months. i'd say 650-700 and thats being nice.