Gaming PC help

[Flip]

Okey doke. The more i think about it, the more i want to buy a new gaming PC. I still have yet to pull the trigger on a next-gen console and think that is because when it all boils down to it i'm more of a PC gaming guy for its multiplayer titles (i will never be happy playing FPS's on a console without mouselook). Seek brought up netbooks in an earlier thread which made me think about my aging Vaio and how a desktop/netbook combo would be perfect to replace it.

So, im unsure what is out there nowadays. I built my PC (i.e. put pieces in a case) long ago back for college and had a blast doing it, but times have changed and i have no clue what the latest and greatest processors/vid cards/anything are anymore. I suppose it wouldnt take too much time to brush up, but looking at the built rigs on newegg is making me think that may be the route to go.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883229117

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227158

The things are pretty cheap and i dont exactly need one that can play anything with all the settings jacked up to high.

Is AMD shit now and Intel is far superior? When is Windows 7 coming out? Is it worth waiting for it? What is a good amount of RAM now for games on the PC? What should be the medium vid card i need? Is there anything else on the horizon that i should wait for?...

[Imakeholesinu]

Windows 7 comes out on Oct 22nd. If you want to build a gaming PC go with Ultimate Edition of Vista/7 and do it 64-bit.

I will always build my own boxes but that intel box looks pretty good for the price, especially since it's quad core.

I would definitely get a 64-bit OS on there though.

[Tessian]

at least 4GB of ram these days for smooth gaming-- and to do that you'll need a 64bit OS, as Barret mentioned. I personally see no reason to go with Vista Ultimate though... waste of money IMO, Vista Home Premium is all you need.

I've been a faithful AMD lover for a decade, but they really haven't come out with much new these years... you might want to look at Intel, maybe the Dual Core Duo's... the Phenom's look nice too but I haven't heard much about them.

Video cards are difficult to pin down these days... I got the GTX260 and while it is on the higher end of the spectrum, I dunno how much more life the 9000 series has. If you're comfortable paying ~$140 for a graphics card I'd recommend something in the GTX series.

Oh and if you're looking at Cyberpower computers... just go to their website direct-- http://www.cyberpowerpc.com. You can tailor the PC exactly the way you want it. I bought my laptop from them because the price couldn't be beat for the value. I will admit their support isn't very robust, but my only complaint so far is they designed a crappy laptop keyboard (which they apparently have fixed by now). They are offering free Windows 7 upgrades too now.

[Oracle]

Also, if you want options, check out http://www.ncixus.com/

It's a Canadian company, but we have newegg up here now and I still mostly use NCIX. Great customer service.

[Flip]

Oh and if you're looking at Cyberpower computers... just go to their website direct-- http://www.cyberpowerpc.com. You can tailor the PC exactly the way you want it. I bought my laptop from them because the price couldn't be beat for the value. I will admit their support isn't very robust, but my only complaint so far is they designed a crappy laptop keyboard (which they apparently have fixed by now). They are offering free Windows 7 upgrades too now.

Ibuypower.com is offering a free upgrade to Windows 7, too, which is nice. That was a good idea to check out that site since they list every option you can change and its easy to see which parts are more expensive. Its leading to some good research, thanks.

Just for cost (and good past experience) i think i will go with AMD Phenom Quadcore and then get a GTX series vid card. Those compenents alone (along with mid range RAM, power supply, case, and harddrive) should result in a screaming machine capable of playing the good games very fast.

Looks like i can put together something like that for around 800-900, then a 300 netbook creates the perfect scenario.