Gaming computer?

Question

I'm looking into a good desktop computer. My price range is 1,000 to 1,500. Maybe just a little more. I want to be able to run AIM, Zune, Internet explorer, and an online game like Counter-strike or WoW without lag. I've heard alienware is best for gaming, so if you agree, then my question is which one is best for my price range? Also, I mean a whole computer, not just parts. I'm not smart enough to put it together ;). Thank you in advance

Also, I forgot to mention that I do plan on playing high end games like eventually Spore, and would like to play something like Half-Life 2 on high or medium settings.

http://alienware.com/product_detail_pages/Aurora_7500/aurora_overview.aspx?SysCode=PC-AURORA-7500-R4&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT . That's the one I'm looking at right now. I'm looking at base stuff except for RAM which I plan on bumping up to 2 gigs. Is this good enough for what I listed?

Answer 1

To be very honest with you. The whole dell thing, it is okay but can not go to a true gamers card, unless it is already packing a 8800gtx, which then the price is over $2,000. You can save a ton of money doing it yourself and truely is not that hard.

I build custom computers for people, they are over $2000 which dell does not make, uses Firemv cards if people want to check on that.

Compaq does make gaming systems also, inaddition compaq and HP is the same company. Gateway and Emachine is also the same company. Dell and Alienware is the same company. ABS is another company which is very nice and decent, not branded. http://www.abs.com/

Branded, what is branded you might ask. The motherboards for Dell can only go so high and take certain types of ram and power supply. Which really limit the upgrading. All huge companies do this so you have to stay with their crap at a high price.

Look at the upgrades and you can buy the whole 2 gb upgrade for the same price. If you are going for high end gaming unless you get an amazing deal off dell, build it yourself.
Check here for deals from dell: http://bensbargains.net/index.php Try to get the high end graphics which needs a power adaptor, check http://www.newegg.com/ for what all the graphics need. Yes if you build yourself you have yourself to blame and fix things. But you have us to help you decide what is wrong instead of some phone tech support person in another country asking you if your computer is plugged in. Most likely we will start helping you faster and you can understand up better. You can e-mail me for a full system build with the positive and negatives (there is no perfect system) and still be in the price range and if Dell has a great deal I will tip my hat to them because sometimes they do. I even own a dell because of this. I do hope something in this helps.

Answer 2

Get a good tower. An Asus P5K board with a Q6600 SLACR quad. 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistix ram with the micron D9 chips. (4 GIG if 64bit vista(what I run)-Run 2 raptors drives in a Raid0 with a 3rd storage drive. Slap in the new ATI 1GB HD2900XT with DDR4 running a 512 memory bus and power the whole thing with a 520 or 620watt corsair PSU and you will own any Alienware you ever run into ! Of course, you may have to spend a tad more than 1500.

Answer 3

Seriously, for the money you quote, I would strongly advise that you build your own or have someone do it for you.

You can build a kick-*** gaming PC for the price range you listed. I know because I did. I spent just a little over $1,100 and I can play all the games you listed and many others as well.

If you buy a PC then you will have far less RAM than what you will need. Plus, the graphics card will no doubt be lacking in speed and memory as well.

Save you money and build your own gaming PC. You can email me at [e-mail] if you need a list of components to buy for a nice gaming PC.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

For all the programs you listed: you are going to need about 512mb-1 gig of RAM, and about a 1.8-2.0 GHz processor. You can get something like that for a lot cheaper than $1000
I bought a dell dimension E521 for less than $500 and it would run those programs without any upgrade

Try to get a dell e521 with xp installed

I recommend you get a better video card for gaming (u probably don't have to right away)

And yes, Alienware is the best for gaming

To the guy that said dell sucks:
do you have any evidence to support that statement?
Yes hp and compaq suck, emachines is ok

I was able to play COD2 on my dell E521 on medium settings straight out of the box.

Dell will supply you with disks for all the software and drivers your computer came with, and even the operating system disk.
So you'll have everything to restore your computer to factory condition. You'll be getting a good computer at a good price. If you want to spend $1500 go with alienware

Answer 5

you can buy this one that i am on right now for £1350

windows experience index 5.0

duel core cpu
4 gigs ram
256 video card
2x dvd writers
2x 200 gig hard drives
windows 64 bit ultimate o / s
and net work card

Answer 6

That Alienware PC MORE than meets your needs. May also exceed your budget if you put the "nice to haves".

Answer 7

Don't buy a Dell. They suck. Also don't buy HP, Compaq, emachines, a PC from Bestbuy, Circuit City, Walmart, Compusa , or any other store such as these I have mentioned. If you want to spend 1500.00 Check out this. It has been rated very high buy PCGamer and Maximum PC.