Which brand is the best for gaming computers, not as costly as voodo or something like that, but a dell or?

Question

vaio, or something like that?

i dont want a custom made pc, i want to go to an internet page of the brand and build it there, my budget is about $2000 or a little more

Answer 1

Tons of things to think of, building it yourself really is cheaper. If you go with companies here is another one which is not Dell/Alienware (they are the same company) which is ABS: http://www.abs.com/ Which really does have some nice setups. But really for a high end gaming system Build your own here is a setup of the parts:
The numbers on the ATI 2900XT are better then the Nvidia 8800gtx and cheaper, but it matters the motherboard you choose on what would work best on getting 2 of them.

Then for the cpu it is a choice from AMD or intel, just at least 3.0 or higher even the duel cores. If you want to overclock the CPU I would say to get an after market cooler, such as Silver Knight which can be found at www.nexfan.com It uses oil for cooling and will get the temp below room temp if you also use artic silver. You can get a quad core for around $260

Then for ram I would go with the higher speed and not more then 4 gbs unless you are going with the 64 bit version. Motherboards AMD I would go with 590 north bridge
Intel I would go with the intel 975X north bridge or the nvidia 680i. If you go with 975X it would be better with the ATI graphics cards.

Power supply if you are going with 2 graphics cards and some extra fans then I would recommend a 750 watt power supply with 85% or higher Efficiency and FOUR +12V rails
Case is also important, which a lot of people do not like having it, but a big case is best for good air flow.

For hard drives to have the best speed go with raptors in a Raid 0, you could have that for games and another one installed for OS system. Like a big hard drive for movies, music, and other things which are not with the games. The third one could be something with 16mb cache and sata connection. I would also recommend hard drive coolers which would be big fans on the bottom of the drive and a cage on top of them, they are listed at nexfan.com and most all others can be found on newegg.com and other sites.

For the dvd burners you can get sata or even blu-ray which will play hd dvd also, well most of them (around $280).
Also on monitors go with some with low response time, 22 inch would be what I would say around $210 with rebates and all out there.

This would be a cutting edge pc, if you go with AMD then it will be a lot cheaper in cost with a higher fsb, but I love intel. You could also look off Alienware on the parts used and match the numbers. That would be a cutting edge system.

To go cheaper you can get some hard drive with Sata and 16mb cache on them. The power supply could just be a very nice 500Watt if you are just going to use one graphics card. And a dvd burner which is Sata instead of the blu-ray. But the motherboard really makes the system great. I would also stay with windows XP with how Vista really does not work with a lot of the older games well.

You can just look off what Alienware or the other computer companies put in it then you will know what to get. For the cost of the upgrade to 4gbs of eam you could buy the ram and an awsome cpu with most of the systems by the branded companies.

Answer 2

You don't HAVE to build it yourself, it is not required by law or anything. You will get a better deal if you build it yourself, but if you are not comfortable with that, go with a manufacturer. The most important thing is to get a good video card, secondly at least 2GB of RAM, finally a decent CPU. Take a look at the Dell XPS 720, but make sure to upgrade to the 8800GTX.

EDIT: After a quick look at Dell's webpage, also consider the XPS 410, the same thing applies, make sure you select the 8800GTX.

EDIT: I am so sick of people just giving the knee-jerk "building it is cheaper line." Lets take a look at the numbers, Dell XPS 410 base config plus the 8800GTX is $1800. Now lets take parts in that system individually:
Q6600 processor: $300
2GB of RAM: $100
Vista: $150
Hard Drive: $100
8800GTX $550
19 inch monitor: $200
Motherboard $150

So already you are up to $1550, and you still have to buy a case, power supply, DVD drive, speakers, mice, keyboard. In the end you will end up saving $100 or less, the price difference is NOT that big.

EDIT: And to the guy below me, he said $2000 or a little more, not $3000+.

Answer 3

I think the answer above me is pretty much right but since your budget is high enough go for the dual core amd 6000 which is 3.0 and get a good motherboard with
with 2 x pcix16 slots and do a crossfire set up.

Also install windows vista 64 bit you wont be sorry and put 4 gigs of ddram 800 in it.

With the below motherboard vista 64 bit will even install all of your motherboard drivers for you is soooo easy. Otherwise go to hp and configure your own and let them build it.

Answer 4

HP Pavilion d4990y customizable Desktop PC:

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
2GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
640MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, 2 DVI, TV-Out
320GB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi, 24-bit Xtreme Fidelity
Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers
Monitor HP 20-inch LCD Wide Flat Panel Monitor

Total: $2,024.99

Answer 5

Sorry Jorge, if you're on a budget and want a decent gaming PC, you have to build it yourself.

There are tons of install videos at youtube and great help forums at tomshardware and anandtech forums if you need to ask questions. I would HIGHLY suggest you research on your own to get a basic understanding of how a PC works and how to troubleshoot when something doesn't work.


Here's a quick parts list for an entry-level / budget gaming PC:

$75 - AMD X2 4200+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103741
$70 - BioStar motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074
$60 - 2gb DDR2-800 RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
$60 - 250gb Sata
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145087
$28 - DVD burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136119
$60 - case with 450watt power supply (free shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147030
$120 - x1950pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161060

If your budget is higher = better performance on the newest games.

Look at the blue lines. x1950pro ($120) VS 8800gts ($250)
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=778&model2=725&chart=277

EDIT
Do you also need a monitor / speakers / keyboard/mouse?

Jeez, do you know how top of the line you could get if you built it yourself with a $2,000?

Most online sellers that you're thinking of charge 30-40% to basically put the parts together (and they don't even use the best parts, they use the ones with the highest margins).

Oh yeah, at your budget you better be getting an Intel Core 2 quad-core with an 8800GTX and 3gb of RAM.