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Looking for a Gaming System

Stetwin

Stetwin

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 8, 2007
273
0
England - Co-Durham
A friend and i are both after a new computer for gaming, mainly to play Warhammer Online and were not sure what we should go for, I am looking to spend around £700-£800 and he is looking to spend around £2000 but would like it if there was finance available,

Would a Mac suite our needs or should we be looking else where?

Any recommendations would be appreciated,

/Ste
 
Stetwin said:
A friend and i are both after a new computer for gaming, mainly to play Warhammer Online and were not sure what we should go for, I am looking to spend around £700-£800 and he is looking to spend around £2000 but would like it if there was finance available,

Would a Mac suite our needs or should we be looking else where?

Any recommendations would be appreciated,

/Ste
Click to expand...

To be honest, if you're looking to buy a system primarily for gaming, I'd have to say look elsewhere. It depends how great a priority gaming is, of course, but from your post, I'd guess it's the main factor behind the purchase?

andy.
 
The system is to be totally for gaming (i already own an iMac for my photography business),

If windows is the way to go then does anyone have any recommendations?
 
I use my Mac for gaming, and it works a treat. I have Windows installed on another partition using Boot Camp (comes with every Mac). You have to buy the Windows disk separately, but it's a great way to get the best of both worlds on one machine. Games for Mac OS X usually come out a while after the PC versions, and performance usually sucks.

Basically I'm just trying to sell you a Mac. If all you want a computer for is gaming then I'm sure you could build a decent gaming PC for a low cost.

Edit: Ok I see that you already own a Mac. Definitely go for a Windows PC then.
 
If you are looking for higher-end, you could use Alienware (they are Dell's upscale division). HP also has some High-end gaming machines, but I have not heard much about them. Or, if you think you know how, you could build a pc. Alienware's base model Aurora desktop starts at about 600 (don't know how to make the pounds symbol) and your friend could go higher up in the model line. It looks as if they have financing too.

Here is the link to Alienware's Desktops
 
txhockey9404 said:
If you are looking for higher-end, you could use Alienware (they are Dell's upscale division). HP also has some High-end gaming machines, but I have not heard much about them. Or, if you think you know how, you could build a pc. Alienware's base model Aurora desktop starts at about 600 (don't know how to make the pounds symbol) and your friend could go higher up in the model line. It looks as if they have financing too.

Here is the link to Alienware's Desktops
Click to expand...

Thanks for that,

What bonuses would building a system myself offer over something from Alienware? And where would i start?
 
Building your own system would mean you get the exact hardware you want for your intended purpose, usually at 75% or less of the price you would pay to Dell or HP, who bought out the Alienware and VoodooPC boutique brands.
 
Stetwin said:
A friend and i are both after a new computer for gaming, mainly to play Warhammer Online and were not sure what we should go for, I am looking to spend around £700-£800 and he is looking to spend around £2000 but would like it if there was finance available,

Would a Mac suite our needs or should we be looking else where?

Any recommendations would be appreciated,

/Ste
Click to expand...

holy **** that's expensive!

you can build a killer machine for like less than 900 dollars if you do it yourself fyi
 
Saving money is good as i can maximize my specs for the budget i have, the only thing is neither of us have built a PC in the past (were both Mac users), and my friend isn't sure about having to handle components that have cost £500+ as he doesn't want to risk damaging them,

What is actually required to build a PC from Scratch, i've had a look myself and it looks like one big headache trying to match everything up so it will all work together, and then having to build it all together,

Also how would it boot up with no OS installed?

/Ste
 
my recommendation (Newegg prices):

Intel Core 2 Duo "Conroe" 2.33 GHz CPU - retail (includes heatsink)
ASUS P5K Pro mobo
PNY NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT video card
Zalman 110m heatsink fan (ignore if using included heatsink)
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 RAM
Corsair 520V power supply
$783 ($729 if not using Zalman heatsink)

+ anything you want e.g.
Antec Solo or Sonata case (regular 8800GT will not fit in Solo, get shorter card with third party heatsink e.g. MSI)
Samsung Spintpoint 250 GB SATA hard drive
ASUS SATA DVD burner
Arctic Silver thermal grease
$183

SubTotal - $966

Vista Home Premium $222

Total - $1188

good luck :thumbsup:
 
dukebound85 said:
holy **** that's expensive!

you can build a killer machine for like less than 900 dollars if you do it yourself fyi
Click to expand...

Shame its not the same over this side of the pond, 900.00 USD = 491.616GBP which doesn't seem much when some components like a gfx card cost in the £300 area,

/Ste
 
Stetwin said:
Shame its not the same over this side of the pond, 900.00 USD = 491.616GBP which doesn't seem much when some components like a gfx card cost in the £300 area,

/Ste
Click to expand...
While that may be true, you can still get a damn good graphics card for quite a bit less.
 
Build it yourself. That is the only way to get a decent PC.

You can build a killer gaming machine for even £700. Cheap Core 2 Duo, 4gb RAM, ATI 4870X2 (the best gaming card available) etc.

Whilst Macs are great machines they are not designed with gaming in mind.

For your friend, I see a Core 2 Quad (Q9450), dual Crossfire 4870X2, 8gb RAM, VelociRaptor.
 
Stetwin said:
What is actually required to build a PC from Scratch, i've had a look myself and it looks like one big headache trying to match everything up so it will all work together, and then having to build it all together,

Also how would it boot up with no OS installed?

/Ste
Click to expand...

Its quite simple if you have patience and are prepared to do some research before you start.

You buy a copy of XP or Vista (I recommend Vista with a machine like that). You turn on the computer and go into the BIOS, set it to boot from the CD, and it will install.

http://www.buildeasypc.com/

Just post on here if you want to check your components match up before buying etc. or if you need any help building it.
 
Maybe there are small companies in your area that would build it for you?

I don't know why everyone here is recommending a dual core processor; with that money, get a quad core. Come Windows 7, you'll be a happy man :D (provided it has multi-core support, which it definitely should ).

Also, I'd at least get an SLI board (with support for PCI expresss 2.0) for multiple video cards, even if you don't buy more than one now.
 
^ becuase the OP is looking for a cheap build and not all games can utilise all 4 cores of a quad core atm and in some cases a dual core actually performs better.

unless you have the extra money, want more multitasking and do video work youd go for the quad core which is what ill be doing for my PC.
 
build one yourself, use custompc.co.uk to help

Q6600
2GB ram (32bit OS or 4GB if you use a 64bit OS)
Vista
250GB boot drive 1TB drive for everything else
ATi 4870 X2
P35 Chipset Mobo recommend the Asus P5KC, great overclocking insanely cheap supports both DDR2 and DDR3

all that for about 700-800 i think

also ebuyer.com and scan.co.uk are good places for parts if you're in the uk...
 
For a smaller price you could get a decent computer (prices in € here in Slovenia, similar to Austria, includes VAT):

Case: Cooler Master RC-331-KKN1-GP "Elite 331" - 39,01€
Power Supply: Mushkin XP-650AP "Extreme Performance" - 101,70€
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3 - 91,50€
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3,16 GHZ - 166,80€
CPU cooling: Scythe Samurai Z - 22,57€
RAM: Mushkin PC2-6400 "Extreme" KIT (2x2 GB) 4096MB 800 MHz DDR II - 78,02€
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR 5 PCI-Express™ 16x - 239,45€
HDD: Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA-II - 60,63€
DVD-RW: Samsung SH-S223F BEBE Black - 22,87€
OS: Microsoft Vista HomePremium 64-bit ENG DSP - 98,47€

Total (VAT included): 929,02€
 
Stetwin said:
A friend and i are both after a new computer for gaming, mainly to play Warhammer Online and were not sure what we should go for, I am looking to spend around £700-£800 and he is looking to spend around £2000 but would like it if there was finance available,

Would a Mac suite our needs or should we be looking else where?

Any recommendations would be appreciated,

/Ste
Click to expand...

There has to be a kid somewhere around where you live who can build you a computer. I wouldn't go for an Mac as they're terrible gaming machines even if you run Windows on them.

Last december for $600 I built a friend:
AMD dual core @ 2.2 ghz
2 GB ram
nVidia 8800gt
500 gb hd
DL DVD burner
case and power supply
motherboard

The nVidia alone at up nearly half the budget. The one biggest thing I would have done differently is gone with an Intel setup. While more expensive, AMDs chip offerings a sluggish.

And, I'm not sure on the price of PC parts in the UK, but a similar system should leave you with a little extra money to pay your computer builder.
 
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