my old pc just broke so i want to buy a new good gaming one my budget is up to a max of $1500 i need advice ... 1. intel vs. amd ... is there anything to know ?? 2. which processor is best for price/performance ratio ? intel core i7 [the 920 one] intel core i5 amd phenom ii 3. which gfx card to choose ? [still not so expensive ones] nvidia vs. ati geforce vs. radeon 4. is crossfire / sli really worth it or better a single gfx card ? 5. crossfire vs. sli ? 6. how much mem really needed on gfx card ? 1gb enough or too much for latest games ? 7. how much ram do i really need for good gaming experience ? 6 gb enough/too much/not enough ? 8. alienware aurora or gamer paladin f770 ?? [alienware more expensive for less specs <_<] 9. motherboard ... important or not ? 10. any good motherboards to suggest ? 11. where to get best deals ?? ibuypower ? http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=405#PageTop i like this pc [link above] [with minor changes 12gb ram and geforce 9400 gt 1 gb sli] ... can i get the same specs for less elsewhere ?
Hi Darxdog, first of all: Don't bump posts ridiculously early, it's rare that anyone will get a chance to answer a post this size within 2 hours of posting it. 1. In general, a $1500 gaming PC will fare better with an Intel CPU, AMD CPUs don't really extend to high-budget high-performance systems like this. 2. The core i5 is the best of the three for gaming. 3. nvidia=geforce. ATI=Radeon. At the moment, ATI are your best choice for graphics. 4. That depends on the game. Crossfire is very beneficial for most games, but depending on what resolution you use it may or may not be necessary. One thing to note, it is always better to have one faster card than two slower ones. 5. Both offer similar gains, but crossfire is far less restrictive. 6. 1GB is ample for graphics cards using all except 2560x1600 (30" monitors, very expensive) 7. 4GB is enough for most games with Windows 7. Core i5 boards allow the use of 4GB RAM with the option to upgrade to 8GB later. 8. Preferably neither, prebuilt gaming PCs are an absolute ripoff. Build your own if you can. 9. Very important - unreliable motherboards mean an unreliable PC. Steer clear of lower quality brands like ECS, Jetway, ASRock, Asus and anything with the word 'nforce' in it. 10. For a core i5, any of Gigabyte, MSI or Biostar's offerings are excellent. 11. Ibuypower prebuild PCs, and very bad PCs at that. The PC you've linked to is terrible, it can't play ANY modern games, the 9400GT is a very weak card, designed for playing video, not games.
thnx a lot sammo btw ... y u suggest i5 than i7 ? and y u do not suggest prebuilt ? where i live [not in us] ... pcs are actually expensive and u wont get good specs at all for 1500 usd ... buying your own parts and building it yourself will cost me much here ...
i5 CPUs are better than i7s at gaming. They're much cheaper, and they're actually slightly faster. Not to mention more efficient, newer technology etc. etc. I don't suggest prebuilt PCs because they cost a LOT more than building yourself. A PC you build for $1500 might cost $2200-2400 if you bought a prebuild, exactly the same specs. Worse, most prebuilt PCs use poor quality parts meaning they're prone to premature failure.
I agree with most of what samm has said accept about low quality boards. ASUS is fine quality board as long as you don't cheap out on their low end mobos. Nforce is fine too. After working at a computer shop that built custom computers, I have seen the least amount of returns from ASUS boards. I'm not saying though that ASUS is the only quality mobo manufacturer either, there are plenty out there. As for GeForce vs. Radeon, they are both pretty close, but Radeon is slightly ahead. Crossfire vs SLI is insignificant. Some games work better on either one.
That's what I thought initially, but doing some research it really makes no difference. The top-end boards are almost as bad as the basic ones, maybe fewer DOAs, but just as many mid-term failures.
Hmm really? Unless Asus has changed their quality in the past couple years I have never heard of any major problems with them. I've been rockin' my M2N32-SLI Deluxe mobo for 2 3/4 years and never had an issue with it.
That was about the turning point. Around 2005 was when the cheap boards became dire, the high-end boards followed suit around early 2007, during the release of the Core 2 chipsets.
cielarski, edit that link out of your sig ASAP as per forum rules. 1. Advertising via forum messages is strictly prohibited. If you need to advertise your products on our site, contact us via the feedback form and we will negotiate an advertising contract with you/your company. 3. Providing affilate tagged links to products or services is not allowed.
Well that sucks. I rather liked Asus back then. I guess I'll have to keep that in mind when I finally get around to building a new PC.
i changed idea ... i think ill buy a laptop ... http://forums.afterdawn.com/t.cfm/f-216/gaming_laptop-809787/
yea i know ... but i live in mauritius where pc parts are expensive and we dont have latest ones ... to get good pcs ... we got to buy it abroad ... and carrying / shipping is a prob ..
Then don't buy a PC from IBuyPower, they're rubbish - seriously, I'd recommend you try and build your own.
