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Hi everyone,

So ever since I am leaving for college, and that my major is Video Game Design.

Now The only problem is that I am working on a limited budget so around 800 Dollars or so.

And another unforunate, building a computer is my downfall. What is everyone's recommendations for a good gaming computer, for both designing, testing and reliability?

(Like Specific specs, I know it has to be custom built, it does not need to be top of the line, and not a lap top.)

I'd check out http://www.ibuypower.com/

I used to shop newegg.com and completely build computers from scratch, but have gotten lazy, and went with these guys.... 800 won't actually get you all that much for a modern gaming design/testing rig, but I should think it'll get you in the door.

With anything nowadays, I'd look for something with multiple HDD capacity, DDR3 (or ability to upgrade to DDR3) RAM. Most gaming people prefer Nvidia graphics, but ATi builds some pretty good ones as well. For mother board, I prefer MSI, or ASUS (ASUS generally makes good hardware all around from laptops to desktop components)


Obviously, for testing/design, I'd want to have as much RAM and as much Dedicated video memory as possible. I usually also prefer the largest HDD size that I can afford, as the more free space a drive has on a Windows based system, the better is usually performs.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I'd check out http://www.ibuypower.com/

I used to shop newegg.com and completely build computers from scratch, but have gotten lazy, and went with these guys.... 800 won't actually get you all that much for a modern gaming design/testing rig, but I should think it'll get you in the door.

With anything nowadays, I'd look for something with multiple HDD capacity, DDR3 (or ability to upgrade to DDR3) RAM. Most gaming people prefer Nvidia graphics, but ATi builds some pretty good ones as well. For mother board, I prefer MSI, or ASUS (ASUS generally makes good hardware all around from laptops to desktop components)


Obviously, for testing/design, I'd want to have as much RAM and as much Dedicated video memory as possible. I usually also prefer the largest HDD size that I can afford, as the more free space a drive has on a Windows based system, the better is usually performs.

Wow really? 800 isn't a lot? I am on quite a budget so, I won't be able to spend that much. I do not plan on buying the top of the line in any point.

PM Sent

 Asherian Command wrote:

Wow really? 800 isn't a lot? I am on quite a budget so, I won't be able to spend that much. I do not plan on buying the top of the line in any point.

As I said, 800 will get you in the door. The nice thing with Desktops is, if you get a good mid-sized case, you can upgrade literally everything inside of it as you can/need to. I bought my current desktop 3 or 4 years ago, and it's STILL well above the "recommended" specs for every game coming out now.

If you buy a computer piece by piece from a place like Newegg, the most expensive things usually are the Video Card, and OS. If you play around on that ibuypower website that I linked, an 800 dollar machine will certainly play the games you probably currently play, and it'll help get you started on your schooling... but it's certainly not top of the line, or groundbreaking. With Desktops, you can get away with this better than a laptop.


Personally, I've always seen a desktop as more of an investment, as mine have all lasted so long... So while you're a "broke college kid" certainly that 3-4000 dollar "rolls royce gaming computer" will be out of your reach, but that 800 budget machine will get the job done, provided you take care of it.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

Wow really? 800 isn't a lot? I am on quite a budget so, I won't be able to spend that much. I do not plan on buying the top of the line in any point.

As I said, 800 will get you in the door. The nice thing with Desktops is, if you get a good mid-sized case, you can upgrade literally everything inside of it as you can/need to. I bought my current desktop 3 or 4 years ago, and it's STILL well above the "recommended" specs for every game coming out now.

If you buy a computer piece by piece from a place like Newegg, the most expensive things usually are the Video Card, and OS. If you play around on that ibuypower website that I linked, an 800 dollar machine will certainly play the games you probably currently play, and it'll help get you started on your schooling... but it's certainly not top of the line, or groundbreaking. With Desktops, you can get away with this better than a laptop.


Personally, I've always seen a desktop as more of an investment, as mine have all lasted so long... So while you're a "broke college kid" certainly that 3-4000 dollar "rolls royce gaming computer" will be out of your reach, but that 800 budget machine will get the job done, provided you take care of it.

Yeah I will hopefully make that money over time. And accumulate it from working!

That is the fortunate thing about desktops in that you can upgrade piecemeal over time.

$800 will definitely get you a workable machine. Nothing high end of course.


Now that is assuming you don't also get a screen, speakers, mouse, and keyboard to match. But you probably already have those so don't need to use up any of your $800 getting new ones.

 Grey Templar wrote:
That is the fortunate thing about desktops in that you can upgrade piecemeal over time.

$800 will definitely get you a workable machine. Nothing high end of course.


Now that is assuming you don't also get a screen, speakers, mouse, and keyboard to match. But you probably already have those so don't need to use up any of your $800 getting new ones.

Sadly I will need a new mouse, keyboard and speakers. I have a computer at home, but I am leaving it behind, because it is fairly old and it does not have virus protection.

Are they incompatible or something?

No reason not to save a little money and use your old accessories.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Are they incompatible or something?

No reason not to save a little money and use your old accessories.

Well mostly because I can't take it with me, my parents barred me from taking anything from it. Apart from the webcam, and one of the screens.

Hey guys I actually need help finding exactly what I need for a computer.

I am planning on building it.

Not buying it from a store.

For $800, if you don't have a monitor or any accessories... you should buy a laptop. You can get a laptop with a dedicated GPU for $800, and you can add a monitor and stuff later if you want to.

You're not going to be able to build a decent gaming PC and get all the accessories for that price, although you can do the PC part.

 Ouze wrote:
For $800, if you don't have a monitor or any accessories... you should buy a laptop. You can get a laptop with a dedicated GPU for $800, and you can add a monitor and stuff later if you want to.

You're not going to be able to build a decent gaming PC and get all the accessories for that price, although you can do the PC part.

Already got the monitor, webcam and speakers. Just not the mouse and keyboard.

I am required to due to my major to buy both a laptop and a desktop for college for my major.

As a game designer I need to be able to have a well performing game PC so I can test.

I will gradually add on to it. As my current PC is a relic of the era of 2005. (Yes. Its a powerful creature!)

I have an additional 100$ to spend on a keyboard and a mouse or something in addition. I don't need a high tech performing keyboard or mouse.

I'm surprised it's a requirement to have a desktop and laptop . Doesn't the University you are attending have all the programs you'll be using installed on it's own computers?

 Medium of Death wrote:
I'm surprised it's a requirement to have a desktop and laptop . Doesn't the University you are attending have all the programs you'll be using installed on it's own computers?

Its game design, we have to do most of our work at home. It is basically a requirement for us to work at home. We can work at school, but it is easier and cheaper to get our own computer set ups. So that we can buy our own programs to use.

I thought the use of the computers would have been included in the fees? Seems odd.

Obviously it's good to be able to work from home, but if you haven't even started the course yet then I don't really know why they are placing such importance on getting this all set up before the semester starts.

Definitely won't be cheaper to buy each program individually rather than use the Uni computers.

 Medium of Death wrote:
I thought the use of the computers would have been included in the fees? Seems odd.

Obviously it's good to be able to work from home, but if you haven't even started the course yet then I don't really know why they are placing such importance on getting this all set up before the semester starts.

Definitely won't be cheaper to buy each program individually rather than use the Uni computers.

They don't provide us with all the programs, only the certain programs they have cherry picked. I already have access to certain programs.

And sadly it is not :(

Also it is better as a gamer to have one. Because Game Design is about learning from others and using other ideas skillfully.

Sorry, I missed where you had a monitor.

The link I dropped in my last post has exact components to build a gaming PC for $773ish. It was a few months ago so it might be a hair cheaper now.

 Ouze wrote:
Sorry, I missed where you had a monitor.

The link I dropped in my last post has exact components to build a gaming PC for $773ish. It was a few months ago so it might be a hair cheaper now.

Lets hope. Because as a broke college student I don't really have access to money as much as I want.

Plus anything beats my old computer.

Which has a GTX 6600
And only 4Gs of ram. And one coolant fan. A 8 year old CPU. Yeah the list goes on. Anything is better than my current PC hahaha.

The first thing you need to do is to learn what software you'll be using and figure out what hardware you need to do your work, not what will allow you to play the latest games you want to play. Since game design is mostly about things that have nothing to do with pretty graphics I strongly suspect that everything you do will be in simple engines with basic graphics, something any PC from the latest 10-20 years can run. You aren't going to be dealing with high-end graphics because it takes an obscene amount of time to create the art for that kind of game and you can't afford to spend a year or two on a single class project.

 Asherian Command wrote:
Also it is better as a gamer to have one. Because Game Design is about learning from others and using other ideas skillfully.

Yes, but let's be realistic here, you aren't going to be learning anything from playing the latest Call of Battlefield game on max graphics settings. Even if you do need to play a modern game for some reason you can always turn all of the settings down to the absolute minimum, which should help your budget significantly.

 Peregrine wrote:
The first thing you need to do is to learn what software you'll be using and figure out what hardware you need to do your work, not what will allow you to play the latest games you want to play. Since game design is mostly about things that have nothing to do with pretty graphics I strongly suspect that everything you do will be in simple engines with basic graphics, something any PC from the latest 10-20 years can run. You aren't going to be dealing with high-end graphics because it takes an obscene amount of time to create the art for that kind of game and you can't afford to spend a year or two on a single class project.

 Asherian Command wrote:
Also it is better as a gamer to have one. Because Game Design is about learning from others and using other ideas skillfully.

Yes, but let's be realistic here, you aren't going to be learning anything from playing the latest Call of Battlefield game on max graphics settings. Even if you do need to play a modern game for some reason you can always turn all of the settings down to the absolute minimum, which should help your budget significantly.

I understand that. Thats why I need a medium tier of a gaming PC.

A medium tier of a gaming PC will allow me to test me game at most levels players will play my games. It will also allow me to configure the games and such and not have it shut down like my current computer does.

I am not looking at playing the most newest games. That is not why I am buying it. It is also a work computer and a gaming computer all in one.

Actually I could learn alot from the battlefield games are like, but I don't play first person shooters that are the latest generation for multidudes of reasons, in fact I rarely play the latest games.

The computer is there to work. But I cannot take the lowest tier of a gaming PC because I still need to do my job and make games.

Here's a quick link to what I threw together on Newegg... All you'd need would be your keyboard/mouse, a Windows or whatever OS you want to run, and the monitor that you've got...

Personally, when I build a new machine I add more CD/DVD drives (I put one down here), and you could look at more RAM, but I think this would work:

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Here's a quick link to what I threw together on Newegg... All you'd need would be your keyboard/mouse, a Windows or whatever OS you want to run, and the monitor that you've got...

Personally, when I build a new machine I add more CD/DVD drives (I put one down here), and you could look at more RAM, but I think this would work:

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

I can't see your stuff hahaha.

Lol, My bad. Links to individual items, hopefully it'll work out better


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136270
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127783
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171089
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1735217


As I said, only need a couple other things, like the OS (which, unfortunately last I looked can run around 300 bucks... Nice thing with the Motherboard/CPU combo pack, is you KNOW it's compatible and will work.

If you get decent cooling system you could overclock to get way more out of the computer.

Daemonhammer wrote:
If you get decent cooling system you could overclock to get way more out of the computer.

Yes. But I want my computer to last for a while longer. Because I really don't trust overclocking anymore.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Lol, My bad. Links to individual items, hopefully it'll work out better


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136270
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127783
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171089
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1735217


As I said, only need a couple other things, like the OS (which, unfortunately last I looked can run around 300 bucks... Nice thing with the Motherboard/CPU combo pack, is you KNOW it's compatible and will work.

Question how much would all this cost me together?

Currently this is what I am getting. I need some feedback on this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500301 327.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116946&cm_re=Intel_Core_I3-4130-_-19-116-946-_-Product#top 124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132052R&cm_re=Asus_H81M-K_LGA_1150_Intel_H81_Express-_-13-132-052R-_-Product 45.59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211768&cm_re=Adata_XPG_V2_8GB_%282_x_4_GB%29_DDR3-1600_AX3U1600W4G9-DGV-_-20-211-768-_-Product 75.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339&cm_re=Western_Digital_Blue_WD10EZEX_1_TB-_-22-236-339-_-Product 59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147166&cm_re=Rosewill_Line-M_MicroATX_Mini_Tower-_-11-147-166-_-Product 49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026 44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204&cm_re=Asus_24x_DVD_Burner_DRW-24B1ST%2fBLK%2fB%2fAS-_-27-135-204-_-Product 19.99
749.92

Are these good? Would they be compatiable? Should I get something else?

Hey everyone I need some help, it seems my
Rosewill CAPSTONE Series 450W's fan is hitting the metal crate on the outside. What exactly should I do? Should I operate inside and fix the issue by bending the metal forwards away from the fan? OR should I just a get a new one?

If the PSU's fan is hitting anything inside it's housing, it should be returned. Presumably it's under warranty.

 Ouze wrote:
If the PSU's fan is hitting anything inside it's housing, it should be returned. Presumably it's under warranty.

It was bought from the amazon warehouse I will return it then.

It is currently in my computer.