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Well, I will be buying a new PC in the coming weeks/month. But my knowledge of pc hardware is all but dead nowadays.

I'm looking for a machine in the 700-1000euros range. I was thinking of getting that cheapest alienware thing, but have no clue if I would be paying to much for what i get then.

So, any advice is welcome

Build your own, it usually works out to be cheaper, there are alot of good sites out there with alot of indepth reviews. I recommend the guys over at Toms Hardware.

I would agree with Catyrpelius. Also, Tom's Hardware is great.

I don't know if you have comparable computer retailers where you are, but a couple that I have used in the past in the UK are novatech and aut-direct.

They have pretty good "bare bones" systems (you need graphics, hard drive, etc, detailed in the specs) that can be pretty powerful and massively cheaper than buying pre-assembled.

Point is, I can't be bothered to read text wall reviews of individual parts.

Then look at the star ratings (or whatever is being used )

Or look at the PC you would buy if you have the money, then source the components it uses as individual bits

Or just look at the clock speed of the CPU/RAM, the size of the HDD/RAM, and the star rating of the video card

Many motherboards will come bundled with a CPU and RAM anyway, so that is 3 important bits out of the way to start with if you buy a bundle pack. As I said, the bare bones systems usually come with those 3 things, case, and sometimes a screen.

In which case, the goodness of the system can usually be determined just by looking at the clock speed of the CPU, as most of the rest of the system will often be scaled in line with that.

Don't need a screen

...then don't buy a bundle with a screen...

High End gameing PCs are either very expensive or you build them yourself.

I know I know.

But from what you people are saying, it's always cheaper to assemble one yourself, instead of a pre-assembled pc?

Pretty much guaranteed.

I highly endorse the build your own option. I had to go that route last fall. I had a big Alienware case, so space wasn't an issue. I was able to get the latest quad-core AMD chipset, motherboard and 4 Gigs of RAM for just under $400. If you pay attention to how you take your old rig apart, putting the new one together is pretty easy. I did have to buy another license of XP when MS wouldn't let me transfer the old one. A couple hundred extra will also get you a usable video card.

I did find out that the AMD chip seems to have the occasional voltage issue, which can, on uncommon occasions, reboot the machine. I don't know yet if its BIOS or driver related yet.

I paid over $3,000 for the Alienware rig, some years ago. I completely overhauled it with cutting edge stuff for 1/4 of that price. Never again will I buy a built machine.

I got my stuff at NewEgg, btw.

ZF-

Oh assembling it myself isn't the problem, I can assemble a pc in 20 minutes if I feel like it (did a year of ICT).

I'm just completely out of date when it comes to the top stuff these days.

Btw, who's better at the moment? Nvidia or Radeon?

You dont need a super high end machine. They're over kill. Hardware is way ahead of software. I upgraded my PC for $900 Aus start of 2009. Most games are still on the highest settings. GTA4 is on medium textures though. Other then that its fine. Not bad for a 18 months. These days I only play Team Fort 2 anyway.

Yeah, if you can find a computer magazine from about 12 months ago, have a look at all of their "top" rated components. They should have dropped in price to be non-silly money now and will still run pretty much any game/app perfectly.

My PC was last upgraded about 4 years ago and it still kicks bottom on most games. Granted I don't use it much now, so I don't know what it is like on the newest games

Intel is ahead of AMD right now, however there are new Intel chips comeing out in either August or September so if you wait alittle bit you should be able to get a killer deal on an older I7

ATI is ahead of NVidia right now also, however has nVidia releases driver updates the ATI lead is shrinking. I expect new cards from ATI soon though, where as the new stuff from nVidia just released a monthish ago.

Im not looking for high end, otherwise i'd have a different price range in mind

I just want something that can play everything that's out now and for the coming year or 2. And is easy to upgrade. My current system doesn't even have slots for most stuff.

I'm planning an upgrade later this year and going for:
CPU: Intel i5-750
Motherboard: Undecided, likely either ASUS P7P55D-E EVO or EVGA FTW
RAM: 4gb GSkill CL7D Eco (2x2gb kit)
GPU: GTX460
HDD: WD 2TB
PSU: Seasonic X750 or X650 (Haven't checked whether the 650 could handle 2 GTX460s in the future)
Case: HAF-X

Plus a coupla extras (Blu Ray drive, aftermarket CPU fan) comes to around 2k AUD, no idea what similar stuff costs on your side of the world, but i'd bet it would be cheaper than here.

Given that the case/psu I've chosen are quite expensive, you could build essentially the same system for less, and get a similar PC cheaper by going AMD/ATI instead of INTEL/nVidia, you should be able to get something similar within your budget.

Thats 1.388,70 Euro's.

So still almost half to much... Maybe I'll just save up another month.

Soladrin wrote:Thats 1.388,70 Euro's.

So still almost half to much... Maybe I'll just save up another month.

Yeah, but I would guess that stuff is just plain cheaper, rather than being an equal conversion.

For example, I know that hardware is cheaper in America, even after you take exchange rate into consideration, case in point EVGA GTX470 SC from newegg (USA): $364.99 USD (404 AUD) same card form Australia according to staticice (Static Ice is basically a "best" price finder) $510+ AUD (459 USD)

So yeah, that 1388 Euro will likely be considerably closer to your budget.