17 replies to this topic

[Tankopotomus]

Heya folks,

I just started playing MWO on my bootcamp'd 13-inch 2012 Macbook Pro. Go ahead and cringe, because yes, it's as rough as it sounds.

So, now that I have my own job and can dish out cash in the ways that I see fit I've decided to look into getting a platform that's dedicated to PC games. I had been playing SW:TOR on the same machine, and I think now would be a reasonable time to just a completely separate machine.

So my question is this: if I were willing to spend somewhere between 500-800 bucks on a gaming set up, where should I start? Usually I'd lean towards buying some pre-made, basic gaming system from HP or Dell or what have you. As you may imagine, my knowledge of computer systems and how they work is rudimentary at best.

Are there any viable systems out there in my price range that I should be considering before bypassing them altogether? Keep in mind that I am not looking for a monstrous/top of the line gaming system that pumps out the latest games at ridiculous framerates with no performance issues whatsoever. I want something that can play games like MWO or SWTOR at decent/med-high graphics with ease, and a big monitor so I don't have to squint every time I aim at something.
I'm looking at the upcoming console releases (Xbox One + PS4) for other games that I may want to play that would require better computers for performance, but it wouldn't hurt if the system I eventually got did have the capabilities of running some of the newer, more requirement-heavy games that come out at med/low settings....but that's a secondary thought.

If there aren't stock PC systems that are worth the price, should I look at DIY/custom setups that I would build on my own? The concept is pretty daunting as I have no real experience doing so. But I've loved video games since I was a kid, and I welcome the challenge + time/effort it would take to learn how to put everything together (as long as there are some guides/instructions out there for me to follow, or else I'm pretty lost). Also, would it be cost-effective alternative to an already-built system?

So, to recap: Im looking to get a decent/good PC gaming system (won't be using it for anything else) for 500-800 bucks, and I don't know if I should be looking for stock ones or if I should build my own. Whichever it is, any suggestions as to where I should look first? If there really isn't anything available for either in that price range, I guess I should just save up some more, so that's not TOTALLY out of the question.

That being said, I'm not about that whole delayed gratification thing, so we'll see.

Thanks!

P.S: If I sound completely lost/noobish, that's because I am. So feel free to point out where I'm mistaken/misled...I'd rather learn now then do something stupid after I've committed financially.


EDIT: I would've posted in the other PC building thread -> http://mwomercs.com/...a-new-pc-ideas/

But a) didn't really want to hijack that
Advice was a bit too specialized for me at this point
c) Equipment was a bit too pricey at this point.

Edited by Tankopotomus, 02 July 2013 - 05:07 PM.

[Dragoon20005]

welcome to the forums

don't worry we wont bite,

as where should you start, maybe you can look around this section of the forums for many builds we have recommend to other users. The advise we give to user is gear towards getting decent frame rate.


500 to 800 i believe excludes the monitor since if you drop in a 24 monitor within the 800 dollars budget will seriously limit the performance of the PC

as for pre build pc from Dell or HP, avoid them at all cost since everything in the PC is sub-standard.

and DIY computer are a great way to learn things about your computer, there are online videos on youtube basically showing you how to build a computer step by step and many more. Pretty soon you could get yourself a PC that you can really call your own.

Now since your budget is USD500-800

you can do a quick scan of the combos from newegg

http://www.newegg.co...tionStore/ID-33

maybe we can from from there your system build

cheers fellow Mechwarrior

[Tankopotomus]

Dragoon20005, on 02 July 2013 - 05:21 PM, said:

welcome to the forums

don't worry we wont bite,

as where should you start, maybe you can look around this section of the forums for many builds we have recommend to other users. The advise we give to user is gear towards getting decent frame rate.


500 to 800 i believe excludes the monitor since if you drop in a 24 monitor within the 800 dollars budget will seriously limit the performance of the PC

as for pre build pc from Dell or HP, avoid them at all cost since everything in the PC is sub-standard.

and DIY computer are a great way to learn things about your computer, there are online videos on youtube basically showing you how to build a computer step by step and many more. Pretty soon you could get yourself a PC that you can really call your own.

Now since your budget is USD500-800

you can do a quick scan of the combos from newegg

http://www.newegg.co...tionStore/ID-33

maybe we can from from there your system build

cheers fellow Mechwarrior

Thanks for the reply.

Thankfully the 500-800 budget is going into the system itself. Peripherals such as monitor/keyboard/joystick/mouse (I think I will be playing with a left-handed joystick + mouse combo) are going to be separate, so I can really focus on solid performance.

I guess I'll start looking around Newegg/these forums + checking out the requirements for MWO to see what makes sense to get.

[WVAnonymous]

I'm playing very successfully on a bootcamped 27" 2011 iMac. No guarantee you can find one in your price range (even used) but if you really prefer Apple, iMacs will run this game well. (Successfully meaning "crash free", not "I'm very good" )

[Badconduct]

I'd start here:

http://mwomercs.com/...he-week-reborn/

[Aym]

There's a pinned thread that you should find VERY helfpul. http://mwomercs.com/...-vulpes-guides/

Hit Vulpes up if you have specifics, he does budget builds with price ranges, that you should find very helpful as well.

[Dragoon20005]

just made a not bad build

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cJuo

fit your 800 dollars budget with Win 7 OS

although the HD7770 is still an OK GPU


do note that the 800 dollars build by Vulpes was latest from june 17

as of now many things prices have went up

and the 800 dollars build is not close to a 900 dollars build $892.91 to be exact

Edited by Dragoon20005, 02 July 2013 - 08:34 PM.

[Patrick Wolf]

I second the many recommendations of talking to vulpes, he does some excellent builds and just generally is a nice guy.

Dragoon20005, on 02 July 2013 - 07:50 PM, said:

just made a not bad build

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cJuo

fit your 800 dollars budget with Win 7 OS

although the HD7770 is still an OK GPU


do note that the 800 dollars build by Vulpes was latest from june 17

as of now many things prices have went up

and the 800 dollars build is not close to a 900 dollars build $892.91 to be exact

Out of curiosity why do you have windows 7 ultimate in there? You could get home premium which is all he needs for ~60-100 bucks less. No reason that i can see to go with ultimate over home premium imo, and it would leave more money for a better cpu, gpu, or other things.

[Dragoon20005]

Patrick Wolf, on 02 July 2013 - 09:23 PM, said:

I second the many recommendations of talking to vulpes, he does some excellent builds and just generally is a nice guy.




Out of curiosity why do you have windows 7 ultimate in there? You could get home premium which is all he needs for ~60-100 bucks less. No reason that i can see to go with ultimate over home premium imo, and it would leave more money for a better cpu, gpu, or other things.

maybe it was my personal choice of the OS

i wanted an OS that have everything unlocked

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1cNpQ

here is the edited ver with Win 7 Home and now a HD7870

[Oderint dum Metuant]

http://pcpartpicker....parts/partlist/

[Dragoon20005]

DV McKenna, on 03 July 2013 - 02:19 AM, said:

http://pcpartpicker....parts/partlist/

isnt it the same as mine?

oh well currently this game only supports 4 cores and a single high end card

and newegg have some offer for 4th July sale good time to order some items that might be on cheap price for this week

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Dragoon20005, on 03 July 2013 - 02:31 AM, said:

isnt it the same as mine?

oh well currently this game only supports 4 cores and a single high end card

and newegg have some offer for 4th July sale good time to order some items that might be on cheap price for this week

I didn't look at yours tbh, and i wouldn't say they were the same.

The phenom II is marginally better for gaming than the FX for marginally (ie not relevant) cheaper, seasonic > corsair, but yea that's about it.

[Dragoon20005]

funny now i cant seem to see your build

phenom 2 was one of my fav before the FX but now AMD seems to be focusing more on APUs ATM

many reviews of the A10-6800k

wonder if OP wants to consider that option too


anyway our fellow mechwarrior Bloodshed's AMD APU build and test drive of it on MWO

http://mwomercs.com/...and-test-drive/

even i am blown away

[HighTest]

$500-$800 should get you fairly comfortably into something like this, assuming you know where to go:

AMD FX-4300 CPU
970 chipset mobo (I like Gigabyte these days)
8 GB RAM (I'm using Mushkin lately, also like Corsair)
7770 or 7850 GPU (look for one with a better cooling fan)
1 or 2 GB WD Blue hard drive (SSDs are nice, but a Blue will get you going)
DVD or Blu-Ray drive
Case + 500W PS

Fastest machine ever built? No. Fast enough to handle just about any current game you can throw at it in AT LEAST medium settings? For sure. This should play MWO comfortably on high at 1080p with the 7770, and on max with a 7850 card.

I wouldn't get any parts from BestBuy or any placve like that. For better prices try TigerDirect, Newegg or NCIX (or CanadaComputers if you live in Canada). You can save a fortune over shopping at the typical big box stores.

Hope that helps.

[Tankopotomus]

Thanks for the input everyone.

For now I've been watching Newegg youtube tutorial videos on what goes into building a PC/how to do it.
As for actually putting the components together, I've been looking at different parts, and sometimes it seems as though some components don't fit well with others (i.e motherboard is too flimsy for a heavy GPU, or the case doesn't quite allow for good alignment with large motherboards/etc...)

So I've been looking at bundled deals on Newegg, such as this one:
http://www.newegg.co...t=Combo.1353147
because Newegg seems to know what they're doing (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) and I would assume that they're bundling these components together because they work well.
Plus, I don't think I'm quite up to the task of picking up each individual component for myself.

Edit: You guys have been suggesting that I should look at 7000-level GPUs for now. The combo I linked above has a GeForce GFX 650 Ti with it. Should I bypass that and look for something a bit better, or does it not make that big of a difference?

Also, is there any quick/dirty way to gauge motherboard quality/"performance" for lack of a better word besides price?

Edited by Tankopotomus, 03 July 2013 - 08:56 AM.

[HighTest]

I'm not sure I've ever heard about motherboards being too flimsy for video cards (they should always be attached properly to the back of the case regardless), but yes, some cases are definitely better-built than others, especially when it comes to finish and the lining up of components. That's why they can range from $25 well into the multiple hundreds.

It does indeed look like a pretty good combo for the price. The CPU is a great choice. The video card and motherboard should be fine. (I bought a 650 Ti for my basement machine when it was on sale -- it's plenty fast. It should land you somewhere between the 7770 and 7850 I suggested earlier.) And MSI makes decent stuff.

The two things that concern me are the case (it may be just fine, but I have no experience with Rosewill at all), and the hard drive. (I was buying Seagates for a while since they were cheaper than Western Digital, but they've been dropping on me like flies at a bug zapper convention over the last year.)

But... since they come in what otherwise appears to be a pretty decent kit, I'd give it a shot.

It's tough to gauge motherboard performance unless you hit the internet for reviews. BUT, that said, the motherboard is the component least likely to affect your overall performance. Typically, we're talking like 1-2%. Same with RAM speed -- the difference between 1333 and 1600 is probably somewhere in the order of 2-3%. The biggest impact overall will be the video card -- it can make a huge difference so long as it's not being bottle-necked by the CPU. And #2 in order of importance would be the CPU. As far as motherboard and RAM go, you should be more interested with the stability of them rather than outright performance, unless you are truly hell-bent to squeeze every last possible DPS out of your rig... In which case you may need to reconsider your budget.

[Gremlich Johns]

Here's a combo on Newegg for this weekend. $629

I have the same mobo and it has never let me down yet and I currently run an FX-4100, this combo has the FX-8450. you'd have to buy the win 7 OS ($100) and I recommend a 250GB HDD ($80) for programs leaving the 1TB HDD for storage. Others will recommend an SSD, but I'm meh on them. I've had one just die on me and the other one is not playing nice.

[Corvus Antaka]

i5-3570K
16GB RAM (8 is enough if yur skimping)
500-650w PSU
7850Radeon or 660ti or better
120GB SSD for OS and MWO and some misc games (most games its no biggie, MWO it helps a LOT)

that'll run the game at beyond ultra high at 60 FPS steady, once in a blue moon i dip to 42 FPS, nothing noticeable, game runs rock solid for me these days.