Looking for a gaming desktop under 2000

[Tommy Vercetti]

I am looking for a gaming PC for under 1500 I would like to be able to run the new Total War Games, MechWarrior Online and a few others. I also want Windows 7 as my OS and I would like a verison with XP Mode for my older games.

One option

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...ENVY/902166?HP-ENVY-700t-Windows-7-Best-Value

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...V?HP-ENVY-700-215xt-Desktop-PC-with-Windows-7

The second one I can customize but it would cost more if I do so. I would like the 3 year warranty.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CxMxRB

I am considering this and having a local shop put it together for a fee. I have no interest in building one myself. I have also considered CyberPowerPC, DigitalStorm and IBuyPowerPC.

 

[leif erikson]

You really do not need a core i7 for gaming, please read this from Tom's hardware and save yourself a hundred bucks or more.

From the article:

Spoiler :

CPUs priced over $240 offer rapidly diminishing returns when it comes to gaming performance. As such, we have a hard time recommending anything more expensive than the Core i5-4690K, especially since this multiplier-unlocked processor is easy to tune up to 4.3 GHz or so with the right cooler. Even at stock clocks, though, it matches or beats the old $1000 Gulftown-based Core i7-990X Extreme Edition in our benchmarks.

Also, one of the best performance boosters is a Solid State Drive. They are really great! If you go with an i5, you have the money to get an SSD.

 

[Zelig]

Yeah, big problem with non-Apple PC builders is that they put in too much CPU and HDD, and skimp on PSU, GPU and particularly SSD.

For $1500 I'd get the $1245 build from Logical Increments, add $100 for the OS and get your local shop to assemble it for you. That LI system will literally get like 6x the FPS in games compared to the HP system, plus much better desktop performance due to the SSD.

And XP mode on Win7 runs on MS Virtual PC, which is pretty much garbage for gaming. For almost anything that doesn't run on Win8 you'll do better running an XP VM on VMware Workstation.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

I need more space because I plan on recording videos so SSDs are just too expensive. Cool but not practical for me. If I am running FRAPs, Vent and a game I need power.

 

[Zelig]

So get an SSD and a HDD. You'll note the $1245 build on Logical Increments already includes both a HDD and an SSD.

HDDs aren't practical as OS drives, they're literally 10x slower than SSDs, at best. (If you're counting IOPs, they're about 500x slower than SSDs.) If you build a $1500 PC without an SSD, the desktop experience will be worse than the $600 LI build with an SSD.

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

So get an SSD and a HDD. You'll note the $1245 build on Logical Increments already includes both a HDD and an SSD.

HDDs aren't practical as OS drives, they're literally 10x slower than SSDs, at best. (If you're counting IOPs, they're about 500x slower than SSDs.) If you build a $1500 PC without an SSD, the desktop experience will be worse than the $600 LI build with an SSD.

I have no interest in an SSD. They seem overrated. I would rather just have more space and a faster processor.

 

[timtofly]

It is also a crazy idea to use a huge HDD as your OS and also where you store your work, but having extra hard drives to store one's work on is also overrated. When your main drive crashes and you have lost all your hard work, it is no longer overrated.

If you want to do things fast, why not use an SSD as your OS drive and use an HDD for all your storage? A 300 GB HDD at 10,000 RPM's averages about $140. A 250 GB SDD runs in the same price range. If you go for a faster HDD you are only going to go up in price and be even more comparable to a SSD. If there is any excuse it should be in reliability, not size, speed, or even price. If you view your OS drive as getting a lot of use, and may have to be replaced sooner rather than later, and separated from where you store your work, then compare that to the use of an SSD. The OS drive does not have to be huge, just adequate for your OS and basic programs.

 

[leif erikson]

I have no interest in an SSD. They seem overrated. I would rather just have more space and a faster processor.

Then you have never tried one.

But please do as you wish, it is your system. Perhaps you would do better to just build it and forget about asking for advice?

 

[Zelig]

I have no interest in an SSD. They seem overrated. I would rather just have more space and a faster processor.

They're not overrated, I'd say they're drastically underrated, since you can still buy computers without them.

I'm not sure how else to explain in - subjectively, they feel dramatically faster than an HDD, objectively they're between 5x-500x faster, depending on what you measure.

 

[Aedn]

whatever you do, do not buy a prebuilt system from HP, Dell or others, unless you want a disposable system that you do not mind throwing away in a few years. many of the big names use non standard hardware which forces you to go back to them if you want to upgrade or need to fix something.

go to a reputable vendor like ibuypower or cyberpower or any others on the net with good reviews, they will help you out much more if you contact them, and the quality is usually better on top of it.

the build you list is very outdated this one took me 15 minutes to set up. it presumes that you will reuse your keyboard,mouse, & display. it also needs a case and GPU. You could save money by cutting out 8 GB of memory. i added a 250 GB SSD & 2 TB HD for the same cost as your 3 TB HD. Run games & OS on SSD, data on HD. You do not need a I7 or K variant on the CPU unless you overclock. Same with aftermarket cooler, CPU comes with one.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZQbdGX

 

[warpus]

I second the notion that you need to get your OS installed on an SSD. Get a small one if you have to and get a larger HDD for storage and all the video work you do, or whatever.

Your computer is going to run a LOT faster if you do this.

 

[illram]

I second/third/fourth what everyone else said.

Just put together something on iBuyPower or CyberPower or from Newegg centered around an i5-4xxx and either a 780 or 290 or above.

I suppose if you have never experienced what using an SSD is like, you won't realize what life is like without one, so if you insist on not getting one just promise yourself you will never ever use someone else's computer with an SSD. Otherwise you will walk away from that experience bitter and resentful that your expensive gaming rig lacks the one thing that will actually make it demonstrably faster in everyday use than almost any other piece of computing technology.

 

[timtofly]

I would agree. In my current system the HDD is the bottleneck.

 

[Mr.WorldWide]

Yup, got my first SSD last year and the performance is astounding even on a 5 year old machine. If you budget is just under 2k USD getting a SSD is a no brainer.

 

[Kaitzilla]

I am looking for a gaming PC for under 1500 I would like to be able to run the new Total War Games, MechWarrior Online and a few others. I also want Windows 7 as my OS and I would like a verison with XP Mode for my older games.

One option

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...ENVY/902166?HP-ENVY-700t-Windows-7-Best-Value

http://shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-o...V?HP-ENVY-700-215xt-Desktop-PC-with-Windows-7

The second one I can customize but it would cost more if I do so. I would like the 3 year warranty.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CxMxRB

I am considering this and having a local shop put it together for a fee. I have no interest in building one myself. I have also considered CyberPowerPC, DigitalStorm and IBuyPowerPC.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wYLTZL
I'd go for something like that.

SSD using sata3 connection blows away regular hard drive.

On the link, Cpu/motherboard/ram is smaller/weaker;
But video card/hard drives are better and you can have a fancy 1ms 144hz monitor so you can see better than 60 fps.

If nothing but else, Modern ssd like the 840 evo really are worth the hype.
Ppl who think it not much better must be hooking it up to Sata 2 connector on older motherboard and only getting half speed.

Modern video cards are HUGE so dont get no micro sized mobos or towers.
Mid sized computer tower probably ok.

Good luck whatever you pick

 

[Zelig]

sata2 -> sata3 will show a big difference in sequential speeds, but even on sata2 SSDs will still be much, much faster than HDDs.

Tom's did this article a couple years ago: Upgrade Advice: Does Your Fast SSD Really Need SATA 6Gb/s?

Not a whole lot has changed since then, since pretty much everything that isn't Apple is getting bottlenecked by SATA 6GB/s anyway.

For someone using a hard drive today, a fast SSD (even one artificially hobbled by a 3 Gb/s port) will yield massive and immediate gains in nearly every aspect of computing.

 

[leif erikson]

And the price is coming down now too. Saw a 250GB model for under $100.00 the other day. It is probably one of the slower ones, but it is still a lot faster than a HDD. Thinking about upgrading my laptops to them.

 

[illram]

Yeah, coming from an HDD, even a "slow" SSD will seem lightning fast. It really is night and day.

In my 25 years or so of using computers I cannot remember a comparable piece of hardware offering that visible of an immediate upgrade on the entire computing experience. Can anyone else? Maybe burnable CD's vs. floppies, but that was a sort of different upgrade. (Space not speed.)

 

[bhsup]

Putting a math co-processor in a 386SX machine. Run AutoCAD without one, then with one, and render a complex drawing. Though in your defense, that is at the extreme edge of the 25 year window you gave!

EDIT: Note, I did not mean to suggest that a 386DX would not have this issue. Unlike the 486, SX and DX had nothing to do with a math co-processor in the 386 line. Neither of them had them. It had to do with data bus width outside of the chip. I simply said SX because that was what I had.

 

[tokala]

In my 25 years or so of using computers I cannot remember a comparable piece of hardware offering that visible of an immediate upgrade on the entire computing experience.