Buying a new computer

[DorostheConqueror]

Anyone got some ideas? I haven't bought a new computer since I got my laptop, way back in '08, so I'm not familiar with the current market. Things to consider:

• I'm looking to spend about $1500, could go as high as $2000. I'm looking for not-quite-top-of-the-line, but maybe one or two iterations below.
  
  Desktop. My laptop is still holding up, so I'll keep that as my mobile backup.
  
  No monitors. I'm going to use my 50" TV as a permanent monitor, which will not only save me a couple hundred bucks, but also look a hell of a lot better.
  
  I haven't used Windows 8 yet, but I don't like what I've heard, so if there are any new models which I can get with 7 instead of 8, it'd be a point in it's favour.
  
  No self-built. I built my own rig a couple times already, and while it's fun and usually saves money, I'd rather just skip the hassle this time around.
  
  I can skimp on the peripherals. Have a good enough mouse, don't need an expensive keyboard, but an external speaker set might be nice, as my TV doesn't have a very powerful sound setup (no connected stereo system).
  
  Needs strong gaming specs, obviously.

Newegg links would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Musicman247]

If you're looking for Newegg in particular, you could go here and pretty much take your pick.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/PromotionSt ... ertainment

I'd go with Intel i7 and the biggest baddest graphics card you can. Nvidia or ATI are both pretty much neck and neck.

In regards to using your 50" TV, things will probably look much less sharp on it, especially if it's only 1080p, as the DPI will be much lower than a good 20"-24" monitor.

[DorostheConqueror]

Whoah, Jesus Christ, 32 gigs now?! My lappy's got 4. I know Intel and ATI are good, hell, they're pretty much the ONLY choices. But help a brother narrow it down a bit. Doesn't have to be Newegg, either, they've just been the most consistent retailer, in my experience.

And things look fine on the TV. Better than fine, even. It's one of those super-high def [&@%!] that just came out; lappy is routed through it right now. Only problem is the input size for my drawing tablet doesn't scale too well. Hand strokes cause MUCH larger brush strokes than you'd expect when it's connected to Senor Telescreen.

[Moeboid]

Looks like NewEgg don't have Nanoxia cases. Shame, because I'd recommend them.

Other than that, go for Intel over AMD because Intel has better per-thread performance - important for many CPU bottlenecked games (Oblivion, for example). I'd recommend either the top-of-the line i5 or the top-of-the-line i7, so either the i5 4670 (or 4670K if you want to overclock) or the i7 4770 (or 4770K if you want to overclock). Again, it's about performance per thread. I'd also recommend Nvidia over AMD in the graphics card department too, because AMD have a reputation for being a bit behind with drivers. Having said that, AMD are often ahead of Nvidia in terms of price and energy efficiency. I admire AMD for that, but driver issues are really annoying, so I personally have a slight preference for Nvidia. Perhaps a GTX 760 or 770? Perhaps even a 670? Worth mentioning that AMD might be launching their 9000 series very soon. It might be worth waiting for that to happen because the extra competition will bring slightly lower prices.

For speakers, Audioengine make some quality speakers. Check out their A5 and A2 models. Both are excellent for both music and gaming and you should be able to afford them.

For memory, don't bother getting any more than 8gb. Anything more than 4 is overkill, but it's so cheap these days that you may as well shove 8 in there. This looks pretty good to me: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231308. 8gb, cheap, low latency.

In terms of storage, how much do you want/need and How do you feel about SSDs?

[DorostheConqueror]

I've got three external drives; a 200 MB one from my old Oblivion computer, a 1.5 TB that's got a bunch of backup CDs and movies, and a 3 TB that's barely been touched. All are traditional HDDs. I don't use up all that much space (it's not like I'm pirating terrabytes worth of [&@%!] or anything), and I've got room to spare already, so storage isn't too big a concern. As for SSDs, I haven't used one yet, but I'd be open to it if the price was reasonable.

[Musicman247]

Most gaming computers have two HDDs, one disc-based for file storage and one SSD for the OS. The OS on SSD will make the booting up and core processes much faster.

I would also question the "over 8GB of RAM is overkill" as it sounds too much like "who would ever need more than 512kb of memory"?

[Moeboid]

Whether you get an SSD is just a matter of preference. I didn't get one because all I cared about was gaming performance, and all SSDs do is make the loading times shorter. I'd rather deal with standard loading times and spend more on hardware that gives me more frames per second. Having said that, SSDs have come down in price quite a bit since I built this computer. Even if you bought a big, expensive SSD, a budget of $2k means you'll still have ass-kicking gaming performance. The difference in loading times is very significant, by the way. It wouldn't be unusual to spend 4x as long on a loading screen with an HDD. Should also mention that SDDs are quieter, which can be an issue if noise bothers you or if your case isn't very sound proof. I can't hear my HDD, but my case is fairly quiet, so that might be why. SSDs also use less power and run quieter, if that concerns you - though both will use significantly less than your GPU and processor will.

In terms of reliability, there's debate over which is more reliable. SSDs have a more limited number of writes, but they also have no moving parts, unlike HDDs. Since desktops don't move around too much, I guess you'd expect an HDD to be more reliable, but I personally wouldn't expect there to be much of a difference.

Since you already have a couple of HDDs, what I'd do is take them apart and use them as internal hard drives for storage, and use the money that you save to get a decent sized SSD for you OS and games. Around 500GB should do the trick. You might be able to go down to 300 if you don't plan in installing many games, but 500GB would be safer. If you're willing to spend the money on it, this would be a good choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147249.

As for memory, I said that anything over 4GB was overkill. You'll still be able to play Far Cry 3, Crysis 3 and all those other demanding games on the highest settings with 4GB (assuming you don't have other programs running in the background). It's one of those things where there's no reason to go for 8GB, but since memory is so cheap, there's no reason not to do it either. It's true that games will eventually require more than 4, and even 8GB, but that's not the case right now, and it probably won't be the case for another year or two for 4GB, and you'll need a whole new PC before 8GB isn't enough.

[Musicman247]

I question your statement even more now that I'm awake.

The maximum amount of memory Skyrim will use is 4GB, which means if you only have 4GB of RAM it won't be using all of it, since you'll no doubt have at least an operating system and Steam running in the background. Each program open uses RAM, so if you have a browser running, a download downloading, and a few other background processes you'll get dramatically reduced performance even with 8GB of RAM while playing a game. PCs also last many years, so I doubt he will need a replacement PC before he needs a RAM upgrade. How many times have you upgraded your RAM but not your computer? It's common because Operating Systems and programs progressively use more and more RAM.

My suggestion would be to get as much RAM as your rig can handle, especially if you can get it at a good price.

[Moeboid]

I just loaded Skyrim with every setting maxed and Windows told me that it was using 1.3GB of RAM. While it was running, I also had 12 tabs open in my browser, Winamp, Skype, and my email program running, and I still had 400MB of RAM to spare (out of 4GB). I hear that you can get it to use much more than 1.3GB with mods, but since I don't use any, that's about as high as I can get it to go.

If you use your computer for things like photo editing, video editing and audio production, 4GB isn't going to be enough. But it will be for games. Sure, you might have to close most/all other applications if you want to run the the very latest games at max settings, but gaming with tons of programs open sounds like a pretty strange thing to do anyway. I've only ever gamed with Skype and maybe one browser tab open. If that's something you want to do, then yes, more than 4GB will help you out, but I'd not going to call 8GB a necessity on account of that.

In relation to Doros' PC, if he goes for a GTX 770, and either of the Intel processors that I recommended, then I suspect that both of those components will outlast 4GB of RAM. However, if he goes with 8GB, I think the memory will outlast both components in terms of gaming performance.

You'll see that I recommended 8GB anyway, but you COULD get away with 4... For a while.

[Andere]

I repeat my standard: whatever you buy, buy it from a local IT store, where you get personal service, and you get a relationship that guarantees further service. Avoid warehouses.

About memory: you can never have too much. I have 8Gb right now, I can do everything I want, and it can be expanded to 32Gb. The general possibility for expansion is important.

Preferably, get a Windows DVD, not a computer with a partition where Windows is. This way you "have it", if you get what I mean. I have Windows 7 Professional, with support 'til 2020.

USB: don't buy anything that hasn't got USB 3.