Recommend me a gaming desktop

[Thanee]

Nah, i have one.

Cool! Where do you store it? I mean, 50 feet is about 17 yards. It must be gargantuan.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Rackhir]

Cool! Where do you store it? I mean, 50 feet is about 17 yards. It must be gargantuan.

Bye
Thanee

Yes, but it's only about 15 meters. So it's easier to fit in, if you use metric.

 

[John Crichton]

A 50" plasma is either 720p or 1080p. 1080p translates out to a resolution of 1920x1080. Which while much higher than SD TV resolutions, is not a very high resolution for a computer monitor. Most >20" monitors and some 20" monitors will hit that.

Mine is 1920x1080 native. And I know that monitors hit that easily, my 24" does. Just giving some perspective on what I've been playing at.

Nah, i have one. I just don't have a computer to run on it. Actually, i'm not sure how good it would look or if there would be any lag time. Although Blue Ray, 360 and PS3 look awesome on it.

With that said, what is the ideal computer to use on a 50" Samsung 60hz plasma 1080p?

As has been said, any rig that will do at least 1920x1080 will be just fine. The only problem I've had on mine is the text for everything is too small. That can be adjusted but I'm only using it for Dragon Age right now. For all other applications, I'll hook it back up to the monitor.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Mine is 1920x1080 native. And I know that monitors hit that easily, my 24" does. Just giving some perspective on what I've been playing at.

As has been said, any rig that will do at least 1920x1080 will be just fine. The only problem I've had on mine is the text for everything is too small. That can be adjusted but I'm only using it for Dragon Age right now. For all other applications, I'll hook it back up to the monitor.

For exact that purpose, Windows Vista and 7 at least can change the DPI settings. This gives you bigger font sizes without having to change your resolution to something non-native, which never looks good on TFT monitors. Of course, it's a bit of a hassle when you change your output device regularly.

 

[John Crichton]

For exact that purpose, Windows Vista and 7 at least can change the DPI settings. This gives you bigger font sizes without having to change your resolution to something non-native, which never looks good on TFT monitors. Of course, it's a bit of a hassle when you change your output device regularly.

Yeah, I played with it on Vista and it didn't effect enough things to be worth it. I may give it another shot with Win7 now installed but it's not really worth it at this point since it won't make the text in Dragon Age any bigger.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yeah, I played with it on Vista and it didn't effect enough things to be worth it. I may give it another shot with Win7 now installed but it's not really worth it at this point since it won't make the text in Dragon Age any bigger.

That's probably true. "High DPI Awareness" is probably not a feature Bioware worked on much.

 

[drothgery]

That's probably true. "High DPI Awareness" is probably not a feature Bioware worked on much.

It's more that text in video games often isn't done through the same mechanisms that a normal Windows UI is.

 

[evildmguy]

Wow! Thanks for all of the great advice!

Thanee: Yep, don't have a store like that. And while I might go read about what you sent in the links, it's not something I follow or watch regularly. So, I really don't know tons about hardware. I am comfortable putting it together and can do upgrades but the research isn't something I have done.

Rackhir: Thanks for the advice. I think some of what you suggested is below.

I love how quickly deals change, especially on Dells. I have had it where I ordered X and a week later it's a better deal. I have also had it where I order and then things go up for a while, so from there it was a good deal. It changes.

I did place an order and it ended up being $1549 before S&H and taxes and this is what I got:

Alienware Aurora Desktop
Operating Systems Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
2nd Processor Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7 920 (3.2GHz, 8MB Cache)
Memory 9GB Triple Channel 1067Mhz DDR3
Video Cards Dual 1.8GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260 - SLI® Enabled
Hard Drive 750GB - SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD

I don't know what to say about the 1.8 GB 260s. That's what the website says. (I cut and paste from my order for the above.) So, I am happy with my purchase and will let everyone know how it works for me after it arrives! Now I just have to wait for it! That's always the tough part!

Thanks again for all of the great advice! I appreciate it!

edg

 

[Obryn]

It's my understanding that in the States, it's cheaper to get a full system than to try and put one together. I could be wrong on that in that maybe it's only the latest and greatest tech that makes that so expensive to put one together. However, even if that's not the case, while I would be fine running XP still, I have heard good things about Windows 7 but it's also expensive. (Not going to run Vista on my gaming machine.)

Sorry this is a bit late - but building your own PC is pretty much always cheaper than buying a packaged one, except for the lowest-end PCs. And as components get more expensive, the premium charged by manufacturers goes up. Now, there are some oddballs, like you can sometimes get a bundled monitor which makes it a pretty decent buy, but that's the general rule of thumb.

Also, as for Win7, it should be ~$100 with the OEM version (which you can buy if you also buy a motherboard+CPU, I think). It's pretty reasonable, and never pushes the price to what Dell &c. would charge you. (Also, no bundled crapware! Hooray!)

I've built my last 3 PCs, and the price difference that I saw between what I built, and what I would have gotten from Dell, was about 40-50%. I spent $800 for a system which would have cost $1200 or so.

I usually start from a buyer's guide, like the ones put out by SharkyExtreme or the like, and price my components on Newegg. I don't usually get a keyboard or mouse, since I already have them, which comes to additional savings over most pre-built PCs. Then, I tweak it to my specifications. I like having control over all the parts in my machine, and the knowledge to fix things that go wrong.

YMMV of course. And if warranties or tech support are a concern, you're probably better going with a manufacturer. I don't mind contacting component manufacturers individually for support on their products, but I'm also pretty capable of fixing most stuff myself.

...and it looks like you may have already bought a PC, so ... happy gaming!!

-O

 

[evildmguy]

If someone here was willing to post what they bought, not necessarily where but enough for google, I would have gladly put together my own system. I can work with the hardware and am confident with it.

What I am not good at is keeping up with the hardware and knowing what motherboards are good, which video cards or ship sets to have and what works well together.

Maybe this can be a sticky if anyone wanted to post it for someone who does want to put their system together? Update it every six months, or as needed, as new components come out. Maybe have three versions, for low, mid and high tier gaming rigs? But, that's not fair as it's easy for me to say as I won't be doing the research.

I was told it was cheaper to buy a system but there is no authority behind it. I could be wrong!

Thanks!

edg