PC Gaming Too Specialised?

10/26/2007 - Extreme Gaming Buyer Guide - Intel Rig $3,920/AMD Rig $3,790
09/22/2007 - High-End Gaming Buyer Guide- Intel Rig $2,472/AMD Rig $2,493
08/31/2007 - Value Gaming Buyer Guide - Intel Rig $1009/AMD Rig $997
07/31/2007 - Extreme Gaming Buyer Guide - Intel Rig $4000/AMD Rig $3,827
06/20/2007 - High-End Gaming Buyer Guide- Intel Rig $2,436/AMD Rig $2,410
05/18/2007 - Value Gaming Buyer Guide - Intel Rig $1004/AMD Rig $996
03/20/2007 - Extreme Gaming Buyer Guide - Intel Rig $3,971/AMD Rig $3,748
02/01/2007 - High-End Gaming Buyer Guide -Intel Rig $2,493/AMD Rig $2,462

Source: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/index.php

The guy who claimed that Gaming PC Rigs cost around 6k isn't wrong really, I see PC's being sold around that price point all the time in advertisements. But a lot of you guys claiming you can get a Medium to High-End gaming rig for around $1500 aren't being totally honest either. The Sharky Extreme guides are pretty good for getting quality parts to build a certain type of PC Gaming Rig, Value, High-End, & Extreme.

The value PC Gaming Rigs certainly fall in the range of the $1500 price point. But then the hardware used in those rigs are using much 'lesser' components inside compared to the components cited in this thread at the $1500 price point.
 
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Hers an uber gaming rig 1000$:

ASRock ConRoe1333-GLAN LGA775 ATX -emolevy. LGA 775, tuki Intel® Dual Core Core™ 2 Extreme 58.90 €

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 -prosessori, boxed.Core: ConroeClock Speed: 2,33GHzFSB: 1333MHzL2 Cache: 4MB. 155.90 €

Transcend 2GB DDR2 667Mhz 240pin U-DIMM -muisti. Laadukas DDR2-muisti pöytäkoneille. Latenssit 5-5-5.. 48.90 €

Codegen M-610 mustanharmaa, tornimallinen ATX-kotelo 400W virtalähteellä. Tyylikäs design. Näytä arvio: 6-10 vkoa 49.90 €

XFX GeForce 8800GT XXX Edition -näytönohjain PCI Express x16 -väylään.Grafiikkasuoritin: nVidia GF 8800GT Liitäntä: PCI-E x16 Näytä arv. 3-6 vkoa 195.90 €

motherboard: Core2duo + integrated sound
processor: Core2duo
Memory: 2Gb
Graphics card: XFX GeForce 8800GT XXX Edition
case & power: Codegen M-610
Assemby: 50€ (no need to do it yourself)
550€ total

The computer comes as assembled only lacking few items like harddrive, dvd drive, keyboard, mouse and windows which you take from your old computer. If you dont have those you can buy them too:

Western Digital WD AV 250GB SATA II 8.9ms 7200rpm 3v takuu 7200rpm / 2MB välimuisti. Näytä arvio: 2-4 vkoa 59.90 €

LG GDR-8164B hopea DVD-ROM-asema,16X / 52X Bulk. Pelkkä asema, ilman ohjelmistoja.. Näytä arvio: 3-6 vkoa 18.90 €

Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 PS2/USB-liitäntään. Erittäin edullinen ja käytännöllinen hiiri. Myös Helsingin ja Pirkkalan myymälän hyllyssä Näytä heti 17.90 €

Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 Fin/Swe. Tämä litteä, matalaprofiilinen ja ergonominen näppäimistö on edullinen vaihtoehto, kun etsit parempaa Myös Helsingin ja Pirkkalan myymälän hyllyssä Näytä heti 18.90 €

Microsoft Windows XP Eng Home Edition SP2 UK OEM-versio tietokoneen ostajalle. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition on luotettava Windows Myös Pirkkalan myymälän hyllyssä Näytä 3-6 työpäivää 80.90 €

The extra stuff is 200€ total.

So if you have old computer you can use its parts and the cost will be 550€ ~ 800$ If you dont have old computer to cannibalize the cost is 750€ ~ 1100$

Also you dont have to build the computer yourself. The assembly price is included. I didnt include monitor because console price doesnt include HDTV either. 19" LCD would increase the price 300$.

Still in anycase the final price for uber gaming rig would be under 1500$. If you are paying 3000-4000$ for it instead then you are letting somone to fool you. :(
 
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I understand your concerns; my point was simply that I've built every single computer I've ever owned, (except for the Atari 800 and Amiga) going back to 486DX days, and it's not that hard at all. It's a good way to get better performance for less money. If you have money sitting around to spend on a prefab/custom computer, all the power to you. I just don't like handing money over to people to do something when I can learn how to do it myself.

I'm sorry, but I'd rather not fiddle with things like motherboards, CPU's and thermal gel. Changing a graphics card and inserting some RAM, sure, but not that. Uh-uh. I'm a software guy, not hardware!

Maybe that's just paranoid, but I envision myself breaking the damn thing or applying too much/too little of the damn gel and mucking things up some way or another. Besides, you can get some stores to build it for you for free or very cheap if you buy all the parts with them (which may not always be the best deal, but meh.)

Oh, and nice tinfoil hats some people have! I like the way it stops reality beams from entering your brain. :D
 
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Oh yes, sure. But you'll also have to hunt down the best deals and all that. I usually just say, screw that and go with convenience. The difference can't be that phenomenal. It's not like I'm getting a Dell or Alienware. Besides, like I said. I really hate touching a motherboard. I can already imagine myself with sweaty hands, cursing as I droped that little screw into the case again. *shivers*

I've been considering getting AMD's fastest X2 dual-core CPU for the 939 socket as an upgrade for my Athlon 64 3500+, but I'm afraid, almost phobic of putting it in myself. :p
 
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Oh yes, sure. But you'll also have to hunt down the best deals and all that.

All the stuff in my post are from single store.

I usually just say, screw that and go with convenience. The difference can't be that phenomenal. It's not like I'm getting a Dell or Alienware. Besides, like I said. I really hate touching a motherboard. I can already imagine myself with sweaty hands, cursing as I droped that little screw into the case again. *shivers*

You dont have to. For like 50€ they do the building for you. You dont have to do anything except plug the power cable in.

I've been considering getting AMD's fastest X2 dual-core CPU for the 939 socket as an upgrade for my Athlon 64 3500+, but I'm afraid, almost phobic of putting it in myself. :p

Take it to a store and tell them to switch the cpu. Dont know abt AMD but atleast in the old intel mobos (P4 2.4Ghz) it was very very easy to break the cpu. New ones are safer allthough you can still break the mobo if you push the cooler down too hard/in wrong position.

There are ways to fix mobo though just need som spare parts.
 
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It's not like I'm getting a Dell or Alienware. Besides, like I said. I really hate touching a motherboard. I can already imagine myself with sweaty hands, cursing as I droped that little screw into the case again. *shivers*

Pfft. Try designing these systems. There's nothing like the feeling of walking down the hall with a new, priceless, irreplaceable prototype video card in hand, fresh out of fab. All you have to do is make it safely to your office and install the board in your test system. Don't trip. Don't bump into anyone walking around a corner. And hope you don't see any static shock arc from your fingers to the board while installing it.

Sure, you could swap out PCI boards on a daily basis. Easy as pie. But when it's one of only three or four of its kind in the world, and there's 7 figures worth of funding behind that board, trust me, there's nothing casual about installing that crown jewel in your system.

I've watched (and smelled) hardware guys with decades of experience melt irreplaceable boards, CPUs, you name it. So yeah, I also am one of those people who absolutely hates having to swap out hardware. And when they laugh at me at insisting someone else do the installation, all I have to do is point out the last time they killed valuable hardware. It's real easy to break things, even when you think you know what you're doing.
 
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The only meltdowns Ive ever seen are due to extreme overclocking or power spikes (lack of current protection). Static charge has never been a problem just remember to unload it before touching anything and use the wrist thing (costs like 10€).

Som parts though like cpu&cooler&mobo can be the stuff of nightmares to install. Som of the different setups are really hard to install and really easy to break. For many years I let the shop do those three things for me before I got enough courage to do it myself.
 
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Besides, like I said. I really hate touching a motherboard. I can already imagine myself with sweaty hands, cursing as I droped that little screw into the case again. *shivers*

That is too funny! And soooooo true!
 
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All the stuff in my post are from single store.
[...]
You dont have to. For like 50€ they do the building for you. You dont have to do anything except plug the power cable in.

Yes, yes. That was my point. I was talking to the guy that advocated building your own machine from scratch with the cheapest (quality) parts. It can be fun for some people, but these days I just want the damn thing to work.

I've never come even close to breaking RAM or cards, but I'm sure as hell careful and slightly paranoid with them... and those are only worth a few hundred at most!
 
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Jaz

If you are talking about the command prompt it is in Vista and I use it quite often for command line programs. If it is something else I am not sure what you are talking about.

My current computer cost about $900 to buy the parts and I built it myself besides the new high end case and monitor I bought. I got a EVGA Geforce 7800GT, and a Athlon X2 3800+ cpu, along with an EVGA motherboard, 2gb ram, and a 16x dvd writer. This was right after the Geforce 7 Series came out and was a mid to high end computer.

I still play the newest games at max settings but from what I have heard about Crysis I probably couldn't with that but then again I probably won't be plsying that game.
 
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But a lot of you guys claiming you can get a Medium to High-End gaming rig for around $1500 aren't being totally honest either.

Go to ibuypower.com

Build a rig there with:

1. A basic case
2. Dual-core 2.6 GHz processor
3. A non-SLI motherboard
4. 500 MB Hard Drive
5. A DVD burner
6. 2 GB of value RAM
7. 500W power supply
8. 8800GTX
9. Vista Home Premium

Total price? $1,550. That includes shipping to Ohio (where I live).

That's an absolutely screaming machine. That machine will run Crysis at 1280X1024 with 4X Anti-aliasing and every other setting on High or Ultra and no frame rate issues. I know this for a fact because I have done it (but with Dual Core 2.4 GHz processor).

Don't believe me? Do it yourself. Go ahead, try it. I just bought a computer for my mom (not a gamer) off of the site. It works perfectly. A gaming PC is really little more than an adequate PC with one extra high cost part -- the video card.

Buy the parts off of newegg.com and you are probably looking at about $1,200 or $1,300. This is what I did for the PC that I have now. Then I had a guy build it for me for $130. It was a piece of cake. I gave him a box full of parts and I got back a computer.

I think it's kind of a shame that the big brand names like Dell and Alienware are so badly overpriced that these prices are what form popular perceptions about the high cost of PC gaming. PC gaming is expensive, no doubt, but it's not nearly as expensive as it is made out to be. Gamers at large aren't very well informed about this subject.
 
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Some simple facts. The total number of Xbox 360 owners is estimated to be around 10 million. At least 2/3 of them and probably more live in the USA. Microsoft's Xbox division has lost $4 billion in four years. And Wii's sales surpass Xbox 360 worldwide although it has been on the market a year less. Meanwhile, worldwide PC sales grew by 15.5% in the third quarter of 2007. Worldwide PC shipments are forecast to total 255.7 million units, a 10.5% increase from 2006, while PC revenue is projected to reach $213.7 billion, a 4.6% increase.

Microsoft and Sony have a dream. They dream of a future when every family will own at least one console for their gaming needs and use the PC for everything else. They are willing to loose billions fighting for a lost cause and the best they can achieve is to create a temporary anomaly. It has happened before but consoles simply can't compete. Playing a PC game on your TV is as simple as taking the trouble to connect the TV to your PC and buying wireless controls. There isn't a single thing that the PC can't do better and when the time comes that every household electronic device will be connected to the PC as a matter of course, the consoles will be dead. In fact, it is already starting to happen. Someone ought to make an article about this (not me).
 
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Microsoft and Sony have a dream. They dream of a future when every family will own at least one console for their gaming needs and use the PC for everything else.
I agree completely. I would call it more of an assessment than a dream, though. They're trying to push the end-users of their products in the "right" direction.
There isn't a single thing that the PC can't do better....
If every owner were adept, that might be true. But we all know they're not, don't we? Even if they all were, some would still opt for the convenience of a console, I suspect.
...and when the time comes that every household electronic device will be connected to the PC as a matter of course, the consoles will be dead. In fact, it is already starting to happen.
I'm back to agreeing with you there. If and when it gets to that point, consoles will only exist as toys for young children, IMO.
 
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LW, send us all the stats you can find and research on the 'death of consoles' and we'll write it up as an article!! :)
 
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I never kid; I'm just lazy in my old age for looking up stats and info on stuff like consoles that I have no real interest in!! lol :)
 
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Hey, I'm lazy too!! The only reason I'm going into the trouble sometimes is that something weird happens inside my head when I read articles such as this one! lol
 
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Jaz
If you are talking about the command prompt it is in Vista and I use it quite often for command line programs. If it is something else I am not sure what you are talking about.
Hm... if you right-click on an executable, older Win versions gave you a tab/slot/whatever where you could enter command line options right with the executable (exeample: execute game as C:/games/bstone.exe -powerball), and each time you ran the program, it would automatically start with said options. When I run it from the command prompt, I have to enter the parameters every time I start it. So far I didn't discover the place where to put the permanent command line :(.
 
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