Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

I'm still shopping for a new pc so this will be my second post on the subject. While browsing the web in search of a new machine i came across pcs that are specifically designed for gaming. So basically the question is, is it worth getting a gaming pc instead of a brand name (dell, hp)?

My primary concern is that gaming pcs are not from brand names i've heard of. However, what i do like about them is that they are highly customizable, all or most of the components (mother board, processor and so on) are by top of the line and well known manufacturers. They let you pick what you put in your pc, selecting the part manufacturer. This in contrast to dell and hp customization, the dont let you pick the manufacturer, most of their components are by made by them and they dont give you as many opnions as the gaming pcs. I for example, dont want to get a monitor made by hp or dell. Also another thing i like about the gaming pcs is the fact that look really cool, obviously its not my first priority, but its something i'll consider when getting a new machine.

Here are links to some of of the gaming pc websites

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

So what do you think? Is it worth getting one of these or should i stick with the brand names?

Have you thought about maybe building your own gaming PC? Would be cheaper than buying one!

Unfortunately i dont have the technical aptitude to do it myself. Someone already suggested that i do that in the previoys post on this subject, and i had to tell him the same thing. Aside from putting in the sound and video card, i wont be able to put in other components. This is why my best bet is finding a place that would put the parts in for me with me selecting the parts. I do appreciate the suggestion though. If you happen to know something about the topic please let me know, i'm open to hearing other people's opnions before i make a decision.

Try looking at reviews of the companies at epinions.com. Granted, many reviews are there in the first place because of unhappy campers but you might still get a good feel for the company.

You didnt say exactly what you want. What kind of games, your buget? If you take the name brand route.....stay away from Dell, eMachines etc.

Try looking at reviews of the companies at epinions.com. Granted, many reviews are there in the first place because of unhappy campers but you might still get a good feel for the company.

Thank you, i will check it out.

Now in regards to what i'm looking for,what kind of games and budget.

I'm looking for a pc to play games on that will last me several years. The kind of games i'm playing right now are older games which i fell in love with sometime ago, but i would like to play games like civilaztion 4 or rome total war which my current machine wont support. As for the budget, i'm getting this machine as a b-day gift from my parents, i'm not exactly sure how much are they willing to spend, but lets say just no more than $2000 for everything (pc, monitor, sound and video card, speakers and so on). I hope this enough info to answer your question.

Wow....with that kind of budget you could really go all out. I tend to buy what I can afford, no where near the money you are looking at spending. So I am sure someone else on this site can steer you in the right direction. Give you post a little more time for others to respond.

Its good to know that i can get something descent for this kind of money. Obviously i cant afford to spend that kind of cash on my salary, luckily my folks are generous this year. Thank you for your help, i guess i'll wait and see if someone suggests something else.

I'm not a PC expert by any means. I know enough to basically get myself in trouble and then come here for help to bail me out :D I know a lot of the peeps here prefer the build your own route and frown on a lot of manufacturers computers. From my own experience I have bought two computers from Dell and have been satisfied with them completely. The first was around 1999 or so and the only issuesI had were when I picked up a bug. From the time I bought it the only thing I did do was to add more RAM and a vid card as my gaming got a bit more intense. In Apr 06 I bought the computer shown in my profile since the old one could not upgrade to run the newest games I wanter, I was getting divorced and needed one to take with my anyways. And this one too has had not a lick of trouble. It's an XPS so they say it's built with gaming in mind and the price when I got it was about $1,600.00. I've run Everquest, WoW, AoEII, BF2142 and had no performance issues. I haven't yet had to call tech support. I did once with my old unit when the virus got on it and I will agree, as many have said before, that the biggest pain is their outsourciing to India and the difficulty understanding the advisors. So take it as you will but I have nothing bad to say about Dell myself.

Gaming PC's that are NOT name brands are a risk, we find. But getting a gaming machine from Dell, HP, Compaq, eMachines, IBM/Lenovo, or Gateway has its own compromises.
The warranty and the ability of the seller to stay in business is very important.
If you find somebody locally who is experienced... and by that I mean somebody who has built 15 or more gaming PC's, might be a better choice than a no-name company.
On gaming machines, you can have a failure rate as high as 12%, so you need the warranty, or you need the repairs built into the price.

Thanks for the advice guys. Though i'm still torn between getting a brand name or a barebones gaming machine. And i would like to get a barebones system only because i'll have great control of what parts get put in there. And the parts that are offered by the seller are brand names i've heard of. Basically the machine is being put together from scratch, i can even pick the case. The places that i've looked at, most of them online, and not local do offer 3-year warranty and lifetime customer support. I dont know how long they've been in business and whether they will honor the warranty. Some of them do business on ebay as well, though i dont think that means much. Not knowing that stuff is definately a downside. Is there a way i can do a backround check on such companies?

I dont know what i'm going to do here, making the right choice is tricky, if i can make sure that a custom pc seller wont screw me i'll probably buy from them. This is why i need a way to do some checking on them first.

You can try ibuypower.com (http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm), they seem to have good stuff.

Thanks Nick. I just looked at the site, its very similar to the one i looked at, its called cyberpower.com, are these guys respectable and trustworthy?

I haven't heard anything bad about Ibuypower. Cyberpower seems a bit more hit or miss.

i would recommend getting a custom built PC. any local PC repair shop, computer services firm, or PC technician can build a machine tailored to your needs. just make sure that you know what's going into it before you buy.

you probably won't get a 3 year warranty or anything like that, but a well-built standard PC is a good investment. furthermore, custom PCs adhere to industry standards, meaning that you can easily get replacement parts and that they can be maintenanced by anyone.

Warranties for desktops are overrated anyway. If the shop won't give you a warranty, ask that you get whatever papers (reciepts or proof of purchase or whatever) for the hardware. Then deal with the warranties offered by the hardware manufacturer.

thanx! this will give me something to think about

http://www.falcon-nw.com

If you can manage to configure it cheap enough to fit your price range (they come standard with crazy OCs and SLI and all that) then Falcon Northwest is one of the best companies out there as far as quality and performance.

Falcon Northwest is one of the best companies out there as far as quality and performance.

Falcon is like Alienware...Your buying the name. There P.C's are over $1000 overpriced.

I would go with cyberpower, they are a reputable company.

Yea, i happen to agree about falcon, their stuff is way too expensive, so is alienware. A friend receomended avadirect.com, i think i'll go with them,over there i was able to customize a pc to meet my budget. Plus they have a really good parts selection. If i do change my mind about them there is always ibuypower or cyberpower. Thanks for the input guys.

I would say build your own, www.pcmech.com has a good tutorial on how to do so. If you choose to go the OEM way, I recommend a Dell Computer. Like others have said gaming computers have a higher rate of failure. If you get a Dell XPS Gaming System than you get Dells good warranty and such. So its either build you own of go with the far more expensive, but trustworthy Dell XPS.

I wish i could build it myself, but even with a tutorial i can screw up pretty bad since i dont know much about hardware at all, my knowledge is pretty much limited to putting in sound and video cards. As for dell they are pricey, though i'm not ruling anything out at this point, and i still may just go with them.

Seriously, it isn't that hard. I felt the same way you did about 5 years ago, and had cyberpower custom build my first comp, now, looking back at it, i cant believe i did that with how easyily i can setup a pc now.

Heres a nice video tutorial

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sQo1W_f_Do8

I think i'll take a look at at that video and tutorial and see if i can make sense of it.But what really scares me is if i get something wrong and mess up, ruin a component or someting or get incompatible parts , i'll actually wind up losing money. You have to understand, i havent shopped for computer or parts for like 4 years, take a look at the pc in my profile and you'll see what i'm talking about,that computer was actually custom built by someone and i bought it off the guy after he wanted to get a new one. If only i had someone to guide/help me then it would be a lot easier for me, then i could be saved from making a big mistake, but i dont know anyone like that. Going to a forum to get guidance is one thing, having a real person next to you is another.

But like i said earlier it wouldnt hurt to look at the video and read the tutorial, may be i'll be able to do it.

Been said before but building your own computer IMO is the best option since you know whats goin in your comp since you know whats in there and you only get what you want.

If your lookin for a company though, you cant go wrong with CyberPower or Alienware.

I think you are right, if i build my own it easier to troubleshoot in case of problem, i just have to build it first, thats the hard part.

Cyberpower sucks, hardocp gave them a shabby review plus some other people told me to stay away from them and alienware is way out of my league cash wise. If i do buy custom its either dell or avadirect.

Its a good thing alienware is out of your price range........ the customer service is by the majority of accounts diabolical at best, which ever company you decide to use if any just do the research for reviews and dont rely on the company websites as ofcourse they are gonna have glowing references!

do the research for reviews and dont rely on the company websites as ofcourse they are gonna have glowing references!

Great point!

Great point!

Thanks Twite

I'm looking into getting a new gaming machine too and have also been looking at cyberpowerpc.com. I saw a review of one of their rigs in a current computer mag (either PC World or PC Magazine - don't remember which) and it was rated pretty well.

For those who have the idea that you can still build the machine yourself cheaper, I'd be interested in your sources. I spec'd a machine at cyberpowerpc.com that came to $1995.00 (before taxes, but with FREE shipping). I then looked all over the internet for the exact same parts and the total came to ~$1850.00 (before taxes and shipping). For my money it's definately worth the approximately $50 (after the shipping costs) to have someone else build and configure the machine.

I priced everything through pricewatch.com, but if someone can point out a place to get cheaper parts I'd be really interested. Otherwise I think it is no longer a rule that building your own machine is always cheaper. Just fyi...

EDIT: Also, I priced similar rigs at Dell/Alienware and Falcon-NW and I agree with most of the other posters that these places are WAY overpriced for the gear you are getting.

Price the parts at newegg.

I ordered my first p.c from cyberpower about 5 years ago when i was new to computers. I gotta tell you i they have some great prices, but you will get a whole lot more out of building a pc then savings...that is experience. Did you calculate the money you will save when YOU can repair your OWN pc when it has problems. For example, lets say the power supply goes. If you build your own pc, you will know how to replace the power supply, rather then taking it to a technician and paying him $100 to do it. Thats IMO. But if you are two stubborn to try it yourself, then yes, cyberpower does have descent prices.

Cyberpower is cheap, but not necesseraly good, may be 5 years ago they were, i researched them as one of my options and i just wouldnt trust them to build my machine.

Well, I've been taking machines apart and putting them back together for about 20 years now and I have just about all of the experience I can get doing that (I work in the IT industry too).

I agree that there is nothing like building your own machine to learn how to diagnose problems and replace components - but that's not for me anymore. I suspect that it is also not for a vast majority of users. In my experience people just want their machines to work and aren't all that interested in how they work. There is a LOT of aggravation involved in putting together your own machines when you are new to it - not to mention the possibility of frying your MB or RAM or CPU accidentally in the process.

If you want to learn, then sure by all means build it yourself - it really is a great learning experience.

Cyberpower is cheap, but not necesseraly good, may be 5 years ago they were, i researched them as one of my options and i just wouldnt trust them to build my machine.

Since they are the front-runner right now in my decision making, I'm curious to know what you don't trust. They use name-brand components so the quality of the hardware should be above reproach (though I can't speak for their cases). Is it the OS installation and configuration (drivers, etc)? Because those I can fix myself if necessary.

If I'm missing something let me know. I don't want to regret spending the $2000 later. Thanks.

Can you send me the link to the computer you are looking at?

Also i wouldn't worry about it to much, they are a descent company, and of course every company is going to have complaints. I think alot of their complaints are from "beginners" who don't find there tech support up to par. But you shouldn't have to worry about that with your experience. Also, they will give you refund our replace and faulty parts if anything goes wrong.

Can you send me the link to the computer you are looking at?


Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to save a configuration on the cyberpowerpc.com site (unless I just missed it). So I took a screenshot of the configurator so I can rebuild it later when I'm ready to buy. I uploaded the JPG of the screen to my site at http://www.quishy.com/scr/gamesys.jpg . Oh, and it is their Gamer Infinity 7900 Pro system.

The price listed include the Windows Vista Ultimate OS too.

It would be $1,449.94 at newegg.com for the barebones. They only difference was i chose ozc gold ddr2/800 instead of the corsair. Besides that everything was the same. A good $500 savings.

That's great news! I'm off to check out all the pieces at newegg then. Thanks!

I forgot to include the O.S. Windows xp or a vista premium would probably be around $120. Thats if you want to go the vista route already.

Also heres a similar case for $70 less

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119084

Since they are the front-runner right now in my decision making, I'm curious to know what you don't trust. They use name-brand components so the quality of the hardware should be above reproach (though I can't speak for their cases). Is it the OS installation and configuration (drivers, etc)? Because those I can fix myself if necessary.

If I'm missing something let me know. I don't want to regret spending the $2000 later. Thanks.

One of the reasons i dont trust them is this review in hardocp:

http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTA0MCw5LCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

They rated their machine as substandard, and from what i've heard from others things havent changed much since then. Like someone suggested earlier always research the place you are going to buy from provided you are not going to build your own