Gaming PC-Ready made or custom built?

Ok, so I start my new job with amazon, will be making $1500 a month, and I want to save to replace my peace of shit PC for a new gaming one. Would it be better to buy a ready made, commercial brand gaming PC, or to set a budget of, say, $1000, and have one custom built? Opinions on which is better and why? Thx

 

Premade ones are generally more expensive than a custom-built one (by custom I assume you will build yourself, as I have done the same) due to brand names. Look at alienware for example.

If you don't mind the constant hassle of maintaining hardware (and software ie. installation of OS), custom made are reasonably cheaper in my experience, although you may be able to find a deal for a premade in the shops.

For better stability etc. go for a premade, otherwise custom built will surely save you some dough.

 

the above poster is somewhat true.

you can build a beast gaming rig, for 600-1000
and never lag in games.

by your parts from
newegg.com
tigersdirect.com

other online retailers that have sales
you can always find a better deal to save money

and i guarentee you will build a B E A S T mode pc.

also, alien ware computers are like 1000 dollars just for a case.

alien ware comps dont compare to most custom ones.

 

I agree I had $700 and I built a sickass computer for my self ill put up the spec list later if i ever manage to find it =D Yeah I recommend custom if you know what your doing. OYu cuold even go in to a local computer store and say Listen iI want to build up a computer for *put what gaming you will be doing* if you want.

 

$1600 for Dell PC=Fail Gaming
$1600 Custom Built=Pro Gaming for up to 4 years
'nuff said

 

Ok, so I guess so far I'm leaning towards a custom built PC. I didn't plan on doing it myself actually, my friend had one built for him and I'm going to use the same guy he did. My plan was to give him my budget, let him know what games I play, then leave the rest to him.

 

You can buy premade gaming computers that will easily outperform anything - but the price tag will be out of yours (and a lot of other gamers' budgets). I will recommend that you get yourself a custom built computer, but pay close attention to fans and cooling, and also make sure you don't cheap out on storage (250-300gb+ ). Also look for one of those super HD moniters (They are like 3840x2160 or something). ATI Radeon's are your best bet for Gfx cards, buy the top of the line perferably.

So, in summary just make sure that you don't cheap out in areas, make sure everything is acceptable and figure out what areas you need to buy top of the line parts.

I know that Alienware has liquid cooling and fans - the glory of liquid cooling is its silent, and it works also using less power than a fan. I'm not sure if you can implement this in your build, but consider it if its possible.

 

Ok, thanks Indistinct. I'll check around. I already planned on getting top of the line GFX cards, cooling fans, power supply, etc. Does anyone have any recommendations and/or prices for any of those items? Keep in mind, my budget will be around $1000-$1500.

 

Build your own! You can get your own specs to your needs, you can save a lot of money as well! Good luck! (Y)

 

Haha, maybe I will, not entirely sure yet. I don't really know how to put one together. Maybe I'll order all the parts and just pay someone labor to put it together.

 

http://forum.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=883333
Here is a guide for $1800+shipping.
Name me the price you are looking for, and I will tell you the parts to get.

 

I have 4GB of RAM, a 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo, and a GeForce 9800GTX with Windows 7 Professional. That cost me ~$400 over a year ago. So yeah, custom built rigs are the way to go.

 

What site did you buy your parts from?

 

definitely custom built if you need a desktop.
reason:
ALOT cheaper
you get to choose better parts for less money.
if your interested in computers it helps you understand how a computer works.

 

After building several of my own - i would say, DIY.
As pre-built may be cheaper, you will end up spending more in the long run after you customise the parts you want on it anyway, ie; upgraded graphics card, more RAM, bigger HDD etc.

 

i bought mine premade - but was custom built bought it off the guy for 900$ 7gig ram ati radeon (best 1) very nice pc

 

ATI graphics card if you don't care about PhysX, Geforce Nvidia card for PhysX. I suggest AMD with ATI and Intel with Nvidia. Also, if you want a video card that's really good, but it's cheap at the same time, go with a GTX 460.

-LeetNeo.