Need help Picking out a computer!

Prrox

I'm just gonna say it now, I'm an idiot when it comes computer hardware, so building one myself is out of the question.
Now to my problem.

I'm Plann on getting a desktop soon for gaming, I'm hoping to try get it running a game called Starcraft 2 on atleast medium settings and I got a 500 budget, I don't know what to buy because I'll probably get myself ripped off, also i don't need a mouse, keyboard or monitor.

If anyone could help me that'd be great, thanks!

Fluffy88

My advice, build one :P
Seriously, it's the best advice anyone can give you. You will never get a pc as powerful as one you build yourself for the same or similar price. There is a whole forum dedicated to PC building here on boards and there is lots of people that will help you pick out the parts you need.
There is also options with some websites where they will build the PC for you before they ship it so you will have very little work to do and there is a lot of people in the forum that are willing to build the PC for you for free if you want their help.

PC Building & Upgrading

jim90

if you need a rig for gaming you must make sure that the pc has a decent graphics card.
also as much RAM as you can get.
building your own pc may get you better spec but it'll cost you more than an off the shelf pc.
ASUS pc's seem to have lots of power for reasonable price, i'd suggest looking at some of their model range.

Fluffy88

jim90 wrote: »

building your own pc may get you better spec but it'll cost you more than an off the shelf pc.

Sorry this is so far from the truth! Building will cost you less for a more powerful rig.

I don't know any good websites where you will find a good pre-build machine so I won't recommend any, but I would at least make a post in the Building forum to see what you can get.

Tea_Bag

jim90 wrote: »

if you need a rig for gaming you must make sure that the pc has a decent graphics card.
also as much RAM as you can get.
building your own pc may get you better spec but it'll cost you more than an off the shelf pc.
ASUS pc's seem to have lots of power for reasonable price, i'd suggest looking at some of their model range.

just to back fluffy up here, you've no idea what you're talking about, no offense.

show me any prebuilt and ill build you a better pc for the same money, with probably 30%+ more power.

I've just built a pc for a friend for 1400 euro. configured the same pc on dell (their best alienware) which ended up having lesser components and I was into €4100 teritory.

Prrox

Everytime I ask on a PC forum I get told to build one, if that many people do it I guess it can't be that hard.

Though I wouldn't know if I was getting a good price on the parts.
My friend said I should get parts from dabs.ie
Is that a good place for them?

Fluffy88

The great thing about the forum is the people there that will help you are all very well read about the parts so they really know what they are talking about. When you tell them what you want and the budget they will give you all the parts that will suit you best and give you a good place to buy them.

I would recommend at least just checking it out to compare it.

Overheal

It's easy to put one together. Somewhat more challenging to put one together thats high value. That is, carefully selecting parts for performance, price, utility and compatibility.

Thats not to say off the shelf PCs are garbage. Some places do in fact sell towers as cheaper or even cheaper than the parts - essentially below cost.

unkel

The funny thing about building vs buying is:

Low end system is more expensive to build than to buy

High end system is more expensive to buy than build

Always the case!

Fluffy88

Yeah that is true, but for €500 I think building will still get a better machine, it's not very low end

fionny

Deffo build...

Its bull to say that buying will get you better value for money with 500euro... total rubbish!

Even if your not comfortable with building yourself sites like Hardwareversand.de will build one for you to your spec for a small fee. Or you could ask around boards.... someone in your area may be willing to do it for a token amount of cash.

starlit

Asus, HP or Toshiba best on the market at the moment. Do not go for a Dell it will wreck your head! Advent and Acer aren't bad. MAC's are good too but depends if you want windows go for one of the others I mentioned.

Tea_Bag

ok to prove a point:

i didnt include windows, and i hope you have it cause 500 is a tight budget to play starcraft 2 well. what resolution is your monitor?

either way, Windows7 x64 pro upgrade can be had for €45 from softwareforstudents.ie

Total build cost: €469.12 + €30 shipping
4GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9 €25.49
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz €32.63
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €41.11
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €16.52
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ) €33.25
Intel Core i5-2400 Box, LGA1155 €153.36
MSI PH61A-P35 (B3), Intel H61, ATX, DDR3 €60.17
Club 3D Radeon HD 6790 CoolStream, 1024MB GDDR5, PCI-Express €106.59

where in the country are you? there's a large thread over on building and upgrading with people willing to help you build it for free, but its not hard.