gaming computer

[courage1]

Don't build your own. I fully respect what Merc is saying and he's 100% correct but if you don't care to or aren't comfortable it'll go from you embarking on a project you enjoy to a constant headache. At least you'll get a warranty, for what it's worth.

The machine you spec'd out is pretty decent but I'd bump up the RAM as far as you can afford, go with either 16 or 32 gb. RAM is fairly inexpensive and is a huge performance booster, especially in games. I just spent close to $4k building a new gaming computer and from the time I turn it on until I'm playing Borderlands 2 is around 1 minute. Also, I'd strongly recommend putting in a smaller (128-256gb) SSD and then just use that 1Tb drive as storage space. It will make a big difference in performance.

I've built every computer I've owned for the past 15 years. I do network support for a university and I used to work for a system builder where I'd put together upwards of 30 PCs a day. So I'm comfortable doing it. I would NEVER try and dissuade someone from taking that leap and learning a new skill, but you mentioned that's not what you're looking to do. I know how to change the oil on my car too, but it's not worth my time to do it myself.

If you do decide to build one yourself feel free to PM me for any tips or advice.

i would attempt to build my own if it was my own money i was using. i am getting this as a birthday present " I'm 16. in the future i will build my own.

will that computer i spec'd run borderlands 2 and battlefield 3 on ultra with good fps?

[courage1]

Although my full time job is something completely different, I have been into PC's since Windows 3.1, running on a 286. I build, repair, upgrade, you name it. I am use to be into gaming bigtime, but its just one in a while now.

HP is not known for making gaming rigs. However, those specs look fiine at first glance. You woud get a much bigger bang for your buck if you could build your own.

If you ar using that for gaming, I would recommend upgrading your memory to 16gb, or at minimum of 12gb. Make sure the video card is NOT integrated into the motherboard and that the video memory is NOT shared memory. You want a dedicated stand-alone video card with it's own dedicated 2gb of memory.

That 600W power supply may be a bit too low. 600W will work, but it will run hot while you are gaming and will be prone to early failure. For a gaming rig, it is best to get a power that is rated for at least 800W.

Finally, I would recomend a secondary hard drive. A smaller capacity primary drive and a large capacity secondary drive would be ideal. You would install all your games on the secondary drive and reserve your primary hard drive for the OS, AV, web browser(s), etc. Games would load faster because the game you are pplaying and the OS and/or AV would not be competing for hard drive resources.

Good luck!

this is a hp pheonix for around the same price as the other one maye 100$ less
Operating system Windows 8 64 edit
Processor 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]
Memory 12GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
Hard drive 2TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
Graphics card 2GB Nvidia GTX680 [Dual Brackek; DVI, HDMI, DP & VGA via adapter]
HeatSink Liquid Cooling Solution
Primary optical drive SuperMulti DVD Burner
Networking Wireless-N LAN card (1x1
Productivity ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 4 x USB 2.0 (front), 2 x USB 3.0 (top)
Security software Norton Internet Security(TM) 2013 - 15 month
TV & entertainment experience No TV Tuner
Sound Card Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound

better or worse...

[billofrights]

Should play them both very very well, but here's the thing- you keep saying "maxed out." That means all the bells and whistles on at FULL RESOLUTION. You mentioned the monitor is "full HD" which is kind of a BS spec for a monitor as computers have been doing that for decades. How big is the monitor and what is max resolution? I play Borderlands 2 with everything on high, full res (2560 x 1440, 27"). But this is on a GeForce GTX 680 ultra w/ 4gb ram, six-core i7, and 64 gb or RAM. Bump up the ram on your build and you should be fine, but even with 8gb it'll do well. Guessing you're looking at either a 22" or 24" monitor?

[billofrights]

this is a hp pheonix for around the same price as the other one maye 100$ less
Operating system Windows 8 64 edit
Processor 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]
Memory 12GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [4 DIMMs]
Hard drive 2TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
Graphics card 2GB Nvidia GTX680 [Dual Brackek; DVI, HDMI, DP & VGA via adapter]
HeatSink Liquid Cooling Solution
Primary optical drive SuperMulti DVD Burner
Networking Wireless-N LAN card (1x1
Productivity ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 4 x USB 2.0 (front), 2 x USB 3.0 (top)
Security software Norton Internet Security(TM) 2013 - 15 month
TV & entertainment experience No TV Tuner
Sound Card Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound

better or worse...

Better. I'd go with that one.

[courage1]

Should play them both very very well, but here's the thing- you keep saying "maxed out." That means all the bells and whistles on at FULL RESOLUTION. You mentioned the monitor is "full HD" which is kind of a BS spec for a monitor as computers have been doing that for decades. How big is the monitor and what is max resolution? I play Borderlands 2 with everything on high, full res (2560 x 1440, 27"). But this is on a GeForce GTX 680 ultra w/ 4gb ram, six-core i7, and 64 gb or RAM. Bump up the ram on your build and you should be fine, but even with 8gb it'll do well. Guessing you're looking at either a 22" or 24" monitor?

It's a 22inch. I was also going to use my tv if I can it's a 46" 1080p tv

[Fizz]

But this is on a GeForce GTX 680 ultra w/ 4gb ram, six-core i7, and 64 gb or RAM. Bump up the ram on your build and you should be fine, but even with 8gb it'll do well. Guessing you're looking at either a 22" or 24" monitor?

Have you actually looked at your memory utilized via resource monitor while the game is running?

[billofrights]

Have you actually looked at your memory utilized via resource monitor while the game is running?

Nope, but honestly that's not why I maxed out the RAM. I do a lot of virtualization testing at home running a VM server and multiple clients. For his build, it probably doesn't matter but with RAM as cheap as it is why wouldn't you put in more if given the option?

[Fizz]

Nope, but honestly that's not why I maxed out the RAM. I do a lot of virtualization testing at home running a VM server and multiple clients. For his build, it probably doesn't matter but with RAM as cheap as it is why wouldn't you put in more if given the option?

If you're building a cost effective machine you can't just throw parts at it because they're 'cheap.'

You could say that about every component. Memory's so cheap add more, hard disks are so cheap add another 500GB capacity drive, optical drives are so cheap you can have 2, the next best motherboard is only 25 dollars more, etc.

You should consider your utilization of the machine and future needs. If you can anticipate a future need for that much memory, it would be prudent to add more. DDR3 will be the standard for some time longer, and I don't see it getting much cheaper than it already is. There's no profit in memory at all these days until you start getting to 8GB+ ECC REG. Modules so it'll hold here for until the next memory standard.

[Merc1138]

Personally I think an SSD with 8GB of RAM would be better than a HDD and 16+GB of ram if cost is a factor. We're talking about a gaming machine, not a VM server.

[Fizz]

^ Agreed.

[Armed24-7]

As per some of the replies, I agree. Don't build your own unless you really know what you are doing and how to spec your system. I don't need tech support, nor is it a headache for me to build a system. Back in the day, it was a real pain in the *** because rarely, did anything work right when you fired it up for the first time. There was always a lot of troubleshooting to do.

These days, it is a LOT easier. I buy a lot of my hardware from "newegg.com". It is very easy for me and I can definitely get more bang for my buck. People who buy "alienware" are just throwing their money away.

After going through two 600W power supplies on my gaming rig in the beginning, I got a 800W power supply and have had no more issues. CPU's these days, are quite efficient. But powerful gaming video cards make a huge impact on power consumption, coupled with power draw from other hardware, it adds up fast.

[Fizz]

Your expectations don't coincide with my consumption testing, RMA history, etc. With regard to Power Supplies. Brand and model make a bigger difference than wattage ratings IME and as mentioned that's across thousands of machines I've personally spec'ed and built.

[Lu(ky]

I'm going to start this off by saying i can NOT build my own set up and I'm not looking for the most high preformence computer I'm looking for a computer that will run any game decently.

will these specs do so? Windows 8 64
3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 quad-core processor [3.4GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
2GB Nvidia GTX680 [Dual Brackek; DVI, HDMI, DP & VGA via adapter]
600W Power supply
Wireless-N LAN card (1x1)
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0 (front), 2 USB 3.0 (top)

it's the HP ENVY h8-1420t Desktop PC customized. 1700$ with shipping. i know it's quite a bit cheaper to build it but i don't want to deal with the headache

thanks.

Intel i7-3770K (make sure it is the K version because it can be OCed) Also note if you buy the processor and motherboard at a MicroCenter you save big)
ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe Mini ITX (Built in WiFi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n) motherboard
8GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 8GB 2400MHz
1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Also look at a Solid State Drive for the OS install it smokes any hard drive and I would buy the following OCZ Vertex 4, Samsung 830, Crucial M4 at least a 128GB or higher.
2GB Nvidia GTX680 [Dual Brackek; DVI, HDMI, DP & VGA via adapter]
600W Power supplySeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
Wireless-N LAN card (1x1) no need for it because motherboard has built in by Intel the best
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0 (front), 2 USB 3.0 (top)

If you need help PM me I build high end water cooled gaming computers..
Here are a couple of builds I did

[Merc1138]

As per some of the replies, I agree. Don't build your own unless you really know what you are doing and how to spec your system. I don't need tech support, nor is it a headache for me to build a system. Back in the day, it was a real pain in the *** because rarely, did anything work right when you fired it up for the first time. There was always a lot of troubleshooting to do.

These days, it is a LOT easier. I buy a lot of my hardware from "newegg.com". It is very easy for me and I can definitely get more bang for my buck. People who buy "alienware" are just throwing their money away.

After going through two 600W power supplies on my gaming rig in the beginning, I got a 800W power supply and have had no more issues. CPU's these days, are quite efficient. But powerful gaming video cards make a huge impact on power consumption, coupled with power draw from other hardware, it adds up fast.

Junk 800 watt power supplies are junk. Quality 600 watt power supplies are better than junk 800 watt power supplies. It really is that simple.

Lu(ky, considering the guy doesn't even want to build a system, no way would I recommend overclocking. Not that it's hard, but it actually can cause issues that need troubleshooting while a normal non-oc'd build wouldn't.

[Fizz]

Junk 800 watt power supplies are junk. Quality 600 watt power supplies are better than junk 800 watt power supplies. It really is that simple.

Lu(ky, considering the guy doesn't even want to build a system, no way would I recommend overclocking. Not that it's hard, but it actually can cause issues that need troubleshooting while a normal non-oc'd build wouldn't.

Quoted for truth!