Need Advice On Buying A Computer. ( That Will Run

I can understand a laptop for schooling, or whatever. But personally I'd buy an old crappy cheap laptop for school, and then get a really nice desktop for gaming.

You'd probably save money doing that, and get better gaming specs on the desktop.

Nvidia > ATI

Can't stand ATI, I've had several that just DON'T WORK and need to be replaced. Personally Nvidia is much more user friendly, and easier to configure.

A bit stereotypical. Not only did I not state how I get a hold of my machine, but I also never claimed to know everything.

I just get rated down for not liking laptops.... makes perfect sense?

Not only that, but Nvidia cards tend to work a bit better on average (And at peak performance output).

Check this out.

Here's hoping Nvidia is past that whole "videocard dying/failure rate of 40%+" thing. After having 2 laptops die with Nvidia cards in less than a year, I switched sides to ATI. Couldn't be happier to be honest. Give ATI a chance. Both big names (ATI/Nvidia) are about the same. The 460 is a great midrange/high-end card. The 5770/5850 are as well.

Remember that laptop videocards are roughly half as powerful as the desktop counterparts. Buying a laptop with a Fermi 470 isn't the same as a Fermi 470 desktop part. It's akin to buying a midrange desktop card.

I really hate Macs and cant still get used to them. The reason being is their User Interface. They remind of the old windows if anyone can remember those things. Like late 80s early 90s...

How does this look? This is a prebuilt, do I need to make improvements anywhere?

* CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-760 2.80 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1156
* HDD: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
* MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
* MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] EVGA P55 TR Intel P55V Chipset DDR3 Socket 1156 mATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, & 2 PCIe X1
* SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
* VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

That's a terrible video card.

It all looks good except the videocard. The 5670 is a great mid-range card... but, if you're looking to play FFXIV on high quality settings, you'll want to step that up to at least a 5770 or a 5850 to be safe. The Nvidia 460 1GB version is good as well. Either the ATI Radeon 5850 or the Geforce 460 GTX should add about $100 to your price.


The rest of the system sounds pretty solid. Just swap that videocard out.

Ok, cool, I am just playing around with builds, thank you for the feedback.

The Dell Studio XPS 7100 with the "performance" set up for $1200 is decent, but out of your $1000 budget. You can also adjust the "budget" set up with the 5870, for around $1k total, but the "performance" set up is a better value for the $ (more RAM, longer warranty, bluray, better processor, larger hdd).

either I am blind or I dont see you mention a power supply.

a good power supply is very important and make sure your system is nice and cool. an underpowered power supply can mess up your whole system.

I just copy and pasted the specs from the cart, the powersupply was:800 Watts - XtremeGear Gaming Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready


Edit: and The 1k I mentioned as a budget was arbitrary, I have money, and I don't want to cut corners. but I don't want anything extreme.

I needed a new comp, as mine is approaching 4 years old and not anywhere near capable of playing FFXIV. Several people I know have ordered from Cyberpowerpc.com and have had no problems with either service or prices of the systems they sell. I ordered this setup

-CAS: AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans
-CS_FAN: Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling fan
-FAN: CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 240MM w/ Dual Fan(CPU & GPU Liquid Cool Capable
- HDD: 300GB Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache
-MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX] GigaByte GA-P55A-UD3 Intel P55 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2 x SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI
-MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1800MHz Dual Channel Memory Module Kingston HyperX
-NETWORK: Killer Xeno Pro Gigabit High Speed Online Gaming PCI Network Interface Card
-OVERCLOCK:Ultimate Overclock 30%
-POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts - XtremeGear Gaming Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready
-VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5870 2GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card
-SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Not saying you need to go that high end but for your budget im sure you could find something. I wouldnt know where to start putting together my own computer as far as actual assembly of individual parts. This way I at least got to pick all my own parts. Might want to take a look.

find a decent PC shop (local one) ask them how much to build a pc

look in the store and spot some good stuff. If they are missing some stuff look back here for their names and order them online

go to shop have it all put together for like top 50$~100 and your good

Cool, this is the site I was playing with. Glad to know that they are reputable at least.