So, I don't know if anyone cares, remembers, or even sees this, but I used to be a somewhat active member by the username of FIREDAMAGE.

I've come back because I missed the old, cordial discussions, and like mindedness of the forumites here.

To get to a good meaty question though, I understand many here are quite familiar with computers. My question is, what is a good computer. My parents want to get me one as a gift, but they want me to either select a standard one, or build one up using whatever site (like Dell, they get a discount there).

Now, it seems pretty obvious to me that building one is better, but I want to know what I should aim for. My primary needs are going to be for doing taxes and stuff, but my.. er... "secondary" use is for gaming. World of Warcraft, and possibly other games that I may pick up. I'm not opposed to turning graphics down, but I'd like to be able to do stuff my current Netbook can barely even grasp.

Any suggestions?

I have a question about your old name. Was it FIREDAMAGE as in Fired-a-Mage, as in you employed a Mage but then fired them. Or was it FIREDAMAGE as in, Fire-Da-Mage, as in you are commanding that the mage be fired. Or is it FIREDAMAGE as in Fire-Damage, as in damage as a result of fire?
Just curious :tongue:

If http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/user/454352-firedamage/ is you, then why not just use that account instead...or is there something else we don't know?

Hahaha, I've been asked that before.

When I made that user name, I had been playing Oblivion hardcoe. I was fighting and I fell in love fire magic... so I was causing fire damage to enemies

Welcome back, and:

Read the opening post before you start pulling out the rulebook. He has legitimate discussion.

You beat me to it, Nami.

Anyway, on topic, I don't have a link, but there is a guide you can use. I know someone who reads this will have a link to it.

You can get a much better gaming computer if you build it yourself compared to buying from pre-built websites. You get better quality components and better components.

As far as building one you need to:
Tell us your price range
What peripherals do you need? (Monitor, keyboard, mouse)
I assume you need an OS?

Sorry, but I did ask a question. Hope I'm not thrown out haha.

Also, I don't use my old accounts E-mail so I just decided to make a new one instead of trying to remember my old password, or my old emails password. Hope that explains it. (Code for lazy haha)



Yeah, I'm moving out, and I'd need pretty much everything. Also I should mention I want a laptop, so that should be noted. I do prefer to have a physical mouse, over the touchpad thingie most laptops/netbooks have. At least for when I'm gaming.

Price Range: 500-1000 dollars.
Peripherals: Mouse
OS: Windows 7 (I'll update to 8)
And for funsies: RAM/Graphics need to be good. I want to be able to play games with little trouble. My netbook cannot play WoW anymore due to the Cataclysm graphics update. (Even though they said my comp. was supposed to be able to handle it, haha.)
Also, I'm a total idiot on computers, so I'm totally open to any wisdom.

With that price range, I'm not sure how good of a gaming laptop you can get. You have no room for a desktop?

If you want to play games like WoW, you don't need a "gaming" laptop. You can get a decent laptop that will run WoW for $350.

If he ever wants to play modern games that aren't WoW, he'd be screwed then with a $350 laptop. Running a game on minimum is a lot different than running it on maximum, depending on your preferences.

You can find a decent gaming laptop at the higher end of that range, if you really need the portability.

Try to get something with 1600x900 or 1920x1080 display, at least NVIDIA 555m, AMD 6770m or so, ideally with sandy bridge quadcore CPU.

I think there is an HP dv6 with 1080p display and AMD 6770m around that price.

Also, check out some of the Sagers on XoticPC, like:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5165-clevo-w150hr-p-3063.html?wconfigure=yes

Or this MSI laptop with NVIDIA 560m and 1080p display for exactly $1000 - looks like a great deal: http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16f2-msi-16f2-p-3078.html?wconfigure=yes

The bare minimum to get playable (25-30fps+) frame rates at 1080p is
NIVIDA 555m, 460m, 260m, AMD 5830m, 4830m, etc. anything around that level or better will be good.

I'd recommend against getting it for the time being. It doesn't support OpenGL. I also read it doesn't do a very good job with switching between the dGPU and integrated. When I was shopping for a laptop it was a very temping laptop but I don't think it's worth it if you ever want to run an OpenGL application.

@OP I feel obligated to tell you that if you don't need the portability of a laptop you will get a much better deal from a desktop.

I liked your previous user name better.

I love your username! haha you must be my male counterpart - I'm pretty much known in fantasy circles (nerdy I know) as "that girl who always plays mages"

I would really go for a desktop if you could you get about twice as much bang for your buck, laptops as strong as my old pc from 2005 run 1,000 dollars. my desktop tops the latter for 700 dollars. Also i find desktops more stable and reliable, no worrying about the battery declining in performance or about the backlight going out, or about breaking your keyboard and having to repair it. If you have a desktop you can basically replace anything easily, and desktops usually offer more room for upgrades. Also laptops are expensive mainly because of the things that make it portable (built in monitor,keyboard,battery,mouse) and the shrunk down parts they use.

You can get more out of the PC hardware wise using a desktop, for a lesser amount of money. With $1000 it will be possible to buy a decent gaming laptop though. Refer to the above posts for that, but I would recommend desktop over a laptop any time.

Should have chosen a much better username since you had the chance. You blew it!

I remember you FireDamage!!!!

I had been wondering what had happened to you. At any rate, I've got nothing more to add other than welcome back!!

Hmm, there's been a lot of "I want a new PC" threads lately. People getting ready for Skyrim so soon?