PCA Forums

In the future, I'm planning on building a gaming rig. Now, if I'm going to invest in a gaming rig, I might as well invest in something real good. Something that will run Crysis at a solid framerate in high settings.

Is it cheaper to buy a Dell and upgrade it or would building a rig from scratch cost less?

How much should I be expecting to spend on a nasty rig? By the way, Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 on PS3 are going to be keeping me occupied for a while so I won't be building it until April at the earliest. Are there any nice new mobos or video cards coming out later this year?

If you're gonna wait that long, just keep an eye out for deals (slickdeals.net,techdeals.com, or even here). It's kind of a personal preference with the to buy or to build. I like to build (especially since I overclock). However, there's no shame in upgrading the bought machine. Take note that it will likely need a larger power supply if you buy your computer & put in a big nasty video card. Most dells come with 300-400 watt units.

What Normalicy said.

I personally am too busy to deal with building a rig anymore (except that I am building a new file server, but that's simple compared to a gaming rig).

My present gaming system is a Dell Dimension 9200 Quad Core Q6600, 4Mb RAM, WinXP64, Geforce GTX 260, and a replacement PSU. Very happy with the performance.

The problem you will run into is that the current generation of video cards are very large, and may not fit in an OEM PC. They may not even fit in a custom case, so make sure you buy a large tower and check the measurements if you build your own.

In my case the GTX 260 is a VERY long card and barely fit. It will definitely not fit in the current generation of Dells (except maybe their high-end XPS gaming systems).

The ATI Radeon HD 4870 is shorter (although still a 1/2 inch longer than a Geforce 8800GT) and has a better chance of fitting in an OEM PC. I believe (not sure) it will fit in a Vostro 410 (it will slightly extend into the hard drive cage). You can get a Vostro 410 Q6600 nicely loaded for $549 for the next few days (maybe - these deals usually expire on Wednesdays at midnight): http://shrunklink.com/bnfr

A Geforce 9800+ should fit in a Vostro 410. I'm pretty sure it's no longer than an 8800GT and I have personally installed one of those in a Vostro410. The 410 takes a standard ATX PSU.

Well, building a rig maybe tough since I've never built a computer from scratch before. I'd also have to buy a copy of Vista. But if I get the Dell, there's still assembly fees(that Vostro is really cheap though).

I'm really considering just building a rig for the educational purpose and it might be actually fun.

If you're not afraid of a challenge, then go ahead. Putting my first computer together totally changed my outlook of computers. They aren't as complex as you think (and yet they are).

Nothing beats building for personal satisfaction.

Nothing beats a Dell refurb at their outlet for cheap and easy to upgrade.

Out of the 50 - 60 I have purchased at their outlet, maybe 2 did not look brand new. Only one dud which they exchanged...

I'm curious but why wouldn't you buy a large tower when doing custom building? That way you can be sure that your case will fit anything.

Depends on what you consider to be a "Large Tower". I have some old AT Server towers that stand about 4' high...

Many of the Dells are based on a decent size midtower case. I also use midtower Compaq cases. They breath decent and can fit most boards and cards.....

Yah, I have a full tower Antec that I use for my main PC, it's as tall as my 32" LCD TV. I also have an old IBM tower that is 40" tall. haha.. I'm in a 5 year long mod slump with it.

eGo

My first tower was full & I had a 300 watt power supply (a lot at the time). I was able to mount two power supplys in there. I used one for my peltier setup. Even with all that I still had extra room. Those were the days.

Well I think it's safe to say that I need to buy a full tower first. Any suggestions on a good one that I should keep my eye on for good deals?

Honestly, unless you need about 6 DVD drives & 10 hard drives, a mid tower is plenty. Personally, my preference in cases is 3-4 CD/DVD bays, & 6 hard drive slots. I also like a bit of room on the back of the motherboard area to run cables & hide extra stuff.