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Thread ID: 131146 2013-04-28 04:16:00 Budget Gaming darkoverlord123 (16996) Press F1
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1338600 2013-04-28 04:16:00 Hi, I have a budget of $1100 and I want a PC for gaming, please do not advise building one, as I am rushed for time.
I am looking at playing BF3, and other intensive FPS games. Thanks
darkoverlord123 (16996)
1338601 2013-04-28 04:51:00 Building your own is the only real way to get high performance for cheap though Agent_24 (57)
1338602 2013-04-28 06:33:00 Places like computer lounge will build for you with relatively little additional cost... I believe they even have it for free sometimes. Slankydudl (16687)
1338603 2013-04-28 07:45:00 Most places charge around $100 for a build. I however have seen computer lounge give quotes for prebuilt systems at the same price as the components individually. Surely you could find half an hour to put a system together yourself? Its not exactly a massively time consuming task. icow (15313)
1338604 2013-04-28 07:46:00 Rule of thumb: spend 3-4x on your graphics card than you do on your CPU.

Also, start with 4GB of RAM. Its cheap but if you're on a budget then you can always upgrade later IF you need it. As it stands, currently, 4GB is more than ample for current gaming needs.
Chilling_Silence (9)
1338605 2013-04-28 23:06:00 At $1100 you are probably looking at a quad core AMD or a dual core i3, 4Gb of RAM and the best graphics card you can squeeze into the budget . Pre- built gaming machines are seldom actually very good for gaming, especially at your kind of budget .

You are far better contacting a supplier like suggested and discussing your requirements and budget and having them build it for you . If that's too slow for you just go into a shop and buy something, post the specs or model here first if you need help choosing .

Just be aware you wont get the best machine for your purpose that way . PC gaming is a niche enthusiast market and not that well catered for in the name brand machines . Also it's an expensive hobby . I upgrade every couple of years or so and usually spend around 2k or more so I can always play games at high res .
dugimodo (138)
1338606 2013-04-29 00:36:00 Another note, building a budget machine often sees people choose a cheap PSU. This is not a good idea. You will have to spend the money to get a good PSU, if you want the thing to last. Better to pay a bit more now than pay a whole lot more later if it blows up. Agent_24 (57)
1338607 2013-04-29 01:10:00 Really, $1100 won't get you a gaming rig at all. Does that include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers modem ?
:)
Trev (427)
1338608 2013-04-29 01:55:00 Does that include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers modem ?
:)this
pablo d (15490)
1338609 2013-04-29 03:11:00 Just be aware you wont get the best machine for your purpose that way. PC gaming is a niche enthusiast market and not that well catered for in the name brand machines. Also it's an expensive hobby. I upgrade every couple of years or so and usually spend around 2k or more so I can always play games at high res.

Agreed.

You get what you pay for. If you buy budget, expect budget. If you want quality, pay for quality, get quality parts. The two most important parts, as mentioned, are without a doubt your power supply and your GPU. Everything else comes after that!

I just threw down $650 for a graphics card. Best investment I've made in a long time!
Only down side was I had to upgrade my CPU in order to notice the difference... Was a bit gutted when I fired up LOTRO after putting in the new one, and it still sat at 105fps... It was a dual-core 3Ghz. Upgrade that to one of the cheaper 6-core AMDs, and now I'm happily gaming around 150fps!

The difference between my old rig and my new rig is that I can start bumping up the anti-aliasing and things quite happily, and also when a HUGE big fight is going on with spells and explosions and smoke flying everywhere, the framerate stays at a decent level.
Chilling_Silence (9)
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