The Best Gaming PC Money Can Buy

SlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer has gone live with their best PC hardware configurations for Q3 2008. They've broken it into three tiers depending on the investor's budget. And while the prices are regional, it is comparative across the globe. 'In order to play these slices of gaming goodness, you're going to need a decent rig, and we sent our PC hardware guru in search of maximum frames in maximum detail, but at a minimum cost. We have three tiers for the three levels of PC gamers out there and all the detail you could possibly want on where, why and what to buy. So choose your poison and get amongst it.'"

Yes, but...

[by Anonymous Coward]

What kind of telnet programs do they come with for mudding?

Re:Yes, but...

[Tragedy4u (690579)]

If you're running Vista, none (at least by default). Seriously it's not in the default install, you have to add it later.

Re:Yes, but...

[Bacon Bits (926911)]

You say that like it's a bad thing. If I need telnet I'll just get PuTTY anyways. The only thing telnet is good for anymore is checking to make sure SMTP traffic works and configuring devices that won't talk with anything else. Otherwise you *don't* use it any more that you use rsh or rcp.

Frankly, I'm more irritated that Windows doesn't ship with a built-in ssh and sshd. And no, remote desktop does not count.

oh christ

[nimbius (983462)]

and i just closed the newegg tab...

looks like ramen again this month

Re:oh christ

[Opportunist (166417)]

What do you mean, "this month"? Priorities, man, food or bleedin' edge hardware, pick one!

Re:oh christ

[Opportunist (166417)]

You don't need to starve, brother. There's a lot of fiber in newspaper and if you flush it down with some coke, you even have the essential dose of caffeine for the day. You can grind and dissolve stale bread in (lots of) water and drink the slurry (again, coke makes things interesting here, too!) to fill your stomach...

Can you tell I just spent 2k on a new monitor system? :)

Re:oh christ

[morgan_greywolf (835522)]

As a transplanted Floridian, I heartily recommend the palmetto bugs. You can put them on a stick and roast them over an open flame or just fry 'em up in a pan.

Mmmmm....Crunchy.

Up North, I hear you can do much the same with various small rodents.

The investor's budget?

[llamalad (12917)]

Buying a pc is an investment now?

Re:The investor's budget?

[Ethanol-fueled (1125189)]

Yes, an investment in planned obsolescence.

Re:The investor's budget?

[ivan256 (17499)]

  investment
              n 1: the act of investing; laying out money or capital in an
                        enterprise with the expectation of profit

No. No it is not. And every computer and used car salesman that refers to the purchase of something guaranteed to decrease in value over time should be sued for false advertising.

Re:The investor's budget?

[Atlantis-Rising (857278)]

Are you telling me that as a computer geek, when you lay out money to purchase a computer you do not expect profit to arise from it?

I think that's a very dangerous statement. Everyone who uses their computer for work 'invests' in it. Everyone who uses their second-hand car to drive to work 'invests' in it.

It is not solely necessary for the capital expense to appreciate for it to be an investment.

Re:The investor's budget?

[Atlantis-Rising (857278)]

That's a complicated question. There are basically three answers:

1: It may make your work faster and more efficient.
2: It may require less maintenance than your old computer.
3: It won't, but that's not necessary; it's like asking a workman whether a new hammer would make his job any more profitable. That doesn't mean it's not an investment anyway.

Re:The investor's budget?

[p0tat03 (985078)]

How would buying a screaming fast computer for work make my job any more profitable?

Depends on what you do. For a 3D artist, for example, a faster machine means shorter rendering times. This creates less downtime, moves the design-render-refine cycle faster, and also opens more possibilities to allow the client to tweak the final product with you.

For a coder who's working on a massive code base, we're looking at shorter compile times. Cutting compiles from 4 hours to 1 is a pretty significant gain that will likewise see a rise in productivity. Having a blazing server-class workstation also allows you to test your code in conditions that are more similar to what your code would be running once deployed.

For an artist, a massively fast computer (or really just one with an assload of RAM) allows more multitasking. Having Photoshop, Illustrator, a compositing app, etc etc, open all at once is great for productivity, and it allows you to bounce between apps without huge downtime.

But a few examples of why speed is still important in computing.

Re:The investor's budget?

[aztracker1 (702135)]

I find that dual monitors are probably the single most useful thing in programming, at least for me. This is mainly web based applications.. but even then having email/im etc open on a secondary screen helps a lot in maximizing workspace/flow. And monitors really get used for the life of said monitor, unlike a lot of other hardware. As to more ram, that is usually second most important, at least 2-4GB (4+ if you run VMs)... CPU, GPU etc depend on your uses... but that's just me, and again, monitors will generally get a long life.. and ram tends to extend the usable life of a computer in general... Beyond that, depending on what you are using, you can often get something faster pretty cheap... Hell, a new MSI Wind barebones is almost as fast as that 3Ghz P4, for really cheap... Today's cheaper desktops are reasonably powerful for day to day use over most 4+ year old hardware, for a minimal hardware investment.

I just point this out as it doesn't even have to come down to your examples, or the idea of laying out cash for something that expires right away.

Re:The investor's budget?

[Anarke_Incarnate (733529)]

Somebody should then explain to you how "Write offs" work. You can only deduct the money spent from taxable income. You save ~30% of the cost or you can amortize it over a multi year cycle depending on certain criteria. Doing so does not save you more money than the new computer costs.

The issues with a new computer cost more than the outlay cost as the migration of data, new software (as needed) as well as configuration cost time and money. However, over the course of a computer's life cycle, older systems often become more problematic and cause unplanned work interruptions, which can especially, over the course of time, cost more than the outlay for new equipment as well as the configuration, if planned appropriately.

Re:

[POTSandPANS (781918)]

I agree. A friend of mine had bought a Mustang GT in 2005, which was the first year of the current body style. The salesman's words: "This car might even go up in value someday because it's the first year of this body style!"

I wish I were joking

Re:The investor's budget?

[jonaskoelker (922170)]

guaranteed to decrease in value over time

True and stated: Whenever you buy a computer C at time t0, there's a time t1 > t0 such that val(t0, C) < val(t1, C).

Possible and not stated: there is a time t2 >> t1, such that val(t2, C) > val(t0, C), due to num(t2, C) << num(t0, C).

That is, your old Amiga 500 might become a collectors item some day :)

Re:The investor's budget?

[Tanktalus (794810)]

Apparently, it's worth twice as much with a full tank as with an empty one.

Re:The investor's budget?

[Lumpy (12016)]

They also think that cars and electronics are "investments" as well, typically nobody knows what the word "investment" means anymore.

I guess it sounds better in marketing than saying...

"Our new PC's are awesome! Get a liability in one today!"

$10K US for a gaming rig?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Only a fool would spend that much money on something that will cost 1/3 that in 18 months.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[jgarra23 (1109651)]

Don't forget, you're talking about the same kind of people who will spend months clacking away on a fake guitar with the goal of making a digital crowd cheer when they could be practicing with a REAL guitar, get REAL cheers and likely get laid for REAL too.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[by Anonymous Coward]

and likely get laid for REAL too

Holy shit, I'm buying a guitar right fucking now!

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[by Anonymous Coward]

And yet...here you are posting about it on Slashdot.

He writes lyrics too

[Ethanol-fueled (1125189)]

That's only beacuse he didn't buy a REAL guitar/
and all he can play is Come as you are [youtube.com]

Real rock stars are not on Slashdot/
Playing a bass makes a guitar player not.

Re:He writes lyrics too

[turgid (580780)]

The guitar and bass guitar are tuned in 4ths. The exception is the B string on the guitar which is a major 3rd above the G string below it.

The violin, viola and cello are tuned in 5ths. The odd one out is the double bass which is a member of the viol family (a relic from 300 years ago) and is tuned the same as the bass guitar.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[Naqamel (1138771)]

I'll second what Turgid said. Guitar = Chick Magnet.

I was at a Sam Goody store which happened to have a Guitar Hero game set up. It also had a guitar / amp package they were selling set up. Crappy guitar, worse amp... but whatever.

Some dork was trying to play Guitar Hero and impress 3 girls. Song: Bark at the Moon.

So I pick up the real guitar, and start playing Bark at the Moon on the real guitar.

You've never seen three heads whip around like that. Poor guy. I got all his attention.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[schklerg (1130369)]

In my experience (bass player), girls go in this order - singer, lead guitar, drums, backup guitar, keyboards, triangle, roadie, drunk passed out fan, then bassist. Of course, hideous disfigurations can alter this order.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[Grey Ninja (739021)]

Just like you can spend months clacking away on a mouse when you can join the REAL army, and kill REAL people right?

Or spinning a plastic wheel and driving 200km/h when you can be REALLY going that fast in a REAL car, right?

I learned to play Guitar Hero fairly well over the course of a week. I've been playing real guitar for about 4 or 5 months now. I can play most Rock Band songs on expert, and I can play most of Neil Young's Heart of Gold on real guitar.

There's a very large difference between a video game and a musical instrument. A video game can be learned quickly and easily, without a huge time commitment. An instrument takes years to learn how to play. Now in my case, I also thought my hands were too small to play guitar, but Guitar Hero convinced me that I might be able to do it. I don't think I'll ever be able to play an F chord, but I can play a lot of songs anyway. I'm good at Guitar Hero/Rock Band. I'll likely never be as good at real guitar.

Re:

[Opportunist (166417)]

The learning curve is way steeper with the real instrument, no questions there. When you play some easy level song, where you have to click just a note every now and then to create some chords, it sure is easier than trying to figure out where all those fingers go on that instrument. And then striking the chord just right, too!

But then again, when I look at the time some people spend on those games, where weeks turn into months of them playing for hours, I start to wonder whether in the long run, they could

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[afabbro (33948)]

I can play most of Neil Young's Heart of Gold on real guitar.

That's the kind of risk you take when you decide to learn to play guitar.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[jollyreaper (513215)]

Don't forget, you're talking about the same kind of people who will spend months clacking away on a fake guitar with the goal of making a digital crowd cheer when they could be practicing with a REAL guitar, get REAL cheers and likely get laid for REAL too.

Funny you should mention that, they're working on Masturbation Hero. You'll get a load out of the controller for that game.

Re:$10K US for a gaming rig?

[CambodiaSam (1153015)]

There are a LOT of people out there willing to shell out vast sums of money on things that will evaporate in value. Just take a look at the entire luxury and exotic car segments. Everyone knows that cars drop 20% per year in value, but they keep rolling off the line.

Admit it, if you had US $10k lying around with nothing better to do, you would be salivating over the FedEx Next Day Tracking Number. I know I would.

Very useful guides

[ubrgeek (679399)]

I used one of their last ones to build a middle-of-the-road gaming machine. I'd never built a box before (well, other than a headless fileserver) and the parts they recommended were almost all available on Newegg. I read/used the article around 3-4 months after it first came out so the parts they had in the article were actually a bit below what they had them listed as. All-in-all it was an interesting experience and the box turned out really well (in terms of gaming.) Being a Mac guy it gave me a chance to try some games I'd otherwise not be able to play and the performance is at least as good (if not better) than I had expected.

Re:Very useful guides

[AuMatar (183847)]

No, these are horrible horrible guides. Even arstechnica has better ones. I mean really- A $9000 computer? How about a high priced one people would actually buy- something in the mid to upper 2000 range.

And their budget gaming box? $1000 with no monitor? That's one hell of an overpriced rig. The idea of budget is maximum bang for buck, not lets get as close to a certain dollar figure as possible. I just put together a true budget gaming rig for about 60% of that. Here, I'll share the details:

CPU: E7200- $125. Intel introduced this model to compete with the AMD triple core offerings. Its a dual core, but with single core performance greater than AMDs triple core offering. Stock at 2.5 GHz, easily overclockable to 3.0 with reports of 3.5. I can confirm no problems at 3.0 with stock cooling and some room to grow.

Mobo: Quite frankly anything in the $100 range is good enough. I went with a gigabyte EP43 for $90

Ram: 3 GB if you want to go with a 32 bit OS. 4 GB otherwise. About $100

GPU: BFG Nvidia 9600GT. SLI is not worth it, its broken on many games and it makes a minor performance increase when it does. Going for a 9800 isn't worth it, the extra price is far more than the extra performance. $130

PSU: Any 450W ps will work. I went slightly upscale to 600W expecting it to last me 2-3 computers, but 450 is good enough. About $50. Their $60 suggestion is fine, if you like the brand the trust is worth $10

Case: 25 bucks will get you a decent case. They overpaid.

Hard drive: Unless you need the space, a 250GB drive goes for 60. Save yourself 30 bucks on space you're unlikely to use. And truthfully if you do need it in a year or two, buy it then when it's cheaper.

optical drive: $30 is about right.

total: $615, almost 40% less than their budget box

This computer, despite being 40% less, will get within 10% of their performance. The real sad thing is the people who buy the $2K box. In 2 years, you'll be feeling slow. So buy this now for $600, and replace with a new $600 (or less, save the case, optical drive, hard drive and PSU if you can) computer every 2 years. He'll be replacing his in 4 years tops (probably 3, lets face it his type want to stay at the top of the spec list). You'll have a slightly less powerful computer than him for a while (probably a more powerful one for the last 2 years of his box) and save an assload of cash to boot.

Its just not worth buying top level power that will be half price in 6 months. Go for best bang/buck, and replace every 2-3 years.

optical: their choice is fine, $30

luv 2 brag

[Saint Stephen (19450)]

I bought a new computer, so I love to brag about the deal I got.

e8500, 4gb ddr2 1066, p5q-3, 4870, freezer 7 pro, rosewill case, 250 gb hd = $1050
had vista64 for free

plays crysis at high "near 60 fps" and everything else to the max

no microstuttering

me = happy

Re:luv 2 brag

[truthsearch (249536)]

I feel really old right now because I don't understand a single thing you wrote.

Re:luv 2 brag

[powerlord (28156)]

I feel really old right now because I don't understand a single thing you wrote.

Allow me to try and explain ...
He said:

e8500, 4gb ddr2 1066, p5q-3, 4870, freezer 7 pro, rosewill case, 250 gb hd = $1050

e8500 ... hmmm maybe its a new eMachine that he used as a base to build on?
4gb ddr2 1066 ... ah! he picked up "Four "Gnarly-Bro" Dance Dance Revolution 2 pads. "1066" you'll notice is 42 more than 1024, so 1066 is just a "Really Cool" in binary.
freezer 7 pro ... well ... CPUs are hot nowadays so he bought an air conditioner to cool the room down. Quite sensible.
rosewill case ... hmmm must be one of those cases with alien eyes on it or something. I guess he'll pull the guts out of the e8500 and put them in there so it looks cool?
250 gb hd ... ah. He also picked up 250 "Gnarly-Bro" HighDensity floppies. Must be to back up his save games and make "backup" copies for friends.

Sounds like a neat gaming rig ...

Then again maybe it was l33t speak? ... or not ;)

Re:luv 2 brag

[gfxguy (98788)]

Vista 64 was free, huh?

Re:luv 2 brag

[turgid (580780)]

Vista 64 is only free if your time has no value.

Just another hardware guide

[by Anonymous Coward]

So hardware guides are post worthy now?

Then let me submit the Ars System Guide [arstechnica.com] ... every [arstechnica.com] time [arstechnica.com] they [arstechnica.com] update [arstechnica.com] it [arstechnica.com]!

Sharky's buyers' guides

[gregbaker (22648)]

I'm reminded of Sharky Extreme's Value [sharkyextreme.com] and High-end Gaming Buyers' Guides [sharkyextreme.com]. If you're buying, it would probably be interesting to compare them.

I'm sure I have seen other similar guides, but can't find them now.

Give a hoot! Recycle!

[RingDev (879105)]

More so Reuse!

I usually run a 2 year cycle.

Year 1, I build a new PC. Although, I already have a nice monitor, a nice case, a large hard drive, an optical drive, and all the other fixings. So all a new PC is, is a CPU, motherboard, memory and graphics card. No need to replace everything else.

Year 2 I upgrade my existing PC. Add a bit of memory, get a larger hard drive, get the latest generation of graphic card. All for a budget well under $500.

Next year I give my now 'old' PC to my wife (mounting all the components into her perfectly fine case) and buy myself a new pile.

Sure, I'm not going bleeding edge with my stuff. But I just priced out a new PC for this fall. A Core 2 Duo @ 3ghz, 2Gigs of 1200 memory, new mobo, and an NVidia 8800GT. With tax and shipping it comes in right at $500, and will be more than enough machine to handle the next generation of games. Although I think I'll try to hold out just a hair longer for one last price cut on the Core 2 Duo chip. But the Wife's machine is going to need an upgrade for the next set of titles coming out.

-Rick

Re:Give a hoot! Recycle!

[nawcom (941663)]

maybe you should mount your wife's box more often?

Her box is way too huge, and you can tell that lots of things have been taken in and lots of things pulled out that it looks a little bruised. Plus, it just looks too old, and it's always making noises. You learn to ignore it. These days MicroATX boxes are the thing; smaller, tighter, and they're portable - so it doesn't matter where you go, you can always bring along the box to play with.

You can make a bloody mess if you try to stick your peripheral in that kind of box when it just doesn't fit.

yes, nawcom knows he is twisted and sick.

Buying guide...

[geogob (569250)]

They should come up with a set of configurations for the best /.-proof PC servers for 2008 as well.

Lame

[steeleye_brad (638310)]

That site is a slow as shit...here's a summary:
Under $1000AU
CPU: Intel E8500 - $200
RAM: DDR2 4GB 800MHz RAM - $100v
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 - $130
GPU: ATI 4870 - $300
PSU: Silverstone Strider ST50F 500W - $80
Case: Antec NSK4000 - $65
Optical: Pioneer 215BK SATA - $30
HDD: Western Digital 640GB - $93
Total Price: $998

Midrange
CPU: Intel E8600 - $300
RAM: DDR2 4GB 1066MHz - $150
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 - $240
GPU: ATI 4870x2 - $655
PSU: Corsair HX620 - $160
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S RC-1100 - $285
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-215D SATA 20x - $30
Storage: Western Digital 640GB - $93
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme & Scythe Slipstream - $85
Total: $1,998

High end (aka completely retarded)
CPU: Intel QX9770 - $1,600 (eXXXXXXtreeeeeeeeme!!!!)
RAM: 2 x 2GB Mushkin DDR3 XP3-14400 - $550 (A +$10,000 system with only 4GB of RAM, hah)
Motherboard: Foxconn Blackops X48 - $450 (what)
GPU: 2 x 4870x2 - $1320
PSU: Corsair HX1000 - $320
Case: Lian-Li PC-X2000 - $580
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-202BK - $390
Storage: 2 x 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor - $700 (no, just no)
Cooling: Frozen SS Vapour Phase Change - $1,100 (hahahaha)
OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM - $130
Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP 30" - $2,000
Mouse: Razer Lachesis - $63
Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard or Optimus Maximus - $95 or $1,900 (also hahahahaha)
Sound Card : Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - $230
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 - $320
Total: $9,848 or $11,653 (with Optimus Maximus)

Only the high-end configuration includes the operating system! Kind of a stupid article, their budget system should be capable of just about any game you throw at it, unless you want to play shit at native resolution on a 30" LCD. When it comes to picking out hardware for a custom build, I've always preferred The Tech Report's system guide. Very detailed, and they have alternate setups for various budgets. http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15009 [techreport.com]

furthering the myth of expensive PCs...

[Grokmoo (1180039)]

I hate these articles. They merely further the myth that you have to spend thousands on a PC to get decent gaming performance.

In reality, you could spend $500 on a PC (not including monitor) and get something that will play Crysis on high or very high depending on what resolution you are running.

You can put together what would in reasonable circles be considered high end for under $1000, yet that price is basically relegated to be "bargain basement" in this article.

The Best Gaming "PC Money" Can Buy

[maestroX (1061960)]

easy, try a wii or ps3.

Website is terrible, relevant info here

[ProlificLurker (1349735)]

Um. Ok. Raiding some kids Newegg 3 tiered I-wonder-how-much-I'll-get-for-my-bar-mitzpah wishlist doesn't belong here. I highly doubt anybody here needs any advice on what gaming rig to buy. But in case you do, hear is the info in USD.

861.430 USD

        * CPU: Intel E8500 - $200
        * RAM: DDR2 4GB 800MHz RAM - $100v
        * Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 - $130
        * GPU: ATI 4870 - $300
        * PSU: Silverstone Strider ST50F 500W - $80
        * Case: Antec NSK4000 - $65
        * Optical: Pioneer 215BK SATA - $30
        * HDD: Western Digital 640GB - $93

1,724.59 USD

        * CPU: Intel E8600 - $300
        * RAM: DDR2 4GB 1066MHz - $150
        * Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 - $240
        * GPU: ATI 4870x2 - $655
        * PSU: Corsair HX620 - $160
        * Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S RC-1100 - $285
        * Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-215D SATA 20x - $30
        * Storage: Western Digital 640GB - $93
        * Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme & Scythe Slipstream - $85

8,499.13 USD
        * CPU: Intel QX9770 - $1,600
        * RAM: 2 x 2GB Mushkin DDR3 XP3-14400 - $550
        * Motherboard: Foxconn Blackops X48 - $450
        * GPU: 2 x 4870x2 - $1320
        * PSU: Corsair HX1000 - $320
        * Case: Lian-Li PC-X2000 - $580
        * Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-202BK - $390
        * Storage: 2 x 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor - $700
        * Cooling: Frozen SS Vapour Phase Change - $1,100
        * OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM - $130
        * Monitor: Dell UltraSharpâ 3008WFP 30" - $2,000
        * Mouse: Razer Lachesis - $63
        * Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard-$95
        * Sound Card : Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - $230
        * Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 - $320

1 GB / $ HD?

[FireIron (838223)]

Are hard drives down to 1GB per dollar yet? I remember when they hit 1MB per dollar, and it was a big deal at the time. I had an onion tied to my belt...

What levels are these?

[Sockatume (732728)]

We have three tiers for the three levels of PC gamers out there

From the prices I assume those levels are "lives in own property", "lives with parents", and "purely hypothetical".