My Last Desktop

[ArizonaTank]

My current gaming desktop is six years old, and it's time to buy another one. 

I am looking for a decent gaming rig that will last me at least another five years.  Any thoughts on brands, graphics cards etc.?  I don't want to spend more than $1200. 

I had a great experience with "IbuyPower" and am thinking of going back to them.

After fooling around with Win8 I definitely want to try to get Win7

I think this will be my last desktop...it should last five years.  While I am pretty certain desktops will still be around in five years, I will probably move to laptop or other by then.

[Nefaro]

Processing power isn't jumping by leaps & bounds lately, as it had for so long before.  The pace has slowed some, as evidenced by the explosion of multi-core systems taking a lead as opposed to raw speed.

[Grim.Reaper]

I am hoping to get myself a new desktop as well this year....but likely will build myself versus buying off the shelf.

[eyebiter]

i7 with 16 gig of RAM and traditional hard drive. 

Wait a few years for a 1gig SSD to reach $250 then upgrade the drive.

[Toonces]

I've bought two Ibuypower computers now.  I am extremely satisfied with them. 

I don't know enough about processors and graphics cards, but they have a neat benchmark thingy there that will give you an idea of what your computer's performance will be with certain games.  For $1200 you should be able to run almost any game on ultra settings.

[Nefaro]

i7 with 16 gig of RAM and traditional hard drive. 

Wait a few years for a 1gig SSD to reach $250 then upgrade the drive.

8GB of system RAM is way more than programs use.  Hell, you could get by on 4GB of system RAM just fine if you don't have a bunch of junk pre-loading into Windows.

I'm just saying.. if you build 'em yourself 8GB is all you need, so why not save some money?  ;)

[Toonces]

RAM is so cheap that the difference between 8 and 16GB is probably like $25 or something all told.

I loaded up with 16GB.  I mean, can you every really have too much RAM?  I certainly didn't want to be mucking around in my computer's guts in the future if I decided I needed more, also.

[JasonPratt]

I'm a big believer in quality of design, production, and tech support.

So for $1451 (including average UPS Ground shipping), allow me to present a Falcon Northwest Talon for comparison.

Chassis: Z77 Talon - Standard Black
Chassis Fan Kit: Quiet Fan Pack - Talon
Power Supply: SilverStone® 500 Watt
Motherboard: Asus® P8Z77-V LX
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 3470 3.2GHz
Processor Cooler: Intel® HeatSink/Fan
No Processor Overclock
Memory: 1866MHz 2x4GB
Video Card:NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 650 (1GB)
Sound Card: On-Board Audio
Networking: On-Board Ethernet
Hard Drive: Western Digital® Caviar® Black™ 1TB
Optical Drive: Asus® 24x DVD Writer
64-Bit Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium
USB Rescue Drive
Falcon Northwest Manual
1 Year Warranty - Talon (includes free lifetime tech support by people who built these computers for their living because they love to do just that job and take huge pride in being the best in the world at it)

Granted, someone who feels confident about putting the physical and system architecture together efficiently, might be able to squeeze the performance efficiency from this system the way FNW could--and would presumably also feel confident of tech supporting themselves ;) -- while spending half or less the price.

But with some stretching of the budget, I'd recommend this over any $1200 storebought rig, even if the store's specs looked better on paper. They'll stably overclock the processor, too, for no extra cost!

[PanzersEast]

I have always built my own machines, however from a price standpoint this looks to be a great deal.  I have priced machine parts out at newegg and there really is not much difference.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_III


PE

[airboy]

I bought a Falcon Northwest Talon with a liquid cooled system.  It is both wonderful and quiet.

[steve58]

I have always built my own machines, however from a price standpoint this looks to be a great deal.  I have priced machine parts out at newegg and there really is not much difference.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_III


PE

I'd love to be able to get me a new PC.  I like the specs for this one, but I think I'd upgrade it to a video card with at least 2GB VRAM.  Probably would also look to getting a bigger PSU...

[PanzersEast]

I have always built my own machines, however from a price standpoint this looks to be a great deal.  I have priced machine parts out at newegg and there really is not much difference.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_III


PE

I'd love to be able to get me a new PC.  I like the specs for this one, but I think I'd upgrade it to a video card with at least 2GB VRAM.  Probably would also look to getting a bigger PSU...

I would recommend at least the GTX 660 2GB..... also maybe a different case, but highly customizable and free shipping.

PE

[ArizonaTank]

Thanks for all of the great advice everyone.

[eyebiter]

Notice Newegg is now selling 4TB drives from Western Digital.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236407

[GDS_Starfury]

asus motherboard
cpu
as much ram as you can
solid video card
top end sound card
keep your old case, psu, cd/dvd drives and hard drive
you can build a screaming system for $1200