Buying a new computer, whats the best one for gaming?

[SadPanda64]

Hey everyone, my computer exploded, and it was already terrible. I'd honestly rather buy a new computer than spend money on fixing it and making major upgrades too it. (Sounds like spoiled rich man, I know I know, but disregard that for a momment.)

 

Anyways, I was really hoping to find a great computer that can run games with amazing graphics at the best setting, maybe even modded, and still look great and run at a amazing fps.

 

I was thinking the Alienware M17X (Sandy Bridge) because of this article here - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2020688,00.asp

 

However, what are your recommendations? Is there a computer that can run better, faster, and prettier than this one I linked?

 

And on the possiblity I decide to just get my bad computer fixed, any suggestions on a good video card?

Would give you my old computer info, but currently my computer needs insert bootable disk.

[dazzerfong]

If you're loaded, fair enough, buy Alienware. If you want to save, I'll advise that you buy a custom-made computer: much cheaper for exactly the same parts (sans the case). But, since you want a laptop, I can't really suggest any for you, sorry.

[PowderdToastMan]

To say alienware sells gaming pc's is a bit of an exaduration.

 

First off, you can take the 2500 dollars you would spend on an alienware m17x and purchase an actual gaming pc thats 4 times as powerful - a desktop

Heres an example -a dual liquid cooled SLI - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-core-i7-sli-liquid-cooling,3096.html

In the above example, theres an ssd and a hdd also, unlike the alienware which only uses an hdd. The hard drive speed is the biggest bottleneck on any system.

 

Heck, instead of those gpu's that are 1000$ you could get a 300$ card and have a 1900$ total build and still be twice as powerful as the m17x.

exa - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600083901%20600095874&IsNodeId=1&name=Radeon%20HD%206970

 

 

The article you linked to was very careful to give examples of games you could play on it that had high fps. What they diddnt tell you is that those games are very GPU heavy and do not rely on the CPU for 3d rendering. If you were to try to run skyrim on that 2.2ghz processor you would barely break 20 FPS on high settings.

 

Toms hardware breaks it down here - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skyrim-performance-benchmark,3074-9.html

 

Once you start to run mods you'd be unable play the game on high settings at all.

 

Heres some 800$ solutions that will outpreform that m17x all day - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=30000007%20600090100%204022&IsNodeId=1&name=%24750%20-%20%241000

If you purchase a kit like the ones above, you can pay the local computer shop 50 bucks to put it together.

[pwnedbyscope]

If you ever look at an alienware they are like macs, look nice but you pay a lot more than you really should just for the name. alienwares are made by dell now, and well, this may a bit biased but, dells suck something horrible. If you want something purely for gaming, i would recommend building your own like mentioned above, however if you want a laptop, i would suggest buying an Asus. Their G-series notebooks are top notch and relatively light on the wallet

[FMod]

If you want a good gaming PC, build one yourself.

If you can't, ask your friends if anyone can, get him some nice Xmas gift for the trouble.

If you don't have any friends who can (really?), try getting a local/regional store to build it.

 

Brand names either suck for gaming, or they charge eye-gouging prices. And components... they don't even tell you who made them. So if you think it's all fine inside, don't; people who took apart their Mac Pros have been utterly disappointed by how cheaply the motherboard (the only thing there that actually comes from Apple) is made. You can only guess how low most makers let themselves sink.

[Dasche]

If you want a laptop, I recommend either MSI or Asus. They are both well renown in the computing branch, so you can't go wrong with these ones.

 

If you want a customizable laptop (to a certain extent) then I suggest Deviltech. They are German, but they offer great computers at a great price, unlike Alienware and Apple.

[ParagonPC]

If you want a laptop I suggest get an HP Pavillion DV6-6146tx. I just got one and i can run most games (like skyrim) on max settings :)

[hoofhearted4]

only repeating others here, but if they same ppl keep saying the same things, it must be something worth looking into.

 

going desktop? build it. even something like ibuypower is cheaper then alienware.

 

want a laptop? i also recommend Asus. i have a G series laptop, (like someone suggested) its a couple years old but it runs very well (i plan on building a desktop, but this is what i got for now). and i can only imagine something that just came out to run even better. however. dont look into a laptop if you wanna max/ultra your settings. its just not worth it. even if you find one that can, laptops are built in a way, that constant use at settings like that are going to run its life very short. they just cant expel heat fast enough, and everything is so close together, it gets more hott faster. buy a laptop if you want portable gaming, or a desktop just wouldnt work for you, but be ready to play on medium/high settings.

[RitualBlack]

I would recommend to get a Sager/Clevo. I have an alienware m18x with 6970m crossfire because I needed a laptop and there was a really good deal on it (much cheaper than sager at the time for the performance). You could always get the 18'' but its something crazy like $2600 pre tax. Where I live tax is 13% so it adds up :laugh: . If you get a single graphics card I would recommend to get a 6970/90m or a 580m. If you don't really need a laptop get a desktop for sure. A laptop to play any game on ultra will cost over $2000 and for that price you can get a much better desktop. *The only game no laptop can play currently is Witcher 2 ultra with ubersampling enabled because even a desktop 580 can not properly do it.*

[Ihoe]

well, A lap-top is Inferior, Like Really Inferior, to a desktop, in terms of gaming prowess.

 

since I really can't decide for you I'll be sharing a few tips.

 

• 
   
  
• Never Ever Ever Never Ever Believe articles that say :"The Human eye can't perceive more than 30fps.", that's utter BS. so if a laptop Hardly gives more than 30 fps on any game, it's not suited for playing that game e.g. Crysis.
  
• Battery Life IS important. because it's a lap-top. and being portable defines a good lap-top.
  
• Weight, is also important, Alienware products are usually brick weighted.
  
• Take a Look at this Chart. the GPUS listed in the chart with a Mobility/Mobile Prefix are for laptops. nothing can push up the frame rates like a good GPU.
  
• The Difference of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB of ram are marginal in performance, and even less so in Gaming.