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Price of good gaming PC...
JayandMeeka
Posts: 2,377 Member
So I'm finding that both sims 3 and 4 are lagging severely, and I'm thinking it's my laptop. It's an old Toshiba satellite laptop with qaud core AMD radeon graphics card.
I'm beginning to think about getting a PC. So where should I start my research? What is the most I should spend on a gaming PC? I know there are many discussions on what specs I should be looking at so I don't want to go into that in great detail.. I'm more looking at price. Although if you have suggestions on specs I'm open to that too!
Thanks!
I'm beginning to think about getting a PC. So where should I start my research? What is the most I should spend on a gaming PC? I know there are many discussions on what specs I should be looking at so I don't want to go into that in great detail.. I'm more looking at price. Although if you have suggestions on specs I'm open to that too!
Thanks!
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I have the new Inspiron model. I know I spent around 600 because I had to buy a monitor as well.
How much was the monitor, if you don't mind me asking?
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When my fiancé and I decided to save up for our gaming PC, we had in mind 2 things.
1. Upgradability: we knew that we wanted a computer that we could upgrade easily in the future, so that ruled out laptops and prebuilt PCs for us. It's not that you can't upgrade these types of computers, it's just that your options will be more limited. When purchasing a computer, it's important to keep in mind that in most cases, that computer's hardware has a 5 to 6 year expiration date of sorts. There are simply newer and better graphics cards, motherboards, and so on coming out all the time. Once you get a few generations behind, newer games that come out will lag out for you big time. It's unavoidable.
So, you have to decide the route you want to take. Do you want to prospectively replace your computer again within the next 10 years or would you rather be able to upgrade and replace parts as you want, need and can afford them?
2. Quality: not all computers are created equal. The "Great for Gaming" advertisements are sometimes not what they seem, so do your research. Read reviews. Read about the different components available for gaming PCs and try to make a selection that caters to your life. Example: Do you take a lot of screenshots, play other PC games outside of the sims, or store a lot of music and media files on your computer? Then you're probably going to want to look into a computer that has a lot of hard drive space so that you won't run out of room anytime soon.
Is it important for your computer to have a disk drive, or do you mostly download digital copies of all of your content rather than hard copies?
Do you want to be able to run The Sims and other games on ultra graphics settings? Then you will probably want to invest most in a top of line graphics card.
For our PC, we went with CyberPower. We custom built the computer on their site, hand picked every component in and on it, they assembled the computer and shipped it right to our door with detailed instructions about what cords to plug where. It was seamless and foolproof, and I have literally never been happier with a PC in my life. We paid $2,500 for our set up, but we also got a lot of extras. You don't have to spend as much as we did in order to get a great computer. They have a lot of options for every kind of budget, and I can't recommend them highly enough.
Along the same vein, I would encourage you to avoid Alienware. Before getting our desktop, both my fiancé and I had Alienware gaming laptops. His lasted only 5 years before it began having such severe overheating issues that the computer would shut down 5 minutes into running any game. Mine had to have the motherboard replaced twice in 5 years, only to die a third time right before we got the new PC. I don't know what happened to the quality of their computers, but our experience doesn't seem to be all that uncommon if you look at reviews.
Good luck on finding the computer that's right for you! Happy Simming!
the total was $668.70 with the help of the gift card this new PC will replace my 12GB not my 32GB.
And it has red color fans
This 12GB I have is a Asus I'll keep it for a backup if I need to.
I myself just looked around bestbuy, amazon, newegg and just priced them look for gaming desktop or pc and it should show you the prices
and it depends how much you can spend for a new desktop or if you're lucky enough you can have someone built one for you.
but good luck on finding the right desktop for you.
I have a Dell Alienware laptop (3 years old) and we just upgraded the video drivers (didn't have to, it was free from Dell) and I have a SSD and am running TS4 with NO problems. To get into the specifics I'd have to ask my VP IT hubby and it annoys the crap out of him. I know I have the best of the best cause he wants to keep mama happy in her gaming.
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So I will see. I want to definitely keep it under $1000 CDN. But even that is pushing it.
And there is a potential of me moving residences soon so I will hold off on a purchase until I know for sure that I'm moving into a new permanent place!
Ugh now I'm dreaming of a beautiful giant monitor with stunning graphics!
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There are also other things like the case, motherboard, power supply, etc., but those don't really affect the performance as much, so you can just look for something that fits. You'll just have to keep in mind that the case has to be big enough for the graphics card, and the power supply should have enough watts to power up the entire rig.
I really think buying a prebuilt PC is a raw deal, but you might find something with these specs.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Here's something that's a bit above the budget, but it does look promising: https://www.amazon.ca/CYBERPOWERPC-GXiVR8060A2-Desktop-i5-7400-7200RPM/dp/B01MT0781S/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1502072240&sr=8-7&keywords=gaming+pc
8 GB of RAM is fine for most things these days IMO. 16 GB is more of future-proofing. You can upgrade the RAM at a later point when you need it, if you feel like doing so.
Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Oh wow. Ok great, thank you! It's nice to have a direction to look in. Just taking a look at the monitors there they run between 200-500 so I'll have to take a look at those as well. So all in that would be about 1600.
And like @mmt3363 mentioned - I want something that I can just replace parts with. Longevity would be awesome. And cheaper. It's sort of like a long term investment. If I spend a good chunk now for something that I'll get 10 or more years out of I'll be happy.
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Race Against the Clock: Can your elder sim turn back the clock before their time runs out?
Its a very easy process. The computer in my signature was my first and current build. Putting together the PC itself took maybe 1-2 hours. Putting the water cooling took......well....much longer. Its an experience I wish every gamer could have. The first time I started up my loop is something ill never forget.
Linus tech tips has great videos on youtube of how to put together a pc. Its really just putting the CPU and ram into the motherboard. Mounting the motherboard in the case. Attaching the video cards. Then hooking up everything to the power supply. Mount the hard drives and attach them to the motherboard and you are basically done building it.
There is also tons of support here and on the internet full of people who have built and would love to help others build.
Forget to leave out the price - it cost 2K
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Alienware is overpriced. Along with Razer. There are other brands that use the same specs and are just as good and are cheaper.
I replaced the video card and maxed the ram and I run the sims at close to max specs. The first thing I would tell you is that laptops are not ideal for gaming, you are much better off with a desktop. Second, do NOT pay much more than $1000 for a computer, its a massive waste of money unless you are doing some heavy stuff (like programming) with it. I bought my desktop for about $540 added with the video card (geforce GTX 1050Ti) I spent less than $1000.
Yep, I have the Alienware 18 laptop. It is a gaming horse It was way expensive, but I'd only had really mediocre laptops before.
Maybe, but they don't have the cool Alien head on the cover (laptop version), or the cool colors.
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Bahaha, seriously?? You're kinda paying at least $500 more just for the alien logo and lights.
Here are some examples:
Both @chesterbigbird and @phoebebebe13 were a big help when I built my gaming rig nearly two years ago. I took advantage of some Christmas sales and spent about $1050. I later spent another $325 to swap out the GTX960 for a GTX980 so I could run Project CARS on ultra graphics including rain and fog conditions. The rig is still going strong, and when Project CARS 2 comes out in about seven weeks I may not need to do any upgrades for it.
When I did my build, I decided not to get SSD to save money. I don't have a problem with TS4 taking 30 seconds or so to load my game. To me, it wasn't worth it to spend a few hundred dollars to save a few seconds of my time.
In Canada computers are allot more expensive. Under $1000 might be a low budget. Speak to @chesterbigbird
Just so you know Dell bought Aleniware from its original creators. The quality is not the same as the original computers. Your paying for a name only, nothing more. As I understand the original creators now make Clevo. Anytime you buy a computer off the shelf (Dell Alienware would be one example) you get generic hardware. You buy custom and you will get certified hardware. Certified hardware is always better
Buying an overpriced dell laptop to get stickers? What has this world come to.