Finding a Desktop

Breazona

Hi, my budget is probably about 1200 for everything, including the pc, monitor, and everything else I need like a wifi card and surge protector... Plan on playing Sims 2, 3 ,4 and GTA V. Just need a few suggestions for less than 1200 since part of the budget goes towards other pc things.

igazor

I've never played GTA, but I believe that its requirements will be higher than any sims games especially on processor strength and the graphics card. So this shouldn't be too different, unless someone corrects me, from playing TS3/4 only aiming a bit higher. TS2's requirements are negligible by comparison.

We would need someone more experienced with GTA to tell us if an Nvidia GTX 1070 (or the AMD equivalent) would be best as a minimum on the graphics card of if a 1060 would suffice. I've seen the "official" minimum and recommended hardware requirements but those are always understated.

Are you in the US/are those US dollars? Prices on hardware vary greatly by country.

EricasFreePlay

Go to canyourunit.com and type in GTA V and see what comes up. It will tell you what your current specs are and at least the minimun you need for it. That's what I did for all my laptops except this one I'm on now because it was a last minute purchase but surprisingly runs Sims 2-4 very well.

igazor

It's not difficult to find the game manufacturers' min and recommended specs online. The problem is that both those and canyourunnit types of sites remain way understated with their recommendations and while great for comparison purposes, I would really advise against relying on them.

Breazona

@igazor I'm in the US

igazor

It shouldn't be difficult to find a desktop for less than $1,050 (not including monitor) that would be suitable, and of course Black Friday/Monday, etc. types of sales are almost upon us.

Paging @chesterbigbird to see if a custom build would be advisable with a total $1,200 USD budget and with those requirements. A custom build is where we (the customers) select the components and the vendor assembles the system to order prior to delivery. One tends to get better quality components that way than with off the shelf systems.

Breazona

I know sometimes notifications don't send so I'll go ahead and @chesterbigbird again

GraceyManor

GTA 5 is a graphically demanding game.Even on my nephew's gaming desktop, he has to adjust the settings as it gets laggy when flying or racing.Its map is huge and is open world completely.The only loading screen is when the game first starts.
So the requirements are for sure going to be higher than Sims 3.And that changes when you add in mods and such.

I play on a laptop so I can't really compare my graphics card.

chesterbigbird

Breazona wrote: »

Hi, my budget is probably about 1200 for everything, including the pc, monitor, and everything else I need like a wifi card and surge protector... Plan on playing Sims 2, 3 ,4 and GTA V. Just need a few suggestions for less than 1200 since part of the budget goes towards other pc things.

OK i can do a custom for you.. since it's black Friday there will be sales.
Includes monitor/mouse/keyboard and mouse pad.. also has wifi.
It will not stay this price for long as it is on sale. Will handle anything you throw at it without fuss including GTA 5. It however does not include a SSD, if you wanted a SSD then you would have to compromise on the performance of gaming by going to a lower cpu/gpu.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1L2PDD

Breazona

@chesterbigbird Thanks so much! Do you know how long the link is good for? I tried getting it for Black Friday but it was a bit crazy so I'm hoping Cyber Monday will work out better for me..

Breazona

Thank you for your help @chesterbigbird ! Ended up spending $1303 when I ordered today, so a bit over, but I think it'll be worth it.. I wish there was a way to repay you for all the time you (and the other people that help in tech) spend helping others.

chesterbigbird

Breazona wrote: »

Thank you for your help @chesterbigbird ! Ended up spending $1303 when I ordered today, so a bit over, but I think it'll be worth it.. I wish there was a way to repay you for all the time you (and the other people that help in tech) spend helping others.

Sorry i missed your first post, links change when prices go up or when sales are on.. also stock levels can impact the links.

No problem i like helping when i can
Enjoy the desktop and feel free to PM me if you need any help