Need help @ buying new PC (proper sub-forum?)

[Undutchable]

Hello,

First of all, terribly sorry if this is the wrong topic to post it in, I've look over the options and figured this would suit to my question.

I've been a regular user of my PC (and consoles) for over the last decade. However, I have never looked into the hardware of it, reasoning that i don't need to know it to play computer games.

While this is true, the time has come for me to buy a new computer, instead of letting someone else do it for me.

I watched a couple videos on you-tube, looked things up on the internet, but in the end I'm still not satisfied with my knowledge, and the people i know that have knowledge of it, simply give me options but are reluctant to give information why and how i would make the given decisions.

To sum it up (TL;DR):

I want to buy a new PC, yet I'm unfamiliar with the hardware.

Here is a description of the products i wish to buy:

Monitor,
Case,
Everything inside the case,
Windows + Office (can buy it apart from the rest of the product)

For this, i have <1000 euros to spend. It doesn't need to push as close to 1000 as possible, around 800-900 will be fine for me. however, if you feel that the last upgrade will definitely be worth it, go for it. <1000 definitely

People have advised me that Windows 7 is the way to go, if that's not true, please correct me.

The game that i play, and will continue to play for (at least) the next year will be:

Heroes of Newerth
whenever it comes out: Guild Wars 2, Diablo 3... and i have some interest in Starcraft II

Most importantly Heroes of Newerth, here is a link to the recommended system requirements

Heroes of Newerth
Recommended:
Processor - 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo / AMD 3500+ or faster
RAM - 1.5GB or higher
Video Card - 256MB Geforce 7800+ or Radeon X1900+
Network Connection Required (Broadband)

Starcraft II
minimum System Requirements
Processor: 1.4 Ghz Processor
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Graphics card: 128 MB RAM video card capable of Hardware TnL. DX10 is not required, but will be supported by SC2 and Blizzard are considering adding DX10 specific effects.
Pixel Shader 2.0 (Officially Confirmed)

Harddisk:
Soundcard: A DirectX-compatible 16-bit sound card.
OS: Windows Vista, Windows XP or Mac OS. (Officially Confirmed)

Guild Wars 2

What are the system requirements for Guild Wars 2?

The system requirements haven't been finalized, but just as with the original Guild Wars series, we're committed to creating a beautiful game that will play great on mid-range gaming PCs.

Summary:

Without knowledge I'm asking people to provide information on which products i should buy, and some confirmation to know if it's general opinion. I've got about a 1000 euros to spend on an entire PC, inclusive the monitor and the OS.

Note: I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes that might have slipped trough (not a native speaker)

[truenorth]

You are bound to get a great deal of suggestions based on the preferences of each person. That may ultimately not advance the lessening of your confusion. If i may suggest you 1st need to sit down and try to define what your "total" computer needs are. Both present and future to the extent that you can look ahead. You have done a good job of defining the "gaming" requirements and they on their own do eliminate what might have been recommendations. Now if you can provide us,after you contemplate on it, the same kind of criteria for the rest of your needs the suggestion will become much more defined to those needs. I think your attitude of taking more control of the ultimate decision and choice is an excellent one. Come back with more of your need definitions and we shall offer our suggestions.truenorth

[Undutchable]

First of all, thanks for responding and taking my question into consideration.

For your remark on my needs, i do have a notebook (which I'm currently using) for any tasks other then gaming.

So my needs should not extend beyond gaming, perhaps watching movies in hd quality, but that's it as far as the PC.

As for gaming, from the mentioned games, only HoN (heroes of newerth) is released, Starcraft II hitting the stores in EU this week, Diablo not coming out for at least half a year, and Guild Wards about a year. And i think i still will be playing HoN even though these games came out.

I hope i understood your response to my question, if not, please do not be afraid to comment me on it.

Just to be sure, this is the right topic to answer this question?

[meta1203]

If you have basic knowledge on screwing things in, putting things into slots, and various other assembly techniques, you could build one yourself. There is a nice guide found at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm. Another website for buying the parts is http://newegg.com/. This is the best way to get EXACTLY what you want for less of a price.

From what I see in the descriptions you posted about your games, you most likely want 2-2.5 Gigabytes of RAM, a Graphics Card with 512 or more megabytes of on board memory (RAM), a monitor that works with it, a decent Motherboard, capable of supporting a CPU that clocks at 2 GHz or higher. It can be either Intel or AMD, it does not matter. Personally, I like AMD better, due to larger clocks for a lower price. A DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive should suffice for most games. If the Motherboard does not come with a built in Ethernet port, you need to buy an Ethernet adapter. Also, if it does not come with a sound card, you need a sound card. Lastly, a 1 terabyte hard disk drive should do quite nicely for large game files.

Next, I would recommend Windows 7, because it is the latest piece of software. XP should work as well, but I would not recommend it, as it may become unsupported soon. Newegg has it for about $100 (not euros).

If you do not want to build your own, Newegg has premade ones that you can buy as well.

There. That was a load off my chest. Hope this helps...

[Undutchable]

If you have basic knowledge on screwing things in, putting things into slots, and various other assembly techniques, you could build one yourself. There is a nice guide found at http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/build-a-computer.htm. Another website for buying the parts is http://newegg.com/. This is the best way to get EXACTLY what you want for less of a price.

From what I see in the descriptions you posted about your games, you most likely want 2-2.5 Gigabytes of RAM, a Graphics Card with 512 or more megabytes of on board memory (RAM), a monitor that works with it, a decent Motherboard, capable of supporting a CPU that clocks at 2 GHz or higher. It can be either Intel or AMD, it does not matter. Personally, I like AMD better, due to larger clocks for a lower price. A DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive should suffice for most games. If the Motherboard does not come with a built in Ethernet port, you need to buy an Ethernet adapter. Also, if it does not come with a sound card, you need a sound card. Lastly, a 1 terabyte hard disk drive should do quite nicely for large game files.

Next, I would recommend Windows 7, because it is the latest piece of software. XP should work as well, but I would not recommend it, as it may become unsupported soon. Newegg has it for about $100 (not euros).

If you do not want to build your own, Newegg has premade ones that you can buy as well.

There. That was a load off my chest. Hope this helps...

I don't have that basic knowledge, therefore i decided to check out your site for a prebuild PC.

I came up with the following, and if it's not to much trouble, i'd like one of you to check my findings:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229178

4G DDR3 1600 (i believe DDR3 is one of the best(?)) which is more then 2-2.5gb
ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB which is more then 512

It has ethernet and a sound card, where is ethernet for if i may ask?

All the other stats look good (= i have no idea, quad core sounds nice  ), i assume that basicly every monitor i get from the same site fits with the PC?

Thanks for the help, i hope i'm not to much trouble for you?

[meta1203]

The computer looks good. On paper anyways. One thing you always want to do when looking for a new pc is read the reviews. A little bit more time spent looking saves a lot of time spent with customer service... From what I see about this computer, it has various hardware problems, such as the computer going dead in a week. I would look for something just as good, but reqd the reviews next time.

Ethernet is like a big phone cable, connecting you to the internet at much faster speeds than WiFi. (much easier setup, too.)

Last, but not least, there are three types of monitors, those that support VGA, those that support DVI, and those that support both. Make sure a DVI card has a DVI monitor, the same with DVI. And no, you are not being a hastle...

[Geek-9pm]

New Alienware Computers
http://www.alienware.com/Landings/desktops.aspx

Gaming Desktops
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pc-scout/desktops.aspx

Also, check http://NewEgg.com and see reviews of gaming desktops by customers.
Here is one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227235

[Calum]

I haven't seen this asked yet, but where do you live?  There's no point in reommending US vendors if they won't ship to Europe.

[meta1203]

Arggg... I researched newegg's shipping policies. Only ships to the US. Tried looking at computer dealers in Europe on the internet, but I came clean. Could be that I just cannot do that from this side of the globe... I would think that you have three options. Ask any of your friends about computer dealers, and go with a more reputable one. If you cannot get anywhere with that, if you have someone you TRUST (trust is the key here, don't go with smeone who will just keep your PC) in the US, call or email them, see if they can get it for you, and ship it to you, so you can give them the money they need to purchase and send it. Last resort, Ebay! Just expect to pay international shipping on those last two options.

[Geek-9pm]

NewEggd does NOT ship to o Europe. Not yet.

When I lived abroad, I had a US mail box forwarding service. I knew them personally and the would do favors for me.

This kind of service is called 'parcel forwarding' and you can Google that term.

Here is just one of many you might find:
http://www.usa2me.com/site/pgeMailManager.aspx
Another:
http://www.bongous.com/mail_forwarding_individuals.php

[meta1203]

NewEggd does NOT ship to o Europe. Not yet.

When I lived abroad, I had a US mail box forwarding service. I knew them personally and the would do favors for me.

This kind of service is called 'parcel forwarding' and you can Google that term.

Here is just one of many you might find:
http://www.usa2me.com/site/pgeMailManager.aspx
Another:
http://www.bongous.com/mail_forwarding_individuals.php

That is perfect! Undutchable, I went to both sites, and http://www.bongous.com/mail_forwarding_individuals.php is the best due to it having US credit card options, and a pay-per-use option. However, if you will use it more than once a month, go for the subscription plan.

Also, I did some newegg reaserch for you. This computer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229173 has very good reviews, and looks even better on paper than the one you were looking at. I would go with this one, if you cannot find anything better.

[meta1203]

Whoops... Heh heh... I took Geek-9pm's newegg link... how could i have overlooked that? 

[Geek-9pm]

Whoops... Heh heh... I took Geek-9pm's newegg link... how could i have overlooked that? 

No, you did not. Look closely. Two different bundles, two prices. Even the brand name differs. More choices. More decisions!