So I am considering building a desktop...

blackhawk89

Solid State Member
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At first I considered buying an Alienware desktop. I talked to one of the Alienware employees via live chat and asked him what kind of parts I would have to put into my desktop in order for it to run all the latest and greatest games along with more advanced games the would come out in the future and he recommended I get these parts:
- Intel® Core™ i7-3960X processor(Six Core Extreme, 15MB Cache,Overclocked up to 4.2Ghz)
- 16GB Quad Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
- Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 – NVIDIA SLI®
- 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
- 24.0” Dell U2410 UltraSharp™ Full HD Monitor (had to purchase upon finding out that Alienware desktops don't come with a monitor)
- Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
- Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
The final price came to $5200!!! not including shipping.

After seeing this price I decided to look into building my own desktop as I read and heard from various people that it is much cheaper than buying one and that you will actually end up with a better desktop than if you were to order one from the big name companies like Alienware, however I became very confused when I looked up these parts on sites like newegg.com and tigerdirect.com and found that they were only about $100 dollars cheaper than if I were to get them pre built into my desktop by alienware. The parts being $100 cheaper is great, but I was a little dissapointed because everyone who talked so highly about building your own desktop said that they could do it for like half the price and end up with a better desktop than alienware, but after seeing the price to buy these parts seperately i'm not so sure.

So this leads me to my questions:
1. Why does everyone say that building a desktop is so much cheaper than buying one from Alienware or any other big name company when from what I saw the price difference for parts between alienware and sites like tigerdirect or newegg is only around $100 per part?

2. If there is a way for me to build a desktop that would meet my gaming requirements for cheaper than an Alienware desktop please let me know and help me out by directing me to sites or telling me what parts to use in order to build a desktop that would be just as good or better than the one I configured on Alienware because I know literally nothing about computers when it comes to the hardware and software and all that stuff.
 
Because the idiot only recommended you the most expensive parts you can buy. You don't need all that to play the latest games maxed out.

Core i7 3770k (339 vs 1000+)
Single GTX 670 (400 vs 1000)
8GB DDR3 1600
128GB SSD

Cost you around 1200 and will max any game at 1080p.
 
Wow I had no idea... thanks man. I actually have another question that I was hoping you could help me out with.

If I am going to build my own desktop what parts will I need other than the ones you listed in your answer?
 
Awesome, thanks a lot man!

For the case it doesn't really matter, whatever is best

Are all these parts compatible with each other? also shouldn't I buy some fans?
 
Haha ok just making sure.

So just to be clear this is everything i'll need to build a desktop and all of these parts will be able to run all the latest games and more technologically advanced games in the future?

I also want to be sure that the video card you recommended will be able to run all the latest games at 1080p smoothly cause I don't want lag in the frame rates or anything like that.

Sorry if i sound distrusting I just want to be sure everything i'm buying will meet my requirements cause it would suck if I ordered all these parts and put the effort to build a desktop only for it to not meet my gaming requirements. :neutral:
 
Well with my 2500k and a GTX 570 I played all the games perfectly smooth. If you want to be absolutely certain swap it for a GTX 680 but there isn't much different between the two.
 
ok i'll go with the 670 then, alright I promise that this is my last question... haha

does it matter what moniter,keyboard, and mouse I get? Like is it possible for a monitor, keyboard, or mouse to be incompatible with the parts in my desktop?
 
As long as the monitor uses DVI or HDMI you will fine.

Go with a USB mouse and keyboard. If you are going to game them I would recommend a mouse with at least 2000 dpi, more being more sensitive (mine is a 5000 dpi). Keyboards are a grab bag for the most part, but don't be lured in by multitudes of macro keys. Go with a mid to high end Logitech and you will be fine
 
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