Need advice on gaming PC, $800 - $1300 range

[Pagz]

Hey, I don't know horribly much about the inner workings of a computer but I want to buy new gaming pc around the $800 - $1300 mark.

I was wondering what the standard for this range is? Any tips for buying a new computer? Anything I should be wary of that the standard person wouldn't know? Is something coming out soon that I should wait for?

I'm really not good at this.

[Trippy]

Start here:

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3610

Did you want a monitor too or just the "box"?

[Pagz]

The whole dealio, monitor, box, mouse. Sorry, I should of been more specific =/.

This site is really good, much delving will be done.

Also, thread?

[Trippy]

Asking for help on a full system build tends to be not so quick. Hence the split into its own thread.

[Hawkbit]

Seconding the link Trippy posted.  Between the system building guides at Anandtech and their forums, I've had no problems (seriously) with any build I've done over the past 12 years.  I also use Tom's Hardware, but they're not as reliable as Anandtech anymore. 

[Murgos]

Ars Technica also does a pretty good system building guide with a lower geek buzzword threshold.

[Morfiend]

Here is what I posted in another thread. Its very barebones, and probably a little over your price range.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=17096.msg655314#msg655314

Also, a good forum to look for builds and advice is www.hardforum.com.

[Hoax]

I'm actually working on a $1,000 budget, no monitor needed build for a friend so similar price range to yours.  So I'll be using your thread when I've got a parts list figured out.

They dropped all the good starting point links already but I rely on hardforum heavily for information and ofc newegg for actual purchasing.

[Flood]

As Hoax mentioned, NewEgg itself is a great resource after you've done some research on (generally) what type of components you want to buy.  In addition to Anandtechs, I would also look at some of the guides here at Tom's Hardware.

In fact NewEgg has a satellite site called EggXpert.  In the midst of all the shit on the site the forums are pretty informative.  I have been using this thread in the system builder forum as a reference.  The thread deals with "budget" builds but it gives AMD and Intel builds up to a 1k price tag I think (including NewEgg links to everything).

[SurfD]

Out of curiosity, how is newegg for shipping to Canada, for anyone who has any experience?

It is high time i upgraded my rig, so i did a quick 2 hours or so of playing around, and put together the following i7 base rig (already have monitor and hd's):

PSU - Corsair 620W modular
Motherboard - Asus P6T SE
CPU - intel i7 920
Ram - Corsair Dominator 3x 2gig 1600 DDR3
Video Card - ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb by Sapphire

According to Newegg.ca that comes to $1,042.45 before tax / shipping in Canadian dollars.

The exact same items (non SE version Motherboard) from Tigerdirect.ca comes out to $1,148.89 according to their shopping cart.

Main advantage of TigerDirect is that they have a retail store about 10 minutes by car from my place.

Also, could anyone offer any suggestions regarding what i have picked out?  I figure i will need to add an aftermarket CPU fan, and will prob get a new case also, but other then that, is a 620 w power supply enough? (note, i am not planning on running multiple vid cards any time soon)

[Reg]

There is http://www.newegg.ca/ for us Canadians now although I understand that their shipping is pretty pricy.  There's also http://www.ncix.com/. I like NCIX because it has a nice PC builder application that I used to put my last PC together.

I was all set to order from NCIX last January but at the last minute I walked a block up the street and let my local brick and mortar PC shop give me a quote. I just gave them a list of components and didn't tell them they were in competition with anyone. Their quote was almost identical to the NCIX quote but with no shipping fees and an infinitely more convenient warranty.

So if you're in Toronto give your local PC store a chance.

[Phire]

Out of curiosity, how is newegg for shipping to Canada, for anyone who has any experience?

It is high time i upgraded my rig, so i did a quick 2 hours or so of playing around, and put together the following i7 base rig (already have monitor and hd's):

PSU - Corsair 620W modular
Motherboard - Asus P6T SE
CPU - intel i7 920
Ram - Corsair Dominator 3x 2gig 1600 DDR3
Video Card - ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb by Sapphire

According to Newegg.ca that comes to $1,042.45 before tax / shipping in Canadian dollars.

The exact same items (non SE version Motherboard) from Tigerdirect.ca comes out to $1,148.89 according to their shopping cart.

Main advantage of TigerDirect is that they have a retail store about 10 minutes by car from my place.

Also, could anyone offer any suggestions regarding what i have picked out?  I figure i will need to add an aftermarket CPU fan, and will prob get a new case also, but other then that, is a 620 w power supply enough? (note, i am not planning on running multiple vid cards any time soon)

I just bought this:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4899014&Sku=B69-1099

And a 4890 for $184 from Canada Computers. Cheaper than what you have priced out and getting a better video card.