What Brand/Computer is best for gaming?

[IronicMan]

Ebay... hearing it make me cling on to my sanity.

[itmike]

First off I would stay away from the big manufacturers especially dell. Dell has a good rep from their early days. As manufacturers get bigger they get cheaper also. Do you really want the lowest bidder building your system components? I've been in computers for the last 7 years. Your home built computer will outlast your big names if you do it correctly. Big names buy the cheapest motherboards, power supplies, and harddrives, then match it to a fancy video card, fast cpu, and 1gb+ ram and call it a gaming machine. Pfft... Though Falcon West, Voodoo (which HP bought), and Alienware do build nice systems and dont skimp on any of the parts. You can build your computer with the same components maybe not as nice case that will benchmark just as good as the gaming machine at half the price. If I was unsure about building a new system.

1. Go to a reputable hometown PC shop, most will do customs. May pay more than a big name but you cant beat the personal support and you have someone local you can take it to that knows it inside and out.

2. Buy a barebone pc (this is just the case, power supply, motherboard, cpu, and ram). Match it to a good video card, sound card, maybe upgrade to a gig of ram. Just don't forget your hdd, CD drives, cables and Operating System.

3. Buy a book on building a PC, buy all your parts and cables, read the book while the parts ship. Build your new shiny custom PC with book in close reach.

Good sites for parts.

1. www.ajump.com - Good prices and gives you time to read that book lol.

2. www.zipzoomfly.com - Good prices free 2nd day shipping, not going to give you long to read your book though.

3. www.pricewatch.com - A database for computer sales just search what you want prices on, and pick out a reputable company with low prices.

I have never had any luck with www.newegg.com. I don't know how they became so reputable. I always overpay on their site. I can always find the parts cheaper on one of the threee sites I just mentioned. Hope this helps you decide which is the best path for you.