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Question

What is the best store/website to buy a pc?

Sep 29, 2013 9:09AM PDT

I am looking for a desktop pc for christmas and am woundering where to look for a good gaming computer with a pricerange of about $1,000 - $5,000. I'm looking for one that can play rome total war II with FULL graphic options (it should be even better than that.)

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Why not Dell?
Sep 29, 2013 9:14AM PDT

The Alienware is nice and you can customize it to max it out.

-> I'm going to shortchange you here because I'm 100% sure that you know how much GPU power you need for that play.
Bob

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Answer
Dell Website
Oct 1, 2013 2:09PM PDT

Hi Rammstein420,

Alienware computer's are designed for gaming purposes. You may check the different model and customize it. Here is the link http://dell.to/1hjJOQ7

Thanks and Regards,
Appu S

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I Avoid Dell
Oct 5, 2013 12:57AM PDT

For one thing, I am a computer professional and a far higher percentage of Dell computers are brought into me with problems than the percentage they represent in the installed base.

Secondly, if you're a Republican, then have at it, but Michael Dell is one of the chief supporters of the most right-wing political causes in the firmament, and I do not purchase the products of companies that engage in such behavior when I can help it. And in the computer world, there are many, many competitors.

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Answer
Puget Systems
Oct 4, 2013 11:30AM PDT

I bought a PC from PugetSystems.com. You get all the help and advice you might want while choosing the components. Once you have the machine in hand you get lifetime tech support. (I think 2 years warranty on parts.) I can't praise the support staff highly enough. I've had to call on them a number of times and they've always been extremely knowledgeable and helpful. The build of the system I bought was excellent. I don't think they cut any corners.

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To buy a PC
Oct 4, 2013 12:29PM PDT

Dell.com
newegg.com
Or have someone build you a custom PC for gaming, and you do NOT need to spend the kind of money you are talking about either.

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Answer
Build Your Own
Oct 5, 2013 12:54AM PDT

It's easier than you think, and you will get a MUCH bigger bang for your buck.

Scan places like TigerDirect, NewEgg, and MicroCenter for the components. MicroCenter has especially good deals on Intel processors and it discounts motherboards significantly when you buy the processors and motherboards together. Shopping there is particularly satisfying because they have actual brick-&-mortar stores where you can carry the stuff out.

Plan carefully, though. Don't take it cavalierly and just think you can slap it all together willy-nilly. Not everything works, at least not efficiently, with everything else, you know. Some motherboards handle different speeds of RAM than others, f'rinstance, motherboards have different internal and external connections and features, and all that.

In this way you can get a computer equipped like a high-end Alienware of Falcon Direct machine for under $2K, and the cases you can buy are even cooler (both in terms of general niftiness and in actual temperature on the components).

But I don't even know how you would spend $5,000 on a home built without loading it up with things like multiple SSDs (although if anyone wants to give me the money I will accept the challenge). With the highest end consumer Intel processor and highest end Asus or Gigabyte motherboard you're only up to about $1500. A high-end nVidia card ads another $500 or so, leaving you with $3000 to spend on RAM, disk drives, the power supply, water cooling, and any other gee-gaw you might want to hang off the thing.

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Answer
If I didn't build my own
Oct 7, 2013 12:29AM PDT

I'd probably go with Best Buy, if they have a physical store there, because it's very helpful to have the place which gives the warranty to also be in driving distance for any repairs or upgrades during that period of time. You could buy from Walmart, Target, Sears, other department stores, or buy from online dealers, but having a desk you can walk up to when something's not working right and it's still under warranty is worth a bit more. I've had VCR's in past with them I had extended warranty on, failed, but walk out the same day with a new more current model to replace it, something you can't do by mail order, not that quick.