My lust for PC gaming fired up... hardware advice?

[hyn]

After hearing that Elder Scrolls 4 and Baldur's Gate III are coming, I decided that I shouldn't wait or rely on Mac/console ports because a PC game is usually better played on the PC.

So I was thinking about getting a PC.
Since I don't know jack about PCs, I'm basically looking for advice on what hardware to get. I don't mind building one if it doesn't involve soldering things on the mobo or require any special tools. But if there's a pre-built system out there that's excellent for gaming, I may as well go for that.
I won't be using this PC for anything other than gaming, too.

I don't mind shelling out $500 for a real good video card that will be good for a few years.

[Ciaran]

Building a pc is very simple. Everything just plugs toghter, most ports are colour coded.

How much are you looking to spend overall?
Do you need monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers?

[hyn]

I won't need speakers or monitors or mice, since I already have a Mac.
Since I don't know how much a good gaming PC goes for, I can't really tell how much I'm willing to spend, but I want the best I can get for my money. Though, I won't be spending more than $1500 I think.

[Taurine]

If you are buying a PC specifically to play Elder Scrolls 4 and Baldurs Gate 3 you will do yourself a great favour by not getting a new PC until they are actually in the shops. Right now you'll pay over ?200 for a top 3D card that you'll probably need to get the max out of those games. By the time they are actually released the card you buy now will be a lot cheaper, and anyway it will be old-hat, totally destroyed by the performance of the latest and greatest on the market at the time.

Its not even worth buying one say a month before the games come out, remember what happened with Half-Life 2? Nearly ready for release, dates set, code got leaked and the release was put back a whole year.

I built a new PC just 3 months ago and already there are new CPU sockets and graphics buses and faster graphics cards widely available that I wouldn't even have been able to get for huge money just 90 days ago! PC hardware is a constant and expensive grind This new machine was my triumphant return to PC gaming after some years of console-only quality time, and I'm regretting it already.

[hyn]

Well, I'm also interested in playing Doom 3, Rome: Total War, Half-Life 2 and such, but I wouldn't buy a PC just for them. If ES4 and BG3 are going to take 1,2+ years to get released, you're right, I might as well wait.

[Magnakai]

Half-Life 2's almost worth the ?600-1000 you'd end up dropping, but not quite. I think waiting's a very wise move.

[Corrupt Rose]

Half-Life 2's almost worth the ?600-1000 you'd end up dropping, but not quite. I think waiting's a very wise move.

Sorry, but Half Life 2 isn't even nearly worth that.

But I'll go with everyone else and recommend you waiting until the game's been reviewed. Things tend to get delayed horribly (especially big sprawling RPGs), so you never know exactly what the games are going to require...

[simoran1]

just a quick question, not really related to the thread but....

ok i think i should be able to build a pc no problem but the only thing that stops me is that i done know a thing about bios settings. should these be all set up when you turn the pc on automatically or do you have to knwo the settings yourself and change any of them. cheers guys.

[$c8t@]

just a quick question, not really related to the thread but....

ok i think i should be able to build a pc no problem but the only thing that stops me is that i done know a thing about bios settings. should these be all set up when you turn the pc on automatically or do you have to knwo the settings yourself and change any of them. cheers guys.

95% of the time they are set correctly... theres nothing there that would stop you being able to boot to windows desktop etc... may have to change the FSB for example... or maybe disable a couple of onboard devices but nothing major

[Valken]

In a lot of BIOSes there's an option to load defaults if the worst happens and it doesn't autodetect your hardware.

[Magnakai]

Sorry, but Half Life 2 isn't even nearly worth that.

That's sort of what I was suggesting. I thought the ridiculousness of the comment would've highlighted how I was amazed by people's acceptence to drop what is frankly a huge amount of money on something that they're already accepted is a trivial pasttime. Hyn even said

I won't be using this PC for anything other than gaming, too.

[Taurine]

If I can underline that a little, part of my justification for building my new PC back in October was that I had to see why everyone was raving about Half Life 2. I did the same with buying an XBox for Halo, I didn't think I could have a valid opinion if I hadn't given it a chance. But I just don't get any pleasure out of playing HL2 or Halo. If you like that western developer style of PC-oriented game you'll love it. I know loads of people that think these 2 are great and can't understand why I get any pleasure out of Japanese-developed console games. But just because Edge gave these 2 games 10/10 doesn't, unfortunately, mean that they deliver massive enjoyment to a universal audience. I've dropped a lot of my own hard-earned cash to reach that opinion, and I'm sticking to it. And I'm an Edge-believer

Mind you I'm getting some pleasure out of my PC through playing Final Fantasy XI Online. Its not all bad.