$500 Gaming Computer? (Laptop or Desktop)

For my birthday, I wanted a gaming laptop or desktop, and my mom's budget is $500. Anyone know of a good one?

get a desktop, you won't get anything goodout of a laptop for 500 bucks

lol $500 laptops are netbooks.....

Are you allowed to build it yourself?

For $500, its hard to find a preassembled desktop that's good.

Yeah, I could assemble the one on Maximum PC...

The problem is finding the parts they listed. I can't seem to find any of them in stock anywhere.

Yah, you have to go with a desktop if you want to get anything but crap for under $500. Gaming laptops are twice as expensive as gaming desktops.

Do you have a monitor, keyboard, operating system, speakers and a mouse, or does that stuff also have to be included in the price?

Included. Sadly.

My mom has just decided to raise her budget to under 900, so...

You'll still want a desktop. A half-decent gaming laptop will cost at least a thousand.

Desktops are far superior to laptops for gaming, buy one of those or build your own.

ang, not really, the only thing that makes them superior is price point

Well, after telling my mom building one would be cheaper, she decided it would be a good project for me. :/. If anyone has a decently cheap and good parts list and tutorial, that would be nice.

Nocbl2 wrote:Well, after telling my mom building one would be cheaper, she decided it would be a good project for me. :/. If anyone has a decently cheap and good parts list and tutorial, that would be nice.

I have one for under a thousand bucks, I don't if you want the build though.

I can put together an updated list for you tomorrow, if you want.

Elabajaba wrote:I can put together an updated list for you tomorrow, if you want.

That works. Thanks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009275

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836150083

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126191

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826575002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.592942

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.601682

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094

There's all the parts. If you need a wireless card, you can get one for about $15-$20.

Gaming PC must haves:
>8GB RAM or more
>Intel i7 processor
>Terabyte harddrive (1000 GB)

I don't know much about good graphics cards, but that's also very important

Other things to consider:
>Keyboard and mouse set-up
>Disk drive
>Speaker quality (and sound card)
>Number of USB ports (you'll probably want three or more)
>Webcam

Plus, after you buy the computer, you'll probably need...
>MS Office
>An Anti-Virus Software Package

I just listed the first things that came to mind. Obviously there are other things to consider.

CivBase wrote:Gaming PC must haves:
>8GB RAM or more
I have yet to see a game use 4gb of RAM. Its better to have more, but it isn't required, especially when on a budget
>Intel i7 processor
Incorrect.
>Terabyte harddrive (1000 GB)
I'm around 50% capacity on my 1tb (btw, 1tb=1024 gb, not 1000), and I don't delete anything and download a good amount of stuff
I don't know much about good graphics cards, but that's also very important
The GPU is more important than anything you've listed here so far civ
Other things to consider:
>Keyboard and mouse set-up
This is personal preference for the most part as to how they like the look and feel of their mouse and keyboard. Of course, a $100 mechanical keyboard is much better than your standard cheap keyboard, and a G5 or G9 or equivalent mouse is better than a generic cheap mouse, but doesn't really make a big difference compared to getting better hardware
>Disk drive

>Speaker quality (and sound card)

Sound cards are expensive and unneeded unless you're an audiophile for the most part. Also, considering that a good set of speakers will cost you quite a bit, its not worth it. Even for a $5000 build, I wouldn't spend more than $100 on speakers, and I would probably put that towards a good headset instead.
>Number of USB ports (you'll probably want three or more)



>Webcam


Plus, after you buy the computer, you'll probably need...
>MS Office
Easily replaced by something like open office , or youcould just use google docs, it'll handle all your basic word processing needs.
>An Anti-Virus Software Package
There's a few good ones that are free, no need to pay for one.

I just listed the first things that came to mind. Obviously there are other things to consider.

I know you're trying to help civ, but its pretty obvious you don't know what you're talking about.
Responses in bold, other than a few smilies because i was too lazy to write a few sentences to explain why that is incorrect.

Thanks Elab.

generally speaking, you want 320 or 500gb on your tower, and get externals for more storage space. cause the built in harddrive is the most likely to fail, and with 1 tb internal it gets a lot harder to make backups