So I'm thinking of selling my XB360 stuff for a PC or laptop

[GameMasterGuy]

Me: *insert rant about modern gaming*
Friend: ...why do you have a 360 then?
Me: ...good point. *makes new thread*
Any minimum spec suggestions? I don't want a $1000 powerhouse, but on the other hand, I don't want something that explodes trying to load Skype. I have absolutely no idea what I should be looking for. Any ideas?

[ZenErik]

If you're looking to play games on a budget I highly recommend a laptop with an AMD A-series processor. Preferably with an A8. If you need more processing power then go for an Intel i5 or i7... Perhaps others have more advice.

[GameMasterGuy]

Like this?

[MrPopo]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cor ... ,3097.html

Tom's Hardware did a system builder special a couple months ago where they built three PCs and compared the stats. Here's the link to the $600 one.

[Hazerd]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cor ... ,3097.html

Tom's Hardware did a system builder special a couple months ago where they built three PCs and compared the stats. Here's the link to the $600 one.

Too bad that $600 PC is more than $600...

On there list it says the HDD was $50 lol, $50 for a 500gb i dont think so!

Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 20500%20GB

Damn mother nature sending floods to the great Hard Drive Land of Thailand!

Unfortunately, we can not predict future pricing when components are ordered a month ahead of time; all we can do is shop as you would for the best prices on that given day. Some fluctuation is inevitable by the time the systems are built, tested, and written about. Usually, the discrepancies are quite small and can be overcome by a parallel substitution or two in hardware. This month was an exaggeration of the norm though, as disastrous flooding in Thailand kicked off the spike we’ve seen in hard drive prices. This same drive recently peaked at $115, dropping over a few days to $90. The other components are also bouncing around on a daily basis, leaving the total system between $645-700, depending on when you look. This is worth mentioning, because the increase is significant.

[J T]

Personally, I'm a laptop gamer. This is mainly because I like the portability of a laptop, and because it's my main computer for everything I do, so I need to take it to and from meetings, classes, etc. If this is just a gaming rig, then you are better off with a desktop PC because they are more easily modifiable for ugrading parts.

I use a Lenovo Y570 and I love it. It cost me $880 last November. So far, it's been able to run any game I throw at it. I'm playing games like The Witcher 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Bulletstorm, etc. and they all run great on high settings. The highest resolution for the screen (without using an external monitor) is 1366x768, which is the major bottleneck for the graphics. You'll have to decide if that is a deal breaker for you, but I still think the games look great.

This laptop has an excellent built in keyboard (I love the feel and responsiveness of the keys). It also has pretty decent speakers for a laptop, though I often have it hooked up to headphones or an external PA system.

My only real complaint about this laptop is the touchpad is left of center, so the bottom of my left hand is always touching it when I use the keys. It's also designed to not allow the touchpad to work while you are typing, which I have yet to figure out if that feature can be turned off, but it means I have to play all of my games with an external mouse. I normally do that anyway, but if I'm playing on a bus ride, I can't play FPS games at all because the touchpad doesn't work while I'm using WASD.

Your most important aspect is going to be the graphics card. Here are some links to help out:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 49&t=34859

I'll also add that you should get at least 8GB of RAM and your for your processor, Intel's Core 2 Quad and Core i7 CPUs are good for gaming. The RAM and Processor are the other areas that can significantly limit your gaming performance.

Once you get addicted to Steam sales, you'll find that you always wish you had more HD space, so try to find a harddrive that's as close to a terrabyte as you can get and runs at 7,200 rpm or better. Alternatively, a lot of people are starting to like solid state drives (SSDs) instead because they run so fast they significantly reduce load times; however, they don't come anywhere near the storage capacity of a traditional harddrive.

[MrNash]

Me: *insert rant about modern gaming*
Friend: ...why do you have a 360 then?
Me: ...good point. *makes new thread*
Any minimum spec suggestions? I don't want a $1000 powerhouse, but on the other hand, I don't want something that explodes trying to load Skype. I have absolutely no idea what I should be looking for. Any ideas?

Do you have a copy of Culdcept Saga you're looking to sell?

[Erik_Twice]

My hard drive failed when the flooding happened and I can attest that you are lucky to get that hard drive for far less than I did.

[sabrage]

I've always regretted selling my consoles. Get a job instead.

[neilencio]

quick! sell the 360 while it's still working!

On a more serious note, since you seem to dislike modern gaming, and want a gaming pc that can be bought on a tight budget, try to shop around for cheap premade systems based on a sandy bridge core i3. Then upgrade its videocard with a midrange card in the 90-100+ range(e.g. nvidia GT *40 or *.50 or anything similar offered by ATI). There's also no harm in finding second hand cards being sold by people who have already upgraded if it's gonna save you a lot of money.

A rig like this will probably cost less than $600 and still let you play modern games on low to mid settings (high if it's one of those ports that were done right). The games you'll be able to play are still x360 level when it comes to visuals.

And the bonus is that the core i3 (which is only 2 cores but has a 3+ ghz clock) and a midrange videocard will let you emulate a lot of PS2, Wii/GC, and Dreamcast games at HD resolutions. There's also the bit that the electricity consumption is way less than if you're going to go hog wild with a multicore and a high end vidcard (a great plus if you're the one paying the electricity bill).

YMMV, though. I'm only speaking from experience. My PC is even weaker than my recommendation (a 3.06 ghz e6600 with a GT 440), but I can still play modern games like Arkham City and Sonic Generations at mid settings, Super SF IV arcade at max. As for emulating last gen systems, it can do the non-cpu intensive games (majority of the games currently supported by PCSX2) at x2 internal resolution without any slowdown. Total cost of the rig is Php 13,000 after the videocard and the ram upgrade (roughly $305 US?).

Another advantage to buying premade is that some shops use OEM hard disks that were not marked up in price after the floods in Thailand, so the whole PC can be cheaper than if you just assembled one from parts you bought individually.