Should I Build A Computer?

So I have had this idea in my head for a while. Basically I've always thought it be nice to have a computer (laptop or desktop) that was strictly for games, with like two dozen or games all installed at the same time. Most of the games are from the late 1990's and early 2000's, so there not too demanding considering modern stadards.

My brother suggusted that maybe I should build a computer? Is this a good idea? Should I just buy a cheap computer and fix it up?

I'm not very good when it comes to computer specs but I was thinking specs somethine like this:
*At least 2.25 if not up 3GHz processor
*At leat 1GB of RAM if not more
*At least 300GB of HDD
*256MB video card
*Windows XP with Internet

Here is a list of the games I like to have on this fictional computer (some I own now, some I plan on getting):
* Empire Total War
* Medieval Total War 1
* Medieval Total War 2
* Shogun 2: Total War
* Fallout 1
* Fallout 2
* Half Life 1
* Half Life 2
* Portal 1
* Portal 2
* TERA (maybe)
* World in Conflict
* Sniper Ghost Warrior
* Battlefield 2
* Civilization 2
* Civilization 4
* Age of Empires 3
* Rise of Nations
* RollerCoaster Tycoon 1
* Simcity 3000
* Stronghold

You'll need way better specs to run Shogun 2: Total War, Empire: Total War, Portal 2 and all other source engine games.

I suggest you get around 800$ and buy some good parts, the people in the Hardware section are very helpfull when it comes to building PC's

if you post this in the PC Hardware disscussion of the forum you will get better responses and a question like this kinda belongs over there anyway lol :)

You'll need way better specs to run Shogun 2: Total War, Empire: Total War, Portal 2 and all other source engine games.

ventnor

if you post this in the PC Hardware disscussion of the forum you will get better responses and a question like this kinda belongs over there anyway lol :)

UltimateGamer95

Building your own computer is a very good thing to do but only attempt it if you've got experience or somebody to help you.

There's also loads of custom PC websites that build them for you ( some are better than others ) as a PC technician I know they often have lots of hidden charges but a good one that's currently being put together is www.skorchcomputers.com I think it goes live next week but it is good for beginners such as yourself to see what you have to look into for building. Hope this helps.

well I'd suggest a computer with:

CPU: AMD athlon x2 (AM2/AM2+ interface) or an older Intel Core 2 Duo

RAM: 2GB of DDR2 800

hard drive: 320 GB

Video card: Nvidia 9600 gt or ATI 3870

now this is considering that you want to play Portal and Half-Life 2 but it will be overkill for the other games but even the specs I listed would be rather cheap now considering those specs would be from around 2007. and besides you want to consider the fact that you might want to install other games on it eventually like Team Fortress 2 or Bioshock or something like that.

How much money would it cost to build a computer around these games?ghostphantom563

[QUOTE="ghostphantom563"]How much money would it cost to build a computer around these games?UltimateGamer95

[QUOTE="UltimateGamer95"]

[QUOTE="ghostphantom563"]How much money would it cost to build a computer around these games?ghostphantom563

[QUOTE="ghostphantom563"][QUOTE="UltimateGamer95"] depends on what you are willing to spend really.

SimoSays2541

[QUOTE="SimoSays2541"]

[QUOTE="ghostphantom563"] I like to keep it under $500 if I can.ghostphantom563

Well then you can't get a computer that will run alot of the games you listed for that price. I got my GPU (Which was slightly worse than the one I have currently, about 40$ Price difference) PSU, CPU, Mobo and RAM for ~660$ (All of the "actual" hardware) I already had, Case, Monitor, Speakers, Headset, M+KB and whatnot. I really suggest you invest about 1000$ in it then.

Your system really doesn't need a lot of power to run those games, a fairly priced, efficient for the price GPU is all you need for these games. I recommend 2 GB of RAM at least, because RAM is very cheap these days, and even laptops under 500$ have 4GB RAM. HOWEVER, since you're running Windows XP, you can neglect on the RAM, 1 GB is more than enough, but if you get Windows 7, then definitely get at least 2GB! Get a card around $30 to $80, that is the low range card that you need, and it'll play your games fine and fast. Processor speed isn't really important, remember that, a money-efficient and power-efficient processor would be most of the models of Intel Duo Core, those will do for your games, you really don't need a quad core or anything. Even a Pentium etc. would do for your machine.Blazember

* Empire Total War

* Medieval Total War 2

* Shogun 2: Total War

*World in Conflict

* Sniper Ghost Warriorghostphantom563

Those games needs some really good hardware to run.

[QUOTE="ventnor"]

You'll need way better specs to run Shogun 2: Total War, Empire: Total War, Portal 2 and all other source engine games.

ghostphantom563

well I'd suggest a computer with:

CPU: AMD athlon x2 (AM2/AM2+ interface) or an older Intel Core 2 Duo

RAM: 2GB of DDR2 800

hard drive: 320 GB

Video card: Nvidia 9600 gt or ATI 3870

now this is considering that you want to play Portal and Half-Life 2 but it will be overkill for the other games but even the specs I listed would be rather cheap now considering those specs would be from around 2007. and besides you want to consider the fact that you might want to install other games on it eventually like Team Fortress 2 or Bioshock or something like that.

UltimateGamer95

they dont sell 3800 series gpu's anymore (omitting ebay and frontierpc) and the 4670 is bettah!

[QUOTE="ghostphantom563"][QUOTE="ventnor"]

You'll need way better specs to run Shogun 2: Total War, Empire: Total War, Portal 2 and all other source engine games.

gosmo

There's a large difference on from Source to Source 2009 (Left 4 Dead 2) And it's abit more demanding, not extreme though.

Also have you tried the recent Total War games? I tell you I'm having worse perfomance on Napoleon and Empire than I'm having in Crysis, which runs perfectly maxed out at 4 AA

To run games like Empire Total War and TERA you need a much better computer than the one you suggested. Go over to the hardware section and look for some builds.

Build your own, save up for about $1000 for a good one.

Pre-builts can not be ugraded easily. DO NOT BUY PRE-BUILT.

Also, research about parts for at least one month before you buy, preferably longer.

Building one, is easy. It's like legos. The the hard part is knowing what makes the parts good.

we can help you get ur own build if you're from united state we will use http://www.newegg.com/ and http://www.microcenter.com/ and pre-build will rip you off so bad that ul have to sell ur leg to get it upgrade and working good under all game condition

a 1000$ own build can max out Starcraft 2 at 1920x1200 without issue

but you can get a good pc to play all those game you mention for as low as 700$ : all include