well i am in GREAT need of a new computer. the one im using now is 4-5 years old and just plain sucks.

soo, my dilemma.
desktop vs laptop?
building a desktop vs buying one?

well for 1, i dont know how to build one. so thats a bit of a problem.
2. i dont really know whats a good desktop for whatever im paying.
3. laptop portability would be nice, and probably less expensive, but is probably not as nice quality wise.

so does anyone know of any good deals? like what i should look for? and how to get it cheap?

i know that i need to be able to run a game like bfbc2. so that should give you an idea of the quality im looking for.
if you know of any specific desktops or whatever, please tell me. or if you can refer me to a site that will help me.
or just tell me what i need to check for in each computer that i look at.

thanks.
and take this seriously please, just because im not as smart when it comes to stuff like this doesnt mean you have to flame and make jokes... because i know it will happen.

1) If your "not as smart when it comes to stuff like this" i would suggest buying your own computer rather than building one.

2) If your gaming buy a desktop PC. idk how many more times i need to say it to people.

As to what to look for:

CPU - Look for high Ghz and a large cache. No matter what people say the cache is more important than the Ghz, i.e. a 3Ghz CPU with a 6mb cache will be slower than a 2.4GHz processor with a 12mb cache. Also look out for intels new "i" series, they fucking rule.

Graphics card - If your going with ATI, the HD5700 series or higher will keep you going for a couple of years. As for nvidia i would say a GTX260+ will be good enough. However there new cards are coming out soon (might already be out idk).

RAM - Vista/7 can only handle 4GB of RAM. Anymore and you won't really see your performance jump that much.

Hard drive - 500GB+. But saying that i have a 250GB HDD in my PC at the moment and i get a 20 second boot-up time with windows 7.

A decent desktop PC pre-built that will last you 3-4 years should cost no more than £800 - £1000. Not including a monitor.

Okay thanks.

I'm okay with a price like that, I actually expected to pay more.
Ill try to look around for a couple things and see what I come up with and post them here to get you guys final approval.
Once again thanks myst.

Well, depends. If you have a 20 inch or more, it might get tricky with the resolution of the games. ( You might have to lower 'em )
If you want a cheap, strong but hot card, you should think of the HD4870 or for 30 bucks more the HD4890.

And wait till march when the new GTX 480/470 series get out and have a look at the prizes.

What's the rundown on the core2 duo processor vs quad core vs "i" series? Is one better than another? Or is one made for a certain thing?

From best to worse:

i7 > i5 > i3 > quadcore

I would go for a i7 or a high spec quad core.

i7 is new technology, more cores (6), the highest spec model is 0.2GHz better than quad core and a better bus speed.

However a good quad core has a 12mb cache, which is 4mb more than any i7 model released! 4mb = a lot!

It's really up to you, i would go with a i7.

These may help too:

http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... ations.htm
http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... ations.htm

Okay thanks.
I just got a dell catalog today and I've been looking through it to kind of get an idea.
I have a couple I'm looking at that seem to match everything, but I'm anxious to grab a chance to get home and look around some on their site and google.
With the specs you listed, I can pretty much play any high-end game?

I'd recommend looking at intel's lynnfield processors, especially the i5-750 and i7-860.

heres one i found, even has a monitor too.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops ... _anav_03~~


i know you said no laptops, but i couldnt help posting these 2. the first one seems to be lacking on the processor...
http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... dhs&~ck=mn
this one is a little bit behind on what you said the graphics card should be... althought the processor should be just fine.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... &~lt=popup