Ok, need advice on building/ buying a brand new desktop!

[Mank]

Why are you upgrading?

-The only PC I have at the moment is an old Sony Viao laptop with basically no graphics card, so to celebrate Rome 2 coming out I'm getting a new PC. What I'm shooting for is a desktop that can handle gaming (projected Rome 2 quality) at a basic to mid-level performance.

What is your budget?

-Roughly $1200 (I know it isn't much as this includes periphreals, but I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me stretch it )

Where do you live?

-Utah (western USA)

Can you build this computer yourself, or do you need to buy prebuilt?

-I have NO experience building PC's...that said I'm not afraid to try what with all the resources available online these days. I'd really like to have both options fleshed out, one for if I try and build it myself as well as the best buy if I flat out purchase it. If what I can get for DIY is WAY better then I'll probably go for it.


What screen resolution will you be using?

-Since the lump sum ($1200) will include a purchase of a monitor I really don't know. I'm not picky about anything too big or flashy, just needs to look descent enough to enjoy.


What websites/stores can you purchase parts from?

-I have just investigated this online, and so far I've found these stores nearby:

• A mom and pop store called Byte-Tech : byte-tech.net/
• A PC Laptops store : www.pclaptops.com

If these two places don't have it, it will probably be up to Amazon or some other supplier that could ship parts if need be.

Do you need to purchase peripherals?

-Unfortunately yes, the last desktop I had was ancient so absolutley everything except my external hard drives are on the shopping list.


When do you plan to buy this computer/parts?

-Luckily I have some time here. I'm hoping to make the purchase after my move (a month or 2) so it gives plenty of time to find the best route to take.

Any help with this would be most appreciated! I am really trying to avoid the ease of just going into Best Buy because I know there's a better way to get a PC, I'm just not up to date enough to do it all on my own.

Thanks for taking a look!

-Mank

[Totalheadache]

well haswell and new gpus will be out around August so best to wait till then...

[Mank]

Ok great! Since I'm not in a big hurry that might work out really great for the graphics side of things (if they're in my price range, I really don't know how much $1200 can be streached if you build a PC yourself).

No worries if my original question is just too wide a subject to really answer easily, I'm sure there are many parts that would need to be pulled together to make a good recommendation and that's time consuming.

Thanks again Totalheadache for the tip, I'll keep my eyes open for those new gpu's!

[Totalheadache]

Ok great! Since I'm not in a big hurry that might work out really great for the graphics side of things (if they're in my price range, I really don't know how much $1200 can be streached if you build a PC yourself).

No worries if my original question is just too wide a subject to really answer easily, I'm sure there are many parts that would need to be pulled together to make a good recommendation and that's time consuming.

Thanks again Totalheadache for the tip, I'll keep my eyes open for those new gpu's!

well if from the US usually do a parts list from newegg. can do you a build when the new stuff is out...sometimes new cpus/gpus arent a massive leap forward but as we are so close it's worth waiting to see what ill happen.

for $1200 can do a decent build that should run ultra @1080p. i'll have a peek at some screens for you...