Looking for a New Desktop, need some help.

Ok I am happy with my laptop and all, and GW looks GORGEOUS on it, but....it heats up like CRAZY and I'm afraid it will burn out so I need to get a new desktop.

What I'm wondering is, is it possible to buy a reliable computer for playing GW, GW2, and Oblivion for under 600? I mean buy it made, I am confident with upgrading the graphics card, but that's it. I don't plan on playing many computer games, and I think Oblivion will be the most demanding of them all (I doubt GW2 will require as much).

I just need the desktop, already have a screen and stuff. Hopefully that will save some money.

So what should I look for? Is it possible for under 600? I don't need crazy good alien-ware, just good enough to make oblivion look good.

*edit* No dells, but HP, Compaq, Lenovo are all ok with me. Im not sure about other brands.

Firstly i gotta ask, are you in Europe or USA, cause 600 Euro/Pound is alot more than $600,

Secondly, do you have any preference as to Intel or AMD....

Yes, it's possible to find what you want. One good way to go would be to check places like Newegg for pre-assembled "bare bones" setups which have no monitor, keyboard, OS etc. Most likely you'd be looking at an AMD based system.
But first we need to know, as above, dollars(CDN, US, AUS), pounds, euros?

Sorry I keep forgetting the world doesn't revolve around America XD

Yeah its USA money.

Best I could do.

The case is usually $50, atleast it was this weekend.
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz + G.Skill 4GB DDR3 1333
XFX 4770
OCZ StealthX 500w + Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G
Antec 300 case
DVD Burner

If you like lights this Combo will save you $15. Its the same mobo and case, but the case comes with LED fans.

Zom - the OP seems to be reluctant to build for himself - which most likely means he/she will not get much of a gaming computer for $600...... :/

I saw this Acer at BestBuy for 499 that looked fine. All it would need was a graphics card.

Wish I could remember the stats

Actually it was an Asus....not Acer.....ugh silly me.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+E...&skuId=9541766

That Desktop + a certain graphics card. Wouldn't that play Oblivion just fine?

Once it plays Oblivion It will play everything else I have. I don't play crysis or anything like that.

I forgot the graphics card but an employee at Best buy said he makes computers for his friend and he plays oblivion so this should work....but I'm always not really trusting about employees.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+-...&skuId=9539671

I think that was the graphics card but I wasn't sure.

The desktop is pretty damn good for just 500$...Only the onboard GPU sucks badly, but good RAM, good CPU. But watch out for overheating with it...It hasn't got much cooling I noticed...

I think if you'd buy a seperate GPU for about 100$ you'd be able to run Oblivion with that PC, although not on too high graphics....

So all in all, I think for its price this is a very good PC, although I'm not sure about what's really in the inside (most of the time it's of the cheapest hardware in these kind of PC's...) and watch out for overheating.

Overheating is why I dont play games on my laptop >_<

Well I could 1) see if there are fan upgrades I could buy or 2) keep the case open and just blow a silent fan on it constantly XD

Haha, well for 600$ you'll never really have a perfect gaming machine :/, you'll always have issues. I've just built my own computer for just 1250€, that doubles your price ofcourse, but I never have issues running any game, it can handle Crysis on highest graphics with an FPS of 40 (which is damn high for that game), and I also never have overheating (I've got 6 fans in my case only already :P).

I don't know the reason why you only want to invest 600$ in your computer, but if I were you I'd spend a bit more, and then you won't have issues running most games, and no overheating.. Then you'd be looking in the ranger of 800-900$ I think. Including OS, no monitor, mouse,...

I don't have the resources for that much money. Also Besides Oblivion, I don't intend on playing any more PC games at all that come out except maybe GW2. The only other things I play are emulation and age of empires so I don't really need the high end computer that everyone is so nuts about getting.

....maybe team fortress 2 also....but I think Oblivion is higher req than that. If anything, I love a lot of the older games a lot more then the newer ones, so I have no reason to get the best gaming computer. I play my Wii a lot more anyways.

Well then I guess you could go for the desktop you suggested, but don't expect it to run Oblivion very well, midrange graphics orso..

And get another GPU. These days you have excellent GPU's for lower prices (I love the HD4890, which only costs 190€).

to play Oblivion on high settings with good FPS you only need a single HD 4850 or a 9800 GT - that's at a resolution of 1680 x 1050 or lower without AA - but the game will run very well and look very good on either of those GPUs and they both can be had for under $100 online now.

So if it ends up I have cooling issues, do I buy another fan or something? Is there an effective remedy for it?

The best remedy for overheating is to avoid it - do so by having a roomy case with fans placed to provide optimal airflow - draw cool air in and push hot air out (experimentation is the key since every setup is different); proper application of thermal paste on the CPU is essential as well, if you tend to do more than mild overclocking with AMD you should get an aftermarket cooler, if Intel get any aftermarket for any overclocking - if you don't overclock you don't need to worry about it.

Unfortunately you said no dells when your best bang for the buck is usually a dell.
Check fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net and go to hot deals forums. You can find deals on all brands of computers but most of the components are basically the same. If I were you, I'd grab a dell or lenovo desktop for $2xx-$500 and add a nice video card and some ram. Dell deals also sometimes come with 20" widescreen monitors which is why I recommend them over others. THERE WILL BE TONS OF DEALS OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS. Make sure to get it loaded with Windows 7.

I used to build computers and know all the basics to how oc and all that junk. IMO, just get a reliable dual core @ 2.4+ ghz and add the ram and vid card. Or you could build one for under $600 without monitor and add a decent on for under $175. Check those deal sites cuz it will help you with a lot of purchases.

Ok, so this blackfriday ima camp out at best buy and hopefully that desktop will be discounted. If not I'll buy it at a later date sometime.

BUT since Black Friday will be utter chaos and I wont have time to think, and I suck at knowing one graphics card from another, which one or ones should i keep an eye out for to upgrade it to play oblivion? I know 2 were mentioned here, but some cards are labeled differently or something and I can't tell if they are worse/better/same as the ones mentioned.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Video-Gr...at182300050008

These are all the PCI E ones at best buy so....which ones without getting into the 100s

For instance, how do you feel about VisionTek - ATI RADEON HD 4350 512MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card?

Or the PNY - NVIDIA GeForce 210 512MB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card

Ok, you need to order the graphics card from Newegg... period. Those graphics cards are so hideously overpriced that I... uh... /vomit.

Or just order this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227200


And be done with it. (PS> iBuyPower is a great company, period, end of story)

While I'm happy you are helping me with price, it still doesn't say exactly which I should get lol.

So I did some youtube searches to see how oblivion looked on several cards, and I figured an HD 4650 was enough for me. Problem is, on newegg, there are several different kinds and Im not sure which I should get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ue&Order=PRICE

do some have fans? Are the fans louder on others then some? Do some preform better? Or should I just get the cheapest hd 4650

They are all pretty similiar.
The MSI one's have a slightly high memory clock and further down the page there are versions with 1GB memory. 1GB memory wouldn't make a huge amount of difference with such a low spec card. I'm also not sure if the difference between 800mhz and 1000mhz would be worth the cost.

Cheapest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-178-_-Product
Slightly high mem clock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-417-_-Product
Cheapest 1GB version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-340-_-Product

I'm not sure how the cash-back rebates work in the US and how reliable they are, but if they work that 1GB Asus version would be the best bang for buck, as it has slightly improved performance and is the same price as the cheapest card there.

They all have fan's, they should sit at around the same volume, but I would ask somewhere/someone else to be sure.