Looking to buy a turnkey gaming system in the $1200 Range

Hello, thanks in advance for any advice. My last system is about 5 years old and is on it's last legs. It actually runs GW just fine but is just a locking up mess when I am doing other things. Building my last system was kind of a nightmare so I really want to just buy a system that I don't really need to assemble or do anything with. My budget is fairly arbitrary right now, but I was thinking about $1200 for a system that will keep me running for another 5 years like my last one.

Is anyone familiar with the Titanium Gamer systems? I was shopping on Amazon and it seemed to give me the most bang for my buck. Notably this system:

http://www.amazon.com/Titanium-Gamer...25737&sr =1-1

Not familiar with them, but that computer is combining a high end Processor and 12 Gb of RAM (3x what almost anyone really needs) with a low end video card. IN other words, not a good combination. Also if the listing doesn't tell you what the Power Supply is, chances are that it is a no name budget unit with very poor specifications. Never ever ever skimp on the Power Supply when building or buying a gaming computer. Does you budget need to include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.. or just the PC itself?

Yeah, I'm not that familiar with current video cards. Honestly, I really just play GW right now but obviously I want something that will easily run GW2 when it comes along. So am I kind over budgeting for my needs perhaps?

I do not need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers.

The system specs look "nice" but you should try to mimic them with parts from companies you know will deliver.

No one needs 12 GB of RAM right now for Gaming, so that part of the system will last you 5 years, lol. Intel is always doing something crazy with a new CPU, so not sure if the 2.06 i7 will be "hip" in 5 years but 5 years later the Mobile 2.3 GHz Core 2 Duo in my Mac is doing everything it should and more. Look into getting a Radeon HD 5xxx series or higher and a PSU made by a reputable company, keep away from low grade Power Supplies if you want to come home to a house that didn't burn down. I'm using a 650W Corsair on my gaming PC and it kicks ass. Corsair is probably one of better brands out there.

I've got a hunch that GW2 will run on my current gaming platform, but I'm not sure how high the shaders will go before the frames take a hit.

I'll tell you my specs and what I play with frames included so you can have an idea what to go off of.

Corsair TX 650 Watt
Phenom Tri Core 2.10 Ghz
5 GB Ram
ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024 MB
500 GB HDD, extra 250 lyin around thrown in for moar space

All games are totally (no bullshit) maxed out and on 1920x1080.

Oblivion (modded): 30-40 Frames
Call of Duty 4: 120 Frames
CoD World at War: 90+ frames
Modern Warfare 2: 90-110 Frames
Guild Wars: 45-50-60 (doesn't really go higher or lower often, very weird)
Valve Source Games (GMod, hl2+episodes, l4d1, l4d2): well over 100-105 Frames
EverQuest II (should be 70) but it's 15 Frames (yes, ouch, the game is broken as hell about the hardware it likes and doesn't like. nothing I can do about it)
Vanguard SoH: 50-60 Frames (Maximum)

for reference sake only:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227319

You won't need anything more powerful than that to play GW2 at Max settings on a 1080p monitor; of course it would laugh at GW1. hehe The only problem with this unit is the Power Supply is a generic unit that I would not recommend. However you can go to IBUYPOWER's own website and customize a computer to fit your needs.... you pay more, but at least you can choose your own parts.

Thanks for the info, I'm still open minded to assembling a system, I'm just afraid of having a bunch of incompatibility issues like I had the last time I did it (it was a Vista thing though...). Just looking at the build thread over at the GW2 forum has me kind of sweating the thought ("this company sucks....", "this memory doesn't work with this board", "video card overheats", etc...).

I will spend some time educating myself about the current video cards.

I remember back in the day AMD was kind of crap but I assume you guys feel a lot more comfortable with an AMD system nowadays.

I have nothing against AMD these days. I bought an AMD system back in 2004 and it was an overheating turd most of it's life. Even with regular dust cleaning, a new heatsink and paste, the thing would just stay hot. I used to play GW on it years ago and I'd take the side panel off and put a big deskfan next to it, still didn't help.

It was a 2.20 GHz Athalon. Years later running diagnostics software on it, I found out that it was really a 1.82 GHz Athalon. Hooray for saving a few bucks, AMD, and locking a factory overclock into the system to show and advertise it at more than it can handle.

Thanks so much guys, I'm impatient as hell. I ended up going with this system. Wish me luck:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229224

I might have to swap out the power supply later I realize but it seemed like a decent deal.
Now I'll have a 3rd desktop system downstairs and maybe get my 7 year old (along with my 9 year old who already plays) into GW too.

I'd suggest swapping out the PSU now - it sounds like you have some experience and you don't have to worry about compatibility between parts, just unplug one set of wires and plug another in.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371016

best $50 you ever spent, and yes that is enough wattage for your system.

Really? I'm open to following your advice, it just seems a bit weird pulling out a 800w power supply and putting in something smaller. But I don't plan on running any other power draining peripherals other than a wireless network card.

A 550W Antec is likely to be infinitely superior to an unbranded, generic 800W PSU.

I believe that unit is a XtremeGear brand PSU..... which is pretty bleh at best I'm afraid. Go look at www.hardwaresecrets.com or www.jonnyguru.com to see just how bad generic PSU's can be. Anyone can claim to produce 800watts, but actually doing so in real world scenarios and at realistic temperatures is another story altogether.
When in doubt, buy a name brand.

Cool, I'll just zip over to Fry's when it comes in and grab a nice power supply. Thanks so much for the advice, guys. Much appreciated!

Sorry to double post and bump my own thread but I wanted to thank everyone again for the advice. I did end up buying that Antec power supply and installed it in place of that generic power supply. I went ahead and threw that generic power supply into my old computer which had a three year old power supply on its last legs.

The only significant issue I had was getting the internet working with Windows 7. Some weird DNS issue. Finally after scouring the internet for tips, I just set up manual IP addresses and everything worked great after that.

The new system can run GW Multilauncher with 3 instances of windowed GW without a problem.