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I'm thinking of jumping over to the gaming pc world and have seen the alienware x51 (the £999 one). Mainly want it to play BF3.
Thoughts on this or maybe a different unit.
Alienware are pretty overpriced for what they are. You could definitely find better elsewhere or even build your own for a lot less
Get a PC, decent graphics card, decent processor, play games on it.
The gaming PC is pretty much a marketing invention unless you're going to run three widescreen 3D monitors etc., but i've not yet met anyone who actually does that. #waits for the inevitable#
It's a decent spec, note that it doesn't come with a monitor.
For perspective, if you were to get the same spec from scan.co.uk as separate components and build it yourself, it comes to around ~£820 (this is rough and ready, using midrange components for anything not specified, eg motherboard).
You'll probably be fine with an i5 (say, 3570k) instead of an i7. You'll probably want a nice sound card (makes a massive difference to games) - the alienware doesn't come with one.
Have a look at this:
[url= http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1452 ]Scan Premade System[/url]
Better graphics card, double the storage space, comes with a sound card, also comes with an SSD (very fast hard drive), for £50 more than the Alienware
What is it that draws you to the PC that you think will be better?
PC gaming hardware is more advanced than the consoles for the most part and visually can be better.
However, there is a fair trend for games to be developed for console first, then latterly ported to the PC ... causing the PC version to not feel quite as good as it could be. ( MW3 I feel is a prime example imho )
I have a fairly decent PC which I use for graphics stuff ( Photoshop, After Effects etc ) with the odd couple of games on it.
Even with that, I still think that the console route is the better platform to play games on.
[url= http://www.chillblast.com/Chillblast-Fusion-Battlefield-Special-Limited-Edition-PC.html ]Chillblast[/url]
Is a £1000 gaming PC really going to give that much of a better gaming experience than an Xbox 360 you picked up off ebay for £60?
Spend another £250 and buy yourself a projector so you can play on a 10ft screen and you've still saved almost £700.
I love techy/shiny things, but you can't beat the press-the-power-button-and-away-you-go nature of consoles. Cheap, effective, simple and comparatively robust.
Is a £1000 gaming PC really going to give that much of a better gaming experience than an Xbox 360 you picked up off ebay for £60?
Yes.
Yes.
Hmmmm, I don't know. I play on a friend's awesome PC set up and although money generally burns like thermite in my pocket, I never really feel the urge to go out and spank £1k on one.
Is a £1000 gaming PC really going to give that much of a better gaming experience than an Xbox 360 you picked up off ebay for £60?Yes.
^This.
I liken it to high-end audio, HiFi stuff. Very high resolution, anti-aliased graphics are sublime. Playing a console after playing on a top-spec PC is like listening to music though laptop speakers after Quads 'n' KEFs.
I love techy/shiny things, but you can't beat the press-the-power-button-and-away-you-go nature of consoles. Cheap, effective, simple and [b]comparatively robust.[/b]
Red ring of death / Yellow light of death, anyone?
The only thing consoles are good for is football games.
I'd say build your own, i5 K series, Gigabyte Z77 mobo, SSD system drive, storage drive if needed, a good quality 550w minimum PSU, 8gb pc1600 Gskill, optical drive, a nice heatsink and spunk whatever is lift on a GFX card
I'd normally default to www.overclockers.co.uk for anything PC related but seeing that Scan system Scuzz linked to is pretty good. Still no screen but a basic 1920x1200 can be picked up relatively cheap nowadays.
Although 2560x1440/1600 is the new std 😉
Gaming machine should all have Watercooling though (shameless own picture)
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Hmmmm, I don't know. I play on a friend's awesome PC set up and although money generally burns like thermite in my pocket, I never really feel the urge to go out and spank £1k on one.
Ok but PCs are far better for gaming, consoles just make it simple and easy to access.
As mentioned above look at the spec and price it up elsewhere, Ebuyer or Scan do good packages. They easy to build up but if you're unsure I'm sure asking around you'll find someone who has done one.
^This.
I liken it to high-end audio, HiFi stuff. Very high resolution, anti-aliased graphics are sublime. Playing a console after playing on a top-spec PC is like listening to music though laptop speakers after Quads 'n' KEFs.
I suppose it comes down to what you want out of it.
For less money, I had an Xbox 360 hooked up to a mahoosiv projector in a dedicated room with surround sound.
Sure, the graphics were no where near as crisp as a gaming PC, but I much prefered it.
If it's ultimate graphics reality you want, just go outside and play football, shoot people, fly helicopters etc 🙂
I got some great deals from Dabs a year ago when I upgraded.
[url= http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-179-OE&groupid=43&catid=2040&subcat= ]This[/url]
System Specification
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 Gaming Case - Black (default choice, options available)
- Power Supply: OCZ ZS 750w PSU
- CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz Sandybridge overclocked to 4.40GHz
- Motherboard: EVGA Z68 SLI Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
- Cooler: Corsair A50 CPU Cooler
- RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: 1TB HDD
- Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 7850 2048MB (Crossfire option available)
- Sound: Realtek 7.1 Channel Sound (On-Board)
- Optical Drive: LG DVD±RW Drive - OEM
EDIT: or spend a lot less (on the system) and load it us with a couple of SSDs and watch it flyyyy
Hmmmm, I don't know. I play on a friend's awesome PC set up and although money generally burns like thermite in my pocket, I never really feel the urge to go out and spank £1k on one.
The bottom line is, if you want the latest graphic performance, audio quality, as well as proper aiming, then you will go for a PC.
There is nothing at all wrong with consoles, but PCs have a much faster upgrade cycle in comparison.
If you build your own, it can sometimes work out cheaper.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-introducing-the-digital-foundry-pc
would be a good place to start, but you need to factor in a monitor,keyboard/mouse and a copy of Windows
There is nothing at all wrong with consoles, but PCs have a much faster upgrade cycle in comparison.
Indeed, the graphics chip in the PS3 is the same as on nVidia's flagship GPU from ~2005. Since then, there have been 8 new graphics card generations. It's a little bit mental, really.
Thanks yuall, what about monitor - I was thinking of hooking it up to my tv. It's a 42" panasonic vierra 1080p plasma I can't remember the hertz (in work) but would it be better using a descent monitor?
What about an ex CAD Workstation ?
They tend to be quite high spec. Tier1online have Dell Precision's now & again pretty cheap.
The only thing consoles are good for is football games.
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Yeah everyone knows wendyball games are bestest on PC's.
Cobblers
Too right, what about being sworn at by 10 year olds?!
Yeah everyone knows wendyball games are bestest on PC's.
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OI! don't be dissing kick off 2
I just use my dads previous PC (which I'll have built 12months prior) and stick a £125ish GPU in it.
Only need silly money if you're going to silly high res. I'm happy with 1280x1024 and more money to spend on bikes 🙂
OI! don't be dissing kick off 2
Quite the opposite, I was dismissing the idea that "wendyball games are bestest on PC's."
Moreover, the idea that consoles are 'only' good for football games is flat out nonsense.
Moreover, the idea that consoles are 'only' good for football games is flat out nonsense.
Come now Cougar, you know better than to make a point with a picture and no explanation, surely?!
No it's not, all games are better on a PC other than football games, and those stupid singalong I wanna be a rockstar type things which are just garbage anyway.
Anyway this thread needs moar cobblers!
Overclockers is a great forum... Full of people who really like building and designing PCs, but who already have PCs and can't afford a new one so will live through you 
Also worth a look here...
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/08/the-pc-gamer-rig-new-cpus-motherboards-and-more/
The thing with 'sublime' graphics and what not is that I really don't find it enhances my enjoyment in the least! Bit like Blu-Ray really. I turn it on, and think "woah, that's awesome", then I watch the film/play the game, and rarely give it another thought! Every now and again a replay may look particularly stunning, but I've no desire to go back to a PC for gaming on (from a PS3).
I was into PCs before bikes too, so I've been there and done that!
how do consoles* deal with character/object fade. As a born sniper it's a bit rubbish when you zoom/scope into the distance and a baddie suddenly pops into existence.The thing with 'sublime' graphics and what not is that I really don't find it enhances my enjoyment in the least!
*I use (old) consoles for RPGs and platformers that's it 🙂
Come now Cougar, you know better than to make a point with a picture and no explanation, surely?!
"My effort in" is inversely proportional to "existing stupid out."
Joypad/Autoaim :Shakes head:
The OP specified playing BF3 and as such would require a high res screen otherwise he'll be at a severe disadvantage compared to others when playing online.
[url= http://www.chillblast.com/Gaming-Systems/ ]Chillblast[/url] do a fair few gaming builds and they tend to score very highly in reviews. I've had a non-gaming-specific machine from them for nearly 2 years and it's a cracking piece of kit.