i am getting a new desktop for gaming but dont know what to get or witch brand is good. something around 700$ that plays RTS well. i dont need top off the line but something that runs smooth at ok graphics.

Well if you only need a desktop that run games ok, I would be looking more in the 400$ range, 700$ would be overkill.

so what would be good at 400-$

Are you planning on building yourself, or are you looking at pre-built options?

pre built

Well Dell has the XPS 8500 on sale for $700 at the moment. I haven't used Dell in a while, so I am not sure about how good the quality of their builds or support are, but it has good enough guts in it to run most modern games, especially most RTSs decently.

@Bishna said:

Well Dell has the XPS 8500 on sale for $700 at the moment. I haven't used Dell in a while, so I am not sure about how good the quality of their builds or support are, but it has good enough guts in it to run most modern games, especially most RTSs decently.

That should do just fine I think. The first thing you'll feel the need to update will probably be the graphics card, which is not as impressive as the rest of the hardware for the price of the whole package.

Also note that it does not comes with a monitor, so if you don't have one already you'll have to add that to the 700$.

now how is building it yor self. is cheaper

*it

@jmarin: You can edit your own posts by hovering over them with your mouse and clicking the "Edit" link.

And yes, building your own can be a whole lot cheaper.

and just as good? and thank you for the tip

@jmarin said:

and just as good? and thank you for the tip

You're buying the parts yourself and putting it together yourself. There's a premium when buying a prebuilt machine.

But I wouldn't just build your own because it could be cheaper. Building your own PC is also a huge commitment. If something breaks inside of it, you have to be the one to fix it. If building a computer sounds like something you wouldn't enjoy, I wouldn't do it just to save a few bucks, as it can also become a huge hassle.

@Snail said:

@Bishna said:

Well Dell has the XPS 8500 on sale for $700 at the moment. I haven't used Dell in a while, so I am not sure about how good the quality of their builds or support are, but it has good enough guts in it to run most modern games, especially most RTSs decently.

That should do just fine I think. The first thing you'll feel the need to update will probably be the graphics card, which is not as impressive as the rest of the hardware for the price of the whole package.

Also note that it does not comes with a monitor, so if you don't have one already you'll have to add that to the 700$.

This isn't a bad deal at all, I would personally upgrade the graphics card to the 640 which they are charging an extra $75 for.

@TechHits said:

Well if you only need a desktop that run games ok, I would be looking more in the 400$ range, 700$ would be overkill.

What? No, a $400 machine isn't going to run modern games OK.

@Bishna said:

Well Dell has the XPS 8500 on sale for $700 at the moment. I haven't used Dell in a while, so I am not sure about how good the quality of their builds or support are, but it has good enough guts in it to run most modern games, especially most RTSs decently.

That seems like a pretty good build except for the graphics card. It's only a 7570. Well, yeah, it could run most RTS games, but only at 720p and medium settings. That's just a ballpark guess.

Anyway, OP, if you don't feel safe building a PC (it's not incredibly difficult but it requires some learning beforehand), then I would pick up this XPS 8500 and then later replace that with an HD 7770, which is the card I have and it's pretty good. Nowhere near top of the line, but it can run most things pretty well. It also only costs around $130 so it's not that expensive.

EDIT: Also, you can build a really good PC for a much better price than its pre-built equivalents.

@jmarin said:

and just as good? and thank you for the tip

A computer that you build for yourself should be significantly cheaper than a computer just like it that was pre-built. The main point of this is that you can get the parts that you'll prefer, and try to find the best deals on each of the parts you'll have to buy that make up a computer. If you are clueless, the best thing to do is do some internet research and maybe ask for help on forums. If you already know which parts you want you can try to use sites like PcPartPicker and Newegg to look for the hardware that'll suit your needs.

Note that many sites that you'll find on PCPartPicker only ship to the US.