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Brawler

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#157329 27-Nov-2014 18:05

Hi Guys,

My partner wants to get a gaming PC for herself here in Wellington, what will the best shop be to get one at? I would like to get a pre-build as I know very little about building my own PC. Would like to spent about $1000

Cheers,
XXX

[Mod Edit |BH| Moved to a more suitable forum]

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321 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1184319 27-Nov-2014 18:09

Avoid PB.

You don't really need it to be in Wellington though. There's a whole bunch of online retailers doing good value gaming systems. I guess it just depends on knowing what you want to run on the system.

Brawler

29 posts

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#1184326 27-Nov-2014 18:19

She is a gamer - she mostly plays FPS and online games like WoW

The only reason I am looking for a shop in Wellington is that should something go wrong I can get it resolved quick...but yea can have a look online.

networkn

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#1184327 27-Nov-2014 18:21

Well I used to recommend CL but I no longer do after finding service has significantly dropped off in recent years. My last PC buying experience and attempt to get a warranty repair in a timely fashion has left me cold over paying a premium.

timmmay

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#1184328 27-Nov-2014 18:23

You could buy Dell/Lenovo/HP and pay for on site support?

ckc

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Ultimate Geek
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#1184340 27-Nov-2014 19:23

Brawler: She is a gamer - she mostly plays FPS and online games like WoW

The only reason I am looking for a shop in Wellington is that should something go wrong I can get it resolved quick...but yea can have a look online.

Yeah, even if they're in Wellington that might not mean a quick resolution (which is why I'd avoid PB).

Does she need a monitor too? There is Xtreme Systems in the Hutt. I did a quick check, they're doing an i5 Haswell system with a GTX 660 for $1300. GTX 660 is a couple of years old, but it's still a good and current card at a decent price point. There is no Windows with it though. They also do custom systems.

Can't say about their customer service or build quality though, because I build my own.

What does she have at the moment?

SaltyNZ

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#1184341 27-Nov-2014 19:23

networkn: Well I used to recommend CL but I no longer do after finding service has significantly dropped off in recent years. My last PC buying experience and attempt to get a warranty repair in a timely fashion has left me cold over paying a premium.

I would have said CL as well; but I haven't bought a new PC for a few years. They were great in 2011 when I last bought a complete machine.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

Brawler

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#1184343 27-Nov-2014 19:32

@ ckc - She sold her old pc, can not remember the specs. Think it was a i5, GTX 670 and 8gig ram. She will need a complete New PC from monitor to keyboard.

Just need someone that can help with a built and get it built 😃

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NZtechfreak

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#1184350 27-Nov-2014 19:50

My experiences with Computer Lounge have been nothing short of superb, having only found them in the last couple of years.

I would have thought $1000 would have been a tough budget for a gaming PC?

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Brawler

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#1184367 27-Nov-2014 19:54

Can always go up to about $1500 if needed.
CL seems good...considering them at the moment

PhantomNVD

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#1184447 27-Nov-2014 21:12

Brawler: @ ckc - She sold her old pc, can not remember the specs. Think it was a i5, GTX 670 and 8gig ram. She will need a complete New PC from monitor to keyboard.

Just need someone that can help with a built and get it built 😃

GTX670 was better than the suggested 660 above, and i5 are great for 'just' gaming too... What was wrong with the old one that she wanted to improve??

SaltyNZ

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#1184483 27-Nov-2014 22:13

PhantomNVD:
Brawler: @ ckc - She sold her old pc, can not remember the specs. Think it was a i5, GTX 670 and 8gig ram. She will need a complete New PC from monitor to keyboard.

Just need someone that can help with a built and get it built 😃

GTX670 was better than the suggested 660 above, and i5 are great for 'just' gaming too... What was wrong with the old one that she wanted to improve??

I have an i5-2500 (4x3.4GHz) which had 8GB RAM and a GTX 560 Ti. I scored another 4GB RAM and a GTX 970 at the PB Tech sale last Friday. It's a whole new lease of life.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

ckc

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Ultimate Geek
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#1184498 27-Nov-2014 22:28

Brawler: Can always go up to about $1500 if needed.
CL seems good...considering them at the moment

If you want something better than a GTX 660 and a monitor, you'll need to go up a bit. One thing to be aware of is that some places might be cheaper by using cheaper core components - motherboard and RAM.

One of my friends had good things to say about these guys: http://www.2moroit.co.nz without the CL premium and with optional warranties. Can't say myself, but they look good value. :)

Sideface

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#1184504 27-Nov-2014 22:38

NZtechfreak: My experiences with Computer Lounge have been nothing short of superb, having only found them in the last couple of years.

I would have thought $1000 would have been a tough budget for a gaming PC?

+1
I am a very happy Computer Lounge customer - excellent service and backup over the last 5 years (but I prefer to build my own PCs)
Even assuming that your $1,000 budget does not include a screen, peripherals, or software, it is still very low for a gaming machine.

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PhantomNVD

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#1184510 27-Nov-2014 22:45

SaltyNZ:
PhantomNVD:
Brawler: @ ckc - She sold her old pc, can not remember the specs. Think it was a i5, GTX 670 and 8gig ram. She will need a complete New PC from monitor to keyboard.

Just need someone that can help with a built and get it built 😃

GTX670 was better than the suggested 660 above, and i5 are great for 'just' gaming too... What was wrong with the old one that she wanted to improve??

I have an i5-2500 (4x3.4GHz) which had 8GB RAM and a GTX 560 Ti. I scored another 4GB RAM and a GTX 970 at the PB Tech sale last Friday. It's a whole new lease of life.

yep, I'm on an i5-2500 too (still haven't bothered o/clocking even) and upped to 16GB when Ram got so cheap, my main point is not that it couldnt improve, but

> What exactly did she not like / want to improve from the last system she was on? was it laggy, artifacting, slow bootup (etc)
all these have different possible focus points in a potential upgrade, that a "not confident to build my own" buyer might not actually realise...

- I7 is a great processor, but usually very underutilised with modern gaming using the GPU parallel processing to max out physics capabilities.
- an SSD is REQUIRED IMHO (and cheap) for a system drive to perform in a 'snappy' fashion nowdays
- Graphics improvement on a 670 will be a substantial part of the new PC price if thats what is needed to improve whatever she didn't like about the last system (I'm actually still happy with my venerable 5880 btw :)

Brumfondl

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#1184523 27-Nov-2014 22:52

Yep, you want at least a 240GB SSD. Putting WoW on an SSD is awesome. Much better loading times.

That 970-GTX is also awesome. Fast and low power consumption and not too badly priced

Brumfondl

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