help low budget gaming laptop/desktop

hello, I am looking for a new gaming laptop/desktop. i'm not looking for the ultimate-mega-supreme computer, but I would like to be able to run most games at mid to high settings with minimal lag/slowdown. would prefer laptop but either is perfectly fine.

thanks in advance.

Not sure where you're at so I won't link to any of the components, I'll just list some.

CPU:
Intel: An Intel i3 3220 is a nice dual core intel processor with the Ivy Bridge architecture.

AMD: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE is good, I always recommend it because it's the processor I used for my budget PC build.

RAM: Some kingston 1333MHz 4GB sticks of RAM should do, or if you want to pay a bit more, go for Kingston HyperX 1600MHz or Corsair 1600MHz. (8GB is a nice amount of RAM)

Motherboard: A cheap motherboard is fine, AsRock, ASUS and Gigabyte make nice motherboards. Just make sure you get a motherboard with the lga 1155 socket (Intel socket) or an AM3 motherboard for AMD.

PSU: You always want to look for a PSU which has the 80+ bronze certification or higher. Corsair, powercool, OCZ are some good brands. You'll probably want about 450W-500W.

GPU:

AMD: You can't go wrong with the AMD 7850, XFX, MSI, Sapphire and Asus are some good ones. If your budget doesn't stretch that far, go for a HD 7770. Just don't go for a VTX graphics card, in my experience they tend to overheat. AMD cards are cheaper, run on less power but tend to have worse drivers and driver support than NVIDIA.

NVIDIA: These cards are more expensive, run at higher temperature (Which they can usually handle) and will have better drivers. A GTX 560ti is a good option, but if it costs too much got for a GTX 650ti.

Case: Make sure you get a mid size case, you can spend a lot on a nice looking case, with good cooling and cable management, or you could go cheap and have a case which looks alright (sometimes very good), with maybe two fans and a couple of holes for cable management. It's up to you.

HDD: 500GB 7200RPM is great, Western digital or Seagate. If you want to spend just a little extra, you can get a 1TB 7200RPM HDD. Or if you're looking for speed at an expense, go for OCZ, samsung or Kingston HyperX SSD's. (SSD's cost a lot more than HDD's per GB.)

quote DQ junkee

well today i custom-built an Alienware desktop, just to see what the price would be. it came out to $957. these are the specs, so if someone could tell me if this is worth the price, that'd be great

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i3-3220 3.3GHz (3MB Cache) with Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
MEMORY: 6GB (1 X 2GB, 1 X 4GB) DDR3 at 1600MHz
HARD DRIVE: 1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE: Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640 1GB GDDR5
WIRELESS: DW1506 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card

oh and, i'd say my budget is around 800-1,000

If you bought the components seperately yourself you could probably build that system for about £450. That's like $690 USD.

^^ What the Mod said.

Try using PC Part Picker (http://pcpartpicker.com/). It shows you the best prices available when you the pick out the computer parts. It also gives out a link which you can share with us.

why would u go from a terabyte of hdd to just 160GB?

DQ junkee
You can't game with 160GB, and with 5400RPM you will have slow load times. 1TB at 7200RPM would be better, like CMN suggested.
Also link all of your parts.
A suggestion, which is just optional. You could go for an Intel i5 3570k, and use the money saved to get a GTX660ti or HD7870.

Thanks for the PcPartPicker link!

Good choice on those parts. I would go for 8 GB of ram, unless I was doing excessive video editing and what not. But, hey, ram is so cheap nowadays, so why not, right?

I would change the Power Supply though. Power Supplies are where you should invest more in, as a bad power supply can damage your computer components (over time by delivering dirty power) and can even explode! I suggest the Seasonic S12II 430W. It was given a Golden Award by Hardware Secrets (http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Seasonic-S12II-Bronze-430-W-Power-Supply-Review/1590).

Personally, I'm a build-it-yourself PC person, and I don't go for notebooks. PC's can be customized to however you want it to be, on your particular budget. Notebooks, on the other hand, are pre-built, and the specs and performance I would want would always be more expensive than if I just bought higher performing parts for my PC.

That said, that particular notebook, the Acer Aspire V3-571G-9686, is cheaper at Newegg. Things you have to know about it:
- The HDD is only 500 GB and has an rpm of 5400. Most of the people who bought have complained about the the speed being slow.
- Display resolution is 1366x768. Again, personally, ever since I started on the 1920x1080, smaller resolutions just don't give me the same viewing satisfaction.

DQ Junkee
Case: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006I2H04I/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d1_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=17CXT2MXYN2JX9DQ80V3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

CPU: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i5-3570K-Quad-Core-Processor/dp/B007SZ0E1K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285633&sr=1-1&keywords=i5+3570k

Motherboard: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Intel-1155-Motherboard-GA-Z77-DS3H/dp/B007R21JWC/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285660&sr=1-8&keywords=z77+motherboard

RAM: http://www.amazon.com/Mushkin-997007-PC3-14900-9-10-9-27-FROSTBYTE/dp/B0052WLU1E/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285714&sr=1-2&keywords=mushkin+redline+8gb

HDD: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DM003/dp/B005T3GRNW/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285806&sr=1-1&keywords=1tb+hdd

GPU: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini-Displayport-PCI-Express-Graphic-GV-R795WF3-3GD/dp/B007581QHG/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285840&sr=1-3&keywords=hd+7970

PSU: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Modular-Bronze-ATX12V-CX750M/dp/B00ALK3KEM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361285924&sr=1-1&keywords=cx+750m


$959.48