Out of Pod Experience

My immediate question is, if you are not computer illiterate, what stops you from building a PC? It isn't exactly rocket science these days and if you are not computer illiterate, I have to assume that you have bought parts to replace parts in your previous and current box.

edit: looked at the links and for the budget that you are willing to spend, it is a ripoff and you should feel ashamed, mr. "not computer illiterate".

1) For the components in the first build, 650W really is overkill. For his needs I don't see him overclocking so a K series is just throwing money at unnecessary ****.

2) The X51 is basically Dells attempt at a console-esque PC. A "Steambox" if you will.

3) As always, Alienware use pretty standard components in all their OEM lineups so that means overpriced.

cheers for all the input chaps.

Ye i possibly "could" build a pc, but i have never done so or replaced any components in a PC, just concerned i'd f*** it up, maybe i should give it a pop.

Thanks again i appreciate the advice.

The better power supply is just a future proof thing. The one that's listed would be fine for that system as it is. I'm thinking more if he figures he wants to try a higher end graphics/overclock/ multi-gpu sometime down the line. If you're going to buy something, I tend to slightly future proof it rather than buy for now then have to do it again later. That said, I agree that now the 650 is probably ok with the listed parts.

@OP

Building a PC is a LOT easier now than it had been in previous days. These days, you really have to try hard to break something. With pretty decent instructions, youtube instructional videos, and plenty of other reference material, doing it yourself really isn't all that bad. If you think you might like to try your hand at doing something on your own, take the first system you listed and then maybe do a little research on each component and go from there to see what you might want to change (if anything). Like anything, at first it seems overwhelming but when you break it down into smaller parts, it isn't so bad.

my initial triple box computer was a dell with an upgraded power supply and graphics card. done

If you don't mind me piggy backing this...

I built my system last year with a GTX 550 Ti as it was a good affordable baseline and can run everything pretty well.

But I wanna push it a bit more and have started to get into streaming a little and have found games that ran great on their own start to hiccup a little when I stream them.

Assuming I get a 2GB or higher RAM sized card any suggestions on how high I should go before I start getting a bit pricey? I was looking at a 650 Ti and was wondering if the performance gain was that much. Especially with the confusing as hell way that Nvidia seems to do their series.

I am a complete computer imbicile, but I can put together parts.

What worked well for me was to talk to someone who gave me a list of parts that "mesh" well together. I went out and bought them and put it all together.

Assembling parts is not difficult. Knowing what goes well with what? Thats tough.

This. The lists are endless, and I literally have no clue which items to pick.