MRS most Jnr wants a gaming PC. I've tried my best to see a way of getting a (reasonably-priced) Mac to do the job but, even talking to my local Apple reseller, it's hard to see it as a sensible option. A Mac Mini doesn't have the graphics capability and an iMac with enough gaming grunt starts to stretch the budget (though I would spend close to 20-25% more to have a Mac over a PC)

Soooo - what, where & how?

I'm not averse to building something but, TBH, the whole reason I'm a Mac-convert is that life's just too short for fiddling about with PCs - it gives me no pleasure - I've done lots of it and it's just a chore. I could configure and build my own oven but really I just want a nice roast.

I don't really have a target budget but it's quality first with me. It needs to run the latest FPS games and it needs to be considerably better value than a refurbished iMac.

Thank you!

And... I have nothing to add. Probably best that way...

1. Never buy a mac for gaming

2. Check out www.overclockers.co.uk

Sorry it's short but im on my way out!

How urgent a demand is this, MRS?

If it's just a gaming machine I'd be tempted to wait for the new Valve console

It's a PC, but not a windows machine, it's dedicated to gaming, looks stylish and, unlike the forthcoming PS4 and X-Box One, it's going to have upgradable hardware.

Ooh - that's a really interesting idea, Andrew. The timing could possibly be an issue though as it's a birthday present for August. I'll suggest it and see what he says

Not convinced how upgradable this will be and expect the costs for upgrade to be high. Small packed computers will be a compromise. You can build something now very similar using the mini itx platform and you can get far more games to play by sticking with windows on its own.

OK, I finally have a chance to give my knowledge on computers and what to buy, where to go etc.... I have just finished building the my latest top notch gaming pc, a little note to the wise, what mayzon said about overclockers, don't even go there, I went there for help and they shot me down in flames, I really do recommend building your own machine, you can buy decent machines these days but really, building your own gives you the full experience, knowledge and its fun.

if you are going to build your own system, then I recommend spending around £650 to £900, you can buy a machine that has the similar price range, as for tech, I would strongly recommend:

CPU - INTEL!!! do not touch AMD, you can get so much more out of a intel chip and they are so much cheaper.

PSU - make sure that you get a known brand - OCZ, coolermaster, corsair, the cheap ones are the killers

Motherboard - also a named brand, gigabyte, asus etc...

RAM - you need to get a matching pair, again, of a good quality, make sure you don't buy cheap or it will cost you.

Graphics - you say that you want the machine to be able to deal with the latest games, im sorry, but some of the latest games are stupidly crazy!!! graphic quality over the past 4 years has gone crazy, even so, go for AMD grpahics or ATX, these are the top graphics types, maybe a AMD NVidia 7950 or a ATX 690, these are some of the top cards at the moment.

after you have got the main stuff, you want to make sure that the small stuff is good aswell, so the cpu cooler, the hard drive, the SSD etc....
and FINALLY... the case

these are things that you can research, mainly because its your machine that you are going to build, overall have fun and don't get raped over price

Jake

Thanks so much, Jake. I'm really not sure I'm going to build something. I have no doubt I could do it but I'm really not sure I can be bothered. I used to maintain all the hardware & networks for my own Web business for 15 Windows-based PCs and servers so I've earned my spurs. But life really is too short. I will think about it and I will use your recommendations for Intel etc if I buy an off-the-shelf system

ok mate, I will have a look for any cheap but very good gaming machines, also with cool looking cases

Jake

Ok then, been looking through the best place for stuff like this ebay of course

from the cheapest, but still very good:

1. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-I7-4770K...#ht_4038wt_1251

2. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_4022wt_1316

3. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-I7-4770K...#ht_4976wt_1251

To the more pricy:

1. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_4907wt_1316

2. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_4117wt_1316

3. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_3792wt_1316

To the best of gaming:

1. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_4117wt_1316

2. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Core-I7-...#ht_4907wt_1316

there you go, a nice and large amount to choose from

Jake

But bear in mind that Jake likes to launch his machines off the table and on to the floor!

???

He'll have to tell you - but at least his machine is tough!

i have i Dell T5400 work station with 2x xeon 2.8 quad core processors with 16 gb of ram and 2x Radeon 5750 SLI,d lots of hdd space and it works a treat playes everything i want BF3...X3 Terran conflict .... or multiple browser games while watching sky tv on the internet (dual monitors)
cheap as chips on ebay .... and being a work station they are bullit proof
even my brother who has his own very large IT business has dell the same comp as me
and what i have can be up graded .....

Have you considered a Mac Pro?

The 8 (2.8GHz) core early 2008 versions can be had for a reasonable price on ebay, you can then add SSD, uprated Graphics card, more RAM etc, go dual or even triple monitors. With PCIe cards for SATA 3 and USB3/E-SATA these make great Macs at reasonable prices.

Then via Parallels run Linux, ChromeOS, Android and Windows. or even dual boot Windows.

There are much better Games machines out there, but as an all rounder, with easy expansion, great versatility , at a reasonable price these are hard to beat.

http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/5cdc4166547546859cfd963a1e28e5e8

saved basket of what is a nice rounded system with no cheap components. stay clear of the cheap ebay crap. all you would need is your choice of operating system, monitor and peripherals. you don't need to spend thousands to play recent game titles. unless your going for monster resolutions on the monitor side of thing

Ah that's cool, creasey. Will look at that. Thank you

Well I went for the last one of these and 2 days after the delivery date I'm still waiting for it to turn up. In fact on the day it was meant to be here it hadn't even been shipped. Son is very disappointed.

Hey there meanredspider, that is really disappointing to hear hope it gets to you soon, they have a phone number on the ebay page so I would go and ask some questions.
hope it arrives soon.

Jake

I've just tried phoning. No answer

The latest is that STILL haven't sent it (having told me it was going on the 2pm shipment on Tuesday).

I'm incandescent!!!

Are you covered by PayPal or credit card? Can you pull out and go somewhere else? I got a very powerful machine from Palicomp for this sort of money.

Cancelled the order and paid top-dollar for something local as it'll soon be a week after his birthday and he goes back to school next week. Pathetic service from Millenium Computers

really sorry to hear that hope to see some pictures and a very happy son

All good now, thanks, so no harm done. Ended up with an HP Envy (beggars can't be choosers) but Hughie is very happy with it.

that's good to hear, not a bad piece of kit good to hear that you finally got a computer