NVIDIA vs Radeon graphics

[9nanners]

Hey I'm going to buy a computer and I'm not sure which of the following is better?? I just want an all around better computer for gaming (NOTE I don't want to build, so it's either of these two).

both are currently $650 and both run a i5-4440 processor

1) NVIDIA GeForce GT 635, 1GB dedicated video memory; 12GB DDR3 RAM

2) 2GB AMD HD8570 graphics; 8GB DDR3 RAM

I'm not sure which is better, please help me!




NOTE I am now planning on building one.

 

[MagicPants]

Personally I'd advise against building your own the first time around. But it is a really good idea to upgrade a prebuilt, as a way to get your feet wet. (upgrading the ram and video card are typically the easiest to do.) For that you need a prebuilt made from standard parts (avoid dell and hp), and one that has a fairly beefy powersupply (600 watts on a single 12volt rail would be ideal.) (because they are a pain to swapout.)

 

[9nanners]

If you want a good upgrade path, you need a good motherboard and a good psu. That is the opposite of what you're going to find in a pre-built "gaming" machine. Upgrading/adding a video card is easy. It just plugs in. There's a video out there for everything. Give me your budget and I will try to find you something.

Are you SUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRE you aren't willing to try to build your own? OR is it an option for you to buy parts and then have somebody assemble it for you?

Y'know what, I'm mainly just scared of building it because it seems a little daunting and I'm not sure whether I could do it I really appreciate all the advice I've received, you guys are the best. I guess building really would be the best way to go about this.

I'm looking at spending a max of ~$700 on a machine. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I mean I'd like to option to play most games, I'm converting over from consoles to PC gaming

I'd honestly have nobody to ask but I'd try building if it's as doable as it seems.

Again, thank you SO MUCH. Honestly. I REALLY appreciate how helpful you and everyone else is

I'm in Canada by the way, so I'd need to be able to get the parts up here

700$!!!
You could get a very sweet gaming pc for that price. Don't buy a prebuilt pc most of them are crap and overly expensive. Remember that to build a pc you literally just need to put 7-8 parts together, not that challenging. If you don't want to build it yourself you could pay someone to do it for you and still get better value than buying a pre built.

Yeah $700 would be on the high end of money I'd spend, but I'd like to save as much money as possible IF possible (student life.....)

 

[pigsinspace72]

Personally I'd advise against building your own the first time around. But it is a really good idea to upgrade a prebuilt, as a way to get your feet wet. (upgrading the ram and video card are typically the easiest to do.) For that you need a prebuilt made from standard parts (avoid dell and hp), and one that has a fairly beefy powersupply (600 watts on a single 12volt rail would be ideal.) (because they are a pain to swapout.)

Its a matter of being careful. You really can't accidentally put a cpu into a pci express lane and then accidentally confuse the video card with the ram. The only daunting part is being careful... Assembling a pc is rather easy because its very hard to confuse two different parts. There are countless number of videos on youtube as well on how to assemble pc and there are many forums where he can pose questions.

 

[CTurbo]

Try watching a few step by step videos on how to do it. It's really not hard. My cousin built his own from watching the newegg videos and called me when he had a question. You have us if you have a question. He had ZERO PC experience.

This video shows step by step how to physically put the parts together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls

and this one shows you how to install windows and get all the necessary drivers and setup etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok

Give them a look and then see how you feel about it.

 

[MagicPants]

The pain begins when you turn it on and nothing happens. Probably half the builds I've done, or heard of had some issue with a bad component. On my last build I received 5 bad ram kits in a row, (2 were because of a model/batch defect and 3 were because I thought I'd just pick some up at Fry's to save time, and Fry's sticks bad ram back on the shelf until that's all you can get there)

It's nice to start with a working system.

Personally I'd advise against building your own the first time around. But it is a really good idea to upgrade a prebuilt, as a way to get your feet wet. (upgrading the ram and video card are typically the easiest to do.) For that you need a prebuilt made from standard parts (avoid dell and hp), and one that has a fairly beefy powersupply (600 watts on a single 12volt rail would be ideal.) (because they are a pain to swapout.)

Its a matter of being careful. You really can't accidentally put a cpu into a pci express lane and then accidentally confuse the video card with the ram. The only daunting part is being careful... Assembling a pc is rather easy because its very hard to confuse two different parts. There are countless number of videos on youtube as well on how to assemble pc and there are many forums where he can pose questions.