What's your idea of a MMO gaming pc?

[mmoraider]

Hello, I'm looking for advice from mmo champion members on what they consider the best options for a gaming pc specifically for mmo's.

I know that the graphics card is the most important option but what else do you look for in a build?

Also, what has been the general experience with gaming pc companies on the web? Do you find their pre-builts have too many cons for mmo players? Ex: too many options, too many price points, bad customer service or warranty?

I was thinking of starting a gaming pc boutique that meets the needs of mmo players and would like to know what the community view is?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Vorality]

Don't get a pre-built p.c. I bought mine from Best Buy, a nice p.c. I mind you, 8 GB RAM, 3.4 GHz i7-2600. Then I put a Nvidia 560 ti and a 600 watt power supply in it. I run games very smoothly, but it's mainly about the cost when buying pre-built. I spent $1500 on this! It was about 2 years ago, I didn't have much knowledge of computers, but I could have gotten a MUCH better p.c. with $1500 and building it myself.

If you don't care about spending the money or just don't want to build it yourself, then buying a pre-built and getting some upgrades can work. But, I definitely recommend building one yourself with the help of the community from MMO-Champ ^.^

[Deleted]

Actually the CPU is the main piece of hardware for a MMO gaming PC.

I changed from a AMD Athlon 64 dual core CPU to a i7 2600k and it seriously unlocked my PC to gaming. I then upgraded from a 560ti to a HD7970 (Miles apart) and didn't really see much in terms of FPS difference in WoW at least. Obviously on other games such as Crysis3 I can run at very high compared to barely being able to play it on a 560ti but still.

Depending on cash, you can't really go wrong with a Intel Core i5 3570K + GTX 660ti as standard with a small 120gb SSD for windows and WoW but it mainly depends on the cash.

I would never buy pre-built as there is so many items you get with it which isn't needed and they make you pay for their labour costs as well not including the "after sale support" they give you for "free".

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

A processor along the lines of an i5 2500K, 3570K, 4670K or an AMD 8150/8350, a mid-range graphics card (HD 7850, 7870 or GTX 650ti boost, GTX 660, GTX 660ti) and 8GB RAM.

[mmoraider]

Thanks for all the quick replies.

If you had to buy a pre-built then what options would you consider most important?

titcch What was the extra items that you didnt want with the pre-built?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

With a pre-built, make sure you know exactly what PSU is included, and make sure it is a good one. They usually only include the bare minimum.

[chazus]

I know that the graphics card is the most important option

This is false.

what has been the general experience with gaming pc companies on the web?

Ripoffs, mostly.

Do you find their pre-builts have too many cons for mmo players?

Mostly just too expensive, and/or use cheap part

I was thinking of starting a gaming pc boutique that meets the needs of mmo players and would like to know what the community view is?

Market is too small. Having been in custom computer sales and repair, it is a near impossible market. If you are truly interested in this, you have a near vertical hill climb ahead of you.

[a21fa7c67f26f6d49a20c2c51]

I get a metric crapload of questions about what computer hardware to buy on youtube.
I'm not sure why: I don't pretend to have any more knowledge than anybody else but
there you go.


I try to offer general guidance: Buy an unlocked Intel CPU and a mid-tier graphics card
and you should be good to play warcraft with high quality graphics. You'll want a multiple
GPU setup if you play on multiple screens and a separate hard disk if you want to record.

Here's an example from my in-box right now. This sort of message is typical - I usually
get 4 or 5 people per week asking something similar. Build a business to address his concerns
and I think you'd have happy customers.

Invariably people come back asking for specifics beliving that I know what constitutes a
a "good GTX780" vs a "bad one". If you wanted to serve the gamers that are timid and
don't want to build their own computer then you can do two things:

• A simple product matrix: Brand X board X is the minimum, Brand X board Y is 10% better, Brand Z board X is the best: 30% better. That's it. No other choices unless they pick up the phone and call you. Most people are terrified by choice because they don't know what makes a GTX690 "worse than" a GTX780. what does $150 upgrading from a 7850 to a 7970 get you anyway? Not wanting to make those decisions is one of the reasons they're going pre-built in the first place
• If it breaks they want it fixed quickly and easily. The RMA process is a huge pain in the ass for 'regular nerds', it's unfathomable for many regular people.

Have a look at how Apple sells you an iMac -- that's the style of sales experience you want. "You want to play modern MMOs in raids? This is the minimum computer, this one is better, and this one is the best. Pick one and we'll mail it out". I'd go so far as to poast benchmarks beside the configurations so people can see "oh, these perform identically in Warcraft but in Crysis 3 this other one is much faster".

[mmoraider]

Hey evn, thanks for the insight. Those are the customers im looking for. Would it be safe to say, judging by your interactions, that the people I need to market to are mostly on youtube and not on these enthusiast sites?

[chazus]

Hey evn, thanks for the insight. Those are the customers im looking for. Would it be safe to say, judging by your interactions, that the people I need to market to are mostly on youtube and not on these enthusiast sites?

Are you looking to run a brick and mortar shop, or a website?

I don't want to be the one to go 'lul give up' but it sounds like you need to do a lot more research on simply what hardware does, and means, and how it affects what games, before you consider starting a business.

[mmoraider]

Are you looking to run a brick and mortar shop, or a website?

I don't want to be the one to go 'lul give up' but it sounds like you need to do a lot more research on simply what hardware does, and means, and how it affects what games, before you consider starting a business.

Just a website.

I've been building pc's since the old 386 glory days. Need I say more?

[chazus]

Need I say more?

I know that the graphics card is the most important option.

Color me unconvinced.

I guess my question is... What do you offer that another company doesn't offer at either a better price, or better reliability, or have a better reputation (i.e. trust)?

[mmoraider]

I stand by my opinion that the graphics card is the most important option. Show me a pc without a gaming gpu and I'll show you a office pc.

What would I bring to the table that's different?

In a word: you.

What you and the community wants as a whole. What you feel is the right specs at the right price.

Need I say more?

[n0cturnal]

So you are going to market your products as "Approved by MMO-Champion forums"? Why wouldn't they just go here for advice instead? Or are you just going to offer a build service for something like Marest recommended builds?

[chazus]

I stand by my opinion that the graphics card is the most important option. Show me a pc without a gaming gpu and I'll show you a office pc.

I didn't say 'without a gpu'. I quoted you as the 'most important part'. The most important part for MMO's is the CPU, with the GPU coming in second.

What would I bring to the table that's different? In a word: you. What you and the community wants as a whole. What you feel is the right specs at the right price. Need I say more?

=/

I really don't want to be that guy. But that's just a bunch of marketing buzzword bullcrap, and precisely the thing that would drive me, and many gamers, away. Unless your target market is the uninformed, 'couldn't care less' buyer.

I'd want information, prices, an actual reason to buy. I'd want an offer, not lip service, that would convince me not to spend more money on an ibuypower or cyberpower, or heck, even a dell.

EDIT: I apologize if I come off as sounding as a nay-sayer. A little background, as I may be biased. I have worked for scammers, con men, and people in the industry who know how to take money from others and still manage to keep their clients happy, while they bleed. So, perhaps I might be in the minority when I see an 'offer'.

[ro9ue]

Honestly I might be the market he is looking for. I like gaming, MMO gaming specifically, but I have no interest or knowledge about building computers. I would buy a pre-built computer for a decent price dedicated to gaming and would like to avoid the Alienware-type price tag.

[Deleted]

You want to set up a hardware website aimed just at mmo-gamers?

Let's assume for your benefit that you are in a big country like the USA with lots of people using PC's.
Now let's estimate the amount of MMO-gamers in the USA, 5 million would be a high guess but hey let's take that as an example.

Take in the fact that when people order a new pc, they aren't gonna order it from 1000km away, they want something close, but again, for your convenience, say you can reach 5-6 states, or about 10% of the USA, that cuts your market down to 500k people.

You are a starting business so you probably won't have a lot of money for marketing, but let's say you can reach 5% of your target audience (again a high estimate in your benefit). Your market is now down to 25k people.

The average person will buy a new PC once every 5 years, so you are left with a marketed audience of 5k people a year.

Obviously, some people will just buy a pc somewhere else, at a big company or a store they already know. Since you are new on the market and there isn't a lot of or any positive response yet. Let's say you have a success rate of 10% (which again is a high estimate in your benefit), so 500 people a year will buy a computer at your website.

Let's say after your labor cost and technical cost you earn 50 euros on a pc (getting repetitive, but this is again a high estimate on your benefit). That is 25k a year gross profit. You'll have to pay off a bank for your start investment (gotta buy that hardware with something right?), let's say 200 euros a month, that is 2.4k a year. You have your electrical bill to pay, let's say 20 euros a month, that's another 240 euros. You have to insure yourself (by law if you run your own business) during business hours, another 2.4k a year. You'll also have some unforeseen expenses, you might break something for example, a normal budget for a company your size for this would be 5k a year. All in all you got 10k a year in running costs.

You now have an income of 15k euros a year, before taxes. and this is with calculating everything highly in your benefit, and not calculating any of your income as a new investment.
Not a single bank will grant you anything to start with off the above business case.

I am not telling you to give up, i am just strongly advising you to rethink your market. You made a good start with wanting to start your own business, now you just need to think it all through more thoroughly and come up with a better Business Case. The PC hardware market in particular is a very saturated and hard-to-get-into market, you'll really have to think it through a few times!

Good luck anyway.

[mmoraider]

So you are going to market your products as "Approved by MMO-Champion forums"? Why wouldn't they just go here for advice instead? Or are you just going to offer a build service for something like Marest recommended builds?

I made no such suggestion of using a endorsement of this community. I am asking what the community as a whole would like to see as products offered.

I really don't want to be that guy. But that's just a bunch of marketing buzzword bullcrap, and precisely the thing that would drive me, and many gamers, away. Unless your target market is the uninformed, 'couldn't care less' buyer.

I would like my target market to be all mmo players regardless of experience level.

I'd want information, prices, an actual reason to buy. I'd want an offer, not lip service, that would convince me not to spend more money on an ibuypower or cyberpower, or heck, even a dell.

Then tell me what you want. Thats why I'm here and asking.

---------- Post added 2013-06-01 at 03:35 PM ----------

You want to set up a hardware website aimed just at mmo-gamers?

Let's assume for your benefit that you are in a big country like the USA with lots of people using PC's.
Now let's estimate the amount of MMO-gamers in the USA, 5 million would be a high guess but hey let's take that as an example.

Take in the fact that when people order a new pc, they aren't gonna order it from 1000km away, they want something close, but again, for your convenience, say you can reach 5-6 states, or about 10% of the USA, that cuts your market down to 500k people.

You are a starting business so you probably won't have a lot of money for marketing, but let's say you can reach 5% of your target audience (again a high estimate in your benefit). Your market is now down to 25k people.

The average person will buy a new PC once every 5 years, so you are left with a marketed audience of 5k people a year.

Obviously, some people will just buy a pc somewhere else, at a big company or a store they already know. Since you are new on the market and there isn't a lot of or any positive response yet. Let's say you have a success rate of 10% (which again is a high estimate in your benefit), so 500 people a year will buy a computer at your website.

Let's say after your labor cost and technical cost you earn 50 euros on a pc (getting repetitive, but this is again a high estimate on your benefit). That is 25k a year gross profit. You'll have to pay off a bank for your start investment (gotta buy that hardware with something right?), let's say 200 euros a month, that is 2.4k a year. You have your electrical bill to pay, let's say 20 euros a month, that's another 240 euros. You have to insure yourself (by law if you run your own business) during business hours, another 2.4k a year. You'll also have some unforeseen expenses, you might break something for example, a normal budget for a company your size for this would be 5k a year. All in all you got 10k a year in running costs.

You now have an income of 15k euros a year, before taxes. and this is with calculating everything highly in your benefit, and not calculating any of your income as a new investment.
Not a single bank will grant you anything to start with off the above business case.

I am not telling you to give up, i am just strongly advising you to rethink your market. You made a good start with wanting to start your own business, now you just need to think it all through more thoroughly and come up with a better Business Case. The PC hardware market in particular is a very saturated and hard-to-get-into market, you'll really have to think it through a few times!

Good luck anyway.

Thanks for your insight and concern. Community involvement with my startup shows we can work together for the better good of this hobby.

[chazus]

Then tell me what you want. Thats why I'm here and asking.

Prices. Warranties. Shipping policies. Tiers for playability and specific market (raid, non-raid, streaming).

You really ought to be looking at the 'gaming' market and not the 'mmo' market. It's simply too small for a startup to do anything with.

[mmoraider]

Thank you Chazus for your feedback.

May I dig alittle deeper and ask what you feel the "standard level" should be for these things you feel is important?

Warranty: How long in term of years and coverage?

Shipping policies: Free shipping? How fast?

Price: since you have stated you've been in the business what would you consider a fair mark-up for opperating costs?

Tiers: we can hash out whatever you and the community feels is most important to their needs.