I bet you there are plenty of used gaming rigs you can buy on ebay or craigslist in the same price range that would be higher spec'd. Or maybe build one yourself with a used graphics card and maybe a few other used components.
Building a PC is pretty simple honestly 😃 Plenty of guides on youtube and elsewhere.
For a really budget gaming build you wont to only consider PC that are similar to the following specs:
Processors Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition $74.99 Intel Core i3-4150 $129.99 (they are only 2 cores but those two cores are faster than most AMD processors in almost all games)
4-8 gigs DDR3-1600 ram (8 gigs is significantly better for today's apps, but you can get away with 4 still)
If you find a pre-built system with those items checked you should be okay. Not great by any stretch but you will be playing PS4 quality games and probably most Oculus Demos. The most important factor is that video card and the R9 270 is a rock solid card for mid level gaming. Most people with DK2 aren't running a much faster card right now.
Any of these will be competent for a budget Computer, but the R9 270 is really worth the extra money if you can find a rig with it over the other 3 lower end cards.
The above are probably around the minimum for major components for a gaming PC.
Building this yourself would run around $570.9 not including the price of windows and any a monitor if you need those.
Those systems you posted are cheating you on the most important part. They have GPU's but they are honestly probably not much faster than a good AMD or Intel CPU running their on board graphics. The video cards a listed are a must if you want to play new games.
If you are 100% against building a PC, I recommend waiting for steam machines. They should have some budget steam machines in that range. Then you will just have to load windows over the steam OS and you will end up with a solid compact gaming PC. Or maybe go to a local place that will build a PC for you for a small fee.
There base PC is a little over those other PC's at $700.00 dollars, but it is a bout as cheap as you could build it yourself. Including windows 8.1 you would only save about $50.00 to $100.00 bucks building it yourself. The only way to go cheaper would be to build it yourself or get one used on ebay or something, which may not be a bad idea.
If you need a pre-made desktop thats ready to order, I'd recommend avoiding anything thats under $600-700, and anything that's in a small form factor. If the tower is smaller than a mid-size, it's very likely to use lower-end parts. It's also a good idea to stay away from more mainstream brands like Alienware, HP, Dell, etc.
I've had good luck with brands like CyberpowerPC, and iBuyPower.
Generally speaking, it is best to build one yourself, but I understand that not everyone has the experience and knowledge required.
hey thanks guys for replying. i preordered the DK2 with the assumption my macbook pro could handle it, but my specs are way too low. What's the best graphics card to play all the new games?
