So far I've only ever had low-end pre-built budget rigs, and I tend to keep them for a long time (longest was 10 years, current one is 6 years old). I usually can cope with that, because despite being curious about all kinds of games, I hardly ever buy new AAA titles anyway and mostly play classics, indies, freeware and fan mods, specifically (action-)adventures and RPGs. Still, what with even the weak graphic card I had dying on me and with all the bundles and bargains due to which I've already accumulated quite a collection of games my current PC can't run anymore, I'm getting fed up of waiting and of having to check system requirements all the time in order to guess whether a game that interests me would even run on my rig.

The problem is that my current motherboard is pretty incompatible to modern graphic cards, the power supply is too weak for them, too, and my processor is probably outdated, so rather than upgrade I think it's better to just get me a whole new PC. What I'm looking for is a computer that can run games like The Witcher 2 without difficulty and that will allow me to enjoy the occasional badly optimized indie game or bargain AAA title for the next couple of years, too. I don't necessarily need to play the latest hyperrealistic shooters and such and I don't need to play everything on the highest settings, as long as tuning them down a little does not detract from the fun too much.

My budget would be something between 500-800 euro ($650-$1.000), I guess (of course, the lower the better). And I'd prefer it if I didn't have to set the PC up myself - I know it's not that hard in theory, but if something doesn't go according to plan I really hate having to waste time trying to figure out why. I'm neither tech-savvy nor very patient and stress-resistent in this regard. ;)

Any ideas? For starters, how does something like this measure up to my expectations (sorry for the site being in German)?

Hyrican Cougar Military 4073 (PC Core i5-4430 1TB 8GB RAM)
Intel® Core™ i5-4430n processor, 4th generation (3,0 GHz with TurboBoost up to 3,2 GHz, 6 MB Cache)
nVIDIA GeForce GTX660
Windows 8 (64-Bit)
699,- euros (~$920)

Is it okay for someone like me, too powerful, too weak, a good deal or too expensive? Could I get something similar for a lower price, if I select the components individually and let a seller built it for me? And is Windows 8 risky for a retrogamer or won't I have any more problems running all my GOGs etc. on Win8 than I'd have on Win7?

Thanks to everyone who's willing to share some advice! :)

Is putting it together yourself completely out of the question? You will save a lot of money doing it yourself and it's very easy, modern cases don't even use screws so you don't even need to use a screwdriver, you just slot it in, and the parts themselves come with instructions. The pre-built shops are going to put 20-30% on-top of the cost of the parts themselves put for doing something that takes them less than a hour.

I'd suggest you start here: http://4changboard.wikia.com/wiki/Falcon_Guide
And then buy according to your budget.

Pre-built = more expensive but if you don't want to build it yourself it's likely worth it but do compare similar hardware pre-built rigs with others so you don't overpay on one that is essentially the same but more expensive.

A i5 3GHz and a GTX660 is more than enough. You should how many cores that processor has, I would recommend a quad because they are more future proof than dual for example.

Buying pre-built and you are literally paying up to a hundreds of dollars for something that is dead easy once you get over the "it sounds hard" thing. It's also a skill that you'll likely use in the future anyway when you want to open it up to upgrade your computer.

Well, the problem is not so much that I couldn't handle a screwdriver or follow instructions, it's more the stress I expect when following instructions doesn't lead to the expected results. I know it shouldn't be an issue and everything should work as intended, but from my experience and with my pessimistic outlook, I just know that something will go wrong anyway. ;)

I once tried to exchange my graphic card with the help of kind forum members and the technical part of installing the new one inside the case went all fine, but then the PC wouldn't recognize it and I had absolutely no clue as to the why. After several hours (or days?) of frustration and confusion, I learned that the motherboard was not compatible to the graphic card. Before that I hadn't even known that this was something I had to pay attention, too. That's the level of ignorance we're dealing with here, and I think paying a little extra is probably worth it, if it means I can avoid all the stress and time lost due to me not really understanding what I'm doing. ;)

I wasn't calling you ignorant, I'm just saying that I myself thought exactly how you do, until I had no choice (due to having very little money at the time) to just buy all the parts as cheaply as possible and put it together.

I know, but it's so boring trying to convince people "it's actually easy" especially when he mentioned he can't handle the stress or he's impatient. I can't handle the stress or lose my patience with impatient people who can't handle stress. (no offense OP, just explaining more post, we're all different) :D

With enough research the difference doesn't necessarily needs to be that large and he could score a sale or offer.

I didn't think you were calling me ignorant, but I actually am. ;)

I'm just thinking time is money, too. I could spare the time for manually installing the components, maybe that could even turn out to be fun, but I absolutely don't want to waste time and energy on getting everything to work when some components are not recognized for whatever reason. It will be exhausting enough to set up Windows and install all my preferred tools and programs again ... In any case, I wouldn't want to do it on my own. Maybe if I can get a more proficient (RL) friend to assist me, just in case. No problem, I can relate to that, I just can't help myself. :D

Like I said, I know in theory it's easy and I'd be perfectly capable of doing it myself. I just don't trust theory. ;)

Dude, just get that PC and play The Witcher 2. And Alpha Protocol. And... I'll write you a list :-P

Getting back to the actual question, I think the specs of this machine are pretty much spot-on for what you want. With the hardware selected, you should be able to play almost anything from the last years in 1920x1080 resolution at high settings. You may occasionally have to forgo very GPU-intensive features like depth of field, but that's not necessarily a disadvantage ...

Most games developed in the fast few years still target console hardware. The hardware you're about to buy is substantially better than that, so you'll be able to max out most games. You _won't_ be able to max out the games that are currently being developed for the generation of consoles, but from your description of your gaming habits, this is unlikely to become an issue.

8 GB Ram are a good standard for current 64-bit systems. The hard drive might be a bit small if you want to keep many games installed at the same time, not that AAA titles may currently easily eat up 20 GB. But in the end that's just a question of convenience.

Regarding the operating system - if you want to keep playing older WIndows games, I would recommend to get a machine that can dual boot into Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 7 (or 8) 64-bit. This gives you the best of both worlds. I'm not sure how well Windows 8 works in dual boot setups though, I just know that Windows 7 works well together with XP. Windows 8 in itself can be tweaked to pretty much ignore the failed Metro UI.

Note: If you want to go the dual boot route, discuss this with the vendor before you buy, and make sure that you can still install XP on the system. Some modern systems have trouble with this. The trouble can be overcome but creating a custom install CD, but that's extra work which I'm not sure you want to encumber yourself with.

I can't say much about the price, I haven't followed hardware prices for a while.

It seems if I buy the components on hardwareversand.de, they would install everything for me for only 20 euros extras. They seem okay as a service, but I can't judge how their prices are.

On a German forum, for example, someone suggested that a user instead of buying the Hyrican PC I linked to above could get something like this for more or less the same price:

1 x ASRock H87 Pro4 (90-MXGPA0-A0UAYZ)
1 x Intel Core i5-4430, 4x 3.00GHz, boxed (BX80646I54430)
1 x G.Skill Ares DIMM Kit 8GB PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24 (DDR3-1600) (F3-1600C9D-8GAB)
1 x MSI N760 TF 2GD5/OC Twin Frozr Gaming, GeForce GTX 760, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort (V284-081R)
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s (WD10EZEX)
1 x be quiet! System Power 7 400W ATX 2.31 (BN142)

That would be ~630 euro + a fitting case (~50 euro?) + 20 euro for the set-up (admittedly without an OS, so Win8 would be another 80 euro). Is that a viable alternative? I suspect these rigs might even be more powerful than what I'd be content with already, so maybe there's still room for saving a few euros?

Yeah, I should probably add that I'm perfectly happy playing games in lower resolutions like 1024*768 or so most of the time. I really don't have that high demands, I guess I wouldn't even know what I'm missing by not playing on the highest resolutions with all the special effects turned on, as long as the game still looks good enough to me. My current problem is mostly that lots of games already lag in the menus, because I don't have any kind of decent Shader support. Rather than playing everything maxed out, my priority would be just the games running smoothly while still looking nice, and that I don't run into the same issues I have now too soon again (like games not working at all or only with the settings so low that they're a pain to look at; e.g. Trine in 640x400 :D). So maybe these rigs are quite a luxury already compared to my actual needs?

If you have lower standards when it comes to both performance and graphics then I would likely suggest you leave it at be and just play at default or what you're used to. Before I started doing research and I knew nothing of this and now I know too much and my standards rose significantly. At the same time I like to tinker with settings and computer so I don't reget it but I can many people would.

That's entirely possible but that makes the computer all the more future proof aside from the fact that the new generation console games will arrive and the current GPU generation might not have the necessary shaders (DX12?) but it's possible it will take some time before they arrive anyway.

That's a formidable machine as well. I'm not too fond of ASRock motherboards though (they are one of the cheapest brands on the market, and the ASRock board that I once had never worked really well, but others like them). And I think the PSU needs more power for this hardware. Don't skimp on the PSU, especially not if you're planning on keeping the same machine for many years.

If that's your goal, then you can probably achieve that with a much cheaper machine. An i3 CPU would be sufficient, and you could downgrade the graphics card as well, though I can't tell by how much - I have little experience with cards below the nVidia 560. I _can_ tell that the 560 is already more than enough for what you have in mind, you wouldn't even need a 560 Ti.

What is your current hardware? (So that we can get a grasp of what you're used to.)

I wouldn't go below 8 GB RAM with a 64-bit operating system, but given your target performance, I'd say you could definitely go with a weaker/cheaper machine than the ones you posted.

Edit: If you value longevity higher than peak performance, then you're probably better served by buying high quality brands with lower actual performance. And you should probably tell that at other forums as well where you ask the same question, because you'd then have unusual preferences. Which is absolutely no problem, but people will usually suggest systems targeted for different goals when you ask them about advice.

Edit 2: One other thing that I keep forget mentioning is noise. Modern graphics cards can be pretty loud even if if advertised as "silent". If performance isn't the penultimate goal, then you have the option of getting a low-noise PC; might be worth a consideration. I know that this is important for me since my PC stands right next to a bed in which two people sleep at odd and varying times, but that's probably an unusual scenario as well. ;)

I can't check at the moment, but from memory it's a duo-core 2.1GHz with 4 GB RAM, 250GB harddisk, and it used to have a GeForce 7300 LE, now it runs with onboard graphics. So pretty low standards. ;)

It wasn't great in 2007 either; I couldn't run e.g. Overlord and NWN2 was only so so. If I spend a little money on getting a brand new PC now, I'd like to avoid the experience that it's still not good enough to run whatever catches my interest (although, like I said, I usually don't buy new AAA games).