Fun Stuff > CLIKC
The PC-building/hardware knowledge thread
FUBAR:
--- Quote from: ledhendrix on 04 Jan 2008, 08:01 ---I'm looking to get a good pc for gaming in the £300-£500 range. I just tried to play TF2 on my parents laptop ( 80gb hard drive, 1gb ram, 2x 1.6ghz processor and intel Graphics media accelerator 950 graphics card) but my graphics card doesn't work with TF2. I was gutted. Anyway anyone got any recommendations for a good pc?
--- End quote ---
DELL Inspiron 531
Typically it's £469.00 and Dell takes £20 off the order right now so it's only £449. It's one of their all-in-one desktops so it will be easily upgradeable in the future as well. The price is with no shipping and handling and no tax so you'll have to calculate that on your own. If you decide to pick this one you may want to upgrade the video card to the optional HD 2600 XT since that puts the video at the minimum system requirement.
The grand total will be a little over £500 though, but worth the money.
You can also custom order your PC too so you can make a few adjustments to fit your budget.
You can also check out some of the Gateways that are available, they are cheaper than Dells only problem is where to buy in your neck of the woods. Gateway doesn't ship directly anymore so you have to purchase from Toys'R'Us or TESCO Direct if you're ordering from their website.
RifewithWit:
Hey, I know I am new here, but I am sort of a computer geek when it comes to putting them together.
I have a Gateway 556GE desktop, with a intel Pentium 4 3GHz 800MHz
2 240GB Hard Drives
a 512 MB video card (Nvidia GEFORCE 7300 GT)
2.5 GB of RAM
a 16000rpm Electric cooling fan
850watt power source
a 72x CD - DVD Burner combo
along with a CF/ Microdrive and built-in cardreader for Camera Memory cards....
I get all of my Computer Parts from www.Motherboardsdirect.com
They also assemble computers if you would like to start one directly from scratch.
I have my computer configured for gaming.... I am a really big Nerd for RTS Games.
Any particular Questions let me know. But I run Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium wars on full graphics, and it does not chug at all.
dennis:
--- Quote from: thegreatbuddha on 03 Jan 2008, 00:43 ---So, I'm going to upgrade my computer. I have a Gateway with a Radeon 9250 PCI videocard.
I intend to upgrade my RAM to 2GB+, and get a new video card. I will have $500-700 to spend on RAM and the video card.
My current motherboard only supports DDR RAM up to 400mHz. Given my limited budget, is it feasible to upgrade my motherboard to something DDR2 compatible?
Is the DDR support on my motherboard only relevant for system RAM, or will that prevent me from using a video card with DDR2 or DDR3 RAM?
Will my power supply be able to handle the updated hardware? Will I need to get additional fans, etc for cooling purposes?
Anything else that immediately jumps out as something I should fix?
--- End quote ---
DDR-400 is outdated, and RAM goes up in price the older it is. You'll spend from USD100-150 for a matched pair of 1 gig sticks. If you keep your original RAM (assuming it's 2x256MB sticks), this will actually give you 2.5 gigs. Since it's DDR, you should buy RAM in pairs (you don't have to, but there's a performance gain for DDR mode, which requires matched pairs), so getting 1.5gigs to round it out to 2 isn't feasible.
The specsheet doesn't list the specs of your power supply, but since it's a Gateway, the power supply will probably be insufficient to power any decent video card. You'll need to upgrade. Expect to spend $50-100 for a decent 450-500W power supply (I recommend Antec or Thermaltake).
So RAM and power supply eat up $150-200 of your budget leaving $250-550 to spend on a video card.
For $250, you can get something like a GeForce 7900 GT (which I'm running). It's a DX9 part, which is fine for XP. If you plan on going Vista, get a DX10 part (e.g. a GeForce 8xxx). The 7900GT is the top-of-the-line for the 7xxx series, and capable of running current games at decent settings. I had no problem with COD4 at 1024x768 with most of the options turned on.
For $550, you can get a monster, like a GeForce8800GTX. Of course, if you go 8800, you will need to pay careful attention to the power supply requirements and make sure to get a power supply that can juice it. This goes beyond wattage rating. The mid-to-high end 8800 configurations can draw more than 25 amps off the 12V rails, so the power supplies need to be able to deliver that.
You probably won't be able to afford a card like that after the PS consideration is taken.
I'd go for an 8800GTS card. It's not ridiculous like the GTX parts, but damn capable. You'll be able to max all the settings in most games (not Crysis, obviously). They costs anywhere from $300-400 and have more reasonable power supply requirements. You'll also probably be able to carry the card over to your next motherboard and processor, too. It's probably overkill for a system like yours, but if you plan on upgrading mobo and processor in the next year or so, it'll still be good.
I can't reiterate enough that it's important to match the power supply to the video card. There are expensive, high quality power supplies out there that simply can't deliver the current that high end video cards demand.
DavidGrohl:
Anyone know of a great graphics card that's a little less beefy? I'm aiming at running cool and quiet here.
Dimmukane:
That's what I'm suggesting, a 7900 GS. Mine is pretty small, runs quiet. I think it was a PNY brand.
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