New PC advice

[Haden]

Hey guys my PC has finally died after 5 years. All I need is a new PC unit not a monitor or anything but I am on a bit of a budget. £300-400 is around what I have so not going for a uber system obviously. I would quite like to play Red Alert 3 on it or Fallout 3 at a strech. At the worst I would want Half Life 2 era games to work.

 

Anyway any recommendations or help guys? I have been out of the PC game so long that I have no idea what graphics cards etc are even any good.

[Fried Eggs]

Depends. Do you want to build it yourself or do you want an OEM?

[Haden]

What does OEM mean? I want one built for me but so I can pick the parts like PC specialist.

[Konfucius]

A while back Crytec created something they called the Warhead PC. It ran Crysis Warhead (which is graphically intense) on Gamer settings, which is very good.

The PC cost 700$ but that was a few month back, so it should be cheaper by now; these were the components.

 

Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66 GHz-CPU

NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT 512MByte

G31 mATX Motherboard

2 GByte RAM

250GByte 7200 rpm 3G SATAII HDD

16X DVD-ROM

Ultra X-Blaster ATX Mid-Tower Black Case

 

You could go for an ATI 4850 instead of the nVidia though.

 

They are not the most complete specs, I know but it has the most expensive components listed and playing Crysis on Gamer means you can play most other games maxed out.

 

Source

[Nolan]

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Home+Range/Proteus/Gladiator+Proteus+Home+Performer+PC+?productId=31117

with

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+4000+Series/MSI+Radeon+HD+4830+512MB+PCI-E+2.0+?productId=34187

 

That's just a bit of generalisation though. That PC and card will easily play Source games(HL2 ect.) High-Very high on Fallout 3 depending on your resolution, and I'm not sure about Red Alert 3. It will be able to play RA3 just don't know about what settings.

 

There are a variety of other cards in the same price preformance range though.

[Haden]

Thanks for all the advice guys leetpants those links didn't work that you gave me?

 

A game I am quite interested in is Empire Total War. If anyone could take the time to look at this drop down box make your own PC site pcspecalist and tell me what graphics card to get would be much appreciated. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=form&&select=intel1

 

Would a Geforce 8400 be to low? I guess it would looking at those Crysis specs bear in mind I only play games at 1024 x 786 and dont go for ultra settings.

 

Seems the 8400 card is pretty bad after some research would the 9400 or 9500 be more acceptable?

 

By acceptable I mean to play Red Alert 3 Empire Total War and Fallout 3 on medium settings etc.

[blender]

. At the worst I would want Half Life 2 era games to work.

 

my 2 year old laptop's integrated graphics steams through steam games so no worries on what ever you buy,

 

avoid anything more than a dual core as quads etc make little difference in current games. just get a good graphics card or prehaps a system that can take a good graphics card in the future. if money is a problem, i would just use integrated graphics now and get a new graphics card when you find a game that you cannot play.

 

The good pc games like Total war, Company of heroes etc can run reasonable on a modern integrated graphics solution. IN fact they run very well on the latest ones see AMD 780G Chipset with ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 3200 Graphics.

 

If you want to upgrade in the future make sure the power supply is adequate and your mother boad and case

[Cube]

I'd recommend 2GB of RAM.

 

As for the graphics card, no idea sorry. The 1024MB 9400 is only £26 extra. With my (unfortunately rather low) knowledge of hardware, I would think that a set-up like that would last for quite a while.

[Haden]

I'd recommend 2GB of RAM.

 

As for the graphics card, no idea sorry. The 1024MB 9400 is only £26 extra. With my (unfortunately rather low) knowledge of hardware, I would think that a set-up like that would last for quite a while.

 

Thanks for advice everyone I realise threads like this can be a pain.

 

Yeh im gonna go with 2gb of Ram. I want to be able to run Empire Total War as I love those sorts of games but as I said Im not like a insane resolution AA max kind of guy. Im getting this as a christmas present but after christmas so maybe the prices might have gone down to.

[Konfucius]

Actually Haden, none of the graphics cards offered on that page are worth the price.

Rather buy one seperately, a GeForce 8800 GTS or 9800 GT for instance are good value for money or this which is actually very good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAPPHIRE-11121-10-20R-3850-512MB-PCI-E/dp/B0015HP01G/ref=sr_1_1/277-8320467-7723063?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1227699204&sr=8-1

I had a look at the website and if you use the specs I posted earlier and leave out an OS and a graphics card it will set you back around 300 pounds and will provide you with a decent gaming rig (of course you'll have to get a graphics card then).

 

So if you have WinXP lying around don't get a new operating system because Vista is only useful for games when you can play fluid on maximum settings, because all games are slower in Vista than XP and most of the time the graphics difference isn't that noticable.

Even the graphics-whores at Crytec didn't bother to use Shader Model 4 in Crysis Warhead and for instance Bioshock apparently runs 20 frames slower in XP.

 

Oh an by the way, you are still studying right? Most Unis are part of the MSDNAA (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Something) which enables you to get WinXP, Vista and lots of other stuff for free and legally use it even after Uni. If so, get Vista and XP; preferably XP 32 bit and Vista 64 bit in case you feel (and you will feel) like upgrading your RAM.

[Haden]

Ok I found a site thats much more customisable http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/home_&_office/amd630ahome/step1.html

 

So I have my 2gb Ram for sure is any dual core fine? Still looking at graphics card choices. Also has anyone used this site before? Just wanting to know if they have a good rep.

 

Oops sorry didnt see post konfucias. That site I posted has the option to have XP so shall I get XP again? As for graphics cards I am still confused I want to buy it all as one and that site I linked to has so many its insane. Is a 9600 GT any good? Again I dont really care if my games dont go all the way up to ultra just something to play them with is good for me.

[Nolan]

Actually Haden, none of the graphics cards offered on that page are worth the price.

Rather buy one seperately, a GeForce 8800 GTS or 9800 GT for instance are good value for money or this which is actually very good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAPPHIRE-11121-10-20R-3850-512MB-PCI-E/dp/B0015HP01G/ref=sr_1_1/277-8320467-7723063?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1227699204&sr=8-1

I had a look at the website and if you use the specs I posted earlier and leave out an OS and a graphics card it will set you back around 300 pounds and will provide you with a decent gaming rig (of course you'll have to get a graphics card then).

 

So if you have WinXP lying around don't get a new operating system because Vista is only useful for games when you can play fluid on maximum settings, because all games are slower in Vista than XP and most of the time the graphics difference isn't that noticable.

Even the graphics-whores at Crytec didn't bother to use Shader Model 4 in Crysis Warhead and for instance Bioshock apparently runs 20 frames slower in XP.

 

Oh an by the way, you are still studying right? Most Unis are part of the MSDNAA (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Something) which enables you to get WinXP, Vista and lots of other stuff for free and legally use it even after Uni. If so, get Vista and XP; preferably XP 32 bit and Vista 64 bit in case you feel (and you will feel) like upgrading your RAM.

 

Actually I posted a 4830, which isn't bad at all. You are mostly correct though, Haded you should stay away from cards like the 8400/9400/3400/4400. They are low end cards, they could only give acceptable preformance in Steam games. Maybe Fallout 3, and I'm doubtful of Red Alert 3 and Total War(unless you mean the old games not the new one.)

Idk why my links didn't work for you, I just copy pastes the addresses into the insert URL. I just tried them and they worked.

 

A 9600GT will do just fine for you.

[Konfucius]

Ok I found a site thats much more customisable http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/home_&_office/amd630ahome/step1.html

 

So I have my 2gb Ram for sure is any dual core fine? Still looking at graphics card choices. Also has anyone used this site before? Just wanting to know if they have a good rep.

 

Oops sorry didnt see post konfucias. That site I posted has the option to have XP so shall I get XP again? As for graphics cards I am still confused I want to buy it all as one and that site I linked to has so many its insane. Is a 9600 GT any good? Again I dont really care if my games dont go all the way up to ultra just something to play them with is good for me.

 

Vista more or less is a slower Version of XP meant to be for gamers as well when it's the opposite more or less actually. Sooner or later you will want to upgrade to a new OS but Windows 7 should come along in one or two years and that looks more promising than Vista but the price difference is marginally anyways.

A 9600 GT is ok but when buying the Dual Core don't take anything below the

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 because the other ones have little L2 cache.

 

Edit: Did your old PC come with an XP CD? In that case you should be able to install that on your new machine as well.

[Nolan]

Windows 7 (official name) is coming at the end of 09. At least that's what they're shooting for atm.

[McPhee]

Thanks for all the advice guys leetpants those links didn't work that you gave me?

 

A game I am quite interested in is Empire Total War. If anyone could take the time to look at this drop down box make your own PC site pcspecalist and tell me what graphics card to get would be much appreciated. http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=form&&select=intel1

 

Would a Geforce 8400 be to low? I guess it would looking at those Crysis specs bear in mind I only play games at 1024 x 786 and dont go for ultra settings.

 

Seems the 8400 card is pretty bad after some research would the 9400 or 9500 be more acceptable?

 

By acceptable I mean to play Red Alert 3 Empire Total War and Fallout 3 on medium settings etc.

 

For Total War you want to bias towards a good CPU and a lot of RAM. The previous games have been more intensive on these components than the graphics card. The C2D E8200 is pretty good bang for buck and RAM is pretty cheap these days and easy to install (£40-ish for 4GB of half decent RAM). Pick your graphics card by looking at how much of your budget you have left after that.

[RoadKill]

I'd recommend at least a Radeon 4850, 2GB of RAM, and a mid-range (2.66+) Core 2 Duo. If you stick with that as your minimum requirements, you won't be disappointed with your machine.. anything less and you'll want to upgrade sooner rather than later, false economy

[MoogleViper]

This seems like a good pc for the price. You might have to upgrade the graphics card though.

[Konfucius]

This seems like a good pc for the price. You might have to upgrade the graphics card though.

 

Is this a joke-website or actually serious? I can't really tell, it seems to be somewhere in between.

[MoogleViper]

Is this a joke-website or actually serious? I can't really tell, it seems to be somewhere in between.

 

It's serious. They have a different offer everyday and it runs until it is sold out. Occasionally they give away freebies.

[Nolan]

I guess that one isn't too bad, but the Intel Graphics are worse than a 5 year old card.

 

I'm not sure about the CPU, but I think it's a Pentium D.....which you'd do good to stay away from. They do claim that the motherboard will accept a Core 2 Duo. If you were to pick that up, I'd suggest a new CPU to go with the GPU also.