Posted August 9, 2006 as the title says. i need a new PC. i love WoW and was happy playing as i was until monday when i played on my brothers PC, which was alot better than mine. his is a bog standard Dell dimension something or other. now i cant bare to play the game on my pc it just feels wrong. i have no idea what the specs of my PC are all i know it that when i play WoW it is so "Frammy" if you get what i mean. if the anti virus starts to download anything then god it is not worth it. So i recon i can afford up to £500 for a new PC i would like a TFT monitor but it is despensible. all i really need is a base unit. i have looked at Dell and PC world but i really have no idea what all the numbers mean. all i know is more is good. So please find me a PC that will dig me out of my dispair. please provide links aswell. i am a noob when it comes to PC's so i am in your hands. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 have a look at ebay and places, I am getting a Base unit from ebay soon its a AMD AM2 system, with 250GB hd, 2gb Ram, only down side is the grahics card at that great but the system is £455 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 i will have a look thanks EDIT Product Specifications Manufacturer - ITexpress Case - Black 500w Gaming Tower with 25cm side fan and LED front fan Why not upgrade to include a cathode tube inside to light up the 25cm fan (as displayed) Mainboard - ATX / Socket 754/PCI Express/SATA Processor - AMD Sempron 3400+ (3yr Warranty) RAM - 1GB DDR400 RAM (2GB MAX) Hard Disk Drive - 200GB SATA Optical Drive - Dual Layer multi format DVDRW Graphics - Integrated Geforce 6100 Graphics Sound - Onboard 8 Channel Audio LAN - Ethernet LAN 10/100 Warranty - 12 Months RTB Parts and labour is that anygood? EDIT well i bought this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&item=160015322093&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 Well i'd say you've bought a decent machine there, 1gb of RAm is enough these days, as only a couple of games need it anyway (FEAR, BF2, etc), the graphics are suitable, everything there should run WoW without a hitch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 Well i'd say you've bought a decent machine there, 1gb of RAm is enough these days, as only a couple of games need it anyway (FEAR, BF2, etc), the graphics are suitable, everything there should run WoW without a hitch. Or not, the 6100 chipset is not fit for gaming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 Meh, i know nothing about this, it jsut looked good to me... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 howd'ya like a bit of a DIY project over the summer holidays? Thats the only way i can see you getting a decentish gaming sytem for £500. http://tomshardware.co.uk/2005/10/14/the_uk/page2.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 9, 2006 Mike. The one you bought off ebay, if you just get a decent graphis card with it, then that'd be good to go. Make sure you get one that is compatible with the motherboard though. E: In other words, get one that is PCI-E Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 ok thanks how. What card should i get and how much will it cost? EDIT: is this anygood? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/512MB-nVidia-GeForce-7300LE-PCI-E-Graphics-Video-Card_W0QQitemZ130014137081QQihZ003QQcategoryZ90710QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 Depends how much you want to spend mike. You can get something like the 7600GT for around £110 or the 7950 GX2 for around £450. Plus inbetween there are lots of models at varying prices. Those are the nVidia cards around right now, I'm a bit behind with ati however I think if you want an ati dont go lower than the x1600 series. EDIT - No, its old and you will have problems on wow, not to mention its a bottle neck by comparrison to the rest of the machine Have a look here at some graphics cards Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 ok thanks how. What card should i get and how much will it cost? EDIT: is this anygood? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/512MB-nVidia-GeForce-7300LE-PCI-E-Graphics-Video-Card_W0QQitemZ130014137081QQihZ003QQcategoryZ90710QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Thats alright and at £40 its about average, probs a good card for general use but not good for gaming and will not run WoW well. You would realy have to expect to pay about £170+ to get a high end card. I was able to find these two both better suited: http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=GRAPOWX1600XT&Link=SearchResults http://www.gladiatorcomputers.com/ProductDetail.aspx?StockCode=GRASAPX850CRF&Link=SearchResults Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 this is where i need help i saw 512mb and thought it was a bargain but obviousley not. ok so what should i look for? does the mb value not mean anything? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 this is where i need help i saw 512mb and thought it was a bargain but obviousley not. ok so what should i look for? does the mb value not mean anything? Mb value des mean something, but its not the biggest thing that effects performance on a graphics card. However i dont consider myself a pro at these kind of things so im not going to take a pot shot. All i can say is go on ebuyer, look at some cards and there customer reviews and see what people say. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 512 is pointless at this stage, no games use it anyway, 256 is fine. Mines a GeForce 6200, it does it's job well, but you'll probably want something higher, the 6800 is a step up, that's a good card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 ok i will look at the 6800 thanks again for everyones help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 Ok, I will try and give a quick lesson to anyone who is interested in graphics cards. When looking at them there are a few things to take into account. A graphics card is like a small computer in itself, in that it has a processor and memory. Like computer processors graphics cards processors have various flavours. There are two main CPU producers (Intel and AMD) there are also two main chip producers for graphics cards, Nvidia and ATi. Like computers they sell their chips to manufacturers to make cards with them, so you might buy a Dell PC with an Intel processor, just like you can buy a card made by XFX with an Nvidia chip. Graphics cards have memory, like a computer, ranging from 32Mb to 1Gb. Unlike a computer, you can’t add more. If we think about computer processors, for this example take the Intel Pentium processor, it has evolved over the years, from the P1 up to the current P4. In the same way, graphics cards processors have evolved, for example, the chip used on an ATi 9600 (about 4/5 years old) is not as good as the processor on a current day ATi X1900, even though it is likely that you can buy both cards with the same amount of memory. The clock speeds on the chips will be very different. Also, memory has evolved, it comes in various shapes and sizes and where old GPU’s would have used SDRAM (old and slow by today’s standards) new cards use GDDR3 memory. There are other bits and pieces that I don’t understand all that well, which I am hoping someone like Jordan can fill you in with (things like Pipelines, Memory bandwidth’s/frequencies, OpenGL, DX, etc) but here is a quick example incase that lot wasn’t clear: These are the specs that I just found for the XFX 7900GT Clock rate - 470 MHz Chipset - 7900 GT Memory - 256 MB Bus Type - PCI-E Memory Type - DDR3 It is an Nvidia card, the CPU speed is 470 MHz using the Nvidia processor the 7900GT. It has 256MB of DDR3 Memory. These are the specs for the Gainwood 6600 Ultra nVidia GeForce : 6600 Clock rate : 300 MHz Memory : 128MB DDR Also an Nvidia card, it has a CPU speed of 300 Mhz and is using the Nvidia processor the 6600. It has 128MB of DDR memory. Hopefully you can see why one is better than the other, there is more to it, but this will get you by at the most basic level and hopefully allow you to choose a good graphics card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 Gainward GeForce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Ultra / 2300PCX XP 425Mhz Bus Type: PCIE ; Chipset: 6800GS ; Memory Size: 256MB ; Memory Type: DDR3 256bits ; CRT/DVI: CRT+DVI ; Video Support: HDTV ; SLI: Yes ; Cooling system: One-slot Fan ; Pixels per clock (peak) 12 ; RAMDAC: 400 ; Max CRT resolution: 2048x1536 ; Max single-link TMDS: 1920x1200 ; Operating system: ME/2000/XP/XP64 YES ; API Support DirectX Open GL: 9.0c (sm3.0) 2.0 ; Video Cable; VIVO ; Power Cable: Yes ; DVI/CRT Adapter: Yes ; Video Editing S/W: Muvee ; SW DVD: PowerDVD ; Core Clock (Mhz) 425 ; Memory Clock (Mhz) 1000 that is what i have gone for will it do a good job? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 Gainward GeForce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Ultra / 2300PCX XP 425Mhz Bus Type: PCIE ; Chipset: 6800GS ; Memory Size: 256MB ; Memory Type: DDR3 256bits ; CRT/DVI: CRT+DVI ; Video Support: HDTV ; SLI: Yes ; Cooling system: One-slot Fan ; Pixels per clock (peak) 12 ; RAMDAC: 400 ; Max CRT resolution: 2048x1536 ; Max single-link TMDS: 1920x1200 ; Operating system: ME/2000/XP/XP64 YES ; API Support DirectX Open GL: 9.0c (sm3.0) 2.0 ; Video Cable; VIVO ; Power Cable: Yes ; DVI/CRT Adapter: Yes ; Video Editing S/W: Muvee ; SW DVD: PowerDVD ; Core Clock (Mhz) 425 ; Memory Clock (Mhz) 1000 that is what i have gone for will it do a good job? Looks good to me, might need a techy to comb through it tho. How much? where from? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 The specs are good, although the chipset isn't that new, these guys like it tho and it appears to perform well. How much did you pay for it? EDIT - Was just looking at the PC again, you do know that it doesn't have Windows pre installed don't you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 The specs are good, although the chipset isn't that new, these guys like it tho and it appears to perform well. How much did you pay for it? EDIT - Was just looking at the PC again, you do know that it doesn't have Windows pre installed don't you? Thats a review of the 512 not 256, would it make that much differnce? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 £150 from play.com i might cancel it and see if i can buy it from ebay cheaper. Yeah i gave him a ring and he said he would load windows xp for £67 so i went for it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 £150 from play.com i might cancel it and see if i can buy it from ebay cheaper. Yeah i gave him a ring and he said he would load windows xp for £67 so i went for it. Are you not using Windows atm? cant you borrow the disks off a m8 of something? thats what ive done for all the computers ive made/use. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 my current pc was frees so i dont have any disks or anything and it was just easier for ut to come loaded and i get the disc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 10, 2006 £150 from play.com i might cancel it and see if i can buy it from ebay cheaper. Yeah i gave him a ring and he said he would load windows xp for £67 so i went for it. You need to make sure that you get the copy of the original disk and the XP product key that he uses to install it, otherwise you might not be getting a legit copy. Tell you what you would probably be better off getting this. Thats a review of the 512 not 256, would it make that much differnce? Yes it would, I'll have another look about. My friend has 6800's in SLi (two cards in one computer - one card renders top 2 thirds of the screen other card does bottom third) and they are very good cards! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
