Alright, I got a job a while back so I could buy a new computer. I’ve got some money now and I basically have no idea what to do, are these specs good for gaming?
3.00 Ghz Athlon Processor
2 Gb RAM
512 MB Graphics card (is this overkill?)
250 gbs hd space
some sound card I have no idea
What other parts are there?
Lets say I’m on a $1200 budget for now
You still would need to get a motherboard, some kind of cd/dvd drive (I suggest go straight for a Dual-Layer DVD burner, I’ve found one for under 40 dollars), a case, some sort of cooling system, maybe a new keyboard and mouse, maybe speakers. Just make sure you get someone to help you out with specifics so you get cheap compatible hardware that doesn’t suck, I can’t really help you there.
A 512mb videocard is pointless…actual memory size doesn’t matter as much as raw processing power, so just make sure you get whatever the newest GPU is (nvidia 7 series???), a high clockspeed and alot of pipelines.
Buying a soundcard is stupid unless you want surround sound, or something like that. 2gb of ram is also kind of overkill…
If you’re going to be playing games, don’t buy one large HDD. Buy one small fast HDD for games, then another large one for storage. Get a WDRaptor, and install all your games onto it. They have like 10k RPM, so loading times would be way faster. Then buy a slow large drive to put your anime and movies onto, since disk speed doesn’t really matter with those.
Also make sure you read carefully into compatibility issues with your components. Read reviews at a place that tests items real world, like HardOCP, of everything you’re going to buy to make sure it will all work together. ie: your motherboard supports the clock speed of your ram, the bridges on your motherboard play nice with your videocard, etc.
They’re a bit overkill. You’d easily make due with a 2.0GHz AMD Athlon X2 and 1GB RAM.
1 gb Ram is more than enough for most games today. 2 is overkill. Agreed on the CPU and the Vid card info. And doubly make sure on the motherboard compatibility.
Also, with the cooling system, put some money into some temp sensors and a good fan unit, maybe also a liquid cryo unit for the cpu.
And you might want to increase your budget a bit…
Eh, the budget is fine assuming he doesn’t want a monitor also.
Also, you could probably pick up a dualcore AMD or even intel chip for the same price as a single core 64bit AMD at 3.0ghz(*). You might want to look into that. Both athlonx2 and intel coreduos are like ~300USD.
*Also, does AMD even make a chip clocked at 3ghz? Athlon64 4000 with Clawhammer core is only 2.5ghz…The only Athlon64 that comes close to 3.0ghz is Athlon64 model 62, which is an FX chip, and newegg has it at 1,220USD. If you want a 3.0ghz chip you’ll have to go intel (though i’d personally prefer a dualcore athlon over a 3.0 P4).
Alright I went in and talked to a guy and I lowered all my specs and stuff cause everyone I’ve talked to said it’s overkill
2 Gig processor
1 gig ram
256 Videocard (He mentioned Nvidia or ATI and I said ATI cause I didn’t know what to say) PCI Express
He said that one large harddrive would work enough, and something about 7000-10000 RPM
I don’t really care about the sound card I guess
I need to know what specific videocard is going to be good for FFXI, WoW, EVE, CS:S, and any other games I’ll be playing in the future.
Edit: Called me
200 GB Hardrive, He might have said two of these, he might have been studdering
Harddrive is 7200 RPMs
Athlon 64 Bit 3800+ Processor (2.5ghz)
2 GB RAM
256 MB PCI Express ATI RADEON x1300 Pro
Lightscribe DVD RW Drive
$1099
Sounds good dude. Id take it.
Hell, does he have another set up? I really might take him up on that…
I’m gonna talk to him about what it would cost to upgrade to a x1600 or a x1900 and then finalize it tomorrow
Athlon X2 3800+.
1GB RAM.
120GB HDD.
nVidia 128-256MB Videocard.
It’s a waste to go with a 200GB HDD and 2GB RAM, and the Athlon X2 3800+ mauls the single-core 3800+. You should switch to a 120GB and 1GB RAM and use the money saved on the X2 3800+. Unless he wastes your money on a fancy case and an overblown and overrated videocard it should cost around £800.
Why nVidia over ATI? What’s the diff?
And aren’t harddrives really cheap?
Edit: I’m going to ask him about the Athlon X2 3800+
400 Watt Mini-Tower Case (It looks pretty sweet)
2 - 200 GB 7200 RPM Western Digital Hard Drives Raid Striped for Performance
2 GB DDR 400 Memory
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Processor
16X DDR-RW +/- DVD Burner (Can anyone tell me what that means)
Integrated Sound Card
256 MB X1600 Radeon PCI Express Video Card
6 USB Ports
1 Serial Port
1 LPT Port
Modular Motherboard
I didn’t do the change to the Processor because the price would have jumped way over my budget even if I lost a few things
Also: He said he builds computers to be upgraded, so if a few months from now I feel like upgrading something, I can trade in the old part for some money and buy the new one.
Edit: Whoops, I forgot about edit
It just means your burner can burn both +R and -R media. There are two different types of DVDs, but for all intents and purposes, they’re really exactly the same. It can go up to 16x speed.
An x1600 is technically a budget video card, it retails for way less than 100USD. You might want to read this review for benchmarks, FPS stats etc:
http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAzMiwxLCxobmV3cw== According to that article it hits around 30 FPS on WoW.
Because ATi can’t write drivers. Harddrives are cheap, yes, until you get to 200GB.
I still say you should drop down to a 120GB and 1GB RAM, especially the RAM, and get the X2 3800+. It’s worth it.
You do not want to run striped RAID. It increases perfomance sure, but greatly decreases data safety.
Yeah but you have to remember he’s going through an intermediary here, he isn’t just picking what he wants off of newegg. The guy he’s using might only have certain parts.
DVD Burner means I can install FFXI using a DVD, right?
I don’t know how to build a computer
Yes.
Neither did I when I first did.
if your gonna go for linux it is recomended that you choose nvidia over ati