Need Help Does anyone know of a model of a pc from a manufacturer that would work well with Farcry and some other games and is no more than 1,500 bucks? I don't really think that I have time to build one so I would appreciate a specific recommendation.
well i'm not 100% upto date on the american "gaming" machines and who are good and who arn't but have alook at these: Alienware http://www.alienware.com/Configurator_Pages/area-51.aspx?SysCode=PC-AREA51&SubCode=SKU-PERFORMANCE Dell are very good, have alook at their desktop computers and look at the Dimension 8400 - very good machines as they are, but i would be tempted with the range to get 1GB dual memory instead of 512mb, and upgrade the video card from 300SE to 800SE for $110.. should come to around $1500 - $1600 and its worth spending the extra, then you would have a very nice machine. + 2 year guarantee! = http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/featured_desktop4?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs = $1,289 (£1586 + the adddons i suggested i believe)
I've heard some good things about Pollywell. Looking at their prices, they've got some pretty good base systems. http://www.polywell.com/us/onlinestore/poly880nf2h.asp The only thing I'd say to go do is change the video card to a Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB or the GeForce 6800 128MB card. You also might want to change to a different monitor, depending on your needs---although, again, I'd definitely suggest a flat CRT monitor. The pricing Pollywell has is pretty good too. The Polly 880NF2-2500 system I linked starts off at $750. You will want to make sure to update the configuration to a better video card as I pointed out, but otherwise, not much has to be done. Some people say D00M 3 runs better with 1GB of DDR, so you might consider that as well, but definitely don't drop any lower than the standard configuration of 512MB.
Ive actually thought about building a pc. I think i might be able to do it if i knew of a site where you could buy everything you need at one time for a good price so that i wouldn't have to search the web for every little thing because it would all be right there. Do you know of a site like that?
Personally, I've bought more stuff from Newegg than anywhere else. I know I've bought well over $1,000 from them, and they have never given me any trouble. I pretty much swear by Newegg. Another excellent place is ZipZoomFly, but I like the layout of Newegg better. You can put stuff in a Wishlist there, which stays for like 30 days I think. From there, you can make it viewable to everyone (and then you can post the link here for comments and suggestions). Once you've got the wishlist ready to go, you just load it into your cart and place the order. You'll probably recieve multiple packages with the amount of stuff you order, especially since they have a warehouse in California and New Jersey. If you live in either state, you'll pay sales tax, but otherwise you're okay. Most stuff has free basic FedEx shipping.
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ ---It's about the best value. OEM means it's just the CPU, retail comes with a stock heatsink and fan, but you'll find you can get better cooling with a 3rd party cooler. On the other hand, the retail CPU comes with a 3 year warranty from AMD, whereas the OEM part will only come with a 30-day warranty from Newegg (and most on-line retailers). Memory--512MB PC3200 (also DDR400). Go with Kingston, Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin or Geil. You can buy faster DDR, but no AMD chip can take advantage of it at stock speeds. You may want to consider 1GB, but don't get anything less than 512MB. Motherboard---Currently, the nForce 2 Ultra 400 is the top of the line Socket A chipset. If it is paired with MCP-T, you also have solid on-board sound, firewire, and on-board LAN. If it's just paired with the MCP, you only have on-board LAN---although at least 90% of motheboards do. I personally run Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe which has the MCP-T on it. The other pick you'll see is the Abit NF7-S (do not get the -S2 or -S2G). I would avoid Epox and DFI as they seem to have some quality control issues. Graphics card--For $200, you can get a Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB card, and this is the bare minimum you want to have. If you can swing it, going with the GeForce 6800 or 6800GT would be a real good move, especially when it comes to D00M 3. Hard Drive--Western Digital or Seagate 80GB or better. Serial ATA (SATA) would be a good move, but make sure the motherboard supports it. Many do, like the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe and the Abit NF7-S (the plain NF7 does not have SATA). Optical drive--I'd go with Samsung. For me, they've been some of the most solid drives, and really never given me trouble. Next up would be Toshiba. I would suggest having a DVD-ROM at the very least, since it can read CD-ROMs as well, and some software is starting to be available on DVD-ROM. Power supply--Don't go cheap here. $25 for a 500W power supply isn't likely to give you a good unit. At the very least get a 350W unit, but I would highly suggest looking into a 450W unit. Get Antec (the TruPower line), Sparkle or Fortron units. Sound card--Depending on how much of an audiophile you are, you may or may not want an extra sound card. Personally, I've found Creative's Live! and Audigy cards to be much ado about nothing, and onboard sound these days isn't too bad, especially with the nForce 2 boards sporting the MCP-T. Floppy drive---generally not much use, but you will need it to install Windows on an SATA drive. OS---Windows XP Home runs for $89. I wouldn't use anything less than Windows 2000, either. Mouse/Keyboard. Logitech or Microsoft. Make sure you get an optical mouse. Anymore, these are worth the cost. If you want wireless, Logitech MX series of wireless units is supposedly pretty good, but they are heavier due to the internal battery. CPU heatsink--Thermalright or ThermalTake units are some of the best you can buy. Most Thermalright heatsinks do not come with a fan, so you will need to get one. 80mm fans are the standard more or less these days. Case---With the cost of shipping, you may want to jog by a local shop and see what they have. Other than that, what ever floats your boat. Antec, Cooler Master, and Thermaltake (the Tsunami series, unless you like the ricer Xaser cases) are good. Lian Li's are nice too, but I tend to cringe at cases costing $200. Monitor---this is another thing I would go and look at before you buy. Most places charge shipping on these as well. I would get a flat CRT monitor of at least 17" but you should be able to find a good 19" for a reasonable price too.
It is a good thing that you can build your own system. Untill you makeup your mind I think just keep a look out on Ebay. Sometimes one can find a good deal there.
The 2500+ is slower than the 2600+ but faster than the 2400+ : higher is better, as far as stock performance goes.
The amd athlon barton's are really good, you can overclock a 2500+ to a 2600+ with little heat increase, you just need to have a good heatsink that Big B mentioned earlier!
