# Computer Help?



## Tav_Windpaw (Dec 27, 2008)

Well I posted in my journal. But thought I ask here.

I am getting ready to buy a Computer here very very soon. and Thinking about this one. and thought perhaps someone might know of something better. Perferable with Windows XP ^ ^. 

and PCI Express. and upgradeable memory too is good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227122


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## Raithah (Dec 27, 2008)

Most, if not all, desktop computers are easily upgraded using components bought from any vendor; given that most motherboards support PCI-e by now, you're in luck - nearly everything on the market meets your requirements . Now, I haven't kept up to date with the value of parts et cetera, so without some research I can't say whether or not that particular assembly is a good deal. What I can recommend is that if you're a serious gamer, poke around a little on some real tech forums; see what people have to say about specific components and then try your hand at assembling a computer yourself.


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## lilEmber (Dec 27, 2008)

That seems like a good price for that computer, actually.

You may want to just check and see how much you could get something custom, first, then compare it with that one. :3

Even go as far to email newegg and see what they could build you.


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## Oryxe (Dec 27, 2008)

I'll start by saying go mac, but that's just me.

Anwyways, if you have enough experience (or patience), build your own. It is simpler then it seems and can be quite rewarding. However if you don't have the time I would look into a Dell box.. The computer you have selected seems alright but the motherboard in it won't let you go very far if you are looking at doing some serious gaming.. My advice: try find something with a striker motherboard and enough bandwidth for Crossfire.


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## lilEmber (Dec 27, 2008)

Oryxe said:
			
		

> I'll start by saying go mac, but that's just me.


x3 I think he's going for gaming, with what he's looking at there.



			
				Oryxe said:
			
		

> Anwyways, if you have enough experience (or patience), build your own. It is simpler then it seems and can be quite rewarding. However if you don't have the time I would look into a Dell box.. The computer you have selected seems alright but the motherboard in it won't let you go very far if you are looking at doing some serious gaming.. My advice: try find something with a striker motherboard and enough bandwidth for Crossfire.


Striker uses SLI, not crossfire. And that mobo alone costs more than what he needs, it would be better to get custom, yes, but have somebody else build it.


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## ZentratheFox (Dec 27, 2008)

Not a bad rig, especially for that price. That said, you can get something significantly faster if you build it yourself. If you don't have the time/knowledge/skillset, though, that particular system seems to be a good match for you.

Also, don't buy Dell or anything like that, as you'll be paying for the name.


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## Oryxe (Dec 27, 2008)

NewfDraggie said:


> x3 I think he's going for gaming, with what he's looking at there.
> 
> 
> Striker uses SLI, not crossfire. And that mobo alone costs more than what he needs, it would be better to get custom, yes, but have somebody else build it.



If you don't mind prying the back off your iMac you can flash PC cards to work in bootcamp 


Also, my mistake. I keep getting SLI and Crossfire mixed up for some reason


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## ZentratheFox (Dec 27, 2008)

Oryxe said:


> Also, my mistake. I keep getting SLI and Crossfire mixed up for some reason



That's like getting a Mac and a PC confused.  

Also, the amount of effort that goes into building an efficient Mac gaming machine far surpasses the amount of effort required to build a Windows gaming machine. For this purpose, the logical choice would be to go Windows.


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## Oryxe (Dec 27, 2008)

ZentratheFox said:


> That's like getting a Mac and a PC confused.
> 
> Also, the amount of effort that goes into building an efficient Mac gaming machine far surpasses the amount of effort required to build a Windows gaming machine. For this purpose, the logical choice would be to go Windows.



True, but I have 2 NVidia and 2 ATI GPUs in my computer (which is a mac XD), and since bootcamp BIOS only gives me the model numbers I am constantly confusing the two... eh.. Anyways.

Dell has some pretty good pricing on some of their stuff, imo. Sometimes getting a basic box with a few PCI-e slots, ram slots, and a motherboard is a good place to start.


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## ZentratheFox (Dec 27, 2008)

Oryxe said:


> True, but I have 2 NVidia and 2 ATI GPUs in my computer (which is a mac XD), and since bootcamp BIOS only gives me the model numbers I am constantly confusing the two... eh.. Anyways.
> 
> Dell has some pretty good pricing on some of their stuff, imo. Sometimes getting a basic box with a few PCI-e slots, ram slots, and a motherboard is a good place to start.



It's all good, I was giving you a hard time. 

If you want to start out like that, get a barebones system off of NewEgg and put all the expensive goodies in it. It'd still be significantly cheaper than a similarly spec'd Dell. Also, it would probably be more reliable, as Dell's consumer systems use cheap components. A newer Dell I opened up the other day didn't even have solid state capacitors. And a 350W PSU with a 12V of what, 17A? Bare minimums, and completely stifles upgradability.


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## lilEmber (Dec 27, 2008)

Well, in my honest opinion Windows is and more than likely will always top Mac and Linux in gaming, always. You can get close with Mac, it will cost more though; you can get close with Linux, but there will be support issues sometimes, and the Direct3d level will usually not be true DX9, they can't even do DX10, and DX11 is coming out now.

DX11 is the next big step up from 9, nothing right now really uses DX10, at all; things like crysis use DX10 sprinkles on a DX9 build, and DX11 doesn't allow for that, either you have a DX11 card you can't play.

Linux won't have support for it, Mac will but won't have it right away, and won't have it as stable or as high of performance with it (especially compared to cost vs. performance)

Maybe in the future that will change, though.


But for right now, if the OP isn't good at building things, wants it now and something powerful yet cheap, that PC he's looking at is great and will be able to play any game he wants to play, any source game will just purr at max settings.


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## Oryxe (Dec 27, 2008)

NewfDraggie said:


> Well, in my honest opinion Windows is and more than likely will always top Mac and Linux in gaming, always. You can get close with Mac, it will cost more though; you can get close with Linux, but there will be support issues sometimes, and the Direct3d level will usually not be true DX9, they can't even do DX10, and DX11 is coming out now.
> 
> DX11 is the next big step up from 9, nothing right now really uses DX10, at all; things like crysis use DX10 sprinkles on a DX9 build, and DX11 doesn't allow for that, either you have a DX11 card you can't play.
> 
> ...



Yes but will Crysis? That's the question.. 

And OpenGl > DirectX =.=

(joke)


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## lilEmber (Dec 27, 2008)

Oryxe said:


> Yes but will Crysis? That's the question..
> 
> And OpenGl > DirectX =.=
> 
> (joke)



That computer there he has linked will play Crysis, no problem. Maybe not on Ultra with 8xaa 16xaf, but on high settings it will do it no problem.

OpenGL is good, but honestly DX10 beats it down, and DX11 -really- beats down DX10.
The sad thing is, most people think DX10 does nothing, but the issue is nothing actually uses DX10 right now, at least more than a few sprinkles.


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## Oryxe (Dec 27, 2008)

I'm sure OpenGL 4.0 will beat down DirectX 11.. AND support 64bit! 
/fanboy


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## ZentratheFox (Dec 28, 2008)

Silly Mac vs PC peoples. You guys are funny. ;P

Lets take this on a case by case basis, shall we? The OP in this thread couldn't find a brand new Mac for that price with those specs, no matter how hard he tried. His goal was a gaming machine, so naturally, with both of those important variables considered, this particular user should get a Windows-based computer.

YAYS


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## lilEmber (Dec 28, 2008)

ZentratheFox said:


> Silly Mac vs PC peoples. You guys are funny. ;P
> 
> Lets take this on a case by case basis, shall we? The OP in this thread couldn't find a brand new Mac for that price with those specs, no matter how hard he tried. His goal was a gaming machine, so naturally, with both of those important variables considered, this particular user should get a Windows-based computer.
> 
> YAYS



Ohh...you were so close, but you forgot to say those specs vs. cost can't be beat. And you were late to the party! x3


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## Xenmasterqwerty (Dec 28, 2008)

Don't buy ibuypower computers. They have a horrible history of using cheap parts, underclocking the components, and bad support. I bought one once. The only remaining component today is the case. Failed parts include PSU, HDD, an assortment of fans, and meters.

You're much better off building one yourself, or having a friend with know-how build it for you.


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## jagdwolf (Dec 28, 2008)

ask your self these basic questions.

What am I going to use it for?
How much do I want to spend?
How much do I have to spend?


If your gonna use it for gaming, I'm not sure your gonna be totally happy.  Gaming rigs really need a kick ass motherboard.  You can get all the bells and whistles but if the mother board is weak or limited, your gonna have a jet with no runway to take off on.

gaming rigs really need a dual core or quad core as more and more games are beginning to use them.  they need a kick ass video card, and would suggest at least PC 8500 ram for speed.  a fast 10k speed HD at least.  But first, these are just my opinions, I only build liquid cooled gaming rigs so im kinda biast.  Im also an intel, nvidia, corsair, and WD snob.  also look at the power supply requirments for the video card.  my gtx8800 suck up power (yea its 2 years old but what the hell its liquid cooled)

its not a bad price, but if price is your only concern.............save up some more to be honest.  somethings aren't ment to be cheap.


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## fangborn (Dec 29, 2008)

i have had multiple computer and me and my dad all built them. if u want GOOD quality and cheep price buy the parts and build it. a lot less then buying a premade one, AND u can buy xp for it


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## Biles (Dec 29, 2008)

I think one question should have been asked in situations like these. A question many don't think about and that would be:

What do you intend to use a computer for?


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## fangborn (Dec 30, 2008)

Biles said:


> I think one question should have been asked in situations like these. A question many don't think about and that would be:
> 
> What do you intend to use a computer for?



well that would help to. heh


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## Vontagon (Dec 30, 2008)

Well, building computers is a whole new ballgame compared to simply buying a pre-built one, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you got loads of patience and know what you're doing, or have someone nearby that does. I'm not going to lie, I learned really fast after the first few tries.

Mostly everyone else has covered the rest of it, but specifically, if I were you, I'd be going with an Intel dual-core chip. It handles gaming very nice and anything else you'd want to use, such as music studio programs.

The 9500GT GPU is a downgraded version of the 8800GT. Don't let the higher number fool you. I use the 8800GT myself and I'm glad I bought it. It runs pretty much anything really nice on a high resolution (1920x1200). A general rule of games is that the higher resolution you go, the more power you'll need. The more higher end cards can really pump it out, like the GTX260 by nVidia, but those cost around the $200 range.

I think the main question is really how much are you willing to spend on a rig? I could give advice on parts and stuff, but I don't know if you want to build it on your own or not. ^^


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## djslum (Jan 3, 2009)

579$ well unless you can build your own rig it's not that bad. You can build a computer for ~350 if you want to shop for all the components. 
I spent 247$ on my rig.

Intel Core2 duo E2200 2.4ghz
4 gigs of DDR2 OCZ PC6400
Corsair XH 520W psu
NVIDIA XfX 9600 GT
G33T-M2 board from ECS (20.00$ that's why I bought it)
Sony DVD-CD r,rw, ect dual layer drive.
160gig hard-drive (SATA)
Audigy 4zs soundcard
Lights, fans, and other cool stuff.

then I spent 126.89$ on my case mod xD

if you are a good shopper online, you can save a bunch of money.


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