So I have been wanting to start playing some PC games, but I have no idea which one would be best suited to me because there are so many of them at many different price ranges. So could someone recommend a site or a computer to me based on these requirements :
It has to be able to play all of the newest games at a playable frame rate with decent graphics. I definitely do not need a computer that can handle Crysis type games but one that can play games such as Fallout 3, Borderlands, Gears of War 2, MW 2, etc. It also must be able to keep multiple games on the hard drive without me having to delete them for memory space. Lastly if it could be between about $500 - $700 that would be great.
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks!
" It would be better if you could define "playable frame rate" and "decent graphics". Also, what is the native res of your monitor? "
Playable frame rate meaning like not lagging every possible second and fast enough to where i can play the game enjoyably. And by decent graphics i mean good enough to make the game look like it should without sacrificing to much. My laptop i use now does not play at decent frame rate because i only have 400 mb of RAM and my laptop also does not have decent graphics because i have to turn everything down to play the most simple download to play shooters. Its so bad i am basically playing with a bunch of gray shapes.
@Giantsquirrel said:
" Build one! "
And as for YOU!! lol You know very well thats near impossible! lol
Building isn't very hard, it's just getting the right equipment to make it start is the hard part. As for you PC, I guess you want a...mid-range PC at the moment? Is there any particular games you want to play?
" @Giantsquirrel: I have insufficient funds for building one it would seem. I understand it is quite the hassle financially and physically. "
Actually I saved about a $1000 instead of buying a comparable machine from Dell, and it's not too difficult or physically taxing unless you buy a 50lbs case (like I did).
I would suggest taking a look at something like this, and adding the extra money to your max budget to get better versions of the hardware shown here. It's also a few months old (it says that the setup displayed there cost $269 as of July, as opposed to the thread title's initial cost of $399, so that leaves tons of room for improvement for your setup) so you should end up with a decently capable machine in the end with your budget. Note he has most games shown there in high settings, he could get better frame rates by reducing visuals a little further down and not missing much more. Start by adding a better CPU and motherboard, more ram, then a better GPU, large hard drive, etc, until you exhaust your budget. This thread may also help you find stuff or understand what you need. Building will be cheaper than buying an existing setup as others have said already, so ask a friend of yours who knows a little more than you do for help, like where to order from and what parts are good for your budget and needs.
You'll probably want a intel dual core clocked at at least 2.2 ghz, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and a graphics card with 512 mb memory (8800 or 9600 preferably) for a good gaming experience. Any higher really is overkill at this moment for what you intend to play, imo.
And this setup shouldn't cost you more than $700 excluding the monitor and peripherals.
One of my PCs recently fried so I decided to upgrade it with new parts two weeks ago. I didn't think it would be fast enough but it can play the hell out of Dawn of War 2:
1. ATI Radeon 4670. 2. Gigabyte mobo. 3. Intel Core 5 (the slower Nehalem I guess) 4. 4G Patriot RAM.
I re-used everything else: 320G hdd, PC case, floppy, Cooler Master 550W power supply, 19" tube monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc..
It's not the fastest in the universe but I was incredibly impressed at how well it played DoW2. It was very smooth.
I got some air cans to blow the dust out (PC cases are like vacuum bags) & changed out everything myself & it all worked the first time through. The only thing I didn't do was install the CPU, I paid $30 & had them put the CPU on the mobo & test it out. I'm always afraid I'll accidentally short out the CPU so I don't bother with it. I've done it once in the past but just don't care that much about doing it again. Sometimes the fan/heatsink is a little unwieldy to install on the mobo as well, so it's better to let a pro do it.
I use Windows XP & one thing I've done is keep using the same XP install across different hardware! What you do is boot up to the XP cd, choose to do an XP install, it then recognizes that you already have XP installed & it asks if you want to run a repair installation. When you choose yes, it blows away your windows directory & reinstalls. However, after the reinstall your profile, all your games, all your programs & other stuff is right there & still working! So you don't have to reinstall XP from scratch each time you upgrade. After the XP install completes, I install the mobo drivers & then run Windows update to install all updates...this last part, installing XP updates can take a long while & was the longest chore to do during this upgrade.
I got all my stuff from Fry's. You can google it. Perhaps there is a Fry's near you.
build one and look into what other companies like dell are selling. u want something that can play things good. i learned the hard way... $1500 for a pentium 4, 1gig RAM, and a Nviddia 6600 128mb. it is a couple of years old now. i upgraded the graphics and RAM to Nvidia 9800 and 2gigs ram.
Or, if you're willing to spend just a bit more, you can get this baby: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Holiday_Special_II/. Core i5 processor, GTS 250, 750GB. Although that one's a holiday deal and you only have one day left if you want it.
" @Giantsquirrel: I have insufficient funds for building one it would seem. I understand it is quite the hassle financially and physically. "
Actually I saved about a $1000 instead of buying a comparable machine from Dell, and it's not too difficult or physically taxing unless you buy a 50lbs case (like I did). "
Yes building one means you have a better PC always!
Alright everybody thanks for all the advice it was extremely helpful! Not exactly able to settle on one just yet because I have to save a bit more but everyone gave me some great ideas. Also thanks so much for the links, those really helped too. And maybe...just maybe...ill build one. Thanks again !!
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