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Good Enough Gaming PC?

3K views 34 replies 6 participants last post by  lax987 
#1 ·
Will this PC work for Half Life 2 and Far Cry? Or top notch games in general?

Processor- 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 LGA775 1MB 800FSB w/Fan
Motherboard- ECS 661FX-M7 SiS661FX Chipset (8XAGP, Onboard Video FSB800, Sound, LAN, Serial ATA
RAM- 512MB Elixer PC3200 DDR400 Memory (1 slot)
512MB Elixer PC3200 DDR400 Memory (1 slot)
C Drive- 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150
CD DRIVE- 16X LiteON DVD Drive w/Power DVD
Video Card- 128MB ATI Radeon 9600XT 8X AGP TV/DVI
Operating System- Windows XP Home
Case- 350watt Aspire X-DREAMER II Black Gaming Case w/side window 2 fans (4 5.25, 4 3.5 bays)
Sound- Sound Blaster Live Digital 5.1
Power Supply- 550watt Elements Gaming Power Supply
 
#2 ·
since you have the ram posted twice there, does that mean you have 2 x 512? so 1 gig? if so thats great. if not, id suggest going to the gigabyte of ram.

that vid card will handle hl2, but you wont get all the bells and whistles. id suggest dropping a few more bucks on x600 maybe, if youre strictly an ATI guy, or if youd go Nvidia, get a 6600.

that powersupply will be more than capable of anything you put in there.
everything looks pretty good.

if you dont mind telling, how much did/are you paying for that?
i might be able to suggest a few good parts that would probably fit into your price range.

and, are you building this yourself or is it pre-assembled?
 
#3 ·
thx man, and the ram is 512MB in two slots

So your saying that 9600XT isnt quite good enough? How about the 256MB nVidia Geforce 5700LE or the nVidia Geforce 6600GT?

Im getting this from ecollegepc.com, under build custom computer, they are going to assemble it, it costs around $967
 
#5 ·
well i went to ibuypower.com, which is awesome for gaming PC's. ill actually be getting one relatively soon.

anyway, i went there and priced a computer, unfortunately, they didnt offer the 6600GT, just the 6800, which is a $300 graphics card. obviously, that brought the price a little high.

there are tons more options if you wanted to check it out for yourself, but the computer youre currently looking at is a good one, especially if you throw in the 6600GT

and im still a little confused about the RAM.. does it total 512 in 2 slots, or do you have 2 sticks of 512mb ram?
 
#6 ·
You can also get a Radeon 9800 Pro, shouldn't be more than $200 now....

You'll be able to save more money by going the AMD route as well...AMD's are usually much cheaper than their Intel counterparts, but still perform just as well, if not better.

Also, a 550w power supply doesn't really mean much...pretty much any power supply is 'capable' of 550w. However, the good (expensive) ones will be able to sustain 550w for much longer than .1 seconds. From my experiences, Element is a cheap brand, not sure how much that PSU is costing you, but I'd check the specs on it before you buy it. This is a good general guide to what to expect from the PSU.
 
#7 ·
the ram is 512 in two slots totaling at 1024 Ram

but yea the better graphics cards really up the prices, but ecollege has the best prices ive seen compared to companies such as alienware, voodoopc, visionman, and the others

But do you guys think that ecollegepc.com is a good place to get it?
 
#8 ·
i dont know anything about ecollegepc, but im going to assume they build computers mostly for students, hence the name...

however, the reason alienware, voodoo pc, etc, are all so expensive is because of the brand name. just think of alienware as the Nike's of computers.
 
#9 ·
Is it worth paying 49.99 more for the 3.2Ghz speed or settling with 3.0Ghz or 2.8Ghz?

Also, can anyone on here compare the 9600XT from ATI or the Geforce 5700LE to the high end stuff like ATI 9800 and nVIDIA 6600 from personal experience, cause the price gap is like $150
 
#10 ·
I had a 9600XT, and now have a 9800 Pro, and the difference to me is pretty good....for one thing, I can overclock my 9800 to a 9800XT, and I can turn on the fancy graphics settings like Anistropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing while keeping the game playable, which I couldn't do with the 9600XT (In the case of HL2, anyway). Newest nVidia card I have is a GeForce3, so I can't help you out there, but if you want games to look really good, the 9800 Pro works great.
 
#11 ·
I have a few questions about your reccomendations. AMD seems slower when I compare it to the Intels such the AMD 64 3400 at 2.4GHz when the Pentium 4 is at 3.2Ghz and cheaper. Which AMD is equal to a intel at3.0Ghz?

Second, is it better to spend the money on the RAM or use that to upgrade the video card and stay at around 700-512 ram
 
#12 ·
A 2.4GHz AMD 64 CPU will mop the floor with a 3.2GHz intel processor when it comes to gaming. Look at some benchmarks:

http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/athlon64-fx55/index.x?pg=5

As you can see, GHz aren't everything.

For a good gaming PC you should probably have 1 Gig RAM. However, you could probably buy an AMD processor that is equally fast or faster than the one you have selected now, and save yourself enough money to upgrade the 9600XT to a 9800 Pro or 6600GT.
 
#13 ·
It's kind of hard to explain the speed difference...basically, AMD processors run slower, but they do more work in each 'cycle'...so while Intel may have a lot of cycles, it only does a little bit of work on each one. Usually, AMD's PR rating (2800+, 3000+, etc.) is just about equal to an Intel processor of that speed (2.8ghz, 3.0ghz, etc.).

I would go with 1GB RAM now, it should pay off in the long run...while games don't necessarily require that much yet, it's really starting to help out. I would go AMD, and get a 9800 Pro, but unfortunately, that site doesn't have the 9800 Pro listed...what you could do is buy everything, and leave the video card blank, and buy a 9800 Pro seperate, it's not hard to install at all. Not sure if they would install XP for you though if you did that...
 
#14 ·
Or you can save the money and just play the game with the setup you have. I just finished Half Life 2 yesterday and it looked and played great with my setup. I understand the desire to have the latest-greatest-up-to-datest but in the long run the money spent will only keep you at the top of the heap for about 3 or 4 months before the next big thing comes out. Would I love to have the $500 video card? Sure but I simply can't afford the constant replacements. I just buy the game(s) and enjoy them. Those opinions expressed here are all valid (at least to the authors) but I feel most people will be pleasantly surprised at how well many games will run and look with a less than stellar equipment list.
 
#15 ·
I think that this is pretty much what im gonna get its around $987

Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 6-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Case ( Raidmax 268 ATX Mid-Tower Case w/350W Power Supply Black )
Power Supply ( 500 Watt Power Supply )
Case Lighting ( Neon Light Green )
Case Round Cable ( None )
USB Port ( Build-in USB 2.0 Ports )
Processor ( AMD® Athlon-64 3000+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink + 2 Extra Case Fans )
IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( None )
Motherboard ( GigaByte K8NS nForce-3 250 Chipset w/5.1 Sound, LAN, USB 2.0 8x AGP Motherboard )
Memory ( 1024 MB [512MB X2] DDR-400 PC3200 Memory Module Geil or Major Brand )
TV Tuner ( None )
Video Camera ( None )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon 9800 PRO EZ 128MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Hard Drive ( 120 GB HARD DRIVES 120 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA-100 Hard Drive )
2nd Hard Drive ( None )
Printer ( None )
Printer Cable ( None )
Raid Controller ( None )
Raid Configuration ( None )
CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM Drive Black )
CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( None )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit 7.1 )
Speaker System ( 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Fax Modem ( None )
Network Card ( 10/100 Network Onboard )
Floppy Drive ( Mitsumi 1.44 MB Internal Floppy Drive Black )
Zip Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( PS/2 104 Key Windows 98 Keyboard Beige )
Mouse ( Microsoft IntelliMouse 1.1A USB Internet Mouse Beige )
Operation System ( MS Windows XP Home Edition )
Warranty ( Warranty Service Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) No Rush, Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )
 
#17 ·
Video Card ( ATI Radeon 9800 PRO EZ 128MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video )
Just to let you know, thats the watered down version of the 9800 Pro - the EZ says it - How much are they charging for it?
 
#19 ·
id say upgrade as much as you can afford... you dont want to go cheap with major parts. 3000+ is fine, but its obviously up to you how much power you want. id go with the 3200+.

and cheese is sayin that that 9800 pro EZ wont give you the performance you expect. if they have 9800 pro 256mb there, go for that. you dont need to get the 9800XT, because you can just overclock the 9800 pro.

but i looked there, they dont have the 9800 pro 256, so if you can spring for that 9800 XT 256, id go for that.
 
#23 ·
Well.....it depends. The EZ is only 128bit unlike the other 9800pro which are 256bit. I would think the 9800pro EZ would still be better then the 9600XT (unless it was 256bit).
 
#25 ·
Here they are u guys compare
ATI im considering:
9800PRO EZ 128MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video
9600XT 256MB w/DVI + TV out 8x AGP Video

and then the nVIDIA im am considering are:
Geforce- FX 5700-Ultra 128MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video
Geforce 6600-GT 128MB w/DVI + TV Out 8x AGP Video
 
#26 ·
i looked up the 9600XT and found this article:
We’re honestly left wondering what exactly ATi had in mind when they designed the 9600 XT, as it doesn’t deliver on any of its promises. We’ve tried to find something positive about it, but simply couldn’t. It doesn’t perform well at all, hardly besting the old 9600 Pro.
read the entire thing here:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1671

that article does, however, test the 9600 with only 128mb memory. i dont know what kind of impact the 256mb card would have on performance

[EDIT]
actually, you might want to ignore this article..maybe not completely though.... it was written before even doom 3 came out. however, it really bashes the 9600XT and says that the 9800 is a much better investment.
 
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