Any computor gamers here?

[Leadfoot281]

I need a new computor. I need 256MB RAM (or 512 would be better) A 3D card with t&l (texture and lighting)of 32MB or better (geforce 6600 or ATI radean 7000 or better).And a one gig drive.

I have no idea what I just said. Computors really aren't my thing and I really hate talking to dealers. They just sell stuff IMO. Gateway has remanufactured units, would the lower end model work with a better graphics card?

Also, I've got a budget of about $600. Upgrading my antique is out of the question apparently. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!

[Jaguar]

You can easily make a good gaming computer from scratch for $600, especially if you can reuse your monitor, speakers, mouse, and keyboard. I was looking over at Dell and Gateway for you and all of the sub $600 computers I saw have no video cards, which means you won't be playing any new games. More than likely you're going to have to buy one and install a video card yourself. It isn't hard to do, the card only fits in one slot and you'd have to take a hammer to it to break it.

[03whitemach]

Go to:

www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com)

Thats were I get my upgrade parts.

[fastblackmerc]

You can easily make a good gaming computer from scratch for $600, especially if you can reuse your monitor, speakers, mouse, and keyboard. I was looking over at Dell and Gateway for you and all of the sub $600 computers I saw have no video cards, which means you won't be playing any new games. More than likely you're going to have to buy one and install a video card yourself. It isn't hard to do, the card only fits in one slot and you'd have to take a hammer to it to break it.
If you are going to build your own checkout www.geeks.com and www.tigerdirect.com good stuff, cheap prices. Look at hteir barebones kits.

[fastblackmerc]

Go to:

www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com)

Thats were I get my upgrade parts.
I get mine there also. They opened a store in Raleigh about a year ago.

[03whitemach]

Here is one good example:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1476830&CatId=1914

[jgc61sr2002]

I have been purchasing Dell products and am very satisified. Their tech service is excellent. You can go on their Web site or check you local papers for specials. They usually offer free shipping. They have offers within your price range. Good luck on your purchase.

[usafsniper]

Also, I've got a budget of about $600. Upgrading my antique is out of the question apparently. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!One thing to remember...computers are like everything else...you get what you pay for. Computer gaming technology is going through another growth period and you'll need higher end processors for longevity, unless you have one specific game you like with no intention of keeping up with the latest products. I'd suggest an AMD 3500+ (no less than a 3000+) 939 socket system with an ASUS motherboard and an ASUS NVIDIA EN6600 video card. You can get a basic Sound Blaster sound card for next to nothing and hear everything you need to unless you're going for the "stereo" effect. Also, RAM is cheap right now so at least 512, preferably 1Gig should be your goal. Another often overlooked item is the power source. If you get a 350watt power supply, take it for granted that it's only making 75% of that in reality. Shoot for 100watt higher than you need. Many problems people attribute to software and other things are actually the result of poor power output. Also, if you are really into gaming...look at a software called Game Drive, $19, that allows you to make a virtual copy of your game CD legally on your computer which drastically speeds up game play because you remove the CD drive lag from the gaming process when the game is searching for data. This may be a little over your $600 budget, but in the long run, you'll be happier for it. Check for a local computer shop that runs specials of systems built in-house. You'll be glad to have someone local to take it to, because mail orders systems (Dell, Gateway) require extra insurance to get on-site service usually. Hope this helps, I've been an avid computer gamer for many years and have learned the hard way a few times to make it count the first time.

[Petrograde]

Go to:

www.tigerdirect.com (http://www.tigerdirect.com)

Thats were I get my upgrade parts.


I buy my parts from there too. good place.

[BruteForce]

Often the best price on PC parts can be found here:

www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com)

[Mad1]

When it comes to gaming ... buy the biggest, fastest things you can in Chip/Ram/Graphics. If you go cheap, you're in a for a lot of heartache as you keep trying to get newer games to run.

I bought an Alienware (www.alienware.com) Area 51 design back in 1998 and I'm still using it right now, though not to play any new games. (Kinda held back by only packing a pentiumII-450, but it was a screamer in its day and upgradable with video cards for about 3 years before it became obsolete.)

If you've only got $600, try getting a best buy store credit card or an unsecured personal loan from a bank for the purchase of a new computer. (I went that route for my first two computers, and paid through installments.)

Mad1
Jeremy

[Logan]

So, it's no secret I work for Dell. Buy a Dell and help me retire pls... :)

At home, my gaming system is a AMD 3200+ Opteron with 2gb ram and 2 GEForce 5600 PCIe SLI Video cards with twin 250gb SATA drives... It's a badass mofo...

That's backed up by a Dimension 4700C in the Kitchen and a couple Latitude D600 notebooks for the wife and I... There's also a Oracle 10g db running on a Dimension 3000 for experiments.. :)

I highly recommend the Dimension 3000's... They come will the main board from the higher end dimensions, without the price. Very easy to upgrade yourself via some of the aftermarket component sites...

[johnfain]

I need a new computor. I need 256MB RAM (or 512 would be better) A 3D card with t&l (texture and lighting)of 32MB or better (geforce 6600 or ATI radean 7000 or better).And a one gig drive.

I have no idea what I just said. Computors really aren't my thing and I really hate talking to dealers. They just sell stuff IMO. Gateway has remanufactured units, would the lower end model work with a better graphics card?

Also, I've got a budget of about $600. Upgrading my antique is out of the question apparently. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!


go to www.pricewatch.com

go for 1 gig of ram ddr400 if your mb takes it and get a radeon 9600 xt or 9700PRO. that should do the trick. for hard drive you can easily pick up 120 gig for 80 bucks. for gaming the most important thing is video card and memory. you should be able to pick up a white box with all of the above for 500$ amd chip 2600-3200 cpu.g

[Leadfoot281]

Wow! What a response! There's a lot of good links here. Thanks again! My five year old Hp Pavillion is just fine for my needs, e-shopping, info, etc. but I'd like to upgrade/replace it for "The Sims 2". The girlfriend is addicted to it and my system won't even load it for her. If I can run that game, I (we?) should be good for another five years. She ain't gonna like it much if the new computor won't run it!

Apparently the game is cpu heavy. Best Video card isn't needed. And the more RAM the better from what I've read. Gaming specific computors are spendy! I thought my planted aquariums were bad.

I'll do some more research, and thanks for the help!

[Mike M]

One thing to remember...computers are like everything else...you get what you pay for. Computer gaming technology is going through another growth period and you'll need higher end processors for longevity, unless you have one specific game you like with no intention of keeping up with the latest products. I'd suggest an AMD 3500+ (no less than a 3000+) 739 socket system with an ASUS motherboard and an ASUS NVIDIA EN6600 video card. You can get a basic Sound Blaster sound card for next to nothing and hear everything you need to unless you're going for the "stereo" effect. Also, RAM is cheap right now so at least 512, preferably 1Gig should be your goal. Another often overlooked item is the power source. If you get a 350watt power supply, take it for granted that it's only making 75% of that in reality. Shoot for 100watt higher than you need. Many problems people attribute to software and other things are actually the result of poor power output. Also, if you are really into gaming...look at a software called Game Drive, $19, that allows you to make a virtual copy of your game CD legally on your computer which drastically speeds up game play because you remove the CD drive lag from the gaming process when the game is searching for data. This may be a little over your $600 budget, but in the long run, you'll be happier for it. Check for a local computer shop that runs specials of systems built in-house. You'll be glad to have someone local to take it to, because mail orders systems (Dell, Gateway) require extra insurance to get on-site service usually. Hope this helps, I've been an avid computer gamer for many years and have learned the hard way a few times to make it count the first time.


What you want is a 939 pin AMD CPU, not a 739.
Otherwise everything is spot on.
I have been building computers for about 12 years now (Premier Computers-Premier Auto Center) and my new gaming PC that I am just startingto build has the following...
AMD 64 4000 939 pin (great price/performance point right now) Asus SLI Deluxe motherboard, 2 gigs Corsair ram, Nvidia 7800 GT video card, and yes power supplys are extremly important, go with a 350-400 watt and even if the case you buy comes with one throw it out and replace it with a name brand unit. Start buying Maximum PC and CPU magazines and read them cover to cover.

If you have a Frys electronics close to you go there as they have everything in staock at great prices or just go online with them.

[MENINBLK]

If you are going to buy a GAMING PC and you want it to last at least 3 years,
then you need to spend more than $600.
I upgrade my PC every 3 years and it costs me usually less than $2000.
And that is buying OEM NAME BRAND parts over the internet too.

My current system is this...

Windows XP SP2
450 Watt ANTEC Power Supply
Intel P4 3.20E HT (Prescott Processor)
CoolerMaster Hyper 48 CPU Cooler
Intel D875PBZ Motherboard
2 GB Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO DDR400 RAM
Promise Ultra133TX2 IDE Adapter
2 - Maxtor 160GB Ultra133 hard drives
Plextor PX-716A Dual Layer DVD Burner
NEC ND-1100A DVD+ Burner
ATI Radeon X850XT AGP (purchased recently to replace nVidia POS)
Arctic Cooling AVC-AT5 Rev.2 (ATI Chipset Cooler)
Sound Blaster Audigy 4 PRO
CoolerMaster Praetorion PC Case (PAC-T01)
Cambridge SoundWorks/Creative GigaWorks S750 7.1 (700 WATTS)
NEC LCD-2010X Monitor

This is my work/play rig.
Whenever I upgrade, I change out the CPU, Motherboard and RAM.
Whenever necessary, the hard drives get swapped out also.
My son gets my old system transplanted into his PC.
Right now he has

Windows 98SE
1GHz P3
256MB of RAM
40GB Hard drive
nVidia GeForce Ti4600 128MB
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Cambridge SoundWorks speakers
Mitsubishi 15" LCD Monitor

He will be getting my old rig next year when I upgrade my system...

[Leadfoot281]

I just need a PC that can play a game. Not a gaming PC. My 5 year old HP Pavilion suits my needs perfectly. I don't even own a game. If I need to spend $2000 updating/replacing it so my girlfriend can play her Sims2 game here, I'll just upgrade/replace her.

There's got to be an "off the shelf" unit that can get me on the 'net and allow her to play "The Sims2" for under $600. I've read the recomended requirements for the game but it's all latin to me. Actually Latin is getting to be my second language due to my hobby, aquatic horticulture. I'm actually injecting pressurized C02 into my aquariums, so I have C02 cylinders in my living room! Lighting costs run $150/mo. And I'm trying to get my Ctenolucious Hujetas "Gars" to spawn. But that's another story...

If I knew anything about computors I'd have a cool avatar.

If anyones aware of The Sims2 and its requirements, and can recomend a tower to run it for under $600 I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[usafsniper]

What you want is a 939 pin AMD CPU, not a 739.
Otherwise everything is spot on.
I have been building computers for about 12 years now (Premier Computers-Premier Auto Center) and my new gaming PC that I am just startingto build has the following...
AMD 64 4000 939 pin (great price/performance point right now) Asus SLI Deluxe motherboard, 2 gigs Corsair ram, Nvidia 7800 GT video card, and yes power supplys are extremly important, go with a 350-400 watt and even if the case you buy comes with one throw it out and replace it with a name brand unit. Start buying Maximum PC and CPU magazines and read them cover to cover.

If you have a Frys electronics close to you go there as they have everything in staock at great prices or just go online with them.
Thanks for the correction...typing tooooo fast to keep up with my brain!