Help me choose a desktop. Please :D

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TheZaw

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Hi ya'll. I have $900 ready to spend on a computer. I need it to run: TF2 well, CSS well, Crysis sem-well, and be able to run word and an interent browser + agame at the same time without slowdown.

It needs to be a premade as i don't have time to build one. If it includes a moniter, my parents will buy the moniter off of me so subtract that off the price.

Lastly....at least 4ish gigs of ram.

Two of my contedors: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668196.php

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=productdetails~xpsdt_420
(With whatever settings you think are best for that computer.)


Help me choose! It doesn't HAVE to be one i put up, but i'd like it to be one of them :P.
 
I would seriously consider building it yourself - it really doesn't take that long to construct. I built my new rig a month ago and it took me two hours to put together completely with another three hours devoted to getting Vista up and running completely. You'll be able to build a more powerful PC than you would get by buying from an OEM, not to mention you have absolute control over what goes in your system to maximize your upgrade potential.

For instance, I just assembled the following on Newegg:
Phenom 9850 Black Edition 2.5 GHz - $169.99
Biostar TFORCE TA790GX - $94.99
4 GB DDR2 800 - $69.99
Visiontek Radeon HD 4850 - $179.99
500 GB Western Digital HDD - $64.99
Samsung DVD Writer - $26.99
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 PSU - $134.99
Antec Nine Hundred Case - $109.99
Vista Home Premium SP1 x64 - $99.99

Comes out to about $950, but with a little tweaking you could easily drop it down to the $900 range.

I don't mean to be unhelpful, just some food for thought.
 
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WeAz said:
I would seriously consider building it yourself - it really doesn't take that long to construct. I built my new rig a month ago and it took me two hours to put together completely with another three hours devoted to getting Vista up and running completely. You'll be able to build a more powerful PC than you would get by buying from an OEM, not to mention you have absolute control over what goes in your system to maximize your upgrade potential.

For instance, I just assembled the following on Newegg:
Phenom 9850 Black Edition 2.5 GHz - $169.99
Biostar TFORCE TA790GX - $94.99
4 GB DDR2 800 - $69.99
Visiontek Radeon HD 4850 - $179.99
500 GB Western Digital HDD - $64.99
Samsung DVD Writer - $26.99
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 PSU - $134.99
Antec Nine Hundred Case - $109.99
Vista Home Premium SP1 x64 - $99.99

Comes out to about $950, but with a little tweaking you could easily drop it down to the $900 range.

I don't mean to be unhelpful, just some food for thought.
Click to expand...
Meh.....Custom is just too hard to fit into my schedule.
 
@ Gooda
TheZaw said:
Hi ya'll. I have $900 ready to spend on a computer.
Click to expand...


If you cannot build your own, FO SHO check out a website that will let you customize your own.

cyberpowerpc
ibuyopower
... Many more.
 
You get way more bang for buck when you build your own... or let it build for you...
 
Yeah but Velocity Micro is kind of a...erm...*cough*rip*cough*. It's great that they're sponsoring us and all but I can get a better PC with the kind of cash I would have to spend with Velocity Micro.
 
I would not choose the dell that you have configured, go with the Gateway.

The Dell has a graphics card that will not perform well at all.

The gateway is pretty for a budget PC, but it does not have a graphics card. I suggest you head over to newegg and buy a 8800 GT for about 120 dollars and just put the card in the x16 PCI slot.

This is fairly simple.

PM me if you need help on adding the card in.
 
TheZaw said:
Hi ya'll. I have $900 ready to spend on a computer. I need it to run: TF2 well, CSS well, Crysis sem-well, and be able to run word and an interent browser + agame at the same time without slowdown.

It needs to be a premade as i don't have time to build one. If it includes a moniter, my parents will buy the moniter off of me so subtract that off the price.

Lastly....at least 4ish gigs of ram.

Two of my contedors: http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668196.php

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=productdetails~xpsdt_420
(With whatever settings you think are best for that computer.)


Help me choose! It doesn't HAVE to be one i put up, but i'd like it to be one of them :P.
Click to expand...

The Dell with 4GB and a 9800GT would be able to play most games that you want. :O

You'd have to buy a video card for your Gateway.
 
Volcom said:
I would not choose the dell that you have configured, go with the Gateway.

The Dell has a graphics card that will not perform well at all.

The gateway is pretty for a budget PC, but it does not have a graphics card. I suggest you head over to newegg and buy a 8800 GT for about 120 dollars and just put the card in the x16 PCI slot.

This is fairly simple.

PM me if you need help on adding the card in.
Click to expand...

Although I have much faith in Volcom, I would not touch the inside of the computer if you don't know what you are doing. All those cords and parts are VERY intimidating for someone who has little experince with computer hardware.

I would however call someone to put in the card for you like a friend or someone from work though. A 9800GT or 8800GT will give you VERY GOOD performance with 4Gigs.

On a side note, I <3 my 8800GT. 6 months of awesome games and not slowing down yet!
 
Cr@sH said:
Although I have much faith in Volcom, I would not touch the inside of the computer if you don't know what you are doing. All those cords and parts are VERY intimidating for someone who has little experince with computer hardware.

I would however call someone to put in the card for you like a friend or someone from work though. A 9800GT or 8800GT will give you VERY GOOD performance with 4Gigs.

On a side note, I <3 my 8800GT. 6 months of awesome games and not slowing down yet!
Click to expand...

As long as you have someone to make sure your specs can handle the card it's nearly impossible to insert a graphics card the wrong way....

Everything is either slotted a certain way, or it's color coded.

I learned about computers by just messing with them, plugging stuff in, talking to industry professionals (most of my brothers friends) as I grew up.

But yes it is very intimidating at first, but it's only as bad as you think it is. :3
 
MrAwesome said:
As long as you have someone to make sure your specs can handle the card it's nearly impossible to insert a graphics card the wrong way....

Everything is either slotted a certain way, or it's color coded.

I learned about computers by just messing with them, plugging stuff in, talking to industry professionals (most of my brothers friends) as I grew up.

But yes it is very intimidating at first, but it's only as bad as you think it is. :3
Click to expand...

Same way i learned :D

Brother and friends (college friends)

Its pretty simple. I learned how to put in a new GPU by reading the manuel of my first computer. (Dell XPS 410) ewww god.... Really simple just unscrew, then pop it in and screw and plug in monitor..

Note: Dont forget to ground yourself....

I touch the end of my computer they have a little metal piece where i can discharge myself.
 
seriously, if u have a friend that can do it get him too...cuz Computers comes flooded with bloated software nowadays i.e WINDOWS VISTA!!!!!
 
Case ( Nzxt Guardian 921 Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Black )

Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )

Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 (2x 3.0GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )

Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )

Motherboard ( [SLI] Asus P5N-D Nvidia nForce 750i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB EPU Technology )

Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )

Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )

Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )



CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( [** Special !!! ***] LG 20X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD?R/?RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )

Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Audigy SE )
Speaker System ( None )

USB 2.0 Accessories ( Built-in USB 2.0 Ports )


Operation System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 32-Bit )


Acceptable computer? 968 bucks, i have enough money for it.
 
You're probably going to want to consider at least a 500 Watt Power Supply. I'd recommend 750 for upgradeability.

Also, just a heads up that Vista 32 will work fine with 4 GB of memory, but if you ever plan to put more than 4 GB of RAM in your machine, you'll need to run a 64-bit OS. I'd just go ahead and get Vista 64 right out of the gate...unless you never plan on upgrading this thing, in which case, never mind.

Otherwise, that build looks reasonably solid.

EDIT: Also, you can shave a little more money off the price by ditching the discrete audio - unless you're running a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, you'll never notice a difference between discrete and onboard.
 
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Alright, took off the sound stuff, and added a 600 watt power supply.

That good?
 
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