Advice sought (1 Viewer)

[Italian Hotshot]

Hey guys,

I am looking at buying a new PC system. I think that I have a couple of options. I am willing to spend roughly $2500. It would mostly be used for gaming, I doubt much uni work would get done on it.

1. Purchasing the ECOM system (see attachment), though I have been told that I would almost immediately have to purchase a new graphics card? The sound system that goes with this is apparently pretty good value for money.

2. Ordering the AMD Game Player off the MSY site.

3. Buy something off Dell, but this is probably a last resort.

4. Building something myself, though I am a tad unsure about this.

Are there that many more options? Do you have any company/websites that you would recommend? Any ideas or pointers would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Collin]

Few comments:

- Regarding no1: What you've been told is correct. The video card in that is crap for games. The RAM is nice, but there are definitely way better processors out there for games. A 3.0GHz PD seems all nice and fancy with it's dual core lingo, but until multi-threaded games come out, dual core provides no gaming advantage. It's not a bad option.. but when you add up the cost of buying a high-end video card (combined with the fact the processor can be alot better), no1 probably isn't the way to go. Also not sure about that monitor. 19' LCD may seem flashy.. but again many LCDs nowadays still dont have a good reputation with gamers in general compared to good ol' CRTs.

- For gaming, building your own PC is definitely the way to go. Not sure about how competitive the prices are at your link, but I usually go to auspcmarket.com and right now you can get a pretty nice gaming rig for these prices.. so if you can get these parts there for roughly the same price that's the way to go.
Case ~150
Good 480W PSU ~150
Decent PCI-x16 mobo ~250
Athlon64 3500+ Venice core skt939 CPU ~350
2GB PC3500 RAM ~400
nVidia 7800GTX or ATi X1800XT ~750
Creative Audigy2 sound card ~200
Good 5.1 DD/EAX speakers or excellent gaming headphones ~200
Logitech MX-series mouse ~40
___________
$2490

- Use the keyboard you have now.
- Use the CRT you have now.. unless it's really crap or/and small.. a decent new 19' one will set you back around ~$300-$400
- Take out the DVD/CD optical drive you have now and put it in the new one. If you don't have one with DVD capabilities and want one, then you can get a new dual format/layer drive for about 100 bucks.
- Take the HD you're using now and put it in the new system.. if you really prefer a new HD, then a typical 120GB one costs around ~130 at the moment.

I know you need to take some stuff out from your old PC to suit this plan.. but I did that so you could get the most important elements of your gaming experience right.. the performance of the games. The specs of the system I described are top-end, there's minimal sacrifice there for quality & performance. With a Athlon64 3500+, 2GB RAM, 7800GTX/X1800XT, Audigy2 system, you'll bet that you'll be blowing every game flying at you straight into hell. The graphics will be mind-blowing and the sound will be nothing short of spectacular.

 

[theone123]

i was thinking of a Dell XPS gaming package, any good?

looks neat tho...

 

[Collin]

XPS is available in Aus? =S Sorry, I haven't checked out the desktop section of Dell for awhile. Chances are though, specs will be nice but it will be very overpriced. Shame they don't sell AMDs though.

__BEST IDEA FOR GAMING PC: ALWAYS BUILD YOURSELF!!!!!!__

 

[theone123]

yeas, cost is like high $2000s pretty expensive machine...

 

[Enoch]

...if ur looking for a place to get deadset cheap parts but VERY long waiting lines and perhaps crappy service MSY near silverwater is good, if ur looking for just a tad bit expensive ie few bux..but better service and no waiting lines and ok service id reccomend CUSTO in parramatta ...and if ur willing to pay a bit more extra ie. few more bux...then AUSPAC r VERY friendly ppl and will help u out HEAPS and their service is very good and no waiting lines cos there mainly a wholesale place and there in silverwater.

 

[n2o_lonewolf74]

__BEST IDEA FOR GAMING PC: ALWAYS BUILD YOURSELF!!!!!!__

absolute must for a gamer, motherboards on brand name pcs really limit your future upgrades.
search for individual components on http://www.staticice.com.au.
provides a list of retailers selling components according to price.

 

[sikeveo]

Why would buy a venice when you can buy an opteron for similar price?

 

[Collin]

Why would buy a venice when you can buy an opteron for similar price?

A 3500+ Venice costs around the same as a skt940 Opteron 244 and a skt939 Opteron 146. For gaming, both perform inferior to the 64 3500+. Not to mention the 244 being restricted to PC2700 RAM max, hence choking down FSB. Infact, throw in 30 odd bucks or so and move up to a 246 and the 3500+ still beats it. And this is all before we even start to OC the Venice (since one reason I labelled it down was due to it's relatively superb OCing). Anandtech could only OC the 246 (again, already more expensive than the 3500+ Venice) to 2.25GHz max, piss poor compared to the Venice.