I am currently preparing to buy a new (but cheap) computer sometime by early January and am looking for some advice. My current system is an emachines T1115 that has been upgraded from 128 MB of RAM to 512 MB (the max that it can handle) and a high speed internet connection through a box provided by my cable service (the original 56k modem was removed because it was interfering with the new hardware, which my Device Manager calls a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC). The most intensive thing I use it for is to surf the internet using multiple open Internet Explorer windows, and I'm having problems with slow page loading and choppy youtube videos.
My new computer must be a tower set up for someone who is only marginally tech savvy, it must be compatible with my internet connection and it has to allow me easy internet surfing. Since I was a big fan of the original Starcraft game and plan to eventually get the sequel, it should also meet or surpass the recommended settings for Starcraft II and should probably have available expansion slots for additional RAM (the only upgrade that I feel confident performing myself). I don't need a monitor as I have a perfectly good Flatron L1942T.
I hope to spend under $500 if possible, as I'm mostly living off of my savings and am using all of the x-mas money I expect to get to help fund the purchase. Any suggestions on a model or on where or when to purchase the computer?
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
It's probably not the RAM that's causing choppy behaviour with your PC... it might well be the fact that you're using Internet Explorer (6?), or OS problems. A 1Ghz Processor, and 512Mb of RAM should be more than enough... I mean, I've got Youtube videos running fine on an IBM X20, with a 600Mhz Pentium 3, and only 192Meg's of RAM. First thing you might want to try, is reinstalling Windows. Cleaning out a few years of Windows Rot will usually make a PC feel pretty snappy again.
If you're looking for a computer though, try
this . It'll probably be a bit cheaper in the US, since about a fifth of that price there includes VAT, Irish prices are always on the high side anyway..... and it'll do just about anything you'd want it to.
In general, if you want to be playing games, yiou're looking for something with some form of discreet graphics... a seperate Graphics card rather than an integrated one. Most modern PC's these days come with an ethernet port anyway, so you don't have to worry about that.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
Dartz Wrote:It's probably not the RAM that's causing choppy behaviour with your PC... it might well be the fact that you're using Internet Explorer (6?), or OS problems. A 1Ghz Processor, and 512Mb of RAM should be more than enough... I mean, I've got Youtube videos running fine on an IBM X20, with a 600Mhz Pentium 3, and only 192Meg's of RAM. First thing you might want to try, is reinstalling Windows. Cleaning out a few years of Windows Rot will usually make a PC feel pretty snappy again.
I'm running Internet Explorer 8 and the computer came with Window XP pre-installed. Since there is no installation disk in the box or on my shelf of computer CD's (and I wouldn't have thrown something like that out), I'm assuming that I have no way to reinstall a legal copy of the OS.
I've heard that a full hard drive can slow things down, but my 20 GB drive is still 43 percent free. I've considered getting a bigger one installed just in case it was the source of the problem, but doubt that I have the expertise to do it myself and wouldn't want to risk it without some way to reinstall the OS.
Also, I strongly suspect that a big part of the problem is my antivirus sytem (Kaspersky). I was trying to tweak my settings downward slightly to speed things up, but think that I accidentally boosted something instead, as my system only slowed down even further. Unfortunately, since the program can be used on up to three computers and it was only being used on two, my brother from out of state took the disk so that he could install a copy on his computer, so I can't simply delete it and reinstall. I'll have to ask him to bring the disk when he visits for Thanksgiving.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
That's strange that you didn't get a reinstall disk. There should at least be a License Key sticker somewhere on the PC case. IIRC, that represents your legal entitlement to use the software, or something. It doesn't matter how you get the installation media. If you could pull down an OEM edition of Windows XP (Home?), chances are that license key would work to activate it.
Kaspersky is something of a resource hog. If you're on that old a machine, you'd be better off running Microsoft Security Essentials. It'll do most of what you need and is free (as in beer).
Outside the box, maybe you might want to give
Xubuntu Linux a shot. It works well with low-power PC's... I've run it on things with less go that your desktop quite happily. I think you can run Starcraft in WINE, and you won't need an antivirus or anything like that. Best of all... it's Free.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
I'm not going to get into the 'replace your OS and still use your old PC' argument. You said you wanted to play SCII, let's work on that.
Okay, here's what you need for SCII:
•Windows Vista®/Windows® 7
•Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
•2 GB RAM
•512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better
•12 GB available HD space
•DVD-ROM drive
•Broadband Internet connection
•1024X720 minimum display resolution
If we assume you have a monitor(can we?), we can just worry about the box. The discrete video card is important, as Intel GMAs will not handle the game. Also, you'll want 4GB of RAM. 2GB might be enough for XP, not for Vista and definitely not 7.
Checking out Dell, Newegg, and NCIX US, I don't think you're going to manage $500 easily - the problem is the discrete video card, which just by virtue of it being there causes a cascade of minor upgrades in the system specs that raises the price to $750-800.
Personally, I think your best bet is to watch for online/local sales, especially Black Friday deals.
I'm not surprised by that. The second you add 'and by the way, I want to play this (recent to new) game on it too', anything you can get for under $500 is suddenly going to become less than adequate.
It might be best to get everything but the video card, and then ask for birthday money to remedy that later. Video cards are just about 5% shy of being as easy to install as RAM. Or, as Jpub said, look out for the Black Friday and After Christmas specials, and see if that brings the total price to where you want it to be.
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
Thanks for all of the advice. I've started by swapping Kaspersky for Microsoft Security Essentials and it has sped things up by quite a bit on my current system. If I do go ahead and buy a new computer, would this one (
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Ite ... 6883229194) make a good buy or does my lack of tech-savvy mean that I'm missing some hidden flaws or drawbacks?
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
While that's not necessarily a bad PC, it's relatively underpowered for gaming needs, is a bit light on memory, and the graphics card is going to choke on anything more challenging than The Sims.
It will likely do the job -- letting you play SC2, I mean -- but you won't be able to crank the graphics to max, and other modern games will likely have the same problem. Also, Cyberpower has a -horrible- reputation for customer service, so if something does go bad, you'll be on your own to replace it, most likely. At that price point, that's to be expected, honestly.
I'd personally hold off a little longer -- if you have that much available to spend now, a month or two more would likely net you enough on top of that to get a better machine. Also, post-Christmas sales are just around the corner, and those offer great chances to score premium hardware on the cheap.
If you need one now now now, you could do worse, but I'd suggest going into it expecting to spend more on it within the next six months to a year, and outright replacement in 2 or 3 at the most.
The "Related Items" lists this:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...spx?Item=N82E16883227261
Which is out of stock at present but they say they'll have more on 11/19; that's -slightly- more expensive but you get more bang for your buck. Just a suggestion.
--sofaspud
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"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
For what you want, it might be alright, running right at bare-minimum settings. It looks like the Graphics card is being passively cooled, however... that might not be ideal. The card'll run pretty hot if you're gaming with it. It might be worth spending some extra cash and upgrading to a 5670... or even an older 4XXX series card might be gettable for a similar price.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
It is possible to make your own windows XP SP3 install disk from scratch if you have a recovery partition in your harddrive and have a CD-DVD burner. Of course you still need to have a valid Key to install it. In fact I was able to use it to reinstall Windows XP PRO SP3 into a friends laptop. I am debating repeating the same process to create a windows XP home SP3 installer as my siblings have have between them 2 HP netbooks using XP home and one desktop with the same. And if the OS goes in one of them I do have an external DVD-RAM drive that I was given at an old job.
I used the below guide to create my own Windows XP-PRO SP3 installer using the recovery partition of my desktop system by sequentially slipstreaming the SP2 and SP3 installers into the folder I used to store the files needed create the installer image.
A good how to is available here:
http://www.howtohaven.com...-xp-service-pack-3.shtml
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."
i hate yuku, it ate my post.
in short: ATI card = pain in my experience
bougth a cyberpower computer a decade ago, bad experince with their hardware.
if you configure similar computer on the cyberpower site you can snag aGeForce 430 and a better chip for the same price, which should increase performance substantialy (the Geforce 430 has roughgly twice the performance of a radeon 5450)
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
I had another thought. You can get a off-the-shelf cheap computer for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400. (even a bit less with a company like emachines) that has a full Win 7 liscence, a decent (usually 250GB nowdays) hard drive and 2-4 GBs of memory. These computers have a motherboard based graphics card and an PCIx slot to add in your own.
When picking out a card for a system like this, the biggest thing to keep track of is keeping the card requirements within the (stock) power supply's capabilities. The key thing I look for is a videocard that don't need any extra power cables--they usually have reccomended power supplies of 350-400W. When I looked about a year ago, most of these systems shipped with 350W power supplies, but that may have inched up since.
I haven't found a more price effective way to go, especially considering the Windows liscence. You could buy the cheap computer and video card at best buy and pay them to install it I suppose, but that would be less of a bargain.
CattyNebulart Wrote:i hate yuku, it ate my post.
in short: ATI card = pain in my experience
bougth a cyberpower computer a decade ago, bad experince with their hardware.
if you configure similar computer on the cyberpower site you can snag aGeForce 430 and a better chip for the same price, which should increase performance substantialy (the Geforce 430 has roughgly twice the performance of a radeon 5450)
The big catch with cyberpower is that they cut corners to push out cheap gaming computers. At least, the notebook I had had little issues (like lots of heat, short battery life, and failing DVD drives after a while). If I can get a decent gaming notebook for $800 (+tax) (from Best Buy, nonetheless) there has got to be a decent desktop system floating around somewhere.
werehawk Wrote:It is possible to make your own windows XP SP3 install disk from scratch if you have a recovery partition in your harddrive and have a CD-DVD burner. Of course you still need to have a valid Key to install it.
I lack a recovery partition, my CD drive doesn't have a burner and I don't know where to find the key, as I have only a vague memory of taking the computer out of the emachines box and having everything work immediately.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
paladindythe Wrote:Here's something to help you pick out some components.
PC Perspective has a Hardware Leaderboard that's updated monthly. The author has three price points: $400-$500, $800-900, and $1300-$1500. The prices reflect upp-to-date prices (links included).
http://www.pcper.com/hwlb.php
This looks very helpful. Thanks. I'll save the link and consult it when I'm ready to start looking for a system.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
Past experience with ATI aside, their 5000 series of cards are the best on the market right now.
I generally use
Tom's Hardware as my go to site for hardware advice. It makes fewer assumptions of overclocking as PC perspective.
Newegg is apparently having sales every Friday this month. You might want to take a look. I saw a set of ram and two video cards today, though I don't know if they are what you need. Here's a link to the sale page:
http://www.newegg.com/Sto...4hr%2f980x130.jpg&Page=1
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
And I should note, as the PC purchaser at my office, nVidia's 400 series SUCK, and the 200 series has disappointed me. I can't wait for the sales to see if I can pick up a 5850 or a 6000 series card cheap.
So, I may be about to inherit my dad's 3-year-old MacBook Pro.
Dual-core intel 2.4ghz, 2 gigs RAM, and an ATI Radeon 1600 graphics card. Running Snow Leopard.
I've got the CoH Mac client downloading on it now to see how it works.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
It'll be okay. I wouldn't expect OMGblazingspeedWTF out of it, but it'll be a decent rig.
Yeah. Tried CoH on it, and on medium non-ultra graphics mode, playing goldside, it stayed stable for most of five or six missions.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
That reminds me. Recently, my desktop has become slow. So I developed an EVIL PLAN. By Christmas, my 3Ghz Athlon dual-core with 4GB of DDR2 and WinXP will be... something else.
Namely, a 3.2Ghz Phenom six-core, 8GB of DDR3 (with space for 8GB more), and an XP/7/Ubuntu triple-boot on a newer, larger drive.
(BTW, Best Buy has a pretty good hard drive deal right now- 1.5TB WD external for $80. It's only 5400RPM, but for an archival drive, that's not a problem.
I bought two. When I'm done, I'll have 4.89TiB of storage.)
My
Unitarian Jihad Name is:
Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate.
Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
jpub Wrote:I'm not going to get into the 'replace your OS and still use your old PC' argument. You said you wanted to play SCII, let's work on that.
Okay, here's what you need for SCII:
•Windows Vista®/Windows® 7
•Dual Core 2.4Ghz Processor
•2 GB RAM
•512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 GTX or ATI Radeon® HD 3870 or better
•12 GB available HD space
•DVD-ROM drive
•Broadband Internet connection
•1024X720 minimum display resolution
If we assume you have a monitor(can we?), we can just worry about the box. The discrete video card is important, as Intel GMAs will not handle the game. Also, you'll want 4GB of RAM. 2GB might be enough for XP, not for Vista and definitely not 7.
Hi. Still looking to upgrade my computer. Would the HP Pavillion p6650z ($449.99) meet my requirements? (
www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/com ... 50z_series)
The processor and memory seem sufficient, but I'm uncertain if the Integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 [VGA, DVI] graphics meet the recommended requirements, since I have trouble differentiating between the relative power of various graphics cards or the difference between integrated and seperate cards.
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV