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Gaming PC: Good deal or not?
Gameloading
Member UncommonPosts: 14,182
in Hardware
So I'm looking to buy a gaming PC but i'm restricted to a pretty low budget.
I can get the following PC for 540$, would this be a good deal or should I pass on it?
Case: X-Gear Nero XN900S (ATX, 400W, Silver)
Memory: 2x 1GB DDR2 PC5300 667MHz CL5 OEM
Hard drive: Hitachi 160GB SATA II 7200RPM 8MB 7K160 (16PLA380)
Processor: Intel Core Duo E2160 (S775, 1.80 GHz, 1MB, 800 MHz FSB, Boxed)
Motherboard: Asus P5LD2-X/1333, 945GC (ATX, PCI-e, Sound, LAN, SATA II)
DVD - RW: Samsung SHS203D/BEBE 20x (Dual-Layer, SATA, Blackt) OEM
Graphic: PEAK ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB DDR4 (512 MB, DDR4, PCI-E, DVI, D-sub, TV-out)
opinions?
Comments
Its ok for the price.
it is good and you can always throw in some spare cash and upgrade it.
try to find a place where they don't sell ready built rigs so you can chose you own parts.personally i would skip the ati and get a nvidia, that is just my 2 cents, i hate ati after one burned my motherboard but that was an older model.
hope i'm not going to start an ati VS nvidia flame war.
__________________________________
Remember the good old days when devs made games just for the sake of making a great game?
They are forever gone now all they care is about how much they can earn from them, if they can't make millions they won't make that game.
REMEMBER THE OLD DAYS AND REGRET THEY HAVE PASSED.
Yeah good price I would go for it.
I tend to agree with above poster.. go with Nvidia. See what an 8800 might run you instead. Maximum PC just did a comparison in July issue and found that the 8800GTS had about 5-10% better fps than the HD3870 in games, but did cost about $50 more. Not sure if thats significant enough for you to spend the extra money. Another thought... you may have to look at different mobo to support Nvidia as opposed to ATI. Do some homework on it or call the tech support of whoever your buying it from.
Good luck and Peace!!
Its always good to remember what you need. An 8800 GTS having an 8~10% performance advantage over the HD3870 is actually a bad thing considering, the 8800 GTS also has an 8~10% performance advantage over the 8800GT. When the HD3870 was first released it performed about 10~14% worse then the 8800GT. Your also paying 20% more for a 10% performance increase. Not to mention Intel Video Chipsets run ATI cards better. That and the performance increase is in a negligible range. Whats better 60 FPS or 66 FPS?
There are bigger problems in that PC then the Video Card. 1st is the power supply which doesn't really have enough Juice. Then its the Processor that doesn't really have enough juice, then lastly the underclocked memory. However, its a good price for what you get. Upgrading the parts also won't cost as much as upgrading the video card yet will yield a great performance increase.
Personally if I were you and I had a choice, I would go with an AMD processor and the ATI card should be fine. You aren't looking for the most badass rig, you're looking for a decent rig that can play everything you want for a decent price. That being said AMD has a better price to performance ratio, and with a HD 3870 you will get good enough performance. Right now though the cost for the 3870s and that particular model is pretty much on par with the 320MB 8800 GTS or a 512 GT which will get the job done too.
I'd be careful if you decided to go up to an Nvidia card with that power supply though.
Also, what about Operating System? Does it come preinstalled or do you have to buy and install it yourself? Just an added cost unless you're going with linux in which case you should check your parts for compatibility.
would upgrading the CPU to an
AMD 6400X2 give a noticable improvement?
Also, the system comes with Windows XP.
I wouldn't bother with a Dual Core AMD machine.
A 6400+ would give make a great improvement. You'll also need a new MOBO, which you could get an AMD+ board which is compatible with the new Quad processors for upgrading later when you have the money, if you want to upgrade.
I have a 6000+ in my AMD rig and my machine flies. Alot of people don't give AMD enough credit, they make a very strong processor and the price is almost always right. However, Intel makes very good processors too and a core 2 duo running at 3ghz each would be a better choice, but you'll be spending 40-80 bucks more. At those speeds though you probably won't see much of a difference to be honest.
Get HD4850. New Bang for buck. It comes at a price of a 8800GT, but has better performance then 9800GTX!
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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AMDs are notorious for being the choice of gamers. Nvidia right now are kicking some ATI tail and they're my go to graphics card atm. I'm not die hard Nvidia fan. I build my systems based on the best hardware out atm.
I've got an intel powered computer with ATI graphics card along with an AMD powered computer with an Nividia graphics card. This is simply because at one point Intel and ATI were the best, so that's what I got. Now it's AMD and Nvidia.
that would be a big downgrade. Even with it being a low end core 2 duo, with AMD's horrid performance you would need to buy a phenom to beat it out. I wouldn't bother changing the processor. Stick with intel, perfomance is better and upgrade path is better. If you're looking to upgrade the system in the original post, go with a better power supply, better ram, and a bigger hard drive.
member of imminst.org
Uhh why you keep posting bad information on the performance of processors. At stock speeds the AMD 6400+ matches the Core2Duo E6400. The E2160 is a pentium class processor and performs worse then and AMD 4400+
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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that would be a big downgrade. Even with it being a low end core 2 duo, with AMD's horrid performance you would need to buy a phenom to beat it out. I wouldn't bother changing the processor. Stick with intel, perfomance is better and upgrade path is better. If you're looking to upgrade the system in the original post, go with a better power supply, better ram, and a bigger hard drive.
I won't be as arrogant then this, but AMD is a great processor, as is Intel. One does things better in certian environments then the other , AMD is your gaming processor, Intel is an office applications processor, in my opinion. AMD processors are engineered to perform under harsher circumstances then Intel.
Again it is personal preference, but the above poster is a complete intel fanboy, only looking at processor numbers instead of what the over performance is with other components of the p.c. . Don't let him discourage you from AMD if that is the path you take.
Recommend AMD 2.5 -3.2 dual core black box addition athlons and Phenons.... AMD is also working on a 8 core , pure 8 core processor called BullDozer as well, so ... yah
I love how if someone disagrees with you they are a fanboy. Nevermind that out of the 4 modern computers I have 3 are AMD builds. Since the Core 2 came out intel processors have badly outperformed anything AMD has put out. With all the BS AMD has put out about the phenoms being true quad cores, intel's lowest lever quad blows AMD's top out of the water. Unless you are looking to go back a few generations of CPU intel is the smart way to go. I'm not saying that he must go intel, but it is simply just the better choice right now, and you won't find anyone in the computer industry in their right mind that would recommend AMD over intel right now. Maybe it a year or two AMD will pick things up and really get back in the game, but right now they are a bad choice.
member of imminst.org
So, would an Intel core 2 Duo E6600 2x 2,4 ghz fit better with this set up?
The processor is pretty much junk and the RAM could be a little better, but for the price and the fact that it comes with a HD3870 it's a good deal. 4GB of RAM is not necessary either.
are you building this or buying it pre built?
The processor is sup par, and I am assuming that psu comes with the case.
I'd definitely ditch the power supply, or it may cost you your entire system when it goes (and it will.)
for prebuilt its not too bad for the price, but if you are building it yourself I'd look into it a bit more. I don't have time right now (I'm at work).
See what kind of processors that mobo can handle. If it can handle at least the conroe core2 duo's, you'd be much better off going with a low end version of those. Many of the lower end ones (which are still better than that one) run well under $100, and you can overclock them easily to get at least near the performance of a stock 3ghz dual core processor.
Ignore the people telling you to buy 9800gtx and 4850. While they are better cards, they are not cost effective for your price range.
If you are only going single card set up, you may want to look into a 9600gt or an OC 3850 though, you may be able to get performance just as good as a stock 3870 for less money.
If you can, I'd hold off until mid July though. Many intel processor's are coming down in price drastically at that time as they introduce a new batch of processors, and video card prices are doing some odd things at the moment as ATI and Nvidia play cut throat in the mid range card market, which is nothing but good for you :c)
It's a pre - built system
You guys praising AMD as the gamer's choice are high as hell. That statement was true about 2 years ago. Now, Core 2 Duo 's are the choice for anything you do, whether it be gaming or using basic apps like word. Look up the reviews and see for yourselves.
I'm about to buy a computer for $500 with the following specs. Tell me if it's a good deal...
Intel Socket 775 Motherboard in an Ultra Micro Fly MATX Case
2.66 Ghz Dual Core Processor with an Ultra Fan and Heatsink
400W power supply
500 GB Western Digital SATA Hard Drive
2 GB HP DDR2 RAM
ATI Radeon Video Card (supports dual screen) DVI & VGA with 256 MB and TV output http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2467314&CMP=EMC-TIGEREMAIL&SRCCODE=WEBLET03ORDER
Sony CD/DVD RW
fresh copy of XP or Linux (choice)
LaCie Electron 22' Blue Monitor
I play:
Why Micro ATX? That leaves no room to upgrage or expand. Also - ATI Radeon Video Card - is not going to cut it.
You'll need to be a tad more specific on that Radeon g.card of choice my friend.
@Gameloading
For $540, the deal's sweet bro.
Whats wrong with the graphics card?