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I need a new computer.
Cherry Picker
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
What the title says. My budget is around 600 dollars, but I will consider slightly more expensive computers.
I primarily use my computer for writing, internet browsing, and some gaming, though I also have it hooked up to an HDTV as a second monitor.
The only real requirement I have for this is that it should be able to adequately play Dawn of Discovery. It doesn't have to run everything at very high with the highest resolution (which obviously isn't even possible at my pricepoint), but I'm still hoping to get a computer that makes it look good.
I'm hoping for you guys to recommend specific desktops, but also general advice on what to look for would be great. I don't know much about computers at all, so I don't know what translates from the spec sheet to my experience on the computer. For example, why would I want quad-core over dual-core? And is 6gb of DDR2 RAM better than 4gb of DDR3 RAM? Also, I'm completely lost on video cards. I know that it is the biggest indication of game performance, but I have no idea which one is good or bad.
Thanks!
P.S. I know building a computer can save me money, but honestly I don't have any clue about that and I prefer the convenience of buying it prebuilt.
EDIT: I would also like it to be able to play Empire: Total War.
I primarily use my computer for writing, internet browsing, and some gaming, though I also have it hooked up to an HDTV as a second monitor.
The only real requirement I have for this is that it should be able to adequately play Dawn of Discovery. It doesn't have to run everything at very high with the highest resolution (which obviously isn't even possible at my pricepoint), but I'm still hoping to get a computer that makes it look good.
I'm hoping for you guys to recommend specific desktops, but also general advice on what to look for would be great. I don't know much about computers at all, so I don't know what translates from the spec sheet to my experience on the computer. For example, why would I want quad-core over dual-core? And is 6gb of DDR2 RAM better than 4gb of DDR3 RAM? Also, I'm completely lost on video cards. I know that it is the biggest indication of game performance, but I have no idea which one is good or bad.
Thanks!
P.S. I know building a computer can save me money, but honestly I don't have any clue about that and I prefer the convenience of buying it prebuilt.
EDIT: I would also like it to be able to play Empire: Total War.
Cherry Picker on
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I think some netbooks are up to this. Are you sure you need a new computer?
Assuming that you are dead set against building a computer yourself, a processor with multiple cores is better than a single core. In general, this is because the processes (all those little things background things that make your computer work) are divided up between the cores for higher efficiency. If you happen to be running Photoshop and Dawn of Discovery at the same time, each would run off a separate processor and thus keep everything running more smoothly. For your purposes, you probably don't need in excess of a dual core unless you're really going to be running those two things at the same time.
As for the multi-core thing, well I usually have a movie or something on the HDTV while I'm messing around on the main computer (playing a game, browsing the web, etc), so I think I'd just rather stay with a quad-core.
What are the best specs I could get for my price point of roughly 600 to 700 dollars?
They just so happen to have an <$600 budget build in there.
I also forgot to add, I would like to play Empire Total War. I enjoyed Rome Total War, but my computer couldn't even come close to handling Empire.
I'm going to cheat a bit here and show you that you can buy a package and just put a few things in.
$524 - ASUS Essentio CG5275-AR003 Intel Core i5 650(3.20GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity Intel HD Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220044
$119.99 - EVGA 01G-P3-1450-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130572
Total - $643
The video card is a bit lack luster (and I'm sure others may point out one that will be better for around the same price point) but will suit your needs just fine and the rest of the box is pretty well set up. You'll just need to plug the video card into the only slot it will fit in on the motherboard and connect the power. Install the video card drivers from the nVidia site and presto, new computer. This assumes you are ok with the mouse/keyboard it comes with and already have a monitor and speakers/headset.