The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
My cheap PC
Left Wing jAy
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm interested in getting hold of a Pc capable of playing some newer titles, the kind that require newer hardware, but not incredibly high-end stuff - Empire, DoW II, Fallout 3 (?) etc. I'm having trouble deciding between a laptop and a desktop.
The laptop I have now is decent specs, but about 4yrs old, and some parts are failing (The optical drive has gone, and the battery won't stay attatched to the back properly anymore). As I mentioned, I don't want a gaming machine as such, but something capable. I'm thinking if I got a desktop, I'd just travel with my current laptop for basic usage - but then if I got a new laptop, I wouldn't have to create a dedicated space or anything.
Thinking about picking up this for a simple desktop:
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=22179&category_id=677&manufacturer_id=0&tid=bun1023
What grapics card should I get to put in there? Or should I keep looking? I have a pretty low budget, at around £500 max, which I would probably reach after adding a monitor and card.
For similar money, I can get something like this:
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=26948&tid=frooct
Everyone says not to try a gaming laptop, but I think this machine has really nice specs for what I want out of it. I'm worried that it will get incredibly hot, or start to fall apart, or simply be terrible at running games and impossible to upgrade.
Comments from anyone with more experience in hardware, and perhaps the games I mentioned, would be extremely welcomed, as would reccomendations within my budget.
The laptop I have now is decent specs, but about 4yrs old, and some parts are failing (The optical drive has gone, and the battery won't stay attatched to the back properly anymore). As I mentioned, I don't want a gaming machine as such, but something capable. I'm thinking if I got a desktop, I'd just travel with my current laptop for basic usage - but then if I got a new laptop, I wouldn't have to create a dedicated space or anything.
Thinking about picking up this for a simple desktop:
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=22179&category_id=677&manufacturer_id=0&tid=bun1023
What grapics card should I get to put in there? Or should I keep looking? I have a pretty low budget, at around £500 max, which I would probably reach after adding a monitor and card.
For similar money, I can get something like this:
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=26948&tid=frooct
Everyone says not to try a gaming laptop, but I think this machine has really nice specs for what I want out of it. I'm worried that it will get incredibly hot, or start to fall apart, or simply be terrible at running games and impossible to upgrade.
Comments from anyone with more experience in hardware, and perhaps the games I mentioned, would be extremely welcomed, as would reccomendations within my budget.
Left Wing jAy on
0
Posts
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=88280
Generally speaking you'll be much better off in both finances and performance by building your own machine. And it's not tough to do by any stretch.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Stick with a desktop, it is also cheaper.
There are ~USD200 cards, as well as good monitors.
Browsing that site, look around here: http://www.cclonline.com/product-categories.asp?category_id=531
The 200 series cards being the better of the bunch, in general. Assuming it has PCI-e, I didn't notice the specs saying anything about it.
If you stay with Vista, consider adding more RAM. Not only will it help running vista, but it will allow better games to run. All in all it will be quite adequate if you get a GeForce 200 series or even 8800 wouldn't be all too bad.
Edit: In agreement with falcon. Building your own is usually cheaper if you decide to go that way.
I'm not sure, I could try and build one for a similar price, but I've never even owned a desktop. I can understand building a beast, picking the best components at the best price, but this is pretty basic; surely I can't shave much off that £3-400 range?
It's really not a bad deal at all. If you don't have the technical expertise (Both hardware and software) to build your own, then it may be better to go with the one listed. Though it looks like a "custom built" from that company. Honestly as long as it isn't a big box retailer you should be OK. They have a warranty too, so again if you don't have the skillset to be your own warrantor (ex. troubleshooting and fixing problems when/if they arise) then it seems like a good idea.
Been finding sites that offer builds, but all with such variety. DinoPC, Chill blast...the latter of which are offering this for £500:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Processor (2.66GHz)
Asus P5KPL-AM Motherboard
Radeon 4650 Video Card
Colours IT Black & Silver ATX Case with 400watt PSU
4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
22x DVD-RW/CD-RW Optical Drive (Black)
250GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Disk
Onboard High-Definition Audio
Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit OEM
2 Year Collect and Return Warranty - see bottom of description
Included Peripherals:
19" Widescreen TFT Monitor featuring DVI and 1440x900 resolution
Cordless Keyboard & Mouse
2.1 Channel Speakers
It's not clear on whether it comes assembled, or not.