pc buying

**FuRy** · 02-23-2004

ya'll seem to be purdy pc leet and know ur stuff i dont.... i still want to know how i check my ram speed Kancer... anyways i need a new pc my current one is about 3 years old yes it would be cheaper to just make a new one from scratch yes yes i know im lazy tho and so is my bro he being the one who builds pc i have no faith in my personal judgement so i was wondering what would be the best pc buy for "gaming" and that alone since thats all i use my pc for my price range is 0-1,500 so far just would like a reliable good gaming pc im currently running an hp 1.2 so it wont take much to impress me any help would be much appreciated so thx much

**Unforgiven** · 02-23-2004

http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php

that program will tell you everything you need to know about your current pc setup hardware and software! enjoy!

**FuRy** · 02-23-2004

i have hyundai ram im not gonna embarass myself by testing my pc

**Unforgiven** · 02-23-2004

well you said you wanted to know how to test your ram speed and i figured that would help ya thats all....

**KegRun** · 02-24-2004

www.dell.com

**Podosniper** · 02-24-2004

Basically it's usually best to build your own, but second best from what I hear is dell. With that price range you could get some really good stuff built on your own... with dell I think you'll prolly be able to get a decent system. Just be careful when ordering though, because machines like those tend to have integrated everything (sound and video cards and often nic/lan/ethernet cards as well). Best thing you could do I suppose if you are to buy from dell is to ask somebody before buying it, or post it here for multiple opinions but a bit slower response time (not that bad unless you're in a really big rush to order). My only computer experience is 2 HP computers (STAY AWAY! LOL) and one self built one... well sorta two self built one sbut I don't use the other unless I need to print something... and when I need to print i gotta fix all sorts of problems cuz my parents fuck it up so badly, lol. The biggest plus with dell is that you'll have a legal copy of windows, lol. Otherwise you're spending quite a bit of cash on an OS or using a pirated version. Anyways it's all up to you.

**KegRun** · 02-24-2004

You also get a warranty also with dell.

**=DBA=Ronin** · 02-24-2004

Dell wouldnt be a bad option for that price range. There are a lot better pre-built systems aimed at the gamer, but they are usually quite a bit more than 1500.

As podo mentioned, look out for the integrated video. Getting an integrated LAN or Audio isnt as much a concern. The onboard lan cards are just as good as any seperate card, but if it fails you have to replace the mobo instead of just a $20 card...granted you could just buy a new pci lan card if that happens, depending on how much of a concern it is.

Most onboard audio is pretty adequet now adays for the avg user who isnt so concerened with having a hifi system and just wants something to play the sounds.

The video though is important, granted if you do get stuck with onboard, it can usually be disabled and an AGP card be put in. Its just best to stay away from it from the get go though.

I dont know how much your knowledge of PC's goes, but stay away from anything that says Celeron or Duron...those are the dumbed down versions of normal CPU's and will degrade any system right off the bat...no matter how fast they try to make it seem. Opt instead for a straight Pentium 4 or Amd Athalon/Barton.

For 1500 bucks from dell you should be able to get a 3.0ghz machine with at least 512mb of ram...go for pc3200/ddr400 ram wherever possible, and if you get a cpu with "Hyperhreading" and "800mhz Front Side Bus (fsb)"...opt for dual layer ddr memory...it will effectivly double the bandwidth of your ram making it more efficient and capable of higher throughput...all hat of course comming at a higher price.

Dell a lot of times has free upgrade deals. Like if you order a pc at a certain time they will throw in a free memory upgrade or a cd burner for free...so keep your eyes out for something like that.

On a side note, you may want to consider just upgrading the system you have now...depending on whats inside it. For about $500 you could pick up a new AMD 64bit cpu, a new motherboard, and some ram. You could then use the rest of your loot to get a really good video card and perhaps a new powersupply. But like I said...it all depends on what you have now and what you are willing to tinker with, or have your brother mess with.

Ill post some more later if I think of anything else you could do, or should consider or watch out for.

**Irresistable** · 02-24-2004

Dell is garbage, and HP is worse.
Look at the guides here there isa high-end and extreme gamer guide to building pc's and it tells you if not optimal, at least very solid parts to get.

www.sharkyextreme.com

**Shogun** · 02-24-2004

yea dell is garbage. I think it was at sharky (might have been anandtech) they compared homebuilt computers vs namebrand. The two namebrand computers they compared were dell's flagship gamer pc and gateway's flagship gamer pc. Well the dell performed horribly and the gateway did just as good if not better than their homebuilt computers. So if you were to swing the namebrand way take a look at gateway.

**MalorieKnoX** · 02-24-2004

The new high end Dell screams! They are not garbage, but, they still get outperformed by the high end Alienwares. I say get off your ass and learn to build your own. Do you wanna end up like your grandparents? I would suggest that if you aren't needing this for anything but gaming... and you already have space problems (if I recall) go with a shuttle 64bit barebones. I have a shuttle and love it. It is very small (toaster-size) and very portable for lan parties or simply changing rooms. The nicest thing for you is that it is all put together already and with minimal work you can have it up and running in minutes. All you will need is the CPU and RAM. Use your existing HD unless you feel the need for more space or larger cache, both of which come in real handy for the pron and gaming this maching will toating. Anyway you will simply stick in these components and power on, everything else is already built in and connected to the mobo. Like others have said before, go crazy on your gpu. I say ATI Radeon 9800pro is your safest bet. NVidia is questionable when it comes to there driver 'optimizations' so beware. Now I did say 64bit amd didnt I? Yeah I did. You're a gamer so do what we do best, be an early adopter. Embrace the new technology and spread your wings my son. Win64 is out by yr end so you will be fully prepared to take advantage of it. I can help point you to sites and even take you step by step through the purchasing and building of this box on vent if you like sometime. Just catch me in irc or sumthin. Good Luck

**crom** · 02-24-2004

Dell is horrible because of how they custom tweak the voltage on their motherboards making you have to buy crap from them to upgrade. Why spend 50 bucks on a good powersupply on your own when DUDE you're spending 200 on one from Dell!

If you want to go with someone who will build it for you check out ABS. They're not as expensive as Alienware or Voodoo, and make very decent gaming rigs.

http://www.abspc.com/

If price is an issue, for CPU I'd get an Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with Hyperthreading and motherboard combo. Check out: http://www.pricewatch.com You can pick up a combo board for around 200 bucks.

If you want to get something truly highend, I agree with Mal about going Athlon 64.

I'm not a fan of the shuttles simply because of pricing and upgradability. If you dont' have a lot of extra cards in your machine, they're a good bet, but you can typically only house one hard drive and one optical drive in it.

For GPU, Radeon 9800 Pro all the way baby. They are just a bit over 200 bucks, and kick some serious ass.

RAM, I like Corsair RAM, they make good stuff, and have never lost a stick of it. DDR dual channel is the way to go for some nice fast RAM, and you can get it for pretty cheap. I recomend a gig of it for optimal gaming goodness.

OS: Windows XP Pro. That's a no brainer IMHO

Mouse: Go for an Intellimouse Optical from Microsoft or a decent one from Logitec. Both make great mice. I also recomend a wired mouse, there's latency issues with wireless, not to mention your batteries can die out mid match!

Powersupply: 400 watts or up is good for the box, and allows for more upgradability in the future. Just make sure you get one that matches your case style. You can find some powersupplies that are cheap, but if you have a midtower the cheap supply is probably for a shuttle or a micro-ATX case, meaning shorter power cables. (I got screwed like that on a PS that I bought a few months back.)

I hope that helps. Looks like an awful lot to read through!

-C

**Irresistable** · 02-24-2004

hmmm I wll disagree yet again. The best components make the best pc's. You are ALWAYS better off building than buying something preassembled. That is unless you don't care about bottlenecks. I have built my pc's for a while now at a fraction of the cost of what alienware's cost, and they generally outperform the posted benchmarks.

Shuttles are great I guess, but other companies make the mini pc's as well. Some of them come with better MB's so look around. Generally I would say the mini's are too small and probably have a tendency to overheat but, not with today's technology http://www.ocsystem.com/ocenra98pro2.html

You know you want that

Also I don't see a point in going inbetween a high end laptop or a desktop. So if you must have one of these mini's generally the casings with MB cost about $280-$350 USD and most have AGP ports for your kick ass vid card. Look around, if you can't find any, post back here and I will put up some links. I know Voodoopc.com makes a mini, but it sells for like $1700 and as much as I am considering buying one of their laptops, I think it is ridiculous to pay that much for a desktop or mini.

also I love this site, I have bought tons of shit from them over the past few years, they tend to be on the cheaper side price wise and seem to have quality compnents also.

www.ocsystem.com just make sure you buy what you want, some of their systems are cpu's that are overclocked, but it is clearly stated which ones are.

**Podosniper** · 02-24-2004

OCsystem.com seems to be a bit cheaper than newegg.com, on video cards at least (all I looked at). When I finally get the money to buy a card (hopefully on my birthday, or maybe before) I may end up buying one from there. When I was comparing the speeds just a minute ago on anandtech.com I saw that the 5900SE by eVGA was at the bottom on the pack of the higher end cards speed wise. There's this one point where cards just jump up like 70fps and the 5900se is near/at the bottom of that list, but comparing prices with the other cards in the higher rung it's probably the best deal for me. Overall ATI cards do much better with anti aliasing and anisotropic filtering though, but I never really bother with those anyways. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1955&p=26

**FuRy** · 02-24-2004

ummm yeah theres dell but i have issues with dell a friend of mine bought it a dell and it umm sucks ass? im about to check out some of the other sites you guys reccomended but my freinds 2.4 or whatever Dell can not outpreform my 1.2 AMD Athlon my bro ran some tests which ones i don't know i would really like to build my own but once again that takes some time considering it took my bro nearly 2 years to convince parents to purchase the necessary parts for his pc so i just want to go with an already built one but thx everyone for the help

PS: 2.4 Dell or whatever fast it is 2. sumting couldnt even run BF1942 my 1.2 pos hyundai ram can woot! stupid hyundai