Buying a PC with GW in mind

Hi, I'm a noob whose knowledge of computers would be cutting edge in 2000. I'm about to start the process of buying a computer, and I want to be able to play Guild Wars on it, since Guild Wars looks awesome and it will hopefully woo my dolt friends away from World of Warcraft.

My problem is that I'm not terrfically computer savvy, and I don't want someone at Best Buy to fleece me by selling me $300 more computer than I need. I was wondering, is there any advice I can get for getting a set up that allows me to run all GW for the right amount of cash (I don't mind going over the bare minimum, but I don't have an unlimited budget).

For example: I've heard that the best way to communicate with teammates is via a headset that allows people to talk as though it were a phoneline. What kind of headset should I get, and convince/order for my friends?

Thanks in advance!

What is your budget? What resolution are you using? Do you want to run GW with all the settings maxed out or will you be satisfied with just medium settings?

I think almost any headset should be good enough for gaming, but I wouldn't spend less than $20. Take a look at some Logitech or Sennheiser ones and see which are comfortable for you.

I don't want to exceed $1000, if I can help it, and I'd like to run GW on its best settings, but if I can't, I'd like to avoid lag as much as possible.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883102027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227015

http://www.alienware.com/Configurato...de=SKU-DEFAULT <~~Slightly over

Just to give you an idea. You could prob find better if you took some time to do some research.

Any idea where a fella might do research? I mean, apart from E-Bay.

Just check out the bigger retailers. I'm not american so Newegg and Alienare is the only two I know. I looked at Evesham but theirs were over-priced garbage (8400 lol)

Ideally this is good for you

7600/7900 Nvidia card or 8600 (low-mid range DX10 card)
1GB RAM (2 if budget allows)
Vista/XP
Core 2 Duo proccesor 2ghz+ is fine (depends if you multi-task, use a lot of resource hungry prog)

That will run GW perfectly well.

Picked my PC up at Newegg.com,(old one fryed durring a thunder storm.)
I was on a tight budget so this was the best I could do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883107294
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009094

I had the Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor,so it all workrd out.
I am running GW at max with out any problems.

Yea that 6150 deff would have to go..

Belivet or not when I got the HP I tryed to run GW to see how it would look.
let's just say that the NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE was painful to use (18fps to 24fps).The SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 2600PRO was definitely a must get.

i wouldn't take an Alienware PC, cause you do pay for the name (as in, they're overpriced).

atm, Intel Core Duo performs overall better than AMD equivalents, so i'd go with an intel dual core CPU (2.something Ghz should do)

as for graphics cards, anything with a newer chipset and 256Mb memory will do.

take at least 1 Gb of DDR2 RAM, brand doesn't realy matter : kingston, corsair, OCZ, ... it's your choice.

shouldn't be hard to stay below 1000$

Just specced out the AW at $8800 heh tempting..

Well, you have 2 options really. You can go to dell.com and purchase a pre-built computer, they have very good deals and you're customer support guranteed for the rest of your life. But they load your computer with programs and stuff you wouldn't need/use or probably want (I personally like to know EXACTLY whats on my computer)
Or Build your own. You'll beed the case (ATX), MOtherBOard (ATX) which matches your processor (Intel or AMD are the mainstream), processor, 2 GB of RAM is reccomended (although 1 GM will suffice), a Mid-line graphics card (these are made by bunches of companies, but based on the same model), One or two Hard Disks (internal drives) and one or two CD/DVD drives (external drives) and possibly a soundcard (your motherboard might come with a decent sound device internally, their simple performance is fine for GW). A Power Supply. And probably a copy of Windows XP or Vista Home, the cheap OEM disks (all it is is an install disk in a sheath) are the best value.Once you Know, you Newegg
You have a choise of AMD or Intel, AMD drives are currently the cheapest, but based on the 90nm technology, so they run slightly hotter and slower then Intel's 65nm cards. The dual core processors are a great option, while not as fast as some single-cores, they will play Guild Wars excellently, and allow you to run gazillions of programs in the background (like X-Fire and Teamspeak). I reccommend either the Core 2 Duo E6600, or the Athlon 64 X2 5600 as they stand the best performance/heat for the money (especially if you plan on overclocking).
The Graphics Card will probably end up being a Radeon or a GeForce, I'd reccomend the GeForce 6600GT line (no relation to intel's processor), but you may feel to go more powerful or cheaper. I don't know what the Radeon equivalent of that is.
You may want a low-capacity, fast internal hard drive to speed up loading games like Guild Wars, and a high-capacity, regular speed Internal hard drive for Windows and everything else you don't use on a day-day basis.
A seperate, High speed Read CD/DVD drive, and Write CD/DVD drive will be useful, especially if you plan on copying CDs/DVDs, but you can always go with the cheap Combo.
For more detailed info on assembling your own computer, use the wonders of Google
And remember, Guild Wars will run FINE with today's mid-range (and most of its low-range) equipment.

the geforce 6600GT WAS a very good graphics card in its time. now however, they are quite outdated. if you're on a budget though, it is vastly good enough for anything GW has to offer. not to sure if GW:EN will like it though.

if you have a bit more money, try for the next generation up: geforce 7600GT or GS. both are guarenteed to be able to run GW:EN perfectly.