Computer Questions

Firstly, hello to the guru community. This is my first post heer so I'm siked . Anyhow, I haven't even started playing Guild Wars yet and for a very good reason. I don't have a PC computer . So I'm in the market for one and I have some questions about compatible video cards. I'm wondering if a "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with 8MB-128MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory[/FONT]" will do the trick. I'd also like to know if a "1.60 GHz Intel Celeron M Processor 380, 1 MB L2, 400 MHz FSB" is fast enough. I'd apreciate any advise, so thanks in advance.

Well, first off, why would you want either of those? That stuff was decent like 4 years ago, but not now. If you have limited funds, I understand, but you can definately do better. Even on a budget. How much are you looking to spend on your rig?

Welcome to GWGuru. I personally favor NVidia over any Intel stuff.

Click here for a good guide on video cards. The majority of gamers are Nvidia/ATi users.

Gl!

Send me the money. I promise i won't scam you. I'll build it.

Lol.

Ok well for GW buy a 9600xt 128mb if your on a heavy budget. 9800pro is if u want 1280x1024 2xaa-4xaa. 9600xt does 1280x1024 0aa-2aa.

I favor ATI in the lower prices, but nVidia currently at higher prices, even with the x1900xtx release.......

get an AMD 64 on a socket 754 mobo. 120$ for the processor, and 50-70$ for the mobo.

Cheap case. Cheap PSU. 512-1gb ram. I reccomend OCZ or Corsair. Value ram for your budget computer.

Gamer on a tight budget

you cannot get by with a bottom feeder power supply.

inexpensive but pick a brand name that has a good reputation to keep up.

many problems are traced back to cheap power supplies

Wrong. Never purposely skimp on a PSU. That's one of the worst mistakes people make when building a pc. Yeah, It'll run fine for a while, but when your main components are getting 11.72v rather than 11.98v, you'll be sorry. That little bit of voltage makes a big difference on how your computer performs.

Looks like Loviatar beat me to it.

Exactly....you get what you pay for....going cheap....cost you more....

Thnx everyone, all this is really helpful. Oh, and my budget is roughly $700-$750, or $800 if I really gripe my mom out of her cash, lol! TY again.

ASUS A8V Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - $70.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131541

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail - $160.00
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103537

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail - $73.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-400 ATX12V 400W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail - $54.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103935

RAIDMAX Astro ATX-268WB Black 0.7mm Japanese SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $30.00
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156018

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST3120827AS 120GB 7200 RPM 8M Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM - $75.00
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148039

LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write - OEM - $49.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106019

POWERCOLOR R98-PC3G Radeon 9800PRO 128MB 256-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM - $109.00
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131247
---------------------------------------
Total: $623.96

you didnt include an operating system in that price. or keyboard speakers mouse and monitor. all that will put you well above budget.

i would suggest a decent s939 motherboard (remember your choice here will dictate the upgradability of the computer down the road). i prefer not to skimp here get the best you can find with all the features you may want further down the road.

either a low end athlon 64 or a mid - high end sempron. make this decision depending on your budget as either choice is more than powerful enough to play guildwars. (upgrade at a later date as funds become available)

512MB - 1GB of quality ram. i find ocz to be excellent and affordable.

hard drive of your choice. western digital, seagate and hitachi are good quality choices. dont touch maxtor with a barge pole!

graphics card. anything from a gforce 6800 or radeon 9800 up will be sufficent here. again shop according to budget here as either is enough to play at full quality. you can always upgrade later (assuming you got a fully loaded motherboard)

dvd-rw is optional all you need is a cd-rom but if budget allows go for a decent brand dvd-rw. remember this can be easily upgraded at a later date

any case will do pick one you like that fits your budget.

power supply (psu) i cant stress this enough - do not skimp here go with a quality brand.. antec, enermax or tagen are very good and very recommended.

go with any keyboard speakers and mouse you like

same goes with monitor.. whatever your budget allows.

and remember to allow for the operating system!!

Keyboard - $10
Mouse - $10
Headset - $10

SONY CPD-E240 Beige 17" CRT Monitor D-Sub - Retail $120.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824006005

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM - $87.95
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102059
-----------------------------------------
Total: $238.97

Try to earn some money your self too.


I wouldn't go with anything but Maxtor. I have only ever owned Maxtor hard drives. The only one that ever went bad was the one I dropped on the floor for obvious reasons.

the reason i say to avoid maxtor is because i repair/maintain/etc computers and everytime someone brings me a computer with a hard drive problem it has been a maxtor. i know many other technicians who echo this so i dont believe it is just me. yes maxtor are cheaper but experience tells me you pay in the long run.

I am a tech too. I have had nothing but problems with WD drives. Good thing they can be RMA'd.

Is it me, or is everyone missing the point here? The original post suggests that the poster is intending to buy a complete PC, not build one

An there's nothing wrong with Maxtor's, in fact my first tower with a 2 Gb Maxtor (going back to 98/99 here) still works

lol good point

and i meant the newer maxtors by the way... anything from 20GB up buts thats OT


ok if he wants to buy a prebuilt machine heres what to look out for.

does it have a real graphics card? as mentioned before 6800 class would be ideal although anything from radeon 9250 up is playable.
how much ram does it have? again you want at least 512MB here.
you should look at amd athlon64 based machines as at the moment and for the forseeable future they have a performance and technological leadership over intel based machines. for a prebuilt gaming rig thats all you need to look at really.

By the way, I'm planning to buy a laptop, not a desktop! I need a laptop for school next year, and I don't want to buy two computers =p

I always liked Maxtor, but Seagate bought them out didn't they?

Maxtor is a fine hard drive, particularly after their buy out by Seagate. A lot of people have issues with Seagate and I never understood why. They are reliable, and they have zero heat issues. I used to be a Network Admin and all the RAIDs on my old network were all comprised of Seagate drives because no matter how dense the RAID they never had a heat problem. Also I would suggest against a laptop unles you really really really absolutely just need one. If you just want one so you can type notes in class or something then you'd be better served by good old fashioned pen and paper. The thing with laptops is that their internals are almost always proprietary parts which means they are difficult and expensive to upgrade, usually because everything is integrated onto one single board or just a couple of boards. this means no piecemeal upgrades. You either upgrade it all or not. While this isn't universally true it is more or less the norm amongst laptops. Desktops are infinitely easier to upgrade and they allow you to use non proprietary components which means you can usually get off upgrading cheaper. Although I will also admonish you to remember the maxim of upgrades, if it will cost you half the cost of a new system to upgrade your old system then you're better off ponying up the other half and getting a new system.

In the end it is up to you but I only recommend laptops as a necessity. If you can get by without one then do so. They are finnicky little machines at best and often more trouble than they are worth. The only things I can tell you is that there is no such thing as too much computer. If you are going to buy new then go all out. In the end you'll get a longer life out of it before you have to start ponying up for upgrades since, generally speaking of course, the high end hardware of one generation will have the same specs as the low end hardware of the next generation.

Oh and as for graphics cards....ATi for one reason. Crossfire. Fast fast fast and when you're in a pitched PvP battle frame rate matters. Dropped frames can mean the difference between life and death.

I agree. I have mentioned this before. Allot of people just do not want to build a machine. It is a hassle. I used to build them...not worth the effort anymore. Computers have gotten cheap and fast enough that buying a pre-built works just fine.

Yes but the pre built PC market has also changed. Consumers have a lot more control over the components they want in their systems. Because of this it helps to be informed about the hardware that goes into the machine even if you don't intend to go out and buy the individual parts and start Frankensteining it on your own.

Now this is more a matter of opinion than anything but I disagree as to it not being worth the effort to build your own machine. I don't care who the manufacturer is. I can build a better computer than any Alienware system for less by doing it myself. Not to mention the fact that building a machine increases awareness of the operation of the machine and that in turn makes the user more competent to handle hardware issues on their own. Admittedly it's not for everyone but I think everyone should try, at least once, to build their own machine. It's fun...really.

NEVER---EVER---Buy a prebuilt "box" machine, build it yourself on paper then let a shop order and assemble the parts...package deals are 90% only deals because they skimp on some components---like PSU's, RAM and whatnot. One more thing, AGP video cards are ancient history, PCI express out performs and is even less costly than comparable AGP cards, you should have no trouble putting a great system together for your budget...

Key Points so far IMO:

Case and PSU are important, don't skimp
Asus MB's -- I love them
AMD chipsets perform extremely well for the price (you may have some temperature issues, but a nice case and frequent cleaning solves that)
Kingston RAM---is there any other brands?
Seagate HD---awesome---I also love Western Digital (a little less expensive and very reliable)
Nvidia and ATI---need I say more, just do yourself a favor and go PCI express---nothing less than 128mB ram
Sound---I love Sound Blaster---never had an issue

Good Luck and Have Fun

PS---most shops will not charge for assembly and setup of your rig, since they are buying the parts for you

Hmm...I guess my Dell Dimension 5100 is just pure crap then?

It is stable, runs cool, has the BTX PSU on it, CPU is quite fast, Hard Drives and the Optical Drives are solid. The Dell UltraSharp monitor is perfect. I added my own Ram and Vid Card.

Nothing wrong with my pre-built "box".