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Buying New PC. Suggestions?
dk70:
Budget changes again 8) Did you forget XP or found other solution? New video pick will be much easier to use with games, still budget, even the more expensive cards on their list will be considered budget by some, but way better than 6100. With some help www.tweakguides.com I think most new games will run ok - perhaps scaled down to lower resolution but they run.
You want more headaches? Ok, External sound card might be better with some games as in more fps but integrated is not useless. So since on not without limits budget may be take advantage of that and spend more on the important video card? ATI 1300Pro is better http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q2/budget-gpus/index.x?pg=1 Use selection box at bottom to see benchmarks where it is compared to 7300GS. 10-20% faster overall for 10$ extra? No sound card almost let budget get away with that. Video card must have highest priority when it comes to games. So what about 1600Pro then 8) With no soundcard that will be 30$ more. Faster again and about to leave budget card label. GeForce 7600GT cost so much more it is another question but I would consider 1300Pro or 1600Pro. 1600Pro not really in same class as the other 2. Difference is bigger than that of 7300GS vs 1300Pro. As is extra cost... Must put foot down at some point but since video is so important I would do what it takes to get 1600Pro. Same you did when picking 160gb hard disk, extra cost but double capacity. Hope you see what I mean - priorities.
ATI or Nvidia you should not pay so much attention to. You can live with both, how many fps per $ is what matters.
Good thinking about the monitor! You do not want to mess what is inside box but have to set up monitor anyway so might as well look for alternatives. Looks ok, best buy if good.
No matter this is a ready to go computer I would still do own check of components. Like running a ram-tester, checking bios settings. I hardly trust myself and external sources I believe only want my money 8) All this is very easy and painless or I wouldnt say it - but return with later questions, many here can guide you through. 5-10 minutes of demonstration and you could build own computer. Basically all you need is a screwdriver, same shop and Dell uses. They dont do much more so when box arrives dont be afraid of tinkering a bit and dont put up with things that only work 50%. Dont experiment though...
JavaJones:
Oh I heartily agree Mouser. But Dell is very, very glad that you use *them* as the example to represent that option, and I think it's a bad idea to do so. It's playing right into their marketing plan, really. It just doesn't jive with what I know of how you approach most things - focusing on good free or cheap alternatives in software, for example. Dell is the Corel of the PC world. ;)
Fortunately there are lots of decent alternatives with way better ratings and reviews and overall reputations. Puget Custom Computers, ABS, MonarchPC, etc.
- Oshyan
f0dder:
I'm staying away from ATI for a while - their drivers suck. I had some very nasty problems because of ATI.
JavaJones: I don't see ghosting problems here - 8ms speed on one monitor, 12ms on the other. But I'm on 17" not 21", which probably means a lot. Games do look different than on a CRT, but it's only really noticable on fast moving stuff like FPS, where it doesn't really matter. And the monitors are so much nicer for coding, writing, browsing etc. Unfortunately TFTs have spoilt me, so now even 85Hz CRTs flicker to me :/. But unless you're doing graphics, screw CRTs :)
As for Dell... I've only good good experiences with them, but I've shopped for "corporate" PCs and haven't got a crapload of lame programs installed. Wouldn't be surprised if the screw over home users, just about every company does that :). Oh, and Dell are available in multiple countries, so it's pretty easy to refer to :)
dk70: assemling a PC is easy-peasy, buying a pre-built gives you peace of mind and the option to say "shit doesn't work, fixit".
dk70:
True but in most cases problem can be fixed locally - with some basic knowledge which Im advertising for. Dont have respect for these plastic components 8) Not even talking about overclocking but lets say video card is not properly installed, needs to be pushed 0.01mm furhter into slot. Solution is open case and do it yourself not sending computer to shop. My theory is this approach translates into better computing - somehow people who know what they use, how things look like, works, run into fewer problems. Not the same as every fixed computer setup or purchase is bad. Not all have interest even if building is easy. Best to dig in at some point.
You can find same oppinions about Nvidia drivers f0dder. You are talking about 2.5 year old drivers and a documented known problem (see ATI knowledge base) which I think still is relevant today for some cards. Depend on chipset as well perhaps. Anyway, we are in 2006, PCI-E, new stuff :) Both Nvidia and ATI have made crap cards and crap drivers. Not really much to do about it.
f0dder:
You can find same oppinions about Nvidia drivers f0dder. You are talking about 2.5 year old drivers and a documented known problem (see ATI knowledge base) which I think still is relevant today for some cards. Depend on chipset as well perhaps. Anyway, we are in 2006, PCI-E, new stuff :) Both Nvidia and ATI have made crap cards and crap drivers. Not really much to do about it.
-dk70 (October 07, 2006, 06:46 AM)
--- End quote ---
I've had unstable nvidia drivers, but never something that resulted in massive data corruption... and yeah, the issue became documented, but they didn't check for it and they didn't fix it for at least 6 months... so fuck ATI, really.
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