Bob The Nailer Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 I'm looking at one of these as an affordable option to convert from a mac (I can't afford to keep up with mac just to game and surf) so I can be ready for gr2. I'd upgrade the graphics card and get about 500 ram in there to start. Just looking for feedback from some users of Dell products in this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 If the Dell Home Systems Dimension 3000 is what you want, I would recommend against it. You have no upgrade options without an AGP slot. We can find someone who makes a good gaming PC for ya if you are interested. What price range are you looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob The Nailer Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 I'm not sure I need it to be terribly upgradable because of the kind of gamer I am. I bet I'll only play gr2 on there. I usually only ever really get into one game at a time and it's for fun at that. I'm really trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible (since I'm not working right now) and the Dell package I set up has a monitor and speakers (which I'll need) as well as 512RAM and an Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB). I could upgrade the graphics card to something good for about $125 (additional) to the $750 package price. What do you think (for me) would be best. I'm no technophile about having the most versatile/powerful machine around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Check out the Gamer FX at IBuyPower.com for a decent system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRose_76 Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Dont drop the mac :no: Youre gonna regret (except for gaming) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob The Nailer Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 Dont drop the mac :no: Youre gonna regret (except for gaming) ← I'm on a Mac right (older IMac) now and will have it for other stuff. I always have the latest greatest Mac at work as well. There is no way under the sun I'd pay what they charge to have a good gaming rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 I'm not sure I need it to be terribly upgradable because of the kind of gamer I am. I bet I'll only play gr2 on there. I usually only ever really get into one game at a time and it's for fun at that. I'm really trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible (since I'm not working right now) and the Dell package I set up has a monitor and speakers (which I'll need) as well as 512RAM and an Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB). I could upgrade the graphics card to something good for about $125 (additional) to the $750 package price. What do you think (for me) would be best. I'm no technophile about having the most versatile/powerful machine around. ← I've had generally good experiences with Dell machines - I still run one Dell Pentium II desktop and laptop. The default Dimension 3000 is pretty poor - although it's a P4/533FSB, it really runs at 333MHz FSB because of the memory. It's worth it to pay a bit extra to get a 800FSB CPU with dual-channel DDR400 RAM - that's the equivalent to speeding up your system a couple hundred MHz in this case. It's cheap because it has an integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 video chip, an that will NOT run GR2 or other current well. It will run games from 2 years ago well. You would be better off putting together a system with a GeForce FX 5500 or Radeon 9600 which have gone down in price lately. In the end you get what you pay for. Best thing is to set a budget and try to get your best bang for your buck If you like, list your final choices for your specs here for us to comment on, especially what video card you decide on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob The Nailer Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 This is a link provided to me by a friend that I've emailed some of the feedback from this thread. He has agreed with what has been said here generally (he and you know a hck of a lot more about pc's than I do). http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/custom/cfga64.asp?v=d From my friend. "Post it and tell them your budget and see what opinoins you get on RAM, motherboard, processor, and graphics. As I said earlier, though, sound cards ain't that big a deal for modest-type geeks like us." I'd love to keep it under $800 and get a decent 17 monitor with it as I'd like to leave this one on this machine and run it as well. I have a set of Soundworks speaker and a sub here that I can use. System Summary * ATX MEDIUM TOWER CASE 350 WATT (BLACK) * (754-pin) AMD ATHLON64 3000+ Processor * (754-pin Socket) GigaByte GA-K8NS nForce3 250 Chipset AGP8X w/LAN,USB2,&Audio * 512 MB PC3200 400MHz DDR MEMORY * 80GB 7200 RPM ATA 100 HARD DRIVE * NONE - 2nd Hard Drive * nVidia GF4 MX4000 128MB AGP8X * NONE - CD/DVD * CD-RW 52X32X52 (BLACK) * (SILVER/BLACK) ViewSonic® 17" E70F+SB .21MM Horizontal Dot Pitch SVGA MONITOR * 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD Price: $698.00 Is what I came up with but I don't know that much about what I'm really looking at. I know I need wireless but I skipped over that since I was reaaly lost at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 I was trying to find you a system that would offer some upgradability in the future when games you may want would need some sturdier hardware, neither the one I posted or the one you posted offer that really. AMD is going with the socket 939 processors and will discontinue the 754 procs in the future. The biggest thing is to get a rig with a video card better than the nVidia MX series of cards. Those cards are greatly deficient in what they can do. They are good for 2d and office work, but not for gaming. One other thing I would recommend every gamer have in his/her rig is a plain jane CD-ROM. More and more games are shipping with anti-piracy measures on them and have problems running in burners of any sort whether a CD or DVD burner. The vid card can add a few bills to the total and a CD-ROM should add less than $25 to the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CR6 Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 I'm not sure I need it to be terribly upgradable because of the kind of gamer I am. I bet I'll only play gr2 on there. I usually only ever really get into one game at a time and it's for fun at that. ← Bob, my best advice is that if you are just getting a PC for GR2, then do NOT purchase it until Red Storm/Ubi finalizes the minimum/recommended system specs for the game sometime early next year. Why? - Even if you wait 3 months, you will get better technology for the same price as now - You will not be disappointed when you find out GR2 exceeds your new system specs, or that it runs at a slower framerate than you would have liked. Right now, no one outside of RSE can predict what the minimum system requirements you will need for GR2. When GR1 came out for the PC, it taxed even high-end systems (everyone remember having to turn off shadows?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob The Nailer Posted November 11, 2004 Author Share Posted November 11, 2004 I was trying to find you a system that would offer some upgradability in the future when games you may want would need some sturdier hardware, neither the one I posted or the one you posted offer that really. AMD is going with the socket 939 processors and will discontinue the 754 procs in the future. The biggest thing is to get a rig with a video card better than the nVidia MX series of cards. Those cards are greatly deficient in what they can do. They are good for 2d and office work, but not for gaming. One other thing I would recommend every gamer have in his/her rig is a plain jane CD-ROM. More and more games are shipping with anti-piracy measures on them and have problems running in burners of any sort whether a CD or DVD burner. The vid card can add a few bills to the total and a CD-ROM should add less than $25 to the cost. ← This was emailed back to me in respone to this post (I'm the middle man since I know jack about pc's). "Sounds like good advice to me. I guess the next question is if you don't go with the 999 pin motherboard, could you swap out mother boards and processors later, and if so, would that be cost effective?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef-Scott Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 - Even if you wait 3 months, you will get better technology for the same price as now ← And then 3 months after that, there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better.......... You get the idea. At some point you have to stop waiting and build a new rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob The Nailer Posted November 11, 2004 Author Share Posted November 11, 2004 - Even if you wait 3 months, you will get better technology for the same price as now ← And then 3 months after that, there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better, and 3 months after that there will be something better.......... You get the idea. At some point you have to stop waiting and build a new rig. ← True but since I'm inspired to do so soley for gr2 I should at least let that dictate my bare minimum spec wise. And that won't be a minimum to sneeze at. Now if you can just delete your reply, I'll delete this one and get back to just info in this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 There is an alternative to buying a complete system and that is build one yourself (great building guides all over the place to help you build it). You can get hardware at a cheaper price and still have the upgradability you would need for future needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly2442 Posted November 15, 2004 Share Posted November 15, 2004 There is an alternative to buying a complete system and that is build one yourself (great building guides all over the place to help you build it). You can get hardware at a cheaper price and still have the upgradability you would need for future needs. ← Plus it's lots of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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