PC Shopping. Tell me what I need.

[Heathen]

I want a computer that can play newer games like tf2 and whatnot at high settings without being TOO expensive. Thats all I need.

I am not too good at all the tech talk so if you guys would help me decide what is the best thing to get that would be great.

[Rook]

Price range?

[Ganon]

just look at the minimum requirements of the game you want to play and go one step above or go by whats recommended to give you a general idea of what you need. will you be building it yourself?

[Warsaw]

Are you building a rig or buying one already made?

Also, high settings at what resolution? I ask because a card that can play it on high at 1280x1024 can't necessarily do so at 1680x1050, etc.Two safe inexpensive cards up to and including the resolution 1680x1050 are the GeForce 9600GT and the HD4670. For future proofing, I'd jump on the HD5770 bandwagon.

[flibitijibibo]

http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13689 The dirt poor setup might be able to, but if not, the low-end machine should definitely do it.

[Cojafoji]

hate to sound like a dick, but there's a pre existing thread for these questions.

http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13689&page=26

as for what you need, grab a moderately priced, new age dual core (amd or intel), some ddr2 800, or some ddr3, a board with (for amd) amd 700 south bridge, (for intel) ? no idea, not really into the intel market (too much $$). you can pick up a moderately priced ati 4850, or even an nvidia 9000 series, for pretty cheap. a 400-500w psu, a mid or large tower atx case, and that's it. you can probably squeeze it all in under 800, or 600 if you're not to picky about QC.

[Warsaw]

I'd to say go for a 5750 or 5750 over the 4850; better performance, Eyefinity, and DirectX 11 support for marginally more money; these things are not necessary now, but they are good to have for later.

[Heathen]

Well my monitor I have is 1280x1024 so that unless I get a new comp.

and price range, just something farely cheap. Like...the comp I have I got for 1200 and look at my settings >.>

Its 6 years old though.

[Dwood]

I want a computer that can play newer games like tf2 and whatnot at high settings without being TOO expensive. Thats all I need.

I am not too good at all the tech talk so if you guys would help me decide what is the best thing to get that would be great.

dual-core proc, 4 gigs ram (ddr2-ddr3 doesn't matter much in this case) ATi 4850/70 works just fine.

There you go.

[Amit]

HD 4770 might do some good too if you don't want to pay an extra $10-20 more for a HD 4850.

[Warsaw]

Well my monitor I have is 1280x1024 so that unless I get a new comp.

and price range, just something farely cheap. Like...the comp I have I got for 1200 and look at my settings >.>

Its 6 years old though.

$1200 can get you a very good setup capable of playing Crysis on High if you buy the parts and assemble it yourself, and that's including a new monitor. Look in the stickied thread for suggestions on what to put in it. If you have issues building it, we can guide you through it in this thread.

[Heathen]

$1200 can get you a very good setup capable of playing Crysis on High if you buy the parts and assemble it yourself, and that's including a new monitor. Look in the stickied thread for suggestions on what to put in it. If you have issues building it, we can guide you through it in this thread.

Hm...may take you up on that.

[legionaire45]

If you go the ATI route, don't bother with anything less than an HD5 series card.

[Warsaw]

Good thing is that the 5770 is both affordable and about as powerful as the HD4870; can't go wrong with it. If he gets a Crossfire-capable motherboard, he can always add another one in to get the same performance as the HD5850.

[Cojafoji]

I'd to say go for a 5750 or 5750 over the 4850.
wow. i totally forgot about the 5000 series. :facepalm:

[Phopojijo]

It's around now that I should mention that Valve games are not exactly good benchmarks for "high end graphics".

A single 8800GT will play TF2 with everything up, 4x AA, 8x Aniso, 1920x1200, at almost 60fps...

[Warsaw]

True story. Hell, I can run it at maximum settings at 1280x1024 at 60 frames. Still, even though he only wants it good enough to max TF2, it never hurts to one up if it stays within the budget.

[Heathen]

It's around now that I should mention that Valve games are not exactly good benchmarks for "high end graphics".

A single 8800GT will play TF2 with everything up, 4x AA, 8x Aniso, 1920x1200, at almost 60fps...

So how much money would it save me to roll with that as opposed to the other stuff.

Really the only games I really want to play that arent valve games would be....Sims 3....uhh.....wow, I have so few games. :[

[Warsaw]

Would the fact that your current rig sucks balls be a factor in you not buying a lot of PC games? 9800GTs (literally the same thing as the 8800GT) still cost you around $100, and there are much better cards to be had for that price point, and ~$50-$70 more will get you a card nearly twice as good. So $50-$70 is about how much you'll save, which admittedly is another game.

[Heathen]

You could be right warsaw, but even for my xbox I only have about 4 games :/

[Phopojijo]

You could be right warsaw, but even for my xbox I only have about 4 games :/Quantity of games says nothing about your love of games.

When I worked at Walmart -- all the time I see people who say "Our son beats games in a day... he's really good" -- then I ask what types of games they buy... listed a few I figured would fit that profile... yeah they were buying shovelware.

[Warsaw]

I only buy what I feel to be good ones; I have yet to buy a game I didn't like to play...my collection has just had a decade to grow to the size it is.