New Computer Decision

[bleach]

so...a lot of people told me i should get a more powerful computer...well, i have come up with one pretty good computer that doesn't blow chunks and doesn't require me to have a job.
The Dell Dimension E520 with
Pentium D Processor 925 with Dual Core Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB)
Geniune Windows Vista Home Basic (may upgrade to Home Premium)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 (hope it has a PCI-E X16 slot)
1 GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz - 2 DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Driveit costs only $379 USD. Although, i might have to do something heroic for my parents to get that computer for me, and a little bit of green treasure from my secret place.

I do hope it has a PCI-Express X16 >>> expansion slot for me to put in maybe a card that is low priced and has at least 384 MB graphics memory. Someone tell me if it does or doesn't have a PCI-E X16 slot, if you have the computer.

EDIT------------------------------------------
or i can try to squash a motherboard into my computer...


http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/global/misc/misc_bullet_ccccff.gif Asus Intel® P965 Motherboard 533MHz (Socket 775)
Supports Intel® LGA775 Core™2 Extreme, Core™2 Duo, Pentium® Extreme, Pentium® D, Pentium® 4 and Celeron® D processors wS('5','1')http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/global/misc/spacer.gif
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SPDIF output

[Teroh]

Seriously, go with 2 gigs (2x1) of ram.

[Xetsuei]

I think you mean at least 256mb video card memory.

Also, what's your budget for a video card?

[Mr Buckshot]

I think you should have a PCI-e x16 slot since GMA 950 and X3000 boards tend to have them.

$379 for that? It's a tiny bit too much but still a good value for a store-bought computer.

Oh, and Dell PC's have an affinity for technical issues, so watch out. Poor Masters1337 and his gaming laptops...he's gone through three so far (does he ever learn not to use Dell?)

www.cyberpowersystem.com (http://www.cyberpowersystem.com) is another option if you don't wish to buy individual parts and build a system (risky but cheaper). Heck, my desktop is from Cyberpower (no time to build my own then), but I have built two computers for others before. On Cyberpower, you can get the following configuration for $654:

Cheap case, cheap warranty, standard 350W PSU
AMD Athlon 64 3500+
1 GB RAM
cheap but decent mo/bo
Nvidia Geforce 7600 GS video card
160 GB hard drive
Fast DVD and CD burner
No speakers/monitor/keyboard/mouse
Integrated sound (I assume you don't care too much for sound as long as you can hear things clearly enough)

Buying individual parts from www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) and putting them together is still the best and cheapest way of doing things, but I'm assuming you can't for various reasons.

[bleach]

very good! +Rep for u buckshot. You have been very helpful. I doubt my dad has the time to put everything together, and has the money to.
Option 1: Put together my own system.
Option 2: Find a decent gaming computer at a lower price.
Option 3: Don't play H2V and just upgrade Graphics card to X1550 PCI

Are you sure there aren't any normal gaming computers less than 500 or 600$?

budget for video card is under 170 $

[kenney001]

DO NOT upgrade Graphics card to X1550 PCI, its like pouring gasoline on your wallet and burning it. The card sucks and still will hardly play h2v.

Seriously though, I built my friend a pc with an
AMD X2 4600+,
Radeon x1950pro GFX Card
1 gig DDR2 800 memory
a decent Asus Mobo
A cheaper 200 gig SATA HDD
and a 500 watt Power supply

for under $500 while shopping on newegg

This would be your best option, buying that POS PCI card is a waste of money, because its not really an upgrade at all.

If need be a new Mobo with PCI-E and a decent GFX card would suffice.

[bleach]

umm....my Dell Dimension 1100 is more of a basic computer...not designed to do anything but make processed word sheets and surf the web. That's about it.

My new computer...that I might get...is:

Case: CyberPower X-Titan Tower 420Watt Case with 8 Open Bays & Side Window
(Black Color)
Neon Light Upgrades: none
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: default
Power Supply Upgrade: Standard Case Power Supply
CPU: (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon ™ 64 X2 3600+ Dual Core CPU w/HyperTransport
Technology
Cooling Fan: AMD Athlon 64 Certified CPU Fan & Heatsink
Mother Board: (Socket AM2) MSI K9N4 SLI-F nForce 500 SLI Chipset DDR2/800
SATA – II RAID Mboard w/Dual 16x PCI Express
Memory: 1.024 GB (2 x 512 MB) PC4600 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
Corsair
Video Card (Graphics Card): NVIDIA GeForce 7100 GS TurboCache 256 MB PCI-E
Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA – II 3.0/GBs 8MB Cache 7200 RPM HDD
Data Hard Drive: 80 GB SATA – II 3.0/GBs 8 MB Cache 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Optical Drive: 18x DVD+R/+RW + CD-R/RW Drive Dual Layer (Black Color)
Sound Card: High Definition On-Board 7.1 Audio
Speakers: Dual ACE-Q Multimedia Speakers
Keyboard: Dell
Mouse: Dell
Mousepad: Dell
Monitor: 19” Envision Flat Panel LCD Screen
Flash Media Reader/Writer: Internal 12 in 1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (Black Color)
USB Port: Built in USB 2.0 Ports
Floppy Drive: none
Zip Drive: none
Operating System (OS): Microsoft® Windows Vista ™ Home Premium
Media Center Control & TV Tuner: none
Office Suite: none
Network: Netgear Airlink 101 Wireless CardBus Adapter (Verizon DSL)



Price: $676.00 U. S. Dollars

www.cyberpowerpc.com (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/)

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/cfgam2.asp?v=d#configurator_top


Pretty Good.

[Warsaw]

If I were you I'd spend the extra cash and buy a decent video card. The GeForce 7100 won't last long at all.

CPU could use a lift to at least a 4000+, otherwise the benefit over a single core CPU is negligible.

[[I.B]Mr_Kola]

Yeah... I'd stay away from that 7100 or anything with "TurboCache" (I believe ATi's version of it is called Hypermemory) as it just draws from your system's ram... I'd go with at least a 7600... And I second warsaw's recommendation... That cpu isn't bad... but a 4000+ would be much better...

And Like everyone said... building it yourself will get you the best deal...

[ImSpartacus]

dont waste your time at cyber power pc. its a joke. too many cases w/ leds and wasteful things.

go for http://avadirect.com. thats prolly the best pc maker out there that gives you more chioce on what you are getting. they are a little limiting on ram (just corsair, ocz, and kingston, and a little bit of crucial, and gskill), but its a ton better than dell.

oh and that dell will not have a pci-e slot. i have a dell (e310 from dec 05) and i was thinking of just getting the pc and then upgradign the gpu from integrated. so, while the motherboard was based off the intel 915i chipset, it was cut down to the bare minimum, no pci-e slots.

the power supplies are also really wimpy (i got a 230 watt in my pc).

just go here (http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=7216) for a cheap intel option, but theres always amd too.

you can look through the different models and modify them from there. they also have p35 boards avalible marked in with the 975x's.

[Amit]

Ok bleach, if you have a way of ordering things online and paying for shipping(if applicable), then go to newegg and get yourself some cheap components that are good(loads of them) and then build it yourself! If you don't know how, ask someone to show you. It is very, very easy to learn. Its mainly connecting power wires and screwing things in.

[Xetsuei]

Graphics Card,
DX9:
$129.99 MIR eVGA GeForce 7900GS 256mb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130056)

DX10:
$155.99 MIR eVGA GeForce 8600GT 256mb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130091)

[Warsaw]

Ok bleach, if you have a way of ordering things online and paying for shipping(if applicable), then go to newegg and get yourself some cheap components that are good(loads of them) and then build it yourself! If you don't know how, ask someone to show you. It is very, very easy to learn. Its mainly connecting power wires and screwing things in.

And everything is just about color-coded in some way or another.

[[I.B]Mr_Kola]

And everything is just about color-coded in some way or another.

And usually.... If a cord or something looks like it fits in that slot... It probably Does! They make things pretty much idiot proof nowadays...

[Mr Buckshot]

Yeah, I walked my cousin through the steps of building a simple, low-end PC (parts cost under $200 since everything was old, and if anything fried it wouldn't be that bad). The specs were Windows 98, a 1.00 Ghz P4, a really old mo/bo (without agp or pci-e btw) and a Radeon 7000 PCI plus a junkyard-quality hard drive (forgot size). My cousin got that PC up and working after I built it for him and then dismantled it, and then we bought a REAL gaming PC and he built it under my supervision, and only asked for my help if he needed me to hold something for him.

[Amit]

Yeah, I walked my cousin through the steps of building a simple, low-end PC (parts cost under $200 since everything was old, and if anything fried it wouldn't be that bad). The specs were Windows 98, a 1.00 Ghz P4, a really old mo/bo (without agp or pci-e btw) and a Radeon 7000 PCI plus a junkyard-quality hard drive (forgot size). My cousin got that PC up and working after I built it for him and then dismantled it, and then we bought a REAL gaming PC and he built it under my supervision, and only asked for my help if he needed me to hold something for him.

Perfect proof, for some wires they hav a missing bracket or an extra one so you can't even put it in the wrong way.

[bleach]

im 2 lazy. I'll have to get a job when I graduate high school, then college, and get my M. D. degree and then hire someone to do it for me. Or i can sit on the couch.:) I think i'll just be a-sticking with Halo and Halo CE, does anyone think that 2 Gigs of RAM, X1550 PCI 256 MB, Pentium 4 2.53 GHz, Vista/XP can run well?

[Warsaw]

No. It's the GPU that is really killing it.

[paladin]

My graphics card cost more than that entire system. Wow.

[Xetsuei]

My graphics cards cost more than peoples entire systems. :-3

[InnerGoat]

does anyone think that 2 Gigs of RAM, X1550 PCI 256 MB, Pentium 4 2.53 GHz, Vista/XP can run well?Yeah it will run great!









































On the desktop maybe. Stop asking if that x1550 can run worth a crap, because it won't. I've got better video cards lying around my house, haha.

ps- People have linked you to far superior cards for a reason.

[bleach]

ight....ok...i can't find motherboards that can fit into my PC, my PC is more of a................................................. .















fuking home, basic, crappy workstation designed to be thrown out the consumer's windows.
Besides, my extension slot is a PCI. I don't have AGP or PCI-Express.:suicide:Unless there are other better PCI Graphics Cards.

[InnerGoat]

If an ATX board won't fit, how about mATX? They still support all the latest and greatest.

[SnaFuBAR]

don't get a pci card. don't even fucking bother with that garbage. stop talking about it.

give us the dimensions of your mobo tray, and look for your watt rating on your psu. you might need a new one as well.

[bleach]

i think i have powersupply on my comp specs...but if not, 250 watts and dimensions of my mobo are microscopic...i mean really small for a motherboard. I need one probably that is less than 5 - 6 inches (width) by 7 - 9 inches (length), I'm estimating. Thanks for your help. I'll look into opening my computer when i'm not tired. *Yawn*