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Fairly obvious from the title but the time has come for me to get a new pc since my current one has finally hit the point where it can no longer perform for what I want to do.

Unfortuantly, my knowledge in computers is pretty much limited to switching it on and putting installing games. I dont have a fucking clue what the difference is between Intel Quad XXXXX or AMD X2 XXXXX.
500 GB at 16mb cache or 700GV at 8mb cache etc.

The basics of what I want are rather simple (at least to me anyway).

I currently play EVE Online the most and ideally want a new PC that will be able to run Trinity AT LEAST. The specifications for Trinity have been vague as hell but the one thing that does remain consistant is that a Direct X 9 - 10 card is needed from what I gather.
However, Im wanting a FULLY new pc that will last me a good 2 - 3 years like my current PC has.

The PC I want is going to be used primarily for gaming, watching / storing movie files. From my limited understanding AMD is the better for gaming but I'm not sure what to go for.

I found this site:

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php ... dpcsystems

It allows you to customise but I dont really understand any of what I am selecting. If someone can offer a better site then fair enough. Using the SLI catagory I found myself selecting these options.


Processor - AMD Athlon 64X2 6400+ (3.2GHZ) 2x1MB L2 CACHE (SOCKET AM2)
- I selected this because it looks the fastest to me. Is this wrong or can I get better ?

Memory - 4 GB Corsair XMS2 800Mz (4X1GB)
- My current PC has 1GB of RAM and apparantly 2 GBs is now the standard but seeing as how I want this to last me a while I would prefer to have 'extra'
Not sure if the extreme is much better than the normal corsair. Little help in what this will actually affect would be nice.

Motherboard - Asus Crosshair Dual Lan SATA II Raid 2x PCI-EX 3X PCI
- I can honestly say of all the stuff this part I have no clue about. I just selected the bottom one on the list cause I figured it was the best.

OS - 64 BIt Windoes Vista Ultimate
- I have been told that Vista is the only way to get more RAM going despite the evident issues with stability so is VISTA + RAM worth it ?

USB Options - Standard
- Basically all I have is a mouse, broadband modem and a joystick. Figured I didnt need anything else/

Memory 1st Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

Memory 2nd Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

- The memory is because I want to have 1 drive for my 'main stuff' like programs and games etc. The 2nd Hard drive would be for all my music, backups, media files, pictures. My current computer has 400 GB over 2 Hard Drives and this is what I do now. I'm essentially wanting to repeat that.

Raid - None

1st CD / DVD Drive - 20 Dual Layer Light Scribe DVD Writer

2nd CD / DVD Drive - 16x DVD-Rom With 48XCD rom

- I want to be able to play games, dvds and burn cds, dvds so this seemed the appropriate choice.


Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

- This is another area where I'm really clueless but I know its actually important for my games. I'm basically looking for a card that will allow DX10 Compatibility ( This is what Ambulation in EVE is rumoured to require and the latest games) Although I have only ever used ATI cards until now. Ideally I want really good gaming quality.
I figured 2 cards would do that brilliantly.

Sound Card - 8 channel C- Media Superior Quality Audio 7.1

Modem - I will be using Broadband

Memory Card Reader - Internal 52 in 1 card Reader
- Not sure if I really need this

Floppy Disk Drive - Yes
- I definetly want the ability to use them for backups etc.

Case - Standard


Power Supply & Cooling - 1010W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120MM Case Fan

- Dont know what I am doing here. I just selected the largest thinking it would be good enough. I am basically going to be running this computer overnight and playing it quite often. It will be plugged into a standard wall socket so maybe someone can tell me what would be best here. I want it to be quiet due to the fact my bed is exactly 1 foot away from the computer so I dont want it waking me up or the neigbours when I leave it on to do stuff.


Processor Cooler - ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II Pure Copper Ultra Cooler

- Same principle as the power supply. It has to be quiet and able to keep the computer sustainable


Firewire - 2XIEEE 1394 Firewire Ports
- No idea what this is or if I need it


TV Card - None

Monitor - None

Dvi cABLE - None
- Dont need it I think ?

Keyboard & Mouse - None
- Already have a Logitech mouse and my current PC computer and Monitor

Surge Protectors - 2xBelkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector (8sockets)
- Seemed like the best option to me


Webcam - None
Media Center - None
Anti Virus - None

Office Software - Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (1PC)

Warranty - 3 Year Return to base incl 3 years Free collect and return

Delivery - Standard

- Pretty obvious really. I live in the UK and ideally I want this PC for christmas.

Now when entering all this in and doing the calculate I get exactly:


£1396.60 ex VAT.


£1641 inc VAT and Delivery.

Since my 'budget' is 1500 this isnt acceptable so perhaps I can get a cheaper deal elsewhere for this kind of thing or someone can be kind enough to correct me in my selections for what I dont need.
Thanks in advance.

First of all, Intel processors are currently better for gaming, as well as almost all other purposes, than AMD processors virtually across the board for pricing. For $1500, you're looking at something like Ars' Hot Rod box. It's a little over your budget, but it includes things like $120+ speakers and a 20-inch monitor, so it's pretty easy to cut down and modify.

Good luck finding an 8800GT, though it's clearly the ideal card for you, but I would only get one for starters. It's pretty easy to add one, later, and the 8800GT has excellent performance, anyway.

Master of Ossus wrote:First of all, Intel processors are currently better for gaming, as well as almost all other purposes, than AMD processors virtually across the board for pricing. For $1500, you're looking at something like Ars' Hot Rod box. It's a little over your budget, but it includes things like $120+ speakers and a 20-inch monitor, so it's pretty easy to cut down and modify.

Good luck finding an 8800GT, though it's clearly the ideal card for you, but I would only get one for starters. It's pretty easy to add one, later, and the 8800GT has excellent performance, anyway.

Just FYI in case you didn't spot it, he's talking about pounds not dollars for his budget, which gives him over $3000 to spend.

Unfortunately, that company really doesn't go into detail about what parts it is using, which makes it rather difficult to determine if they're using a quality power supply or what efforts they are using to keep the system quiet.

There is no way that a 1.01KW power supply is called for in that system.

PREDATOR490 wrote:Processor - AMD Athlon 64X2 6400+ (3.2GHZ) 2x1MB L2 CACHE (SOCKET AM2)
- I selected this because it looks the fastest to me. Is this wrong or can I get better ?

Any Intel Core 2 processor of 2.66 GHz or better will be faster, cooler and quieter. Get an E6750, E6850, or Q6600. The latter has a slower clockspeed, but 4 cores instead of 2. That won't matter for gaming right now and is unlikely to matter anytime soon, so it's a gamble that may or may not pay off.

Memory - 4 GB Corsair XMS2 800Mz (4X1GB)
- My current PC has 1GB of RAM and apparantly 2 GBs is now the standard but seeing as how I want this to last me a while I would prefer to have 'extra'
Not sure if the extreme is much better than the normal corsair. Little help in what this will actually affect would be nice.

Some people claim there's a difference when it comes to memory, but I've seen multiple benchmarks pitting brand new memory against stuff so old it has mold growing on it and it just doesn't matter. The only time memory speed is important is if you're overclocking. Otherwise just get 2, 3, or 4 GB of 667 MHz or better from a reputable brand like Corsair, Crucial, etc.

Motherboard - Asus Crosshair Dual Lan SATA II Raid 2x PCI-EX 3X PCI
- I can honestly say of all the stuff this part I have no clue about. I just selected the bottom one on the list cause I figured it was the best.

OS - 64 BIt Windoes Vista Ultimate
- I have been told that Vista is the only way to get more RAM going despite the evident issues with stability so is VISTA + RAM worth it ?

64-bit Vista has bad drivers and a lot of compatibility issues. Plus, you still won't see a benefit if the programs aren't designed to use more than 4 GB, which they won't be since almost everyone still uses a 32-bit OS. I don't see any point in a 64-bit OS or 4+ GB of RAM until OS's are no longer offered in 32-bit varieties.

USB Options - Standard
- Basically all I have is a mouse, broadband modem and a joystick. Figured I didnt need anything else/

Memory 1st Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

Memory 2nd Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

- The memory is because I want to have 1 drive for my 'main stuff' like programs and games etc. The 2nd Hard drive would be for all my music, backups, media files, pictures. My current computer has 400 GB over 2 Hard Drives and this is what I do now. I'm essentially wanting to repeat that.

Raid - None

1st CD / DVD Drive - 20 Dual Layer Light Scribe DVD Writer

2nd CD / DVD Drive - 16x DVD-Rom With 48XCD rom

- I want to be able to play games, dvds and burn cds, dvds so this seemed the appropriate choice.


Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

- This is another area where I'm really clueless but I know its actually important for my games. I'm basically looking for a card that will allow DX10 Compatibility ( This is what Ambulation in EVE is rumoured to require and the latest games) Although I have only ever used ATI cards until now. Ideally I want really good gaming quality.
I figured 2 cards would do that brilliantly.

Sound Card - 8 channel C- Media Superior Quality Audio 7.1

Modem - I will be using Broadband

Memory Card Reader - Internal 52 in 1 card Reader
- Not sure if I really need this

Floppy Disk Drive - Yes
- I definetly want the ability to use them for backups etc.

Case - Standard

All of this looks good. Way out of any price range that I'd set for my own computer, but if you've got the cash, you might as well.

Power Supply & Cooling - 1010W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120MM Case Fan

- Dont know what I am doing here. I just selected the largest thinking it would be good enough. I am basically going to be running this computer overnight and playing it quite often. It will be plugged into a standard wall socket so maybe someone can tell me what would be best here. I want it to be quiet due to the fact my bed is exactly 1 foot away from the computer so I dont want it waking me up or the neigbours when I leave it on to do stuff.

This is beyond overkill. Those 8800 GT's only draw 100 Watts each and a Core 2 Proc is 125 tops for the quad core. A Corsair 520 or 550 Watt should be more than enough.

Processor Cooler - ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II Pure Copper Ultra Cooler

- Same principle as the power supply. It has to be quiet and able to keep the computer sustainable


Firewire - 2XIEEE 1394 Firewire Ports
- No idea what this is or if I need it


TV Card - None

Monitor - None

Dvi cABLE - None
- Dont need it I think ?

Your vid cards should already come with one.

Keyboard & Mouse - None
- Already have a Logitech mouse and my current PC computer and Monitor

Surge Protectors - 2xBelkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector (8sockets)
- Seemed like the best option to me


Webcam - None
Media Center - None
Anti Virus - None

Office Software - Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (1PC)

Warranty - 3 Year Return to base incl 3 years Free collect and return

Delivery - Standard

- Pretty obvious really. I live in the UK and ideally I want this PC for christmas.

Now when entering all this in and doing the calculate I get exactly:


£1396.60 ex VAT.


£1641 inc VAT and Delivery.

Since my 'budget' is 1500 this isnt acceptable so perhaps I can get a cheaper deal elsewhere for this kind of thing or someone can be kind enough to correct me in my selections for what I dont need.
Thanks in advance.

Get that ridiculous power supply out of there and that should put you below 1500 right there. If not, put some cheaper memory in there (but still from a reputable brand), I guarantee it won't make a shit bit of difference for performance.

SLi really isn't necessary with an 8800GT. It's almost always better to add afterwards (like a year down the road). Most cards will also only include a DVI to VGA adapter, so you may need a cord. Windows Vista and DX10 aren't necessary, there's a crack out there that'll make DX9 look like DX10. You'll also have fewer problems running XP for basically everything, IMHO. I agree with a less powerful power supply. The advantages of Intel have been stated, but AMD currently offers a better upgrade path. Something to consider if you want your machine to be able to grow.

You'll probably want Firewire, especially if you ever plan on getting a digital video camera that supports it or want an external hard drive (although eSATA is much faster for that). And I'd be a little surprised if that mobo doesn't come with a Firewire header. FYI, Firewire is just an alternative to USB for high-bandwidth devices.

I wouldn't make firewire a priority. You can always buy an add-in card for a connector you may never use.

Braedley wrote:SLi really isn't necessary with an 8800GT. It's almost always better to add afterwards (like a year down the road). Most cards will also only include a DVI to VGA adapter, so you may need a cord. Windows Vista and DX10 aren't necessary, there's a crack out there that'll make DX9 look like DX10. You'll also have fewer problems running XP for basically everything, IMHO. I agree with a less powerful power supply. The advantages of Intel have been stated, but AMD currently offers a better upgrade path. Something to consider if you want your machine to be able to grow.

I take the opposite approach. If you're going to SLI, get both cards now. Everyone thinks SLI would be a good upgrade path, but it's not. I can't think of a single time where it wasn't faster and cheaper to sell the one card and get a next generation card than buy a second for SLI, especially since prices of SLI-capable cards shoot into the stratosphere after they're discontinued since so many people want another one for SLI.

If you want to run your stuff at high settings, get a single 8800 GT. If you want to max out all the settings, go SLI.

Ok thanks for the input people, much appreciated. Did a bit of rearranging and a phone call to the company has apparantly gotten me a setup that is right on the dot.

Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo E6850 (2 X 3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache

Memory - 2GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)

Motherboard - ASUS® P5N32-E SLI+: Quad-core CPU Ready, NVIDIA® Dual X16 SLI

OS - WINDOWS® XP Professional (inc. Genuine CD & License) (£95)

USB Options - 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory 1st Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

Memory 2nd Drive - 500 GB Seria ATA II Hard Drive 16mb cache (7200RPM)

Raid - None

1st CD / DVD Drive - 20 Dual Layer Light Scribe DVD Writer

2nd CD / DVD Drive - 16x DVD-Rom With 48XCD rom

Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

Graphics Card - 512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV OUT

Sound Card - 6 Channel RealTek ALC883 Audio (Standard on P5N-E SLI)

NetWork Facilites: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Modem - I will be using Broadband

Memory Card Reader - INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Floppy Disk Drive - 1.44MB - 3.5 INCH FLOPPY DISK DRIVE

Case - CoolerMaster CM Stacker 831 Aluminium Case

Power Supply & Cooling - 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79)

Processor Cooler - ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)

Firewire - 2 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORTS (1 onboard, 1 at back panel)

TV Card - None

Monitor - None

DVI CABLE - None

Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Backlit LCD Display (£49)

Speaker - LOGITECH S220 2.1 SILVER/BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£12)

Surge Protectors - 2xBelkin 4 Socket 2M Surge Protector (8sockets)

Webcam - None
Media Center - None
Anti Virus - NORTON ANTI-VIRUS 2008 (£15)

Office Software - Microsoft® Office® 2007 Home & Student Edition (1 PC Licence) (£69)

Warranty - 2 Year Return-to-Base incl 2 Years Free Collect & Return: £69

Delivery - Standard

Final Price:
£1273.19 ex VAT.


£1496 inc VAT and Delivery.

-------------------------------------

Ended up with quite a bit spare so I got some exta things to make up the difference. I figured the larger case would allow more space to upgrade and I really do like the look. Not so sure about the Norton Anti - Virus thing but its cheap and I figured having it was better than nothing.

The Sales guy I talked to suggested going for the 2GB RAM at 800mhz rather than 2 GB at 1000Mhz because it was cheaper and didnt have much of a boost. Got a better motherboard apparantly than the one I originally selected and getting the GT8800 seems the best card I can get without blowing up the price a lot.

I have no idea what SLI is or Crossfire so essentially any upgrade "paths" are unknown to me. The general info I understand is that SLI and Crossfire are for gaming cause they can use 2 cards etc. Hence I got two cards which is cheaper than buying a single better card so I assumed 2 cheaper cards > 1 slightly better card.
Basically I'm looking to get a setup that will last me around 1 - 2 years favourably without having to consider upgrading. The guy told me to go with the 700W power supply and thats about all thats really changed specific to the performance.

Added the Logitech Gaming Keyboard and Speakers as a bonus. I dont really need them since I have a Keyboard and speakers already but I figured what the hell. If someone can spot something better for me to try and spend the leftover money on then I'm game to listen.

I'd suggest getting vista rather than XP. You've obviously got a gaming machine here, and all the new games use DirectX 10.

SLi and Crossfire are just nVidia and ATI's (respectively) way of having 2 video cards talk to each other in order to provide better graphics to one or two monitors. Other than that, everything looks pretty good to me. Your machine blows mine out of the water, and I have no problem playing TF2, HL2:Ep2, ect. on medium graphics levels, so you should have no problem with anything new on best or high levels.

InnocentBystander wrote:I'd suggest getting vista rather than XP. You've obviously got a gaming machine here, and all the new games use DirectX 10.

One person says dont use Vista, the other says use it. All to common are the people saying Vista is unstable and my current system is XP. Whatever is the better for gaming and capable of playing games is the prefered option. Having never used Vista I have no real idea what the difference beyond what I hear.

I havent really played any of the newest games due to the lack of anything interesting that I can play. I do have an eye towards maxing out Star Wars Empire at War Force of Corruption. Can play that very poorly on my current system and its been something of a nagging pain not to be able to max it out. Despite the system I am getting I will probably end up living at the bottom end of the gaming market due to the simple fact I get games once they are dropping in price. I figure thats probably what let me last with my current system this long.

Some games I am looking to get are the new C&C, Oblivion, Supreme Commander, DOW DC, BF2, HL2, Doom 3. All of these games were supposedly heavy on the requirements and I would definetly want to know if I will be able to play them on this new system. It dosent have to be 'max out' everything, just so long as the computer will play it reasonably well.
What I am basically asking is, what kind of 'peak' game should I use as a benchmark for my systems ability to play at 'max out everything' and what game should I use as a 'only going to ever play it with all settings low'.

The only game that seriously requires 2 or more graphic cards right now is Crysis. All the games you list there will be served well enough by a single 8800GT.

If you are a gamer, I'm fairly sure that you're going to be forced - eventually - into getting vista at some point. The chances that you run into vista related problems are very slim. You're buying a machine that has more than enough horsepower to run vista (yes, if you bought a 1.4ghz machine with 1 gig of ram its going to be a bit sluggish on vista...). You're looking for playing modern games on high settings and *I suspect* you plan on playing modern games a year or two from now. You want to play games, you want vista.

Vista is not 'unstable', I've got 2 machines running vista. One had it new, one was an upgrade (was at least 6 months ago by now), I've not experienced a single crash. Supposedly Sound Blaster x-fi doesn't work in vista anymore, but it seems to work fine for me, I've got 2 old (4 and 6 years) HP printers that don't have any problems (at least non OS related), and my only *real* complaint is that I don't like Office's new look (which is *totally* unrelated to vista).

I think getting XP in a new gaming machine is a mistake. I made the same mistake when XP came out, I heard that XP was heavier than 98 and so I purchased a machine with windows 98se on it instead. Did I get slightly better performance because of my choice? Possibly, I did purchase a very 'average' machine. But several years later when I got a free copy of XP and put it on the computer I didn't notice the difference (laptop was in the shop, so I played a little warcraft 3 on it - the game I bought the computer for originally).

You're buying a very impressive computer, I seriously doubt you're going to see a real performance difference between the two. You'll be able to play Crysis (currently the top dog) at most resolutions at maximum settings (with the possible exception of retardly high AA levels), the only difference is that in XP you can't get the DirectX10 graphics improvements. And as far as the hacks that bring DirectX10 to XP, I have a good feeling that in a year or two when DirectX 10 is in every game you'll see the real benefits of it (which I doubt you'll get on XP, and definatly not without plugging in hacks all over the place).

I've got a machine running vista. The only problems I've come across are: dumb ass companies not having 64-bit drivers for their crap (webcam, specifically), and the network stack likes to barf on occassion (can't open new connections) which either fixes itself after a while, or can be fixed with a reboot. Doesn't happen very often.

What happens in Vista with the X-Fi is that EAX is disabled with the default audio stack. You can install ALchemy to restore EAX (I think that's what it's called).

Did he REALLY just ask if SLI'd 8800GTs can handle fucking Halflife 2? Is this the inevitable fallout of so many idiots saying 'my system runs HL2 why can't it run FEAR/Crysis/etc'?

Beowulf wrote:What happens in Vista with the X-Fi is that EAX is disabled with the default audio stack. You can install ALchemy to restore EAX (I think that's what it's called).

It's not so much that EAX is disabled as DirectSound 3D is no longer available (replaced by OpenAL). The Alchemy drivers translate the calls.

That thing is a beast. I wish I had the money to spend on something like that.

And it'll all be out of date in a year... so sad isn't it?

The graphics cards will be out of date in a year, the processor should last a while. I've been running an x2 3800 for over two years now and from the looks of it I'll be running it for at least another 6-8 months. I think thats a great lifespan for midrange (for gaming anyway) processor. GPU on the other hand lasted about a year and a half, before I upgraded.

Also, ditch the floppy drive. It is totally unnecessary; or if you really *must* have it, get a card reader that has a floppy drive. For the same price as the floppy drive you can get a freaking 1 or 2 gigabyte flash drive.

Personally, I could play Crysis with everything maxed out except 4x AA on my EVGA 8800GT KO card at 1280x1024. It's relatively smooth and not jerky. Running Half Life 2 breaks no sweat. Bioshock is seamless as well. I haven't gotten down to run my World in Conflict but I don't expect too much of a problem.

Your list seems like you wouldn't be getting the most out of such a beast, may I recommend some much more beast-worthy games? Like UT3, CoD4, Crysis, The Witcher, Splinter Cell 4, Gears of War, I could go on and on. My point is why buy such a beast to play games made nearly 5 years ago? As for HL2, well...

Source Minimum Requirements
1.2 GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 7 level graphics card

While it's impressive it can scale that low, it also looks like utter shit, compared to the new UE3 games.

Well the list of games is whatever came to mind. I dont keep track of the gaming world and my only real source ends up being what I see in adverts or the occassional trip to the local store. I'm more interested in RTS like space games.
FPS type games like half life or COD tend to just become a bore due to the repetative nature of the genre but if I see one on offer then Ill probably pick one up occassionally.

So Crysis is currently the highest benchmark for games I should expect to be able to play ?

Strongly recommend you go with Vista for a gaming machine at this point - yes, Crysis is a benchmark right now and the difference between its DX9 and DX10 renders is noticeable. The DX9 stuff does look gorgeous as well, however if you have the hardware for DX10, why not go for it? And this argument is going to become more potent as time goes by. FPS (which you seem to like) tend to be cutting edge, it wouldn't surprise me to start seeing DX10 requirements in the next generation (2009 onwards), and considering the components you plan to use you should still be able to game comfortably then if you choose Vista, while XP will make your computer obsolete. Skip the extra cost and get Vista now. With new parts Vista should not have compatibility problems at this point.

Resinence wrote:Your list seems like you wouldn't be getting the most out of such a beast, may I recommend some much more beast-worthy games? Like UT3, CoD4, Crysis, The Witcher, Splinter Cell 4, Gears of War, I could go on and on. My point is why buy such a beast to play games made nearly 5 years ago? As for HL2, well...

Source Minimum Requirements
1.2 GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 7 level graphics card

While it's impressive it can scale that low, it also looks like utter shit, compared to the new UE3 games.

Actually, I ran HL2 on a GeForce 3 and it looked pretty good. Some games still look good at low settings and low res, and HL2 is one of them. Crysis is most assuredly not. On the settings I'm running it at, Far Cry looks better.

PREDATOR490 wrote:

InnocentBystander wrote:I'd suggest getting vista rather than XP. You've obviously got a gaming machine here, and all the new games use DirectX 10.

One person says dont use Vista, the other says use it. All to common are the people saying Vista is unstable and my current system is XP. Whatever is the better for gaming and capable of playing games is the prefered option. Having never used Vista I have no real idea what the difference beyond what I hear.

I was talking about the 64-bit version. Get the 32-bit one. I'm still using XP myself, but I wouldn't put it on a new gaming machine.

I havent really played any of the newest games due to the lack of anything interesting that I can play. I do have an eye towards maxing out Star Wars Empire at War Force of Corruption. Can play that very poorly on my current system and its been something of a nagging pain not to be able to max it out. Despite the system I am getting I will probably end up living at the bottom end of the gaming market due to the simple fact I get games once they are dropping in price. I figure thats probably what let me last with my current system this long.

Some games I am looking to get are the new C&C, Oblivion, Supreme Commander, DOW DC, BF2, HL2, Doom 3. All of these games were supposedly heavy on the requirements and I would definetly want to know if I will be able to play them on this new system. It dosent have to be 'max out' everything, just so long as the computer will play it reasonably well.
What I am basically asking is, what kind of 'peak' game should I use as a benchmark for my systems ability to play at 'max out everything' and what game should I use as a 'only going to ever play it with all settings low'.

You could spend a quarter of what you're spending and make all of those games cry for mercy at max settings and ridiculous resolution. The only game you listed that's even a little bit demanding on a modern system is Supreme Commander, and I've seen it run smooth as butter on max settings at 1920 x 1200 resolution on a system that doesn't even come close to the one you specified. If those are what you're looking to play, you might want to rethink things and go for a less expensive system.

See if your builder offers something along these lines:

Core 2 E6750 2.66 GHz
Same memory
Less expensive motherboard that doesn't need to have SLI support
Vista
Same hard drives
Same DVD drives
1 8800 GT instead of 2
Same case
PSU would only have to have 450 Watts or so from a reputable brand
Everything else the same

I'm guessing that would knock the price down to around 1,000 lbs instead of 1,500, and you'd never see any performance difference in the games you listed. The only game there would be a difference is Crysis, and only at high resolution. What monitor will you be using, and what resolution does it support?