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NEED ADVISE - i just got a new comp |
Redemption (Angel of Light)
Grand Admiral
Interstellar Cultural Confederation United
Joined: October 12, 2006
Posts: 181
|  Posted: 2007-11-28 10:04
PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2140 Processor (1.6GHz,800MHz,1MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition - English
HARDWARE SUPPORT 1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
MONITOR Dell™ 17" Silver Wide Flat Panel (SE178WFP) - UK/Irish
MEMORY 1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
HARD DRIVE 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB nVidia™ GeForce 8600GT graphics card
OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
KEYBOARD Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
MOUSE Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black
tell me ive just bought a good computer, it cost me £467 and wandered what yall think of it
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MonkeyMan
Cadet
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 13
| Posted: 2007-11-28 10:11
not bad, i would suggest a hd3850 or 3870 vid card, 320 unified shaders 256but ram dx10 "if ya care" and best of all cheap. they kick the crap out of the 2900xt at half the power and heat and a 1/3 of the price.
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-28 10:20
Slow video card; the NVidia GeForce 8600GT is overpriced, and when it comes to rendering DX8 and DX9, which is what you will still find in the majority of all games for quite a while, its on-par or outperformed by its own ancestor, the 7600, and even it's downscaled variation 7600GS.
In other words, it's essentially a 7600 with mediocre SM4.0 rendering capability. And a notch bigger pricetag.
1024Mb RAM is not enough for modern gaming, you would want a minimum of 1536Mb, prefer 2048Mb.
The harddrive is enough depending on your taste; it's enough for games, but not HD-DVD movie storage. The cache feature is nice, but not a real focal point.
The CPU is from the budget end of the Pentium E series CPU's, and it is a rather excellent CPU for its price, although it cant really compete with the very high end ones when it comes to hardcore computing. I have this very same CPU model and I can tell as much as it does it's job, and has a low level of energy consumption.
Overall I guess it's decent for a budget computer, but you really need more RAM if you want to play anything that actually could make use of the 8600GT's SM4.0 capability.
If you can afford it, one 8800GTX would be a far better choice and would likely serve you well for a long time, or one of the new Radeon HD3850 or whatever the series number was again, both are on the same pricerange and performance. There are differences but they are irrelevant if you have to ask in the DS forums if it's good or not.
This prebuilt package you have bought however, is borderline overpriced in my opinion.
[ This Message was edited by: Nuclear Cookie on 2007-11-28 10:21 ]
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Redemption (Angel of Light)
Grand Admiral
Interstellar Cultural Confederation United
Joined: October 12, 2006
Posts: 181
| Posted: 2007-11-28 11:18
ok 1. nuclear i only wanted to know if it was good or not, not a lecture but i customined this myself trust me the pre build had intergrated intel chip graphix and i thought hell no, and only had a single processor 633 mhz so duelcore was the way so its ok for what i payed for. (plus i plan on taking it to bits and modding a lil bit too)
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-28 12:01
Quote:
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On 2007-11-28 11:18, Redemption (The Fallen Archangel) wrote:
ok 1. nuclear i only wanted to know if it was good or not, not a lecture but i customined this myself trust me the pre build had intergrated intel chip graphix and i thought hell no, and only had a single processor 633 mhz so duelcore was the way so its ok for what i payed for. (plus i plan on taking it to bits and modding a lil bit too)
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1. I provided an in-depth review of each of the parts and their quality and later an overall opinion of it, as only an overall opinion doesnt really give alot of detail.
2. I highly doubt it had a single core processor at 633MHz, I believe you are referring to the FSB of another processor. 633MHz is pretty much pre-XP stuff.
3. If you actually paid so obscene amounts(mentioned region of £475 in lobby) for such a very low-end customisation, you have dear sir, just been robbed in daytime.
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!Lono! {Rogue Kluth}
Cadet
Joined: April 19, 2002
Posts: 128
From: Hawaii
| Posted: 2007-11-28 12:12
oh noooo..
/me waits for backy's take over of this thread =P
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Deadly Assassin
Marshal
Joined: June 15, 2006
Posts: 81
| Posted: 2007-11-28 15:17
lol if the stuff about the RAM is true i must be living a miracle:P ive survived on 512mb ram for 3 years...my pc has 3.06ghz which is apparently good, luckily im installing another gig of ram....and with my 16mb connection i think DS wont lagg me to death for some time...i hope...but yes red that was a good deal for the price payed...could do with some upgrades in certain places but what a bargain!
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MonkeyMan
Cadet
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 13
| Posted: 2007-11-28 15:50
Not a bargain, but not a ripoff either, sounds about right for the hardware stated "though I probably could have got the parts a little cheaper" although I would not have gone for the 8600gt, you should post some more specific info.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2x1MB L2 Cache) 2600MHz
@ X2 5600+ 234MHz FSB x12 (2808MHz)
Corsair XMS2 PC6400 cl4 1024MBx2 (2GB) 800MHz
@ PC7500 5-4-4-13-18 2T (934MHz)
Enermax Liberty 400W Dual Rail
ASUS M2NPV-VM BIOS 1201
Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 800/2200
Diamond Xtreme sound 5.1
Maxtor 200GB SATA150 7.2k
Maxtor 40GB ATA100 5.4k
Maxtor 20GB ATA100 5.4k
16x DVD burner
Thermaltake 92mm Blue led case fans
Blue cathode light tube
Logitech G11
Logitech MX518
15Mbit Cable
PS I know I need HDD's  next on the list.
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-28 16:01
Quote:
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On 2007-11-28 15:17, |Fallen Assassin| wrote:
lol if the stuff about the RAM is true i must be living a miracle:P ive survived on 512mb ram for 3 years...my pc has 3.06ghz which is apparently good, luckily im installing another gig of ram....and with my 16mb connection i think DS wont lagg me to death for some time...i hope...but yes red that was a good deal for the price payed...could do with some upgrades in certain places but what a bargain!
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A CPU going at a "speed" of 3.06GHz is irrelevant if A. the CPU is old, therefore obsolete, due to B. major lack of transistors, lack of L2 cache, etc.. Many factors.
Also, when I mentioned modern gaming, I was talking of games like X3: Reunion, Crysis, BioShock and certain MMORPG's.
Furthermore, DarkSpace uses so little bandwidth, that it does not matter wether you run on a 256kbps ADSL or a 16Mbps cable, a trait also found in EVE for example. The thing that matters however, is ISP -based connection throttling, popular in US/UK, illegal in some countries, and the amount of hops between you and the server itself, the quality of the mentioned hops, and potential networking traffic.
As you can see, you can set darkspace to a maximum of about 32kb/s of bandwidth consumption with the /bps command.. A 16Mbps connection has a potential download capability of 1,600kb/s in perfect conditions.
In best conditions, you could run ~500 instances of DarkSpace before your bandwidth starts to fill up.
In addition, what comes to a good deal, some videocard comparison...
NVidia GeForce 8600GT - 99,90 EUR + delivery
Sapphire Radeon HD2600XT - 116,90 EUR + delivery
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=855&model2=858&chart=317
In other words, if you take HD2600XT, you get almost twice as good performance for about the same price.
As you can see, 8600GT is also outperformed by 7600GT.
[ This Message was edited by: Nuclear Cookie on 2007-11-28 16:27 ]
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Coeus
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: March 22, 2006
Posts: 2815
From: Philly
| Posted: 2007-11-28 18:34
Desktop or laptop?
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-28 19:03
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On 2007-11-28 18:34, Coeus wrote:
Desktop or laptop?
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It's a desktop, the closest integrated/mobile solution for 8600GT would be the 8500 or 8700M, which is not the display adapter the person is currently using..
Additionally, this specific CPU is not served as a mobile version with this name.
[ This Message was edited by: Nuclear Cookie on 2007-11-28 19:03 ]
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Whiterin
Fleet Admiral
Joined: November 15, 2007
Posts: 146
| Posted: 2007-11-29 02:44
I personally think some people take every start too far. I prefer GeForce 6200 video card. It runs very well... and costs a third of all the other cards in the same area. And before everyone goes flaming me because I don't need to have everything all perfect and don't necessarily study into every single statistic of the part, and suggested a seemingly inferior card. I say this. I built a computer for just a little over 300 usd and it ran almost identical with my uncle's almost 2,000 usd computer. Runs cool, runs fast. Although some people make things seem to be a huge difference in performance, a lot of times things may be almost identical except for the price. Keep that in mind when building your computer. Also, I would never go with an Intel processor.
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-29 04:16
Quote:
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On 2007-11-29 02:44, Whiterin wrote:
I personally think some people take every start too far. I prefer GeForce 6200 video card.
It runs very well... and costs a third of all the other cards in the same area. And before everyone goes flaming me because I don't need to have everything all perfect and don't necessarily study into every single statistic of the part, and suggested a seemingly inferior card.
I say this. I built a computer for just a little over 300 usd and it ran almost identical with my uncle's almost 2,000 usd computer.
Runs cool, runs fast. Although some people make things seem to be a huge difference in performance, a lot of times things may be almost identical except for the price. Keep that in mind when building your computer. Also, I would never go with an Intel processor.
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A NVidia GeForce 6200 is an old card, and not while it's said to support shader model 3.0 through hardware, it's very sluggish, unstable, and unreliable. I wouldnt even suggest anything below 6600GT for anything.
The problem with 6200 really is; that it's starting to be obsolete in the modern day and time when game developers are going for SM3.0 if not SM4.0, and the 6200 is really only sufficient for SM2.0.
The rest of your message is simply false; some heavier games such as Tabula Rasa, LOTRO, etc.. They simply need a MINIMUM of 1024Mb to cache things properly, and in the region of 1,5Gb+ for running it SMOOTHLY, nevermind if you use Windows Vista, which keeps your things precached, using even more RAM.
The newer cards just have so much more pixel pipelines, more memory bandwidth through PCI-Express, better memory modules(GDDR3, GDDR4) and more of independent memory, faster core and memory clocks, or even crossfire/SLI capability.. I dont get where you pulled that gibberish out of, your ass?
And did I mention yet, that your 6200 will halt in its tracks like a snail if you even try to playback even 720p HD videos with it?
By the way, I paragraphed your wall of text somewhat, it's mildly annoying to read a block of text like that.
What comes to the Intel CPU's, the newer ones use the kind of socket architechture that it's possible to keep upgrading the CPU itself without having to upgrade your whole motherboard, which saves the consumers money, and time.
Nevermind that the majority of the entry level and midrange Intel CPU's, and the new Core2 Duo's, Core2 Extreme's, far outperform comparative AMD CPU's, unless overclocked and tampered around with, but you can do the same to your Intel CPU, and much easier.
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2694
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2007-11-29 04:46
Quote:
| On 2007-11-29 02:44, Whiterin wrote:
I personally think some people take every start too far. I prefer GeForce 6200 video card. It runs very well... and costs a third of all the other cards in the same area. And before everyone goes flaming me because I don't need to have everything all perfect and don't necessarily study into every single statistic of the part, and suggested a seemingly inferior card. I say this. I built a computer for just a little over 300 usd and it ran almost identical with my uncle's almost 2,000 usd computer. Runs cool, runs fast. Although some people make things seem to be a huge difference in performance, a lot of times things may be almost identical except for the price. Keep that in mind when building your computer. Also, I would never go with an Intel processor. |
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Something i agree with.
Even the top graphic card performers are nice to have but if you look at it from a economic perspective, there not that all interesting, even for the regular consumers.
you might think i'm nuts but if you look at it from my perspective you might understand.
Todays standards
Why upgrade your machine today? most will say to run the new games that come out.
Thats fine by me, but what will that cost? a lot will you say, and yes it costs a lot to have a machines that preform up to the latest possible specs games can demand.
But what of the future? New games ask new specs and there for you will need to upgrade your current machine or buy a new one.
New lets look at it from my perspective.
part one:
How long can you todays games with your top of the line computer; usually 9 months
How long can you do with your top of the line computers; usually two years
when is it absolutely a need to buy a new machine; about three to four years.
How long will it usually take for top or the line products to become cheaper; usually 6 to 9 months.
When will a game made today get in the low game price range; 6 to 9 months.
part two:
If i buy a regular grade PC today, can i play modern games; low or if lucky on medium settings.
If i buy a regular grade PC today, how can i play games that are 6 to 9 months old; Best or high settings.
When do i absolutely a need to buy a new machine; one maybe two years.
What do i usually need to upgrade of this regular machine to keep it a little up to date; processor, graphics card and maybe more ram.
part three:
I got a old junker that is over two years old what can i do with it;
.Sell it, some people love to have a old computer to only use a web brouwser
or students who love to tinker or use as a server.
. Create a central storage server out of it.
it saves trouble and electricity in the end if properly set (more info? ask me).
. have a old pc for the kids. (don't forget to install DarkSpace)
. paint a bullseye on......
my point
If you pay attention to todays progress in computer technology, and buy one that you can upgrade later. or just buy a regular grade computer.
Than don't buy the latest games, but buy the games that are like between 4 to 7 months old and play them at there maximal.
Than your not only cheaper off, you have a better experience of the game than most did when the had there top of the line computer that maybe ran the game with problems. Not to forget the important patches and driver tweaks supports that usually come later.
.. The drawback is your not up to date with the modern games.
.. But than again your cheaper off in total, so more money to spend on important stuff.
Questions, Comments, Suggestions or flame me.
Reply below.
IT consultant,
Network Engineer,
Eledore M.
[edit]
. spacings
[ This Message was edited by: Eledore[NL] on 2007-11-29 04:49 ]
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Leviatan
Cadet
Joined: April 22, 2005
Posts: 186
| Posted: 2007-11-29 06:20
What part of it do you people not understand, that obsolete cards such as 6200 are not in the shelves of your average PC store anymore for a reason?
Some applications simply WONT START if it doesnt find the required hardware; it's not about amount of memory, CPU speed or anything, when it's a video card you should be looking at PCI-e port, dedicated shader processors, streamers and pixel pipelines.
There is also a reason why the new cards struggle with old features like mere shader model 1.0, as they are optimized and designed for running newer and more intensive games with different coding.
Let's put our customer shader model bluntly. It means how many shader instructions your card can manage at a time, for example 3.0 is up to 512, while 4.0 is already 64k.
You stumble under your own rule of brand new becoming obsolete too quickly to be worth it; the recent development in hardware means that someday nothing runs without appropiate shader model 3.0 compability, or later even 4.0, which either forces you to stick to your games from the era of DS, or to make even a minimal upgrade to the entry-level variations of more advanced hardware.
It's very common that people with old PCI(non-express, white) cards are trying to play games like EVE, nevermind FPS games like Battlefield 2142, then they come over to the store yelling at people asking why their "uber" and "fast" computer from... 1999, doesnt run modern, resource intense games.
I dont however mean that everybody has to get two 8800GTX's in SLI board; or 4Gb RAM, as you are likely to be well-set with either a 7900GT or a HD2600XT, nevermind that 32bit systems have none or very limited support for amounts of RAM greater than 2Gb. Windows Vista 32bit doesnt really see more than 2Gb, but it can use the rest for things like VGA frame buffer, etc..
IF you dont play any new games and mmorpg's on the market.. THEN feel free to stick to the rusting and rotting pieces of hardware; money isnt an excuse as you can get a HD2400XT pretty much anywhere for 50-65 euros, and the newer variants with GDDR3 are a significant upgrade from something like GF6 series, they also have support for SM4.0, but don't expect very high frame rates while using it intensively without some tampering.
But with a 6200, you are soon really going to be limited to online games like DarkSpace, and even then everything with a beginning always comes to an end.
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