Basically, is this a pc that would run most modern games at a fair level of graphical goodness. I want something that can run the new COD and maybe Crysis. for about £550, but I need a monitor included.
* Intel® Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor
* 2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
* 4GB DDR2 667MHz memory
* 640GB SATA hard drive (7200rpm)
* NVIDIA® GeForce 7100 graphics
* Blu-Ray Reader and DVD Rewriter
* 12-in-1 media card reader
* 8x USB ports (4x front, 4x rear)
* 1x IEEE 1394 FireWire® port
Here's the link:
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0025101847.1230229833@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccefadegdekhdelcflgceggdhhmdfom.0&page=Product&fm=1&sm=3&tm=0&sku=226402&category_oid=
Thank you in advance.
Hey friends. I don't have many friends who know much about computers, so I just wanted to ask for your help. There must be a few computer nerds amongst us.
Basically, is this a pc that would run most modern games at a fair level of graphical goodness. I want something that can run the new COD and maybe Crysis. for about £550, but I need a monitor included.
* Intel® Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor
* 2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache
* Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
* 4GB DDR2 667MHz memory
* 640GB SATA hard drive (7200rpm)
* NVIDIA® GeForce 7100 graphics
* Blu-Ray Reader and DVD Rewriter
* 12-in-1 media card reader
* 8x USB ports (4x front, 4x rear)
* 1x IEEE 1394 FireWire® port
Here's the link:
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0025101847.1230229833@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccefadegdekhdelcflgceggdhhmdfom.0&page=Product&fm=1&sm=3&tm=0&sku=226402&category_oid=
Thank you in advance.
That's not a bad setup for the price, but you're going to run into trouble trying to run bleeding edge content on a decent graphic setting with an outdated graphics card. You might try something like this as a replacement card. It's not cutting edge stuff, but it's a better card for a minimum cost (you'll need to check and make sure it's compatible first though).
Two things you need to consider: what brand of RAM does the stock computer come with and how good is the cooling system? Kingston is a good brand, Corsair is preferred for gaming. Since you're essentially building a gaming computer, heat expenditure will be significant, especially running new games on a high graphics setting. Research the tower case and see if it has enough room to add another heat sink or fan. Most likely, the stock cooling system will not be sufficient to keep your computer from overheating during long play sessions.
Good luck!
Faelar
That's not a bad setup for the price, but you're going to run into trouble trying to run bleeding edge content on a decent graphic setting with an outdated graphics card. You might try something like this as a replacement card. It's not cutting edge stuff, but it's a better card for a minimum cost (you'll need to check and make sure it's compatible first though).
Two things you need to consider: what brand of RAM does the stock computer come with and how good is the cooling system? Kingston is a good brand, Corsair is preferred for gaming. Since you're essentially building a gaming computer, heat expenditure will be significant, especially running new games on a high graphics setting. Research the tower case and see if it has enough room to add another heat sink or fan. Most likely, the stock cooling system will not be sufficient to keep your computer from overheating during long play sessions.
Good luck!
Faelar
Ehh, the 8800GT is a better chipset and can be had for cheap these days. Heck, if you do some searching, you can find some second gen seondary ATI HD4x series chipsets for cheap, too, and they benchmark competatively. For a bit more, the 9800GTX isn't that bad a pick up and can be had at a decent price by shrewd buyers.
Some things to note: If you're looking for gaming, a 64bit OS will probably be your best friend, as it can support more RAM. 32 bit only goes up to 3.5 gigs, so often times the last 512 is doing nothing in a 4 gig machine unless it's sharing the memory with an onboard VPU. You might also want to check out MetkuMods. They're Finnish, so their reviews and tips often feature product that's available in Europe. But even then, their advie is still applicable to other parts of the world.
I have an 8600 GT and I can run Crysis medium with a few things on high. I can play COD High. 7100 just wont cut it. I'd advise you to get a new card ASAP, the 7100 will bottle neck your systems gaming capability.
For Nvidia cards, try not to buy a card with the second number lower than a '6'. As a general rule, the first number is the generation, 7 for yours, for example. The second number could be classified as power. 1 being the lowest and as high as 8 or 9 in some cases. 6 is the budget gamer's number (main reason why I bought an 8600GT for my rig). 8 is often used as the high end gamer's number. But that's a general rule of thumb, there are many other factors to a card's performance (Video RAM, is it DDR2 or DDR3?, bandwidth and so on).
Having said that, and as suggested by, Farmer42, an 8800GT is a good card at a very good price if you don't want to spend too much.
Also, here's a nifty site to disable some unneeded processes in Vista (When I got my new comp with Vista, I had 60 processes taking up 50% of my memory
And majority of them are not needed).http://www.vistarewired.com/2007/02/18/services
The website is very user friendly giving you step by step instructions and recommendations. Doing this should give you some performance back for your games. ;)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
I am told some games simply hate Vista. Or it might be you want Vista 64 bit and a lot more ram. Because you ain't going past 2 gigs without 64 bit.
I am told WoW hates Vista.
Myself, I hate Vista for gaming reasons too. But it seems ok running applications.
There's only one weak link in your get up....
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
I am told some games simply hate Vista. Or it might be you want Vista 64 bit and a lot more ram. Because you ain't going past 2 gigs without 64 bit.
I am told WoW hates Vista.
Myself, I hate Vista for gaming reasons too. But it seems ok running applications.
OK, now you're just wrong. Games don't hate Vista. At all. I have Diablo, BGII, Half-Life, WoW, Starcraft, Fallout I & II, and several other games running just fin in Vista Ultimate x64. And the 32-bit architecture will support up to 3.5 gigs of RAM, not two.
It is somewhat different since it is a laptop graphics card not a PC one. But I am doing quite well with my Nvidia Geforce 9500M GS. Some examples of games:
-Left for Dead: High graphics
-Mass Effect: High graphics
-Fallout 3: Medium (can run High but somewhat choppy)
The only issue I find with Vista with games is sometimes it doesn't like to install a shortcut for it. So as such the only way to load the game is through its Program File.
I've noticed that as well. It's annoying at times. When it does happen, I just manually create my desktop shortcuts. I also use Xfire to keep track of every game I have installed. It's like Steam where you can right click the icon and load a game through there. Although, I mainly use Xfire to record and upload videos/screens online. Very useful.
I can see now that the weak link is the graphics card, so I'm now thinking of looking at a different PC to that one.
I also spoke to an acquaintance who's doing a degree in computer science, and he reckons it is cheaper to make my own computer with his help. So I might follow that route. Anyway, have a good new years.