Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

[Smurvis]

(This post was edited now that I'm home and can actually type without fear of boss yelling at me)

(NOTE: It's not that I'm so loose with my money that I'm willing to buy a computer just so WoW plays well, it's just that my computer CAN'T run it or any other high-end game, and I've been playing it on one of my roommates. If I'm going to get a new computer, I want to be damn sure it will run WoW as smooth as silk, as well as running other games I want to play. But if one game has to run "perfect" I want it to be WoW.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...SYXS-DB-989425

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...SYXS-DB-989461

Tax Refund = money.


I'm interested in getting a GOOD comp. Right now, my comp is crap. It has a 64 MB Video Card, a decent sound card I guess, 320 MB RAM, 80 GB of storage between two HDs, and a 650 MHz processor. It has run StarCraft, Diablo 2, WarCraft III, and GunBound... but that's about it. I want a machine that will OPTIMIZE World of Warcraft, and play City of Villians pretty good too.

Now, ideally I'd want a $15,000 super computer with 6 150GB Hard Drives running at 12,000 RPM all raided together and a 2.8GHz Quad Core processor and a 768MB super video card with it's own cooling fan, toaster oven, and accounting consultant... but I don't exactly have a big budget.

After a certain point, the change has got to be... pretty worthless. I don't want to blow the high-end performance out of the water. I just want to meet the high-end specs. There's a point of diminishing return on power vs. performance, isn't there? 800 MHz to 2.00GHz has got to be huge, compared to like a 2.0GHz to 3.0GHz being so-so, right? Or jumping from a video card with 64MB to 256MB being a huge boost, where was 256MB to 512MB is barely noticeable? I mean, WoW isn't exactly a high-end game here. And I'm pretty sure Pong would run just as well on a 30 year old computer as it would run on a beast of a machine today. I guess that's the question I'm trying to get ask here... there's a point where any extra power won't matter, the game will already be maxed, won't it?

My main concern is the motherboard and processor. I have no idea what Dual Core means. My friend tried to say that a 2.0GHz Dual Core is basically like having a 4.0GHz machine... but does it evenly split the processing like that? Isn't one core optimized for this, and one for that? Does WoW even USE Dual Core? I thought that not all programs utilized it. If WoW didn't use a Dual Core 2.0 GHz, then instead of 4.0, would it still be like having 2.0?

I'm fairly interested in the high-end video cards, and am sure I'm getting at least a 256. I was doing some research and was reading about some 256 MB video cards outperforming a 512MB video card... some mumbo jumbo about the 512 having the same processing just double memory so it wasn't that effective for games that didn't demand more... out of 5 games tested, only Half-Life 2 showed the 512 being best. Not sure how old the article was though. I want a bare minimum of 1 GB of RAM, but I'd like 2 GB. And what's this I hear about Gigabit Ethernet? Basically to summarize, ALL I need is:


2.66GHz/3.0GHz (Dual Core? I want USB 2.0 and PCI Express if needed)
256/512 MB Video (Which? Why?)
2GB RAM (What kind?)
Ethernet (Gigabit? What?)
Power Supply (Will I need to upgrade?)

I can live without a DVD-ROM or DVD-RW... I've got 80 GB of HD space and that's all I need right now. I can get copies of XP Professional, 64 bit, and Vista, and all in all I like Professional best anyway. What would be cheaper for me in the long run, buying one of these cheapass computers with the stuff, or just getting the material from TigerDirect and having my buddy (who has the 64 bit and Vista) to put it together for me?

[The_Real_Crunk]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

Thats a good setup. But if you wanna do the gaming thing your gonna need better than integrated graphics cards. From the looks of things theres PCI-express slots so I think you could cram a good video card in. Not 100% on that though.

Other than that its a really good computer. By my standards anyway.

[AbstractOrigin]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

IF you want a good PC for games, I would suggest getting an AMD processor over an Intel one.

AMD is better for gaming cause of how their processors take them.
For example, my AMD Turion 64X2(Dual Core) Moblie has "3D Now" and Hyper threaded features.

Also, as Crunk said, avoid integrated grahpics chipsets. No matter the size, they suck compared to AGP and PCI-e slotted cards.

So far those are alright if they didn't have integrated graphics.

Like always, if you want a gaming rig, it's always best you build it from scratch. Which could mean an easy grand plus time and assembly.

[archerarmored]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

If my knowledge on computer hardware remains relative, that's a damn good deal.

[Smurvis]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

I want to run WoW mainly, and maybe CoV.


WoW:
Windows® System 2000/XP OS:
Intel Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500+ MHz
1024 MB RAM
64 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX 5700 class card or above
Broadband Internet connection
Two-button scroll-wheel mouse


That computer meets this, and blows it away.

[thetruecoolness]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

Well really if you want a good computer you want the Core 2 Duo processor from Intel as it beats everything AMD has at the moment. But anything other than that you're better going with AMD.

Also you might want to wait a month or so until Vista comes out. If you're going to get Windows for a reduced price (since computer manufacturers buy in bulk), might as well get the newest one.

And stay away from this computer for games. It does not have a separate Video Card, which you will need to play highend games. I guess integrated might be good enough, but it doesn't tell you which series it is.

I'd personally shop around for a different system that comes with a video card (though normally I build mine myself - doesn't always save you a whole lot, but you know you're getting quality parts for every component).

If I have time tonight I might look for one for you, but really this is what I would look for

AMD or Core 2 Duo processor
1-2GB RAM
250GB hard drive which is SATA II (also refferred to as Sata 3.0Gb/s)
Video Card (Probably GeForce6000 or 7000 series or Radeon X0000 series)
Gigabit Ethernet
Anything else you want

I would probably just wait till Vista comes out, it's only a couple of months.

[Alzar]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

How about a laptop that can play WoW?

After I purchased my first laptop, I can't use regular PCs anymore...

[Arcaite]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

tbh, i'm with Crunk. If you can get another graphics card in there, it looks to me like great value for money. But i'm not the expert TTC is, so don't let this be a casting vote >.<

Amusingly, that product description made much of the.... colour of the chassis, etc.

[Smurvis]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer?

True, can you be on AIM tonight? Somewhere between 5:45 PM - 9:00 PM Eastern?

(Edit)
Basically I've got about 5-10 minutes worth of questions based on my situation and what I want and already have.

And no, I don't want you to look for me, I can do that much. I've got a good idea of what I want, it's just I don't understand GHz vs. Dual Core GHz... It just seems to me like getting a good computer is like a good diamond. This one has great color... that one has great clarity... this one's above average in both... etc. etc. I don't know what's actually "good" anymore.

[Sampson]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

Well, you never said how much money you have to spend.

To run WoW at max settings you need approx.

256 mb Video Card (any kind really even the crappy ones and in fact some of the good 128s can run WoW perfectly)

3.0 Ghz Pent 4 or 3000 AMD

1gb of ram

But keep in mind that WoW is by no means a high-end game. In fact its pretty much at the bottom of the barrel. Even when it was released it had medicore graphics for its time, and that was 2.5 years ago. (When WoW was first in alpha it had a different graphics engine similar looking to EQ2 which was later changed to the cartoony style you see today--blizzard wanting to maximize their fan base)

Also I'd say that if Blizzard carries out their plan of releasing an expansion every 6-8 months its definitly not out of the realm of possibility to see an expansion pack that increases the graphics in a year or so. EQ pulled it off.

[Smurvis]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

Budget: $1100-$1500.

Looking at:
3.0 GHz Dual Core
256/512 MB Video
2 GB RAM
New Power Supply


Already have rest of stuff. Maybe a computer case to hold it all in case it won't fit in mine.

[DK]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

If you're just getting a tower you'll be more than set with that budget.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

I want to get a laptop that can play Sims 2, The Movies, and CoH/V but I also want to be as cheap as possible. Any recommendations?

[Red Dragon]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

256 mb Video Card (any kind really even the crappy ones and in fact some of the good 128s can run WoW perfectly)

I cry when playing WoW with my 32mb video card... Integrated Graphics FTL.

[Patryn]

Re: Is this a good PRICE for a computer? (Edited OP)

Dual Core means that you're actually getting 2 processors on a single chip. That's why your friends say that having 2 GHz is like a 4 GHz.

But they're wrong.

See, unless a program is written to be multi-threaded, it can't do crap with the second processor. What the second processer can really help with now is running multiple applications at the same time.

Now, Dual Core is relatively new, and it IS the future, so you may want to go that path to keep your system future proof. More and more programs will be written to be multi-threaded, and then you'll really notice a performance boost. But until they are...

Now, especially for gaming, if you want the best system right NOW, you'll probably want to get a faster single-core chip. You'll definitely be able to get a much faster single core chip for the same price as a slower dual core.

Also, when looking for processer, you'll also want to take a look at bus speeds. The bigger the better. (Dual 2 Cores have either 1 MB or 2 MB of cache while Turions only have like 512 KB).

In terms of cheap laptops, there's almost always a crazy Dell coupon code floating around the internet. In fact, right now I know there's one for 20% off a greater than $999.00 Inspiron purchase.