bottleneck for PC games performance - another "I'm getting new PC" thread

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by SpiritWarrior: Aye, as always the GPU is the frontrunner in games since most games are more graphically based/taxing as opposed to CPU. What I meant was, with games such as Oblivion, and then all these other new titles that are now supporting all forms of threading and virtual threading, we are starting to see titles that demand top-notch cards and processors. Beforehand, you could read the min. requirements on any game and take the core speed down 200-400mhz, and still expect to play with no problems. Back in the day, it was a rare thing to see "My CPU speed is too slow" threads as opposed to "Need a better video card" threads in game forums.

Yeah, completely agree,

Originally posted by SpiritWarrior: I do like Dell personally, also. Their hardware is built well and usually they give you better stuff than you expect. I get processors that clock higher than what I bought, or PSU's that can power neighbourhoods. Their tech-support are clueless, though. That's probably why they keep people in business, lol.

True, I am in charge of rollouts/hardware upgrade/maintenance/repairs of over 500 Dell machines at work and I still love them. I pretty much know the head of each repair department(Optiplex/latitude/etc.) and although they often seem silly, I think alot of it is them just following procedures (why they have to ask silly questions that i'm sure they already know the answer to)

And yes, I too have played around with the clock settings on some of their machines too, quite suprising what you can get out of them [img]smile.gif[/img] Thought he Optiplex systems have motherboards that dont take kindly to overclocking.

[ZFR]

OK. Thank you all for your replies. I'm starting my shopping soon as I reach Poland, so expect a post towards the end of the week asking opinion of particular products.

[Hivetyrant]

Originally posted by ZFR: OK. Thank you all for your replies. I'm starting my shopping soon as I reach Poland, so expect a post towards the end of the week asking opinion of particular products.

Here to help

[ElfBane]

I ran into this dilemma a few months ago,,,
A. Buy a new CP so I can run Oblivion, or
B. Wait for Vista to come out, so I don't have to buy 2 CP's in a year.

I decided to upgrade my current CP to run Oblivion, and put Vista on the back burner. I think I'll let everybody else work out the Vista bugs, then go Vista after SP1 is released.

[Lavindathar]

We jut got for £1080 -

Pentium Duo 3.66Ghz
2GB DDR Ram
400GB HDD
Nvidia Geforce 7 7600

Runs Oblivion like a charm.

[ZFR]

Originally posted by Lavindathar: We jut got for £1080 - Pentium Duo 3.66Ghz 2GB DDR Ram 400GB HDD Nvidia Geforce 7 7600 Runs Oblivion like a charm.

you got only the above 4 for 1080.00, or was it 1080 for complete PC with monitor, mobo, soundcard and all?

[Lavindathar]

Whole system.

19" LCD HP Monitor, mobo included with many extra slots, soundcard.

Mouse, Keyboard, wireless card, tv card etc.

Whole system.

So now we have two good computers and a good laptop.

My bro was gonna go Alienware, but found this deal to be better.

[Harkoliar]

dont forget thats pound.. dang.. cant even do that symbol .

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by SpiritWarrior: You should be fine with that budget. As a rough guideline for gaming i'd say get yourself at least... A 3.0 ghz CPU speed at the least. If you can go for a dual core. A Nvidia 6600gt or higher (or it's ATI equal if you prefer ATI). If you can get 256mb of Vram or more on your card. 1 gig of ram or more (this is as absolute must some people overlook) A decent soundcard (don't get onboard sound).

I agree with virtually every recommendation here.

The biggest thing to remember is not to skimp on any one part of the system; a well-balanced system will perform better than an imbalanced system with one or two top-notch parts in it. If you have a budget, look for the bang/buck ratio.

When it comes to video cards, more specifically I'd recommend getting a high-midrange card from nVidia - the ATI cards aren't nearly as good in the bang/buck ration at this range. The 6600GT is an amazing card for the price, and ATI doesn't have anything to compare favourably with it. Get 512mb of VRAM if at all possible.

If you expect the system to last more than a year, get 2GB of the fastest ram you can afford.

The soundcard is one of those areas where you get good dividends from relatively little expense, get a high end card with surround sound capability (not necessarily a "platinum" model)

Get the biggest high-quality SATA disk you can afford.

Do NOT buy from Dell. Get a local store to custom build it for you. You'll get higher quality, local service, and a good price.

Originally posted by ElfBane: I ran into this dilemma a few months ago,,, A. Buy a new CP so I can run Oblivion, or B. Wait for Vista to come out, so I don't have to buy 2 CP's in a year. I decided to upgrade my current CP to run Oblivion, and put Vista on the back burner. I think I'll let everybody else work out the Vista bugs, then go Vista after SP1 is released.

I know a M$ zealot that's usually the first one to adopt new tech from Gates, but he's recommending to everyone he knows not to upgrade to Vista. The TCO is just too high, and the system requirements are insane.

When zealots like that are giving out this kind of advice, I think it could be a good idea to wait until Vista comes out before deciding to upgrade - Vista could very well be the first windows to flop on the market.

[ 09-10-2006, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: Sir Krustin ]

[Lavindathar]

When is Vista being released? Anyone know?