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General discussion

New PC for graduation

May 17, 2005 2:57PM PDT

I have come to terms with my family, and they say they will give me money to decide on a PC for me. I am thinking i will recieve around $1300 bucks, and a new PC is first priority when goin to college. I have been looking at 3 PCs very hard, and i know which one i want most and least, i just need opinions. The 3 i have looked at are the Velocity Micro Gamer's Edge DualX, Dell XPS Gen4, and Alienware Aurora 5500. My first choice is the Velocity micro because of the amd processor and sli nvidia cards, second would be the alienware because of great customer service and amd processor, last would be dell because ive heard their customer service is trash and they use intel. This computer will be used for alot of gaming and mulitmedia like TV capturing a such, but mostly gaming. I have read many posts on this site recommending that we wait for the dual core processors, which is fine with me, its just on a budget of about $1700 dollars MAX, i probably couldnt net a dual core processor. Should i still wait and see if amd's high end chips out right now go down due to the new technology, or go ahead and invest in one of these machines. With a job, i will probably have to save a good amount to be able to afford the velocity micro, but thats obviously my first choice. Anyway i need opinions here, wait or go ahead and buy? I feel almost sure i woulnt be able to stomach the price of a dual core chip, but maybe get a better chip due to the release of them. One last thing is i need to know how any of these computers will handle the game World of Warcraft, that is my main game i will be playing. Any help is needed and appreciated, thanks.

Discussion is locked

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pc
May 17, 2005 4:27PM PDT

i got a question you need a computer for school or gaming. if you want one cheap and does good on soft playing games and basic internet and term papers and so on i would go for a dell celeron processor with integrated extreme graphic card and 512 mb of ram cost about 800 dollars or less now if you want a good gaming system then yes go with alienware and a 256mb graphic card i recommend ge force and put a liquad cooler on the processor or go with the amd anthlon 64 with 2800 ram stick hope the ideas help

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for both
May 17, 2005 10:45PM PDT

The PC is really for both, school and gaming. I need something to occupy my time a little in school since i dont think ill be playing sports anymore. So pretty much both suits me. About you post, i dont think i could squeeze in a liquid cooling system in an alienware with the type of graphics card you are saying for less than $1,700, maybe im missing something though, if i can i will definately look into it, thank you for the reply.

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Lets see...
May 18, 2005 1:56AM PDT

Yeah, you're not in all likelyhood getting a dual-core copu or its ilk, just be happy with what you do get. Hey, what makes you happy, and pick the closet one that fits your desires. If you keep holding out for this or that and you do it long enough, just maybe the price may come down or the world will, but if want to use something NOW, then get it. Regardless, of the horror stories you hear about Dell, they have far more happy customers than sad, Alienware is nothing more than a glorified system case with std. off-the-shelf componets like any other 3rd party vendor, then you got Velocity which is ahead in the plain Jane of 3rd vendors but still offers the same componets. Pick the system package you want or "really need" and see who can come close to it and buy it. Sad Ever hear the fable/story about the orange and the monkey? let that be your guide.

tada -----Willy

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RE: Build Your Own
May 18, 2005 2:36PM PDT

if you got the time. A list of parts will be avilable upon request.
Roger

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I'd like to make a few suggestions and comments...
May 19, 2005 3:43PM PDT

If you are getting a Dell XPS
Why not the XPS Gen 5 (link floating around somewhere here, you could always google it too) it's in the neighborhood of $1700-$2000, but features the Dual Cored Pentium Extreme Edition 840 (if you REALLY wanted it, as Alienware charges nearly $3000 for that CPU (with a decent level of other hardware though (i think you get a 6800GT in that system, but not entirely sure)

But i'd like to suggest avoiding all three of those systems, and just building it yourself. You are on a tight budget, want performance and should realize that building it yourself will save you between $100 and $600 depending on what you build vs. what you could buy.

You can build a dual 6800GT system for roughly $1600, if you really feel that you would use all that power.

The comment I have is that SLI is not worth the investment, I purchased a GeForce 6800GT after being sick and tired of various games either:

A) not running in full DirectX 9.0
or
B) running extremely slow

on my GeForce FX, so I purchased a 6800GT...

At first I didn't think it'd be so amazing in terms of power, I mean I knew the cards specs inside and out, and I know the human eye captures at between 29 and 32 FPS, so if the game is running at 40 FPS your perfectly fine in terms of performance, and the 6800GT did most games at 40-140 FPS in reviews i'd read, but I was thinking "meh, my GeForce FX does most games at 40-70 FPS"

well, what I forgot to factor in, the 6800GT is doing 40-140 FPS WITH Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering, and VERY HIGH in game quality settings, plus a fairly good resolution

well was I in for a treat, the thing just tears games limb from limb

I would suggest DIY building your own machine, wait about a month and a half, as AMD releases Athlon64x2 on the 31st of May...

Since Athlon64x2 chips are Socket 939, they will run in any existing Socket 939 board (the board has to be Athlon64 FX capable, most are, even the middle range/semi-low range boards (i'd say spending between $70 and $140 on the board would be good (if your getting SLI between $170 and $200 is fair))

I would then get an Athlon64x2
just pick a model which fits your budget, as all of them are rather fast

along with an nForce4 equipped motherboard sporting PCIE, then i'd grab a PCIE 6800GT, a decent sized hard drive, 1GB of DDR and any other features you want

for power i'd rely on an Antec NeoPower 480W
as it provides stable rails, it's modular (you only use the connecting cables you need, so you have better cable management) it features Active PFC (helps keep the power more stable) and it can provide enough juice for all your hardware needs

dual 6600GT's will not (in real world) outperform 6800GT's and 6800U's
in benchmarks they will usually win, but in a game like Half-Life 2, the 6800U or 6800GT will easily win

Another option for video cards is the ATi Radeon X800XL, which is slightly faster than the 6800GT (it's between the 6800GT and the 6800 Ultra) and it doesn't cost much more
but it's purely your choice (it's basically an nVidia vs ATi battle, both cards are blisteringly fast, so either would be an excellent choice)

I would also suggest a good CRT (a nice 19" Flat one)
possibly an LCD if space is an issue, but LCD's of the large variety are still expensive

but building your own would probably be best
and having a dual core AMD with a 6800GT or X800XL would just scream in games...

the one thing i'd suggest avoiding is buying a system with nothing but the intention of gaming
couple the system's purpose with something more real-world, or else you'll end up spending $6000 over a few years in upgrades/new systems just to keep up with the times...

for example, I do game on my PC
but I also use it for office work, music editing, music listening/storage, video watching, web browsing, IM, basically it does everything

I have two monitors to optomize productivity in office work, and so that I can have my music on the 2nd screen (yes, currently (as i post this) i'm using a 17" CRT running 1152x864 just to monitor play on a CD (it normally does more, lol))

i'm just trying to explain that going for top performance is like chasing a ghost, you'll never actually catch it, because someone is always going to have something bigger and better, and it'll end up costing you a fortune trying to pass them

and i'll leave you with the following thought
buying a PC entirely for gaming is a waste in my opinion, it's a waste because your spending thousands of dollars to play software costing $40-$50
consider Xbox or Playstation 2 (not to buy, but just think about them for this example) which only cost around $149, or the Gamecube which is just under $100

they cost between $100 and $150
and all they do is play games
say you buy an Xbox, you purchase 4-5 games and you've already done the system's value in gaming, and if they are decent games (let's just use the examples of Halo, Halo 2, Doom III for Xbox, Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, all of which are decent games, all of which (except Halo 2) are avliable for PC)

but let's consider that
buy those games, and the Xbox
it's around $300
and the gaming experience is worth that, your paying around $45 a game (i'd say average (i'm talking Chaos Theory for Splinter Cell btw) and you are getting a decent gaming experience

but consider that for a PC
say you buy a $1500 Alienware
and those 5 games
which total around $100

your going to pay $1500 to play $100-$150 in software with no other main goal for this $1500 device to achive?
you could buy Xbox, do the same thing, and save yourself around $1300

i'm just saying think about the moitivation to buy the computer
if your just going for gaming, a console is what you really want, because that is all a console does

yes they will have slightly lesser graphics, but graphics don't make a game
and most games on Playstation 2 and Xbox look pretty good, I cant comment on Gamecube (i've only seen maybe 5 minutes of game play on the GameCube, and it was just an adapted N64 game, which looks the same on N64, so it wouldn't be fair for GameCube to have it's graphics compared to N64 (because I know it's faster than that))


well, good luck shopping
and if you would like help finding parts i'm usually avliable on cnet (or e-mail)
and i can provide a suggested parts list

also, i'd suggest looking at www.newegg.com
for all your parts
they are an excellent retailer with good prices (www.zipzoomfly.com is another good option)

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go with a gaming laptop
May 21, 2005 12:32AM PDT

if u are going away to college i would suggest a gaming laptop. if u r staying home and driving to college, well obviously go with desktop. laptop u can move from class to class and easier transporting to college esp if its out of state. IMO

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Going to college with a PC...
May 21, 2005 1:03AM PDT

Take the one which you feel is suitable for you. Only you know. One computer is different from another in terms of features and performance. You buy one, and it's out of date, maybe two weeks later. Out of date - but still works great for what you want it to do. So, buy one, and move on. Use it wisely. Enjoy college.

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New PC for graduation
May 23, 2005 2:09AM PDT

If you not in hurry then wait for the AMD64x2 to hit the street. Many schools have deals from PC companies for students as does MS for XP and Office. Ozos has a lot of good info in his post. If you go with AMD64 single core get the newer Venice core processors as they handle the SS3 instruction set. At the current time you could put together a realy screaimg PC for around $800, which gives you a lot of room to play with. John

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Get a laptop and an Xbox
May 24, 2005 7:38AM PDT

You do not realize how much time you will spend in the library at college. Having your own laptop to bring with you is 1000x better than using the provided PC's. Also, Xbox is definately a more social way to play games than on a PC. Trust me, you don't want to sit in your dorm room all day by yourself playing PC games.