Docta Octa new computer

[Octavus]

Looking to get a new computer. My 10 year old Dell pentium 4 is just not doing it at 4 FPS during raid. In fact it is pissing the fuck out of me. Just looking for some ideas, links, minimum stats that I should be shooting for. My budget is only $500ish so I won't be sporting any V12 KY gel cooled super computers that Card and Elk sport. My computer knowledge is nil, I couldn't tell a hard drive from a duel core processor, any help would be appreciated.

Found this online looked interesting. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/A..._Configurator/

[Allara]

You might tweak it slightly, I added more RAM and upgraded the video card.
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saving/show.asp?id=1971433
It's over your budget ($600) but should perform adequately with WoW.

[Lonskils]

500 is kinda low figure for a computer top to bottom. Have a case etc already or is this a from 0 make it so kinda thing?

[Lonskils]

What I mean is, do you have an OS already? Monitor you are using now fine? Just a tower might be able to pull that off, but that will be difficult without onboard graphics!

[Andaas]

You could shave $30 off of Allara's specification if you go from 4GB to 3GB of RAM (you really should run a 64-bit OS if you're going to have 4GB of RAM anyway, since the 1GB of RAM on the video card is shared in the 3GB-4GB space in 32-bit).

Since neither of these come with a pre-installed OS, you'd either need to use your current OS (which may or may not work depending on if you're using an OEM version of XP/Vista); or I would recommend downloading the Windows 7 RC and installing that. Win7 is very stable, and I believe the current build will work until March 2010 - so you get a free OS for 10 months.

Then what Lons said; as long as your other parts are workable (monitor, etc.).

[Lonskils]

Just called sales and they sent me a mark up for one that is 467.00 from here at DELL. Has more memory and more HD space, is an intel chip, and I have no idea about that video card, but it can't be any worse than a 9500GT.


Dell Inspiron 530
Intel® Pentium Conroe Dual Core Processor E5300 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.6GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1 Memory 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB
Video Cards ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI
Hard Drives 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Optical Drive 16X DVD+/-RW Drive 16DVDRW
Sound Cards Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Warranty & Service 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
Datasafe Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Environmental Options Recycle my old system with Dell (FREE)
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
DataSafe Online Backup Dell Remote Access, free basic service

That's what I got!

[Allara]

Lons' computer looks pretty much perfect for you. Just don't expect to max out your video settings or anything

[Angelie]

That's a pretty good DEAL Lons. If people want to 4 box - just get 4 of these bad boys and you'll be set!

[Angelie]

Lons' computer looks pretty much perfect for you. Just don't expect to max out your video settings or anything

Lons PC is probably better than mine - or just as good. But I'm going to install a 285 GTX so I'm going to get a little better!!

Now if I can only understand Kirynos' post about OC'ing my 2.66 GHz CPU, I'll be money.

[Andaas]

Dell Inspiron 530
Intel® Pentium Conroe Dual Core Processor E5300 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.6GHz, 800FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1 Memory 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB
Video Cards ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI
Hard Drives 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Optical Drive 16X DVD+/-RW Drive 16DVDRW
Sound Cards Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Warranty & Service 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
Datasafe Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
Environmental Options Recycle my old system with Dell (FREE)
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium
DataSafe Online Backup Dell Remote Access, free basic service

That's what I got!

Definitely a good deal, and check that awesome label you get included in the price!!

[Andaas]

I just checked some reviews on the 3450, and while I'm sure it will run WoW acceptably, it's definitely a lower end card (retails for <$50).

Are there any other video options for that system Lons?

[Allara]

Lons PC is probably better than mine - or just as good.

Yeah it's pretty amazing what you can get for your $ these days.

[Lonskils]

Ok just got off the phone the only upgrade to that video card for that model is a ATI RADEON HD 4670 which will run about 85 bucks more.

[Andaas]

Looking at the Dell configurations, they don't offer anything bigger than the ATI 3450 with their "slim" Inspirons (probably because they can't fit anything bigger than that in the case).

So I specced out an Inspiron 530, went through the whole configuration process and found something pretty good for $559, the specs are below:

var doPost = true;

(Yes, the Dell site ate my customized configuration). So I tried again and got:

PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium Conroe Dual Core Processor E5300 (2MB L2 Cache, 2.6GHz, 800FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 9.0
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
MEMORY 3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
MONITORS No Monitor
VIDEO CARD ATI RADEON HD 4670 512MB
SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
SPEAKERS No speakers
KEYBOARD Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive Included
MODEM No Modem Option

[Lonskils]

Here is the list that dell goes by in video card comparisons, just an FYI.

http://www.dell.com/content/learnmor...n&~tab=details

[Lonskils]

Looking at the Dell configurations, they don't offer anything bigger than the ATI 3450 with their "slim" Inspirons (probably because they can't fit anything bigger than that in the case).

So I specced out an Inspiron 530, went through the whole configuration process and found something pretty good for $559, the specs are below:



(Yes, the Dell site ate my customized configuration). So I tried again and got:

We also have free shipping going on right now, not sure about the Phenom and stuff, but most folks including us really beat the shit out of you when you pay for shipping. Just another way to squeeze the money from folks. We will even finance the shipping haha.

[Andaas]

To put some numbers to the video card performance, I just grabbed the 3DMark06 scores for the various cards since that's at least a common performance benchmark:

ATI 3450 - 1803
ATI 4670 - 9251

I think the 3450 *might* play WoW just fine, but there really aren't any benchmarks that measure WoW performance. At least with the 4670 you should pretty much be certain that your video card will not be the limiting factor of the new system, you'll more than likely be limited on CPU with that card (also, that card should run anything decently aside from Crysis).

[Berae]

I like how oct has only made one post in this thread so far.

[Stosh]

Lons' computer looks pretty much perfect for you. Just don't expect to max out your video settings or anything

Just make sure you turn the graphics up high enough so you can see the walls on the left.

[Octavus]

I'm letting the experts work out all the details. I trust you guys more than anyone else I know when it comes to technology. Basically anything I buy will be 100% better than what I'm using. At 4 FPS my DPS is severely gimped and more importantly my situational awareness is limited by how fast I can percieve the damage/circles of death/etc. Add to this my drinking habit and you can pretty much call me HOSS's retarded raider. I plan on keeping my monitor, mouse, and key board. Just need the good stuff. I'm not looking to blow away my senses with smooth as silk graffics or anything, but the ability to play with a normal FPS would be awesome. Soooo we are looking at $580-$620 for a nice running machine?