help picking new pc

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pegmaster14

Geek Trainee
Ive been lookin for what kind of pc I should buy. I was thinking about getting the Dell Dimension 8400 but I wasn't sure that was right. If you know of a computer that would be good for a couple of games and a couple of adobe programs like photoshop, please reply.

thanks
 
How much are you looking to spend? What titles are you looking to play? Do you need the computer or do you need the monitor as well?
 
I was thinking of spending around a thousand for both the computer and the monitor. The games were just a couple of action games like Command and Conquer Renegade, a flight combat sim, and maybe one other game i think it's called universal combat.
 
The 8400 isn't too bad for a prebuilt. However, it's employing the latest and greatest technology. While I know that strategy titles don't need as much graphics grunt, the boxs offers what I would consider to be a rather weak video card in a new PCI Express slot, which currently means less upgrade options. They'll come, but it's going to be awhile.

Actually, you might get a little bit better system if you can do it yourself, but if not, I hear Monarch Computer is pretty nice and rather customizable.
 
honestly, I wouldnt recommend any manufactered computer. You'll get twice the pc for half your money if you put it together yourself
 
pegmaster14 said:
Could i just get a new video card or do you think it would be cheaper to just go with the monarch?
Click to expand...

While price is important, Dell's customers don't seem to be very happy.
Now, don't get me wrong, the options for the Dell are pretty damn good, but if you're going to get a prebuilt rig, I'd worry about the service aspect of it.
Dell buys stuff in bulk, so I may not be able to beat them in price. Again, if you want the lowest price, feel free to buy Dell.

Yes. You can get a new video card, and my guess is that you'd be able to upgrade to something a little beefier. You shouldn't need the latest and greatest, but the Radeon X300 they got in there as the stock card is pretty weak. If you stick with the Dell, I would go ahead and go to a Radeon X600 or an GeForce PCX5700.

Since I assume you'll be spending some quality time in front of the screen, I highly suggest making sure you have a flat CRT monitor. You even may want to look for something over the 17" they give you. If not, make sure the monitor can do 1280x1024 or higher at at least 70Hz. Running that high of resolution at 60Hz is painful on the eyes. LCD's can be nice, but typically it's the ones that are rather expensive. You can get a fairly nice 19" monitor for around $200 and a good 17" for $100-150. If you want a good LCD, expect to pay $500 or more for something really good.

Other things I would suggest is look at an AMD CPU based system. Yes. The Pentium 4 does have a higher clock speed, but it was designed to scale like that. From personal experience, my Athlon XP 2400+ box compares quite nicely to my P4 2.4B@ 3.1GHz.

If you're up to it, I would suggest assembling the computer yourself. Which, you can do if you're at all competent with a screwdriver...

Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do to come up with based on your pricepoint and what can be done for $1,000 or so.
 
I'd never buy from Dell unless the company tied me up and tortured me if i didn't buy from them. Mainly because they're exclusively Intel.
 
what should be in it?

What kinds of things should be in a pc that would be used for a few first person shooter games and the basic microsoft programs like word? I've heard buying a Monarch pc would be good but does anyone know of a specific model that does well from any manufacturer for around $1000?
 
Nothing is wrong with Intel. However, currently on a clock per clock basis, AMD does more work. This is part of the reason AMD's CPU's are still running in the low 2GHz range, while Intel has their Pentium 4's running as high as 3.6GHz. Despite the clock speed differences, AMD's best beats Intel's best. Additionally, except for their top of the line CPU's, AMD does tend to be cheaper.

$1,000 for a decent gaming box and a monitor is really tough to do. If you tack on the monitor after the $1,000, you'll be able to get a better box that will be a bit better. If you're looking to play FarCry and D00M 3, then it would definitely be worth the extra money.

If I were going to spend the money to get a system, I'd either go with Falcon Northwest Falcon or Alienware Area 51 or ALX computer. However, if you want a good system, they will run more than Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway, IBM, etc...the big box companies. But the service is better too.

However, I like building my own system. I get exactly which parts I want, where I want, and therefore get better deals on quality, and usually price.
 
If you have the time, and please don't do this if you don't, could you recommend the top 5 computers that you can think of at the original price range that would work for me. And add Farcry to what I was going to play as games. Thanks.
 
I'm in the process of building you one.

But like BigB said, building a gaming rig under $1000 including the monitor, is a hard thing to do. It's a LOT easier if we don't have to take the monitor into account.

It's possible, but it won't be an Athlon64 system, and forget about p4s, they're pricier.

Give me until tomorrow and I'll come up with something.
 
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