SamualACarver
New Member
I am going to be buying a new computer and was looking for some advice. First of all I dont want to spend much more than maybe 500$ for the tower. I'll get the monitor and other stuff seperate.
What I want out of the computer:
I am going to school right now to get a bachelors in Game Software Development. I have been going for 6 months now and I am in my second course of actual programming C++. Programs that I use a lot are MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Visual Basic, Paint Shop pro, and Photoshop.
I need to be able to keep up with gaming for the next 3 years also.
I want the computer to have a TV out option. The comp I have right now I have had for 4-5 yrs(Gateway with 3.2 GHZ P4 processor, 512MB Ram, Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX) has an S video out which is something that I really like since I have a lot of movies on my comp and I can play them on my TV (which is a regular tube screen). I have been very happy with this comp, we just need 2. I want my new comp to work as good as my current one did when I first bought it. A lot of comps I have looked at lately have integrated graphics cards and no way to connect them to a tv. This is something that I want.
Here are some things I would like my new comp to have. Quad core 64 bit processor, 4 GB Ram ( maybe only because I heard you almost have to have it for Vista, Otherwise I could get something smaller and upgrade later), a real Graphics card (not integrated) with TV out (either S video or analog) Good audio with outputs that I could connect it to my home stereo system (my amplifier has a ton of inputs) so I would like to use that for the sound.
Windows Vista: Pretty much have to have.
Other than those things the rest I dont care too much about. I can always expand and add on later. The problem I had when looking at most comps in my price range is they had stuff I didn't care too much about, super fast Quad core processors. Although I want Quad core (I figure I will get more years of usage out of it) I dont need them to be the fastest processors available. From what I have been told, a comp with a slower processor, and a graphics card will play games better than a comp with a much faster processor that only has an integrated graphics cards. I dont need a Giant Hard Drive. I havent been able to find a comp with a modest processor and hard drive yet have a real graphics card. To get a comp with a graphics card it also comes with a massive hard drive and the fastest processors.
Kind of what I have been thinking is I would like to buy a somewhat stripped down comp add my own graphics card maybe sound card, and as I need to update other things like Ram and add an external HD. The only thing I think would be impractical to add later would be the processor. That is why I would like to start with the Quad core.
Anyway I would appreciate any advice that I could get on this.
Thank You
SamTB
What I want out of the computer:
I am going to school right now to get a bachelors in Game Software Development. I have been going for 6 months now and I am in my second course of actual programming C++. Programs that I use a lot are MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Visual Basic, Paint Shop pro, and Photoshop.
I need to be able to keep up with gaming for the next 3 years also.
I want the computer to have a TV out option. The comp I have right now I have had for 4-5 yrs(Gateway with 3.2 GHZ P4 processor, 512MB Ram, Nvidia GeForce 5200 FX) has an S video out which is something that I really like since I have a lot of movies on my comp and I can play them on my TV (which is a regular tube screen). I have been very happy with this comp, we just need 2. I want my new comp to work as good as my current one did when I first bought it. A lot of comps I have looked at lately have integrated graphics cards and no way to connect them to a tv. This is something that I want.
Here are some things I would like my new comp to have. Quad core 64 bit processor, 4 GB Ram ( maybe only because I heard you almost have to have it for Vista, Otherwise I could get something smaller and upgrade later), a real Graphics card (not integrated) with TV out (either S video or analog) Good audio with outputs that I could connect it to my home stereo system (my amplifier has a ton of inputs) so I would like to use that for the sound.
Windows Vista: Pretty much have to have.
Other than those things the rest I dont care too much about. I can always expand and add on later. The problem I had when looking at most comps in my price range is they had stuff I didn't care too much about, super fast Quad core processors. Although I want Quad core (I figure I will get more years of usage out of it) I dont need them to be the fastest processors available. From what I have been told, a comp with a slower processor, and a graphics card will play games better than a comp with a much faster processor that only has an integrated graphics cards. I dont need a Giant Hard Drive. I havent been able to find a comp with a modest processor and hard drive yet have a real graphics card. To get a comp with a graphics card it also comes with a massive hard drive and the fastest processors.
Kind of what I have been thinking is I would like to buy a somewhat stripped down comp add my own graphics card maybe sound card, and as I need to update other things like Ram and add an external HD. The only thing I think would be impractical to add later would be the processor. That is why I would like to start with the Quad core.
Anyway I would appreciate any advice that I could get on this.
Thank You
SamTB
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