Help with system purchase

L

loopi62

New Member
Got about 2K Aud to spend on complete sysem incl. monitor. System needs to run Sims 2 and crunch audio files. Plan to use audigy 2 ZS s/card for the time being. AMD 64 / P4 Hyp ??? PCI express / AGP ??? Upgradability would be a plus. Dazed and confused by salesmen and opinions, what are the facts ?

Thanks in advance . . . . . . . . . .
 
you did the right thing coming on here and asking, people in shops will always tell you aload of bullcrap. wait for praetor or someone like that to come on, they know alot and will help you out more than i could
 
You have 2 very different needs (games (sims2(which is rather intensive(wow 4 layers of brackets:P))) and work (audio crunching)) for your computer so choosing parts will be tricky.

I would get a pentium 4 processor with 1 gig of ram.

Depending on how much audio there is, you might even want to raid 0 (or 5) but if you want to keep files safe either no raid or raid 5 would be the best (problem is raid 5 needs 3 drives and raid 1 halves your storage).

The video card is the main choice here because you will only be using it for the sims 2 but the sims 2 is very new and takes a lot to run. My sisters computer can run it with a Nvidia 5600FX (but ay lowest settings with so much lag it drives me crazy). A radeon 9800pro whould run it very well so something in between those 2 would be smart. (have you noticed I have not really suggested anything here :P. my advice should be good but I'll hang tight with elmarcorulz until Praetor comes along :)).

Back to storage I think some kind of raid would be benificial. Raid 5 is my favorite (google it as I don't want to explain it here... (I'm lazy)) but 3 drives could be expensive. Some of the 250 GB drives are good for their cost... (if you dont raid 5 you probbably shouldn't raid and considering that you will most likely need a separate card for raid 5 you should just go normal unless you get a sudden budget increase).

Hope I helped

Me
 
Got about 2K Aud to spend on complete sysem incl. monitor. System needs to run Sims 2 and crunch audio files. Plan to use audigy 2 ZS s/card for the time being. AMD 64 / P4 Hyp ??? PCI express / AGP ??? Upgradability would be a plus. Dazed and confused by salesmen and opinions, what are the facts ?
Click to expand...
S939 A64 running on a current generation video card and a 1GB or so of RAM should be sufficient depends on how much gaming you intend to do
 
Not looking to do more than sims 2 at present can u recommend card. Any advantage PCI express ??

Cheers Loopi
 
loopi62 said:
Not looking to do more than sims 2 at present can u recommend card. Any advantage PCI express ??

Cheers Loopi
Click to expand...

The only advantage to pci-e right now would be for future upgrades.
 
my laptop can run it with 32mb gfx,lol, but an hour later the card overheats and the comp freezes, same with age of empiresII, I HATE THIS LAPTOP! but thats y im building too.

i would go for an nvidia 6600gt

go here for a nice mobo/cpu deal:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=MB-BA21036
an Asus A8V-E Deluxe and u can select what cpu to combo with, u can go with a 3500 and it will total to 394 which is a vry good deal
this is the asus page for it:
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8v-e-d/overview.htm

and yes get a gig of ram
 
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