I Need Help

E

Eusephian143

New Member
Hello,

I'm just going to post with what I'm looking for and see if any of you geniuses can help me get the best deal. I'm looking for a new Windows machine that can run some mid-level games well, or some high-end games at low settings. What is my best option? Upgrading my current system is not an option, and me being not tech-savvy, it would be difficult to build my own. So

1) What kind of processor speeds should I be looking for?
2) Is 1GB RAM enough?
3) How much hard drive space will I need to hold saves on these games?

And, most importantly:

4) What kind of graphics card should I be looking for?

Any help would be much appreciated! I've looked around online, but haven't really found anything that stands out (pretty much everything looks to be $1000 USD). But I'd hate to waste $1000 and not have the graphical capabilities I bought it for in the first place.
 
Let's start with item #4 first. The two industry rivels ATI and NVidia get mixed reviews on the two current leading models priced at about 1/2 of your budget there. ATI's X1900 XTX and NVidia's 7900 XTX models are the latest. A good PCI-Express 16x with many pixel pipelines and a good core speed should do well there without spending everything. Many of the older model cards are priced under $100. Item #3 generally doesn't require a super capacity drive like running a SATA array with two 400gb drives. The average user nowadays runs well with a single 60-80gb ide drive. Even with several games you probably never see over several hundred megabytes with games saves.

Item #2 A hard core gamer will look at a pair of 1gb performance series dimms for the higher ram while also looking at memory speeds on a pair of 512mb dimms. A pair of 512mb dimms usually does the trick for the less OCing orientated occasional gamer. Having two not one dimm installed allows for the use of the dual channel mode so background services and apps are supposedly forced to use the secondary not primary memory channel.

Item #1 is comparing AMD's record of outperforming Intel models while seeing a lesser clock speed. A 2ghz cpu or above on an AMD cpu usually can compare to the 3.4ghz Intel cpus. For a basic system the AMD64 Atholon 3200+ upto 3800+ single cored cpu will work for the AMD board. Custom building a case isn't a great challenge where you have to "tech-savvy". It is a place where you simply use "Common Sense"! by following the basic proceedures outlined in a mother board manual. But there are some online vendors as well as local pc shops that assemble a custom case with the labor costs attached. A store bought complete won't see more then 512mb and some lower end video card. And they are often garbage for the low price.
 
1) With 1K you could push out a low end Conroe model, probably running at about 2.4GHz

2) 1GB is enough, but for optimal gaming conditions, 2GB is definitly a need to have

3) I would not be worrying about hard drive space. For about $150 you can get 320GB (2x160GB) which would be plenty and it would be fast if in RAID 0

4) Depending on the rest of your system, I would go for a 7600GT or a 7900GT
 
Many gamers simply run a pair of Corsair xms series 512mb dimms. So installing 2gb is not a mandate. For the slight performance gain along with the memory chosen you can boost upto 2gb without problems. f you go with a SATA array for the primary you wouldn't want a board with an ide controller overriding that. SATA arrays were intended primarily as storage devices with faster access times in order to get at data stored there. On the next build I plan to be looking at a pair of SATA drives there for the increased capacity while still running an ide drive as the host maybe two for dual OSing with Linux there. But for just wanting a basic case with good video an ide will out well enough for the basics since you will most like be having someone build the system for you.
 
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