Getting a new computer - advice?

[diplomatic_lie]

Well I'm in the market for a new computer. Instead of just buying new parts, I've decided to give my computer an entire overhaul and just buy the whole thing.

I'm mainly looking for a decent CPU (enough to play games as modern as Half Life 2 without slowdowns) and graphics card.

Anyone have any general advice?


Also, I've come across these models, any tips about them?

Ultra cheap, $400, no monitor (I already have one anyway)
Intel Celeron 2.8GHz
256Mb Ram DDR
3D Shared Video (32/64Mb)

What exactly does that "3D Shared Video (32/65MB)" mean?


About $700, comes with monitor
Intel Celeron 2.4D
17" LCD Monitor
256Mb DDR Ram
32Mb Shared 3D Video


About $1000, includes monitor
Pentium 4 3.0GHz / 800MHz Front Side Bus
512Mb Ram DDR PC3200 400MHz
256Mb ATI 9600 Pro
80Gb 7200 RPM Hard Disk
17" Flat Screen 0.25dp


Pretty expensive, $1200, includes monitor
AMD 64bit 3000+
80Gb 7200 HDD (8Mb Cache)
512Mb DDR Ram PC3200
17" LCD Screen

 

[TheRelic]

If you want to play games, don't get shared video. Particularly a plddly 32 mb!

Shared means that the PC uses, in this example, 32 MB of system ram for the graphics. Suffice to say, that 32 MB is deducted from the system memory.

Aside from that, the shared memory is generic - it has nowhere near the capabilities of a stand alone card, least of all the processing power of their dedicated graphics processors on the card.

So you want (need) a dedicated card, especially if you want to play half life 2.

Last option will obviously give you the most mileage, my bro has that chip and a 128mb gfx card, does him great for
games etc.

I would get 2 80 gig hard drives, at the least now. But if the focus is chip and graphics, then you can go with 80, its enough.

Ohhh god its late.. best I can do right now

 

[Centaurion]

You can have a p4 3.0 Ghz and a good graphics card, but still get choppy gameplay cause your system bottlenecks at the power-supply, ram or at the harddrive.

If you want the ultimate gaming computer get something along the lines of a

- p4 3.0 GHZ
- 1 GB dual channel DDR 400 ram
- ati x800 256 mb graphics card
- 10.000 rpm Raptor 36.7G SATA hard-drive (serial ata)
- Tyan Tomcat i915 (S5120) motherboard
- Super Flower 500W 14CM PSU powersuppply
- Antec LanBoy case

and of course a 17'inch flatscreen to top it off.

thats what I got

playing Far Cry on that system is so good that I just want to pop a nut.

Anyways, I got it pretty cheap cause I got seriously hooked up in Thailand, but if you look around and order the parts individually, you should be able to
make it from scracth for a decent price.

 

[beginer]

I'd look into getting an Athlon XP, and hey check out: Sharkyextreme .Not much point in saying anything else since I gave that site

 

[djnewb]

Heres my 2 cents:

What you do, DO NOT SPEND OVER 500 dollars on a fricking desktop!!!

Thats too outrageous in todays market:

You basically have two options: Build it yourself or to buy it from an existing Company.

For good deals I look for Dell stuff, and maybe HP if the price is right.


To run games like Half-Life 2, you need soemthing around:

CPU over 2.0 ghz, a P4 or AMD XP +2500 and above should do the job nicely. I definitely don't recommend the celeron though because of cache difference.

Graphics Card: Leaders are Nvidia and ATI with Nvidia and its Geforce cards line and ATI with its new stuff.

Geforce you want 4 and above, not too sure on ati

Other then that, Ram, 512 minimum

everything else is just extra, CD-Rom, DVD-Rom, etc etc

and for the people who think Gaming on Flat Screens is cool, its not really that great, CRT's is much better for framerates and smoothness.

I'll offer any other advice if I can

 

[TheRelic]

Athlon 64 3000+ actually only run at under 2.0ghz anyway.

 

[squirrels]

Build yourself an Athlon 64.

http://www.ibuypower.com