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Best (value) pc for gaming?

  • 03-05-2006 2:13pm
    #1
    MikeC101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭


    Hi guys,

    Been a long time since I was in touch with what's going on in the world of computers, so I was wondering: What's the best spec desktop for gaming I can afford. Basically my understanding of what specs are better has fallen to "the bigger the better", ie 128 MB graphics card is better than 64 MB (I know that's not necessarily the case) . For €1500 or less ideally, and I don't want to build it myself, don't really want to buy second hand, so I suppose I'm looking at Dell, or possibly some of the Alienware configs? Want to run Oblivion as well! All help gratefully appreciated!
    Cheers
    Mike


Comments

  • #2
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    Some general suggestions you'll want;

    An AMD Athlon 64 CPU preferable

    A decent mid range GPU for Oblivion so an NVIDIA 7600GT or ATI X1800GTO minimum if you want all the eye candy enabled.

    If you can I'd go for 1GB of RAM frankly the more the better.

    Alienware (see Aurora line) are very pricey for what you pay, but its worth checking out some of the cutom builds from Komplett and OcUk as well if you want more bang for buck.


  • #3
    MikeC101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭MikeC101


    Thanks for the info. Are AMD Athlon chips a lot better than Pentium? For some reason (probably some odd kind of brand loyalty) all my previous PC's have Intel chips. Do the newer dual core chips make much of a difference? I was going to aim for 1 to 2 gigs of RAM, does the type of RAM matter? Back in my day the only choice was between SIMM or DIMM...
    Any opinions on the manufacturer that has the best deals? Dell seem to have some good offers, with some nice flatscreens as part of the package.

    Just saw your recommendations, I'll look into those brands - cheers!


  • #4
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    AMD's CPUs have long been the better choice for gaming due to their better performance in games and costing less than Intel equivalents.

    This long spell may be broken with Intels new desktop architecture which is debuting later this year but you wont be able to obtain one of these new Core CPU's till September-November time frame. Note the current Core CPU's used in laptops are not the same thing sort of a preview of whats to come.

    In short if you want Intel for gaming then wait till later this year.

    Dual core chips don't make really make much of a difference at the moment, future games will make better use of them but that's still a ways off. However a dual core CPU is much better for making the system more responsive when multi-tasking or if you run lots of programs at the same time.

    As for RAM, DIMM's are still around just in an evolved form called double data rate RAM or DDR for short. AMD use DDR 400 (400Mhz being the effective speed sometimes referred at as PC3200 as well) & Intel use DDR2 (DDR2 ain't that really much of an improvement over DDR) which comes in at varying speeds.

    The type of RAM used is determined by the CPU, motherboard & socket;
    Socket 755 (current Intel) DDR2 or DDR depending on the motherboard.
    Socket 478 (legacy Intel) DDR

    Socket AM2 (future AMD) DDR2 or DDR depending on the motherboard.
    Socket 939 (current AMD) DDR
    Socket 754 (current/legacy AMD) DDR


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