n00b gaming pc question

metalfest

can i just upgrade the computer from an old dell i have, it runs xp and is a few years old, which would be better/cheaper,
buying a new gaming pc,
or
upgrading it?

game4it70

metalfest wrote: »

can i just upgrade the computer from an old dell i have, it runs xp and is a few years old, which would be better/cheaper,
buying a new gaming pc,
or
upgrading it?

Post up what model the Dell is plus what your pc main uses are as in "gaming,movies,browsing,video encoding"
Then people can advise you better what your best options are.

metalfest

don't have the comp in my possession yet so can't really check...it's and old bog standard dell with like 4 pci slots....

game4it70

metalfest wrote: »

don't have the comp in my possession yet so can't really check...it's and old bog standard dell with like 4 pci slots....

Te basic way to improve your pc is to add more ram and upgrade Gfx card but without know what you have there is no way of tell if it viable to do this.
Personally if its a few years old i would be looking to buy a new pc myself.
There is lots of threads for you to look at to gauge the cost of a new build.

metalfest

hmm, but like, i know this is prob a stupid question but how will i know if i can play the games i wanna play?
which make is best to buy for cpu?

game4it70

metalfest wrote: »

hmm, but like, i know this is prob a stupid question but how will i know if i can play the games i wanna play?
which make is best to buy for cpu?

Intel for CPU.A core duo 2.4ghz is fast enough for games atm.
ATI are very good for GFX cards.For the time being anyway there great for "bang for buck"
What games do you want to play?
Are you looking for pre-built or you going to build it yourself?
Whats your budget?

metalfest

i'd like to play gta IV/ call of duty 4/ call of duty modern warfare....games like that,,?
i dont mind prebuilt or do it myself..
around 500/600?

TerrorFirmer

First of all find out what model your Dell is, we can do the rest and look it up - but if it's a few years old it's probably not worth upgrading anyway, even if it does have the necessary expansion slot for a new card.

On a 600 euro budget this is what I'd buy (taken from Komplett.ie) - it can be done cheaper if you're willing to overclock or cut a few corners, but for someone who doesn't really know much about computers this can't be faulted:

metalfest

would that run gta iv/ cod perfectly?
maybe crysis?

metalfest

would this be better ?
http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/58_7589.htm

jonny72

metalfest wrote: »

would this be better ?
http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/58_7589.htm

Actually, I am surprised, thats quite a good pc, and it will just go out of the box, instead of having to put one together..

Graphics cards are like cars you can always pay a bit more and get better and better.. but the 9600GT is one of the best value cards at the moment..

That PC should get you full speed on COD4 and GTA4, crysis will run decent too.

metalfest

sweet.......and if i wanted to run crysis full speed, what would i have to upgradce and would that be easy on the medion?

TerrorFirmer

The 4850 is a much more powerful video card then the 9600GT but overall, the Aldi machine is definitely very good value for what you're getting.

GTAIV isn't out on the PC though, and running Crysis depends on your monitor size - if you've got a large-ish monitor, even the fastest 500 euro video card can struggle at times, so basing a budget machine around maxing out Crysis is just a bad idea - its the exception rather then the standard when it comes to running games. What size is your monitor?

Upgrading the Medion would literally just involve taking out the 9600GT and inserting another card, however the Power supply might be on the weak side so it's quite possible that upgrading to a better card would require a new power supply as well.

Lab_Mouse

That aldi pc is good grab it ,get rid of the 9600 gfx cards and slip in an 8800 gt if u can afford it.PSU's are fairly cheap so wouldnt worry to much if you do have to get a new 1

I HAve 2 9600's in sli formation and it COD 4/5 both struggle(very jerky)although online is fine for some reason.

I believe that crysis and gta4 need beasts's of a pc to run smoothly

just my 2 cents

metalfest

http://cgi.ebay.ie/XFX-NVidia-GeForce-8800GTS-Gaming-8800-GTS-NEW_W0QQitemZ330288129145QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW?hash=item330288129145&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:4|65:2|39:1|240:1308
that any good?

alansweeney100

GTA IV is being released onj the PC on dec 3rd in europe

metalfest

i'll want to play it on the pc tho

alansweeney100

metalfest

sorry, i just wanna make sure i can play gta 4 on any pc i buy

alansweeney100

Unfortunately minimum system requirements for gta iv on the pc have not been released yet. If you a build a PC that will run Crysis on high settings you'll be alright for pretty much any release in the next 6 months

PogMoThoin

alansweeney100 wrote: »

Unfortunately minimum system requirements for gta iv on the pc have not been released yet.

:rolleyes: Yes they have

jonny72

Metalfest.. that ALdi PC will play GTA4 fine, its above the recommended specs, crysis is a freak of a game, but will still run decent with that card, I know because my friend has one and it looks fine.

You can always get better cards but unless you have a big monitor and you are big into gaming you will just get sucked into spending more and more..

The first thing is to get a PC that simply just runs, trust me, if you build up a PC without the know how you can get very frustrated..

TerrorFirmer

Lab_Mouse wrote: »

That aldi pc is good grab it ,get rid of the 9600 gfx cards and slip in an 8800 gt if u can afford it.PSU's are fairly cheap so wouldnt worry to much if you do have to get a new 1

I HAve 2 9600's in sli formation and it COD 4/5 both struggle(very jerky)although online is fine for some reason.

I believe that crysis and gta4 need beasts's of a pc to run smoothly

just my 2 cents

Upgrading to a 8800GT would be pointless, it's not much faster then a 9600GT and definitely not worth calling an upgrade.

9600GT in Sli tears COD4/5 to shreds so if you're experiencing hiccups it's not inherently hardware related, unless of course you're playing at something like 2560x1600 full AA/AF.

The GTAIV requirements look ridiculous, minimum requirement Nividia 7900 yet the 8600GT is the recommended? It's more or less the same speed as a 7900....

A lot of games do this though, with the minimum/recommended cards in Ati/Nvidia being wildly difference in performance....

PogMoThoin

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

The GTAIV requirements look ridiculous, minimum requirement Nividia 7900 yet the 8600GT is the recommended? It's more or less the same speed as a 7900....

A lot of games do this though, with the minimum/recommended cards in Ati/Nvidia being wildly difference in performance....

I think thats a typo, meant to be 9600GT IMO.

It is a console port therefore fairly high cpu requirements, low/med gpu requirements. The resolution in the ps3 version was only 640p upscaled to 720p, therefore I can't see them having made many improvements for the pc version. The high cpu requirements would be because its emulated on pc. I game at 1920x1200, bet this is going to look absolutely dire.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

9600GT in Sli tears COD4/5 to shreds so if you're experiencing hiccups it's not inherently hardware related, unless of course you're playing at something like 2560x1600 full AA/AF.

+1, a single 9600GT can handle COD4/5

metalfest

so in your opinion would the aldi comp have any chance running it on full ?

PogMoThoin

metalfest wrote: »

so in your opinion would the aldi comp have any chance running it on full ?

At what resolution? What size monitor?

DanGerMus

What size is your current monitor? Are you typing from your own pc now? Will you need to get a new monitor with the new pc?

metalfest

eh...i've a 22" i think and i have a 19" somewhere,
typing from laptop

DanGerMus

Should we take it that you'll be using the 22" for your gaming then and it's a widescreen.

metalfest

sure

PogMoThoin

Ah, you'll be playing at 1680x1050 then so. It should play it at medium settings, but who knows for sure till its actually released and tested