Advice for a gaming pc?

Slane

Hey guys, wondering if i could syphon off some of your knowledge, provided you don't midn of course, lol. I have recently decided after dealing with a hand me down pc for the last few years thats i now have the inclination( and more importantly, money) to buy a new pc. I am looking to use it primarily for gaming as i really want to experience the heady heights of doom 3 and half-life 2. I have had a search around and so far the best offer i have seen in shops is this: "Philips intel pentium 4 processor 530."

-3.0GHz, 800MHz, 1 Mb cache
-512Mb ram
-200Gb hard disk
-multi format dual layer dvd re-writer
-128MB ATI Radeon 9250se graphics
-wi-fi enabled
-17" TFT philips monitor

Spotted it going at PC world,and seems to be reduced to 1199 euro at mo. Unfortunatly been out of the game for a while( pun not intended, wel..ok...it was inteded, lol), and as such i am not as knowledgable as i really should be about what i need. Can you tell me if this system is appropriatly powerful to play games like far-cry and doom 3 and half-life 2, even close to their best? Or will i have to shell out for more ram and a more powerful graphics card once i get it? Also, have any of you heard any reviews about this pc, whether or not it is good or any problems you may have heard about it, the fact that it is a philips pc makes me slightly weary. Any help will be much appreciated, thnx!

Vikings

God no, the 9250 is a horrible graphics card. If your willing to spend that much money might i suggest this its the same price as the one you suggested and is about 10x times better. Only "problem" is german OS and keyboard, which is easily fixed. I don't think that comes with a monitor either but you can pick one up for a hundred or two more.

Endurance Man

M8 i to am not really the most knowledgeable when it comes to this kind of thing but i have my moments . Looking at that i can tell u that it is wayyyyyyyyy overpriced. Pc world is the worst to buy stuff from, really they are the biggest ripoff. I have heard that these people are good, and fairly cheap.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/k.asp

With 1200 euro u could get sumting much better than that. For games u would really want to go with an amd, they are much better for that area. Would u b willing to do a self build or are u looking for a prebuilt. It really is a lot easier to build a pc yourself than it seems, and u would save a lot.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=301152&cks=SPK

I mean look at that, how can pc world get away with seling things at such crazy prices :rolleyes:

Jammer

PC World will have a dual core out, soon. With 2 gigs of RAM and a 6600GT. Fairly decent spec, and its 1199 with a 19" (12ms, 500:1, 300cd/2) TFT.

Philips are expensive because they look nice. Could build something yourself much better for the money. Maybe. When you include monitor, keyboard mouse, and operating system, you'd be skimming the 1200. But that said, you'd have a better graphics card.

Philips use good components, such as maxtor's, asus, kingston and obviously, philips. Don't let all these people "in the know" put you off if you like the system. They don't know what its like to have an after sales backup.

Komplett are cheap, but if theres a problem...it has to be RMA'd to holland (u have to pay posting) and check their interaction board on the general feel for the RMA time (loooong!). Buying a full PC from abroad isnt very practical IMO, unless there are mega savings to be had.

I'd recommend the Advent 9004, 3ghz, 1GB RAM, 200GB HDD, DVDRW. No graphics card but you could throw one in (a 6600GT - €180, or a 6800GT - ~ €300). The PC with a 19" TFT is €899 and it would be a decent gaming machine.

DemonOfTheFall

Komplett stuff has to be RMA'd to Dublin, lol. Where the hell did you figure holland from? First of all theyre a norwegian company, second of all I dont think they even sell anything in the dutch market. Ever notice the fact that it's komplett.ie ? And that they have an irish phone number? And an irish shipping address?

I know that it all ends up in London, but the point is u only pay as if youre shipping to dublin.

Avoid that phillips system like the plague. It will barely play HL2 or anything with that 9250

Jammer

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Komplett stuff has to be RMA'd to Dublin, lol. Where the hell did you figure holland from? First of all theyre a norwegian company, second of all I dont think they even sell anything in the dutch market. Ever notice the fact that it's komplett.ie ? And that they have an irish phone number? And an irish shipping address?

I know that it all ends up in London, but the point is u only pay as if youre shipping to dublin.

Avoid that phillips system like the plague. It will barely play HL2 or anything with that 9250

Come back when you know what your talking about....

You pay postage to GLS Ireland, and it travels from there to Holland (i thought their warehouse was in holland, could possibly be norway, but thats not really the point) and takes ages.

http://www.komplett.nl/k/k.asp
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/k.asp
http://www.komplett.se/k/k.asp
http://www.komplett.no/k/k.asp
http://www.komplett.ie/k/k.asp

An irish number means nothing....they're not an irish company, and haven't got an office or warehouse in ireland.

DemonOfTheFall

I'm almost entirely certain that it travels to somewhere in the UK. even ring them. It took my mate 2 weeks to get his GFX card back when he needed it RMA'd. Not bad since delivery each way with GLS takes about 3-4 days since it's so cheap.

Go on, ring them. They're in the UK.

Do you honestly think that you could ship something by groundmail from Norway to my house in dublin in 60 hours for a euro per kilo ?!?

DemonOfTheFall

And by the way, komplett.ie are an Irish company, theyre registered as one afaik. They just have no presence here other than a redirecting phone number.

Slane

Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to reply but been busy. Anyway, thanks for all the advice, it was alot to think about but i put off buying the pc till i had more info. Lucky i did becuase three days after pcworld finished their "SALE" the pc dropped in price by 500 euro!!!! Thanks especially to jammer for the recommending the Advent pc. After checking that one out it seemed like the perfect choice, but then pc world dropped the philips one in price. So my question now is, which one would you guys recommend i get. I was planning on spending around 1500 but with the relative cheap price of both i can spend the extra money on a mother of a graphics card.

So firstly, which graphics card do you guys recommend for playing high end games like half-life and doom 3?

Secondly, which of the two pcs would be the better for me, keeping in mind that i plan to get a good graphics card, which ever one i buy.

Thanks again guys for all the help! oh, and heres a link to the two pcs so ya can check out the specs.

http://www.pcworld.ie/productDetails.aspx?productRID=208&image=Advent

http://www.pcworld.ie/productDetails.aspx?productRID=200&image=philips

Ciaran500

Neither of those PC will play HL2/Doom3 at a reasonable framerate. The absolute minimum you want when buying a gaming PC would be a 9800Pro/X700 (not SE!!!) or 6600GT. For a €1500 PC I wouldn't take anything less than a 6800GT/X800XL.

I advise you drop any thoughts of buying from PC world and either build your self or buy pre built from a reputable company.