~~~ In the Market for a New Computer ~~~~

Hey! Every one ...

Yeah my comp fainally gave up the ghost and all ... the more i tried to upgrade the poor thing the more problems i started to have with it ..

I had Wrote lindens but would like Some feed back from others as well before i go out and buy another comp ...

I can get another comp as long as it is like under 600$ ok .....

But needing it to work with Sl of course ....

The Power Supply doenst bother me i can put in a 450 watt one that i have right now ok !!
The graphics card well i have a gt6600 i can puit in it .... so that might not be a factor ....

And have fans that i can put in for cooling ...

The thing that is important is having enough memory to use SL .... As memory is always a issue ...


i would like any imput that any one has before i got out and buy one ... it would be most appreicated .....

Zeph


EDIT: the comp i had wasnt meant for gaming and i just pushed it to the limits ..... where it couldnt take it no more.. just need one the is suited for gaming .........

socket939 motherboard :: watch out for chipset fans , noisy buggers ::
usually comes with built in network card + sound card, about 180$ ish i guess

amd athlon 64bit cpu :: comes with cpu fan, pretty dull but work decent enough ::
dont know your cost over there, but they start from 200$+ here

(2x512)-1gig ram, :: normally need 2 ram' for socket 939 cards to boot it ::
Where i live this is definatly the most expensive thing to upgrade 200-300$+
(i buy 2x1024 normally tho, dont like being under 1024 ram)

then you already have 6600card (pci - apg?) + 450watt?.

64bit cpu's should be pretty cheap now, mb usually not that much either, what cost alot is vidcards+ram nowaways.

You plan to self build it?, so you dont need casing, keyboard, ectect you already have?

well be nice if i could find a system already bult but npot sure if one is out there ... that will do all i want .. it to do for that price i already have a 450 wat power supply and the card ... that about it .... so any maybe chae[p gaming sytems out there that would accept upgrades would be good .... and thanks thilly.. BTW my card is APG

I recommend the Gateway 835GM. It's a dual-core Intel 820 chip, 1 gig ram, 250 meg HD, DVD drive AND DVD dual layer RW drive. It also has all sorts of goodies... like LOTS of USB ports and firewire, and CF/SD (and all the others) card reader built right in. For $849 I don't think there's a better buy on the market. I calculated assembling one from scratch... and came out to just about that price.

Add your 6600 card (which is what I have as well) and you've got a rocking system. I can call up Second Life AND a high-level graphics program with no discernable drop in speed (my old single processor would lag to a standstill when I tired that).

From what I've heard, Gateway support is good as well (no personal experience in that, but unlike DELL (whose idea of service is to lie to their customers about known system flaws), Gateway has a good rep. I got my system from Circuit City (they have a better warranty than Best Buy)... but they're available all over. They also use the new BTX airflow system... fairly quiet... and no CPU fan required.


edit: I did check out that IBUYPOWER site listed above... and they have some decent prices, to be sure. I did get a chuckle though out of what they consider a gamer system compared to what I consider a gamer system. The come about a half a processor, half a gig RAM, half a hard drive and half a video card short. But their systems looked good overall (of course, hard to tell over the internet).

After years of buying computers though... I just don't go through mailorder any more. I'd rather have the local support. Plus, the Gateway just offers more bang for the buck. (no, I don't work for Gateway. I just like my new speedster. It's for sure that the faster your computer, the better SL runs. Woot!)

I have a Gateway 838GM that I bought for $649 before taxes from Office Depot. It came with just the computer itself, no monitor or printer, I already had a good monitor and a good printer so that was all I needed. Its specs are:

Microsoft Windows Media Center
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630 3.0 GHz 2MB Cache
512 MB DDR Dual Channel Memory
200 Gb 7200 RPM with 8Mb Cache
Double-Layer 16x Multi-format DVD+/-RW Drive
48x CD-Rom Drive
FireWire, 7 USB Ports
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (PCI-Expres 16x slot available)
Built in Realtek Audio and Intel PRO 100 Mbps LAN
Digital Memory Card Reader 8-in-1

This one is also A BTX case but it does have a CPU fan on it and has a cone above and around it that sends the heat out of the case. I added an extra 512 MB of memory, which I already had, and a GeForce 6800 256 Mb PCI-Express 16x video card to it.

I can play F.E.A.R. at its highest settings and Second Life almost at its highest settings with no problems,unless I get into a very high populated area.

Thank every one ... for your replyies ... im looking in to them and seeing what i can do with it ... gateway doesnt sound half bad ... i was always told ... you can only put certain parts in them thou .... is this true ... or can you put about any thing in to them .... like cards ect ? been doing the research of the gateway seems like they have changed alot since the last time i looked at them

zeph

Gateway used to be like Dell and had a proprietary case and setup. That was bad. Earned them a bad rep for a while (but unlike Dell.. they really supported their system and customers... so still generated loyalty). Gateway did listen to their clients... and started being more generic in production. The new Gateways can use parts right off the shelf. Their BTX case is standard BTX... their parts standard parts. No problem there that I've noticed thus far.

The thing I really like about the 835GM BTX is that everything is designed smart (with the one exception... as with so many manufacturers.. no hard drive light. grrrrr. How much does an LED cost, anyway?). But their ram chips are in line with the microprocessor and system fans, so a quiet 120mm input fan blows THROUGH the really huge CPU heat sink... blows THROUGH the ram chips (rather than against them) and out the other side of the case through the output fan. It's a good design. Plus, the fans are set up to sense system temp and when it gets warmer... the fans speed up. And like Edav pointed out... a flow-through shell directs the air specifically where it's needed and doesn't waste it on the rest of the case where it's not needed. BTX seems like a very smart design.

Oh hey... visit this link and read what folks say about the 835gm. I don't think I've ever read so many positive reviews on an item.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/125833/originURLEncoded/http%253A%252F%252Fwww.circuitcity.com%252Fccd%252FSearch.do%253Fc%253D1%2526context%253D%2526keyword%253D835gm%2526searchSection%253DAll%2526N%253D0%2526Ntt%253D835gm%2526Ntk%253DAll/rpem/ccd/productDetailReview.do#tabs

(or if ya have trouble with that link... CIRCUITCITY.COM and search for 835GM and click CUSTOMER REVIEWS).

I guess every once in a while, a company just does something right.
And I sincerely hope I don't regret this plug later. LOL

Wayfinder Wishbringer thanks so much ... smiles ... going to go the monthy payment thing on it .... and thanks again ,,,

Zeph

Want the bestest, fastest, blow your socks off system? Try this....

Macintosh G5 Dual Quad-Core G5 Processing:
With two dual-core processors, at speeds up to 2.5GHz per core, the Power Mac G5 Quad doubles the punch of its dual-processor predecessor. Do the math: Quad-core processing means four Velocity Engines and eight double-precision floating-point units for blistering performance of up to 76.6 gigaflops. That means you can manipulate mountains of images or miles of footage. Crunch enormous data sets. Encode HD video or high-bit-rate audio. All at speeds you never imagined possible. The new G5 also utilizes a 16-lane PCI Express graphics bus for up to 4 GBps of data throughput. Coupled with a new 128-bit memory controller that supports DDR2 main memory running at speeds up to 533MHz, you will be leaving all others eating your cyber dust.

You can also option the very lastest nVidia Geforce 7800 GT with 256MB of VRAM, or the Quadro FX 4500 vid card with 512MB of VRAM. Nobody will ever again be able to tell you your computer is the problem when it comes to SL poor performance.

P.S... don't forget that the PowerPC chip runs about twice the speed of any similarly rated Intel processor... so, 2.5Ghz processor speed on a PowerPC means the equivialent of nearly 5.0Ghz for a similar Intel processor.

No, I don't work for Apple....

I suggest a Cray XMP, with 16 GB of RAM and dual SLIGTFY 9990 512 MB graphics cards. That should give you about 5 fps in empty areas of SL release 1.7 !

One question... how much$$$???

LOL. Be fair now. He'd get at least 7 fps with a Cray.