Author Topic: what kind of desktop..... (Read 1087 times)

Dimebag · « **on:** October 11, 2007, 09:47:53 PM »

would you buy for the sole purpose of playing aces high?

any particular brand?
any particular operating system?

or will anything that's new fit the bill.

finally got dsl out here in the sticks so i'm off dial up for good, gonna get a desktop and get back in the virtual sky again, just need pointers on what to look for and what to avoid while puter shopping.

dime

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2007, 05:37:08 AM »

I am moving this to "Hardware and Software". You will probably get better responses.

Ghosth · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2007, 07:40:37 AM »

Stay away from Vista, to the point that if you have to buy it when you get it home you reformat and reinstall XP pro.

Next if you really want to run AH well your going to need at least a decent video card. If its under 150$ chances are its not what you want.

ATI vs Nvidea/geforce is your choice. But I would look very carefully at any system I wanted to buy to make SURE it has a PCI-E 16x slot for upgrading video.

1 - 2 gigs of ram, 100 - 300 gig Hard drive, save money here and spend it on a really GOOD monitor. 19" or bigger. CRT Monitor is still cheaper and still the gold standard for gaming over LCD.

I'd probably prefer Compaq or HP to Gateway or Dell.

Get specific, look under the hood, make sure it has enough cooling, and that PCI-E slot for upgrading graphics.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2007, 07:48:40 AM »

You might find this link useful:
Gaming hardware

The Fugitive · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2007, 08:20:52 AM »

Building your own box is the best way to go. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, get your neighborhood "geeK' to build one for you. Most important is to stay away from windows Vista. there just isn't enough driver support yet.

I'd say buy the fastest/best you can afford. In most cases you can save $500 building it yourself, but if money is no problem, Gaming Rigs are available for a pretty penny. Check out some of these "gaming rigs" and do a search on the parts they use. With some good shopping you'll save some money, and there is always the trill of building it yourself. <---- to some this is sarcasm, to others its really true

Good luck !

SOB · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2007, 09:20:12 AM »

From your questions, I'm guessing you're not up to / into building your own PC...

I'd go Dell
-Make sure it has a PCI-E 16X slot
-Get 2GB of memory. 1GB is probably fine too, but the extra gig is probably not that much more and you might use it now or in the near future.
-If you plan on importing video from a video camera or downloading movies/tv shows from the Internet, get a big drive 250+ GB. If not, you'll probably be ok with an 80+ GB drive.
-Get Windows XP. Vista's not the black death that some people make it out to be, but XP is faster for now and will likely be supported with drivers and security updates for the life of your computer.
-Fortunately, AH isn't a monster, so get a reasonably-priced video card. $100 - $150 range should be sufficient.
-Get an LCD monitor. They've come a long way, baby, and they are good for Gaming, and are less likely to break your foot if you drop one on it. Dell also makes some nice ones. Buy the size you can afford.
-Get a Core2Duo processor... again, buy what you can afford.

REP0MAN · « **Reply #6 on:** October 12, 2007, 06:04:35 PM »

Just opinion but it works better than anything else I've played with....

ASUS MB with AMD Duo-Core. Run the appropriate software upgrades for playing AHII with AMD Duo-Core.

NVidia VC with at least 512MB

Keep the security and spyware detection crap off the machine, it will only slow it down.

Stay away from Micro$haft Vista.

At least 1Gig of RAM minimum. I would recommend more.

Hope that helps at all.

Dimebag · « **Reply #7 on:** October 12, 2007, 07:47:59 PM »

thanks for the replies, they were all helpful

every new one from dell,hp,etc i see has vista on it. been lookin on ebay and see some out there, but i dont really wanna sink 800.00 into a box by itself that already has 2mb ram/2gig/etc.....if they are out there for less, i havent seen them yet

i found this on ebay, only things i see this falling short on is it could use more ram and maybe the video card. does integrated mean the video card is not upgradable? no pci-e slot, no upgrades?

Fast Genuine Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz HT CPU - 1Gb DDR Memory(upgradeable) - Giant 160Gb hard drive - Ultra Speed DVD Burner - Floppy Drive - High Speed Internet Ready - 8 USB 2.0 ports - Integrated Intel Graphics and Multimedia audio - 8x AGP Slot - 2 Serial Ports - Parallel Printer Port - Brand New keyboard, mouse, power cord, and stereo speakers!

it's item number 320169200487 if anyone wants to look to see if one like it would do the job.....im sure the auction has ended by now, no biggie, there's plenty to chose from...

one last thing, got a ballpark on what i would expect to pay for someone to build one for me? dont give a hoot about anything special being loaded on it, just need a fast one... xp, and at least 80gb hd, 2gig, 2mb ram, and a good vid card

dime

airspro · « **Reply #8 on:** October 13, 2007, 05:27:22 AM »

Here's were I got mine >
http://www.avadirect.com/

They are in Ohio , and they will costom build to your specs , with any OP system you would want . Very happy with mine .

I found out about them from reading this
http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIzMCwxLCxoY29uc3VtZXI=

gl
spro

airspro · « **Reply #9 on:** October 13, 2007, 05:47:47 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by HomeBoy
You might find this link useful:
Gaming hardware

Nice link HomeBoy , after reading it I ordered a Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS for my PC .

Thanks for the heads up .

spro

PS: I finally got to check out the TrackIR file you sent me . Well for me it's too aggressive . I still don't use TrackIR in AH . Thanks again for sending it to me to try though

Skuzzy · « **Reply #10 on:** October 13, 2007, 07:20:06 AM »

Avoid using integrated video chips. They are not meant to be used for real-time 3D graphics.

You should be able to order Dell computers with XP. You just have to ask them for it. MS probably will not allow them to advertise XP any longer, but all the OEM's are allowed to continue to ship XP Professional until 2014.

Irwink! · « **Reply #11 on:** October 13, 2007, 11:26:11 AM »

I saw an online ad from Dell just the other day on MSN's page hawking new desktops with XP as the installed os. They'll definitely supply XP if that's what you want.

mipoikel · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2007, 12:40:17 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Avoid using integrated video chips. They are not meant to be used for real-time 3D graphics.

You should be able to order Dell computers with XP. You just have to ask them for it. MS probably will not allow them to advertise XP any longer, but all the OEM's are allowed to continue to ship XP Professional until 2014.

You can downgrade all Vista Ultimate and Vista Business systems to XP Pro.

Most manufacturers send XP recovery disks if you ask.

You can also use any legal XP media to do it. You can use any legal installation code, when you are prompted to activation, just call to microsoft and tell them it is Vista downgrade and they should give you activation code.

Thats how it works in Finland, not sure how to do in the USA.

Dimebag · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2007, 12:52:20 PM »

again, i know nothing about computers.... that being said, if i buy a computer with a 128mb nvidia geforce 6200 and 512mb ram, it can be upgraded to a 512 nvidia and 2mb ram by purchasing the upgrades and paying someone to put them in, correct?

also, what is the advantage of having a duo2core versus a p4 if both are rated at 3MHz? remember, this will just be used for aces high.

and lastly, xp pro, home, and biz, one better than the other?

thanks
dime

The Fugitive · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2007, 04:49:11 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Dimebag
again, i know nothing about computers.... that being said, if i buy a computer with a 128mb nvidia geforce 6200 and 512mb ram, it can be upgraded to a 512 nvidia and 2mb ram by purchasing the upgrades and paying someone to put them in, correct?

also, what is the advantage of having a duo2core versus a p4 if both are rated at 3MHz? remember, this will just be used for aces high.

and lastly, xp pro, home, and biz, one better than the other?

thanks
dime

If you start out with this, your already on the downside and falling off fast. Duo core means just that, a P4 is one core, duo runs like two.

Maybe if you post what kind of budget you have, some people can post some option for you. Also post if your going to need a monitor and stuff or whether you can use stuff from an old system you have.