Lucky ME!!! Gettin New Rig, ALL MY OWN!!!!

[RipChord929]

Finally I am buying a new PC, that I won't have to share with anyone else...
I am soooo tired of having to share this pc w my wife, who fills it up w all kinds of garbage
that interferes w my AH addiction fix....

I am budgeted at $1700 for the PC, and $1000 for a monitor....
I have settled on a Dell PC, because I have discount certs, from earlier purchases,
and have had very good luck with them...

I'm no computer whiz, but I don't have dunce cap on either...
Talking w the Dell guy, he recommends, XPS 420 or 760 as the base unit,
w custom options... This is the part the gets me confused...
So many options, and the guy reminds me of a Used Car Salesman...
BUY BUY, BUY NOW!!! Ya know???  Creeped me out!!!
Especially when he found out I'll be payin in cash... Sheesh!!!

I won't be buying another pc for awhile after this one.. So I need to make
my choices carefully, with an eye to the future of AH... LOL, Yes I'm a life'er!!!

After reading many posts in this forum, I know that you guys have much more
knowledge about this hardware stuff than I do... So I'm askin???

I have a blank slate.... What would be the best stuff to have, considering the future
of Aces High?

After all, my current pc works great for everything else... Buyin the new one just
for this stinkin game.... Monkey on my back??? I guess!!!!

  and thanks in advance for any help that you can give me!!!
RC

 

[Getback]

Welp, for $1700 you could build one that would beat anything dell has to offer. However, if you go with Dell, get an E8400 or E8500 chip. Get one with a sound card too. Also grab 4 gigs of ram and try to have windows xp installed.

I am going to forewarn you. There's going to be many bad things said about Dell following your post.

[lambo31]

Hey Ripchord,  the tech guys will be here shortly I'm sure. With that kind of budget you can build one heck of a monster. I definitely wouldn't go with a pre-made system.
 

 Lambo

[Hap]

Over time, you will wish you had seriously considered building your own if you're the reason be to get an AH fix.  You can build your box and get a monitor as big as your house if you want, AND take wifey for a romantic getaway.

[BaldEagl]

For $1700 you can build a machine that Dell would charge $2500-3500 for.  At that, there would be no games you couldn't run.  For AH you can get by for under $700 if you're building yourself and still run max frames with everything turned up.  Building isn't that hard.  You'll find many threads in this forum on the subject and if you decide to go that way we are willing to help.

If you do still decide to go with Dell spend any extra money on the CPU and video card.  A Core2Duo processor's all you need as I don't think AH takes advantage of quad cores (Skuzzy will correct me if I'm wrong).  Make sure you have a seperate sound card and get Windows XP Pro if available.  While you might want whatever flavor anti-virus and office suite they offer, ignore all the other bloatware.

[Speed55]

Get a parts list from the guys here, and either build it yourself, which is alot easier than most people think, or find a local computer store and pay them to put it together for you. You'll wind up with a computer that will smoke the dell at a lower price.
I'd recommend XP home, or pro OS.
I use kapersky antivirus, which is 2 processes to shut down before i log on.

[BoilerDown]

You really going to spend $1000 on the monitor?  If you're doing the triple head thing from Matrox, ok, but otherwise there's no reason to spend more than 3-400.

[BaldEagl]

I agree on the 3-400 monitor unless you're looking for a 36" or something.

Here's a sample parts list in your price range.  These are mostly highly regarded parts and this is similar to the system I built this spring (my first build) with some upgrades.  At least it will give you some ideas as to what you could build or some comparison if you're buying pre-built.

Features include a very airy case, the ability to go SLI if you want to, 4 Gb RAM, a 10,000 RPM boot drive with a 250 Gig storage drive, dual optical drives and, I assumed you'de need speakers, a keyboard and mouse.

If you decide you don't need a $1000 monitor then you could upgrade the CPU and the video card (or add another of the same), move to the 300 Gb Velociraptor HD, go to DDR3 memory support with DDR3 memory, add a Blu-ray disc player or a host of other options.  Regardless, you'de get to add several of these as upgrades.

   
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Subtotal: $1,650.33

[RipChord929]

Thanks BE, your list gave me a definate idea of what to look for...
Its alot easier to find stuff when the salesman isn't yammering in my ear

I've been on the Dell website this morning..
Still looking, but this is what I found so far.

XPS 720

CORE 2 DUO E6850 (4MB L2 Cache 3Ghz 1333FSB)

4GB DDR2 SDRAM

1TB SATA 3GB/s w Databurst cache

Dual 512MB Nvidia 8800GT

Soundblaster Xtreme gamer sound card

Dual layer CD/DVD RW burner

XP pro OS

After my discounts $1689.99

No keyboard, mouse, speakers or modem...
But I already have that stuff...

LOL, and yes I want a BIG screen... For an almost lifesize canopy frame...
Been looking at a 42incher at BestBuy...

Thanks ALL, more input is very welcome!

  RC

[Getback]

I'd drop the sli and go with an E8400 chip. You won't regret it.

[TequilaChaser]

I'd drop the sli and go with an E8400 chip. You won't regret it.

agree, and why a 42" 

look at this 28" widescreen:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254026
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also would lower the 1TB hard drive and go with like 2 250 gig or 2 320 gig....... a 1 TB HD and nothing more..would take a year and a day to defrag and to  access ......would only use a 1TB HD for storage of files/data backup........

[RipChord929]

I already have 24inch wide screen...
Wouldn't make much sense to upgrade monitor
for only 4 more inches... So BIGGER I go!!!!

Gonna look again at HD's and Processor..
Juggle some stuff to stay under budget...

Thanks Bro's, this is TONS of help!!!

  RC

[BaldEagl]

One point to make so you're not disillusioned when you get this home; The Windows 32 bit OS will only recognize a maximum of 4 Gb of RAM minus video RAM and, possibly, soundcard RAM.  Since you've selected slightly over 1 Gb of video RAM (two cards at 512 each), you'll actually see slightly less than 3 Gb of RAM available to the system.  That's OK.

Windows won't allocate more than 2 Gb of RAM to any single application and, of course, the OS needs some too.  To try to limit your buy to say 3 Gb, you'd need to run different size chips which would take the RAM out of dual channel mode and default it to single channel mode (half the bandwidth/performance... you need to run identical chips in matched pairs to remain in dual channel mode).

Just an FYI.  I'd still get the 4 Gigs.

[Hoarach]

If you arenet going build one look at cyberpowerpc.com.  They are cheaper than dell and their pcs are better.

[Getback]

Ripchord,

Let me explain why I am pushing the E8400. For 1 it runs cooler than the 6850. Second, there is very little gain using SLI. Also, if you ever get into it, the E8400 is very over clockable.

I don't see too much of a problem with that machine. I still prefer building one. Just so I know what's in it and what's on it. You also get some warranty too. Now the graphics on that are not onboard right? You may want to post us the specs or put a link to the site.

Hope we're not making it so difficult for you that it's taking the fun out of your purchase. I've had salesman do that to me.