Build or buy PC

[Fulmar]

If you like to listen to music, hear EAX effects in games,  or have a good speaker system, a sound card is going to be a very nice improvement.  I've never heard a good onboard sound chipset.

[Getback]

Expansion?  What is that?  (Laptop user for around ten years)   

Better power supply makes sense.  Another $50-70?

Sound card?  Is it really necessary with the E8400?  How much for a card that actually frees up processsor cycles?

Yes, It still helps to get a sound card.

[drdeathx]

Ahhhh Bald. Didn't see the test results I looked at musta been AMD's propaganda. All the results were AMD's......LOL. Saw a independent test and it looks like Nvidea 9800gt actually may outperform the 4830 but none the less they look very close. Still most pro's are saying it is a best buy! Just making a $ recommendation here sir!

[BaldEagl]

Mia again the 4830 at $129 and the 4870 at $175 are much better cards!!!!!!

BTW, the 4870's on newegg are $250-300.  Where are you getting them for $175?  Can you post the link?

[drdeathx]

LOL it was a global trading website forget it. I was doing so much research on them, I didn't pay attention that that price was insanely low!


http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/ati_4870.html?src=ibdm_d03p0023e02r70&ibdm_kw=ati+4870

[mia389]

I recieved my pc today. It is great!!! I loaded up AH with all settings up and was running 60fps. Weird thing was, when I locked it at 60fps I was running 32fps. Ran nice and smooth though. Also am running with the high res pack

Thanks agian guys for your advice

[Denholm]

Have fun, and don't trip with the increase in speed.

[BaldEagl]

I recieved my pc today. It is great!!! I loaded up AH with all settings up and was running 60fps. Weird thing was, when I locked it at 60fps I was running 32fps. Ran nice and smooth though. Also am running with the high res pack

Thanks agian guys for your advice

What kind of monitor do you have?

Check the Nvidia control panal and see if your video card is locked at the monitor refresh rate. 

You'll also want to tweak all your video settings and should be able to run them very high.  I run 16x anti-aliasing, and 4x anistropic filtering for instance without a hitch although there's not much difference between that and 8x/2x.  The offline arena is a good place to tweak out your video card.

Glad to hear you like it.

[Fulmar]

I thought I recall someone from HTC saying that AH doesn't utilize AF.  Correct me if I'm wrong.

[mia389]

My monitor is an older dell lcd monitor. I think its 4 or 5 years old. I am running game and windows in 1280-1024. Refresh rate at 60. I can not believe how sharp the instrument panels in the planes look. I am thinking a bigger monitor will be coming soon.

[SIK1]

LOL, and so it begins.

[Fulmar]

I run a 2 monitor setup.  My main is a 20" Viewsonic that's about 18 months old and my secondary is my first LCD, a 4.5 year old 17" Hercules Prophetview (one of the best 17" LCD's in its day).  When I got my Viewsonic and hooked them up next to each other, it is like night and day difference in quality.  The 1000:1 contrast ratio and higher brightness specs are very visible in the Viewsonic.  Also a 5ms response time is virtually no ghosting as compared to the 20ms of my first LCD.

With the money you saved on having the computer built for you, a 22-24" LCD will make it even more worth while.

[BaldEagl]

My monitor is an older dell lcd monitor. I think its 4 or 5 years old. I am running game and windows in 1280-1024. Refresh rate at 60. I can not believe how sharp the instrument panels in the planes look. I am thinking a bigger monitor will be coming soon.

I bought an LG 22" widescreen monitor.  2ms response time and 10000/1 contrast ratio.  Beautiful monitor and the price on it has dropped almost $100 since i bought mine (upper $200's now).

And now with AH supporting widescreen... 

Here's the unit:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005109

[humble]

 

Note to wife:  This would be the best Christmas gift ever!

[humble]

I recieved my pc today. It is great!!! I loaded up AH with all settings up and was running 60fps. Weird thing was, when I locked it at 60fps I was running 32fps. Ran nice and smooth though. Also am running with the high res pack

Thanks agian guys for your advice

1st I think you got a very good deal for a "store bought" build. Not only do you not have to worry about RMA's etc but you should have all drivers current and any/all conflicts resolved plus a 24 hour or longer "burn in" & a warranty. If you have any issues of any kind immediately take it back and have them look at it and give you a written receipt as well as a written explanation of both the issue and the steps taken to correct the problem. Do not accept a verbal "we'll look at it".