Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: SKJohn on February 04, 2009, 08:07:08 PM
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Looking for a 2nd computer that would also run AHII - saw this one at Costco. How would it work for Aces High?
HP A6567c-b
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 ghz
4 gb pc2-5300 DDR-2 Ram
640 gb Hard Drive 7200 rpm
Nvidia GeForce 9300 GE 256 mb Video Card
24" diagonal wide screen LCD monitor
Windows Vista
Was talking with my brother, he said I'd probably want to replace the video card. Any other ideas about this system? I don't have the patience or knowledge to build my own system, so I'mlooking for something I can buy and be good to go. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
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It's a 6 month old model, but if the price is right. That video card is very low end and I wouldn't expect more than simple computing with it. It's not very powerful at all. A video upgrade is suggested, but you're more than likely need a new more powerful power supply to run it. The stock power supplies are leave very little head room for video card upgrades.
Off the shelf computers ($500-$700 ones) don't make good gaming computers. Their processors are fast, they have lots of ram, and big hard drives, but the always skimp on a video card.
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Just as Fulmar said the biggest problem is going to be the video card, and they always skimp on the PSU as well making upgrading it an even more expensive task. I don't like to advertise for others but I've heard Tildeath builds nice systems for people playing AH at reasonable prices, it may be in your best interest to contact him. I've never had any experience with him personally but he seems to fit the bill if your adamant on not building your own system and need something to play AH and perhaps have the overhead for graphic intensive gaming.
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^ what they said plus the fact that you're going to be trying to use a sub-standard video card and additionally taxing it by trying to push a lot of pixels to a big monitor.
If you are set on this I'd think immediate video card, power supply and RAM (the stuff listed is a little slow) upgrades would be in order. About another $200.
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A range of options...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227127
$500 with a 450w PS, VC is weak but they all will be in budget land....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229076
$550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229078
$750
This last one will do fine just out of the box. Personally I always recommend building or using a guy like tildeath...but this is roughly what you need. The 9800GT is a regular on toms in the $100+ "best VC" and will run AH just fine.
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229078
$750
This last one will do fine just out of the box. Personally I always recommend building or using a guy like tildeath...but this is roughly what you need. The 9800GT is a regular on toms in the $100+ "best VC" and will run AH just fine.
Humble, am merely playing with the idea of a new box for AH. Can the one like you cited above be loaded with XP and not Vista? And, would spending $250 more get $250 more "oomph" for use in AH? And if so, how might that best be spent?
I've got a buddy with whom I might build one. Done it twice; don't enjoy building things though. He might get a kick out of it and encourage him to build his own.
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That comp stock will run AH and more just fine. It could be installed with XP though you may want to use XP 64-bit due to the amount of RAM in it. I beleive you can pick up a copy of that from newegg for like a 120.
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Can the one like you cited above be loaded with XP and not Vista? And, would spending $250 more get $250 more "oomph" for use in AH?
Yes you can load XP and no, spending any more money won't help a bit with AH but would with more demanding games like Crysis.
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I do not believe you can order it with XP but if you wanted to you could load it afterward. The only issue would be if the MB is an OEM board with limited driver support. I do not believe you gain much for $250 specific to AH however 2 factors come into play. How much "bloat" does the system have and how easily can it be optimized? What effect will the current upgrades (new water etc) have on system requirements? Another question is will the game ever benefit from quad core capability (dual core is actually faster for game right now is my understanding)?
I think that system (or any with similar specs and a discreet VC of same or similar flavor) will run AH fine right out of the box.
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John,
I would consider asking Tildeath to get in touch with you. Let him know what budget you have to work with. You may be pleasantly surprised at what he can build for you. He builds world class machines, and can certainly help you get the best bang foe the buck.
Colt
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Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, everybody. I looked at the systems Humble suggested, and they look interesting, but all the different specs are kind of overwhelming to someone who doesn't speak computerese.
Based on several people's suggestions, I have PM'ed "TilDeath" and asked about having him build one for me. I will be anxiously awaiting his reply
Thanks again for all the help!
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a good course of action...
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Based on several people's suggestions, I have PM'ed "TilDeath" and asked about having him build one for me. I will be anxiously awaiting his reply
I just received my new machine yesterday, one that TilDeath lovingly built for me. This thing is so damn fast, I can't keep up!
TilDeath's stuff is top notch, I'd recommend talking to him even if you decide to build your own machine as he can get some parts cheaper.
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A range of options...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227127
$500 with a 450w PS, VC is weak but they all will be in budget land....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229076
$550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229078
$750
This last one will do fine just out of the box. Personally I always recommend building or using a guy like tildeath...but this is roughly what you need. The 9800GT is a regular on toms in the $100+ "best VC" and will run AH just fine.
These are not " Bad" deals but look at power supply...450W. Come on be real and what kind of motherboards do they have. Get in touch with Tildeath.
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And if you're going to change PS you might as well build your own.
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These are not " Bad" deals but look at power supply...450W. Come on be real and what kind of motherboards do they have. Get in touch with Tildeath.
Excuse me...
1) read my comments before engaging keyboard
2) U have no clue about actual power requirements if you think the PS's are insufficient for the build
3) Read the spec sheets if you want to know the components
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Thanks again for all the suggestions. After talking with TilDeath, I ordered a new machine from him this morning. Now I just gotta find some way to kill time until it gets here - I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas to arrive! :D
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When I got mine, I met the FedEx guy at his truck and by his expression he thought I was nuts.
Like I said before, my machine runs like a dream and I encourage everyone to talk to TilDeath before they decide on a system, even if they build themselves.
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It's going to be great Valentines Day for me! I got my Fed Ex tracking number, and the expected delivery date for my TilDeath built computer is the 14th - time is counting down tic - tic - tic I can hardly wait! :)
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So after the UPS fiasco, he's switched for FedEx?
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So after the UPS fiasco, he's switched for FedEx?
It would appear so. What happened in the "UPS Fiasco"?
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It would appear so. What happened in the "UPS Fiasco"?
May not be best to tell you prior to receiving you computer, but... He sent/received a PC (not sure it if was a complete build), with PSU installed via UPS. Upon arrival it was found the box was in bad shape, after opening the damage was shown. The PSU had smashed through the plastic siding, and parts were broken and dangling, was not a pretty site. Needless to say it was a "time-to-switch" type accident. Not sure but I think UPS was saying it wasn't their fault.
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See Rule #4
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Take it or leave it. Not a bad price. Read the suggestion BEFORE ENGAGING KEYBOARD.... SEE TILDEATH PSU leaves little for future upgrade. Get a clue.
What's the word I'm looking for?
Oh right...
IN
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Take it or leave it. Not a bad price. Read the suggestion BEFORE ENGAGING KEYBOARD.... SEE TILDEATH PSU leaves little for future upgrade. Get a clue.
Pardon me twit but the 1st comment I made was to talk to tildeath, however what I listed was what I saw that would work. No rack system is really upgradeable even if it has modular components since they often are OEM MB's with minimal driver support. The entire idea is that its a turnkey solution. Far as I'm concerned your just a suck up with minimal knowledge who rarely answers an actual question with good 411.
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Just to let you know since kinda got off topic. My comp runs the 9300ge card (just something i had laying around from friends comp that fried) and im running it on a 24" screen at 1920/1200 res and i usually get 50-60 BUT that is just standard play without any bells or whistles
intel duel 5200
4gb ram
Vista
so it should run ok but i know the card is getting taxed but meh
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Just to let you know since kinda got off topic. My comp runs the 9300ge card (just something i had laying around from friends comp that fried) and im running it on a 24" screen at 1920/1200 res and i usually get 50-60 BUT that is just standard play without any bells or whistles
intel duel 5200
4gb ram
Vista
so it should run ok but i know the card is getting taxed but meh
On a 9300GE? I don't think you can get a lower budget card than that from Nvidia, at least the 9xxx series. I can find pictures for it on the internet and some mentions of it on forums, but I can't find any data on it from Nvidia's Website.
I'll look for it later, I gotta go install Crysis on my P2 450 / Voodoo 3 system. :rolleyes:
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Pardon me twit but the 1st comment I made was to talk to tildeath, however what I listed was what I saw that would work. No rack system is really upgradeable even if it has modular components since they often are OEM MB's with minimal driver support. The entire idea is that its a turnkey solution. Far as I'm concerned your just a suck up with minimal knowledge who rarely answers an actual question with good 411.
LOL it is upgradable . Tell me you cannot upgrade a CPU, graphics card or PSU....Move on. Some users do. Think you are missing the point of the thread and my reply. And the Twit thing really needs to go dude . PLEASE READ THE RULES OF THE FORUM. before future embarassments.
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Any OEM system presents significant upgrade issues due to the OEM parts. Yes you can upgrade, however the lack of bios/driver updates for the MB is often limiting. As a general rule any store bought system should be viewed "as is", while you can add memory or swap out parts its often not worth the effort. I'm not the 1st 5th or 20th person who's called you out for not responding to the actual question at hand. My post here was specific, to the point, accurate and "on topic". Your response was out of context, inappropriate and inaccurate (which is typical for you IMO). He was specifically looking for some type of turn key solution. I gave him some store bought options along with the advice that either building or using someone like tildeath was a better option IMO. Comments like yours completely ignore the parameters set by the original post. He was looking for a turn key BUDGET build and like normal you ignore all that so you can spout off on something totally off topic...
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I got my new machine from TilDeath on Feb. 14th, Valentine's Day - exactly one week from the timed I pay-paled the $$ for it. Definitely no "UPS fiasco"with this one. It arrived in prefect shape by FedEx. Rich ('TilDeath) did an excellent job in packing the computer for shipping - I think the FedEXguys could have played volleyball with it and it would have been ok.
First impressions - one of the nicest, "cleanest" builds I have ever seen! All cables were sheathed and the majority of them were hidden and out of the way behind panels leaving easy access to the internal components if I needed to get to them.
I got it all unpacked and fired it up. Rich had already installed AHII with the hi-res pack, so of course I had to start that up an have a look, even though I hadn't hookedup my joystick yet. I was very impressed with what I saw and the way the machine just hummed along. In a hurry to get on-line and try it out for real, I made my first mistake. I used a USB memory stick with my home network settings on it and tought I'd ust plug it in like I had with my previous computers and be on-line and getting shot down in a matter of minutes. However, because my other computers were all XP machines and this new one was Vista, the info on the memory stick screwed up some of my router settings and I wasn't able to get on-line. Bummer!
Well, during this time, Rich was calling me to see how things were going (he called before I got the computer unwrapped as soon as he got the e-mail saying it had been delivered...) so I explained to him what I had done. He immediately recognized that the USB thing was probably a mistake and gave me several ideas on how to try and correct it. He ended up spending several hours on the phone with me talking me thru a re-install of the OS, drivers, etc, and a re-set of the D-link router - all without a complaint. THings are now working great and I love my new computer!
I would defintely recommend that anyone thinking of a new computer contact Rich ('TilDeath) here on the boards. He takes the time to listen to your needs and wants, then makes recommendations based on what you tell him and what your budget is. His customer service is topnotch, and you'll get a system that will defintely meet and probably exceed your expectations! I gladly add myself to the list of satisfied customers here on the boards!
Ok, back to the game. . . .
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I've got to agree completely, even if you build them yourself it doesn't hurt to explore the possibilities. The time and effort involved in tuning a system when you only do it once in awhile may very well justify the marginal cost differences.
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If you have the time and patience, I highly recommend doing it yourself. It can be very rewarding. You'll get to learn about the actual parts in your computer. What they do and why quality matters. This can help you later on if a problem develops and you can easily remedy the problem w/o either tech support or a costly trip to the PC repair shop.
But its not for everyone. This is why I don't push people into doing it right off the back if they are very green in the PC department.
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Looking for a 2nd computer that would also run AHII - saw this one at Costco. How would it work for Aces High?
HP A6567c-b
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 ghz
4 gb pc2-5300 DDR-2 Ram
640 gb Hard Drive 7200 rpm
Nvidia GeForce 9300 GE 256 mb Video Card
24" diagonal wide screen LCD monitor
Windows Vista
Was talking with my brother, he said I'd probably want to replace the video card. Any other ideas about this system? I don't have the patience or knowledge to build my own system, so I'mlooking for something I can buy and be good to go. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
talk to tildeath before you do anything. he's gotten good reviews from others in here.
i just talked to him on the phone the other day, to order a system. he's VERY knowledgeable, and very pleasant to talk to.
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talk to tildeath before you do anything. he's gotten good reviews from others in here.
i just talked to him on the phone the other day, to order a system. he's VERY knowledgeable, and very pleasant to talk to.
As a matter of fact I just talked to him on the phone yesterday - about the system I've already ordered and received from him. . . :D
I agree - he is very pleasant to talk to as well as being very fluent in computerese. He also builds very nice systems!