Ketamine

OK, so my computer is pretty old. In fact, I bought it when Half-life came out. Now that HL2 is close, I am looking at getting a new computer. Point me to a computer that you would by if you had around $2,500 to spend. Building one myself is not an option so please keep the discussion on computers that will have what I need/want that will make a strong gaming machine.

edstein

You shouldn't need that much for a decent gaming rig. $1,500 will go a long way. Do you need a monitor as well? That usually makes the biggest price difference.

Trelach24

Game? Buy some guns and play for real.

TheMadMonk

For $2500 you can get a crazy fast pc, and a great monitor.

fumanstan

For that much, i suppose you could probably get one of the gaming systems from Dell or Alienware. Unless you want to build your own.

Trigger

VoodooPC.com - get a gaming laptop.

clappj

I was looking for opinions on what's the best "bang for your buck" 256 MB video card, currently on the market.
Thanks for any input!

Ketamine

Yeah, was planning on around a 17" flat screen.

msdmoney

Screw that, for what you are going to spend you should pick up the dell 2001fp. $600 (with the common dell stackable coupons) for a huge flat panel and still leave you plenty for your gaming rig. Of course "real gamers" will always say you should get a crt, but I would go for a 2001fp if you are willing to spend $2500. You could prob get a 19" for about $450. It's up to you, but for the money you are spending you should go with a bigger monitor.

I am in the same boat as you, my computer is a dinasour. Used to be a p2 266 with a 3dfx voodoo 2, but I upgraded it to a p3 550 with a geforce 2 a few years ago. I really need something new, probably for around $2000. I am planning on going with one of these, as I don't really need a full desktop with 4 expansion bays and 5 pci slots etc:



Edit: my bad didn't read that you didn't want to build your own. You half build these. You have to put in your processor, hard drive, memory, drives etc. but the mobo, power supply and other stuff is already put together.

They can handle everything a normal desktop can, just have less expansion. Gonna put an athlon 64 and a geforce 6800 gt in one.
Shuttle is also coming out with a new model that looks like this using the new Nforce 4 mobo.

Ketamine

Anyone direct me to some PC review sites? Used to use cnet.com though it looks like they are a little behind on their computer reivews. Thanks.

Ketamine

Here's another generic question that I think I know the answer to. Are their usually great deals on computers after Christmas? Good enough to wait until then or should I just buy one now?

Jackskeleton

http://www.half-life2.org.uk/check.php

test your system to a generic system on sale some where.

bdshort

Get the new Sager 9860 gaming notebook (made by the same manufacturer as the Voodoo gaming notebooks, but WAAAAY less expensive) Looks like you can get a pretty killer setup for your $2500 limit. Almost wishing I bought one instead of a Dell 700m + the desktop I plan on building.

PCTorque and Discount Laptops both seem to have good prices.

Brian

TheMadMonk

I wouldn't get a gaming notebook unless you are planning on doing a lot of gaming in places other than your house. You can get better performance for less $ with a desktop.

jeffdsmith

Here's PC Worls top 15 PC's. Not specific to gaming PC's, but good reviews.
http://pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,117814,00.asp

Ketamine

No plans on a notebook since my current one is pretty new and would have a hard time getting the wife to understand why I needed a new one so quickly. Right now I am looking at the Dimension XPS with Pentium® 4 Processor 560 with HT Technology (3.60GHz, 800 FSB), 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M), 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X800 XT, 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM), Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write capability, 17 in E173FP Flat Panel Display, Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1 Speaker System, and Sound Blaster Audigy™2 ZS (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394 which would run a little over $2,500. Any thoughts on this system? Any changes if I went with the Dell. Any other system that would be better with above specs and cost? I will likely wait until after Christmas since my laptop will run HL2 and money will be a little better after December.

Ketamine

Thanks. I will look it over. Nice to see Dell at #1 since that is what I was looking at.

jeffdsmith

Check your email that you have registered with DVDtalk.

Trigger

I'm convinced PC World is owned by Dell... I refuse to believe anything printed in that magazine.

Centurion

Probably what jeffdsmith had to say.

Centurion

msdmoney--

I was also looking into picking up a Shuttle set-up myself.

I can plug-in/build the PC myself, however, I don't know much else after that.

Is there a website that explains in detail how to deal with the BIOS and install Windows XP when turning on a newly built PC?

I think for anyone looking to 'maximize' on a gaming PC, building one yourself is the only way to go as you literally can save hundreds of dollars which you then can use on the graphics card/memory/CPU.

msdmoney

I think the Athlon 64 is better for gaming, but dell doesn't use AMD processors. The dell computer you built should handle pretty much anything you throw at it.


Centurion - I beleive the shuttle manual comes with a pretty good explanation of setting up the bios etc. If you want more specific info a great place to ask is the sff forums at sudhian.com. As far as Windows goes, Microsoft generally makes it easy enough so that the average Joe can install it. Should only be a matter of inserting the cd and following the directions.

Centurion

Thanks.

J_J

I would have a look at some of the Dell Refurb PC's, they have a couple of XPS systems.

Even new, you can get a good system for $1500 and now they have a free 17" flat panel upgrade:



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Check them out. http://www.dell.com

peon73

i just built a new machine for HL2 and bought a shuttle minipc as the barebones.
shuttle mini $285
athlon 64 2800 $130
1.5 gig ddr ram $300
160 gig HD $60
nec dual-layer dvd burner 3500 $70
ati 9800 128mb $250

total: approx $1100--pretty high performance machine. swap out the ati for an all-in-wonder card and you can have a hometheater/tivo like device and way under $2500


easy to setup and can't wait to play hl2 on this badboy today.