Feb 21, 2006, 10:52 PM // 22:52
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#2
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Carolina
Guild: Shrophire Protectors [Lion]
Profession: W/
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Well, first off, why would you want either of those? That stuff was decent like 4 years ago, but not now. If you have limited funds, I understand, but you can definately do better. Even on a budget. How much are you looking to spend on your rig?
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Feb 21, 2006, 10:56 PM // 22:56
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#3
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Forge Runner
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: America. How about you, commie?
Guild: Fellows of Mythgar [FOM]
Profession: R/Mo
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Welcome to GWGuru. I personally favor NVidia over any Intel stuff.
Click here for a good guide on video cards. The majority of gamers are Nvidia/ATi users.
Gl!
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Feb 21, 2006, 11:04 PM // 23:04
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#4
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Fairfax, VA
Guild: Shadows Of Nightmares (KoN)
Profession: W/
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Send me the money. I promise i won't scam you. I'll build it.
Lol.
Ok well for GW buy a 9600xt 128mb if your on a heavy budget. 9800pro is if u want 1280x1024 2xaa-4xaa. 9600xt does 1280x1024 0aa-2aa.
I favor ATI in the lower prices, but nVidia currently at higher prices, even with the x1900xtx release.......
get an AMD 64 on a socket 754 mobo. 120$ for the processor, and 50-70$ for the mobo.
Cheap case. Cheap PSU. 512-1gb ram. I reccomend OCZ or Corsair. Value ram for your budget computer.
Gamer on a tight budget
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Feb 21, 2006, 11:36 PM // 23:36
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#5
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Underworld Spelunker
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blade Rez
Cheap case. Cheap PSU.
Gamer on a tight budget
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you cannot get by with a bottom feeder power supply.
inexpensive but pick a brand name that has a good reputation to keep up.
many problems are traced back to cheap power supplies
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Feb 21, 2006, 11:37 PM // 23:37
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#6
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Carolina
Guild: Shrophire Protectors [Lion]
Profession: W/
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Quote:
Cheap case. Cheap PSU. 512-1gb ram...
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Wrong. Never purposely skimp on a PSU. That's one of the worst mistakes people make when building a pc. Yeah, It'll run fine for a while, but when your main components are getting 11.72v rather than 11.98v, you'll be sorry. That little bit of voltage makes a big difference on how your computer performs.
Looks like Loviatar beat me to it.
Last edited by Riplox; Feb 21, 2006 at 11:41 PM // 23:41..
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Feb 22, 2006, 12:25 AM // 00:25
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#7
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Middle-Age-Man
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lansing, Mi
Profession: W/Mo
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Exactly....you get what you pay for....going cheap....cost you more....
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Feb 22, 2006, 12:37 PM // 12:37
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#8
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Pre-Searing Cadet
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Thnx everyone, all this is really helpful. Oh, and my budget is roughly $700-$750, or $800 if I really gripe my mom out of her cash, lol! TY again.
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Feb 23, 2006, 11:35 AM // 11:35
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#10
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2005
Guild: Black Death Knights
Profession: E/
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you didnt include an operating system in that price. or keyboard speakers mouse and monitor. all that will put you well above budget.
i would suggest a decent s939 motherboard (remember your choice here will dictate the upgradability of the computer down the road). i prefer not to skimp here get the best you can find with all the features you may want further down the road.
either a low end athlon 64 or a mid - high end sempron. make this decision depending on your budget as either choice is more than powerful enough to play guildwars. (upgrade at a later date as funds become available)
512MB - 1GB of quality ram. i find ocz to be excellent and affordable.
hard drive of your choice. western digital, seagate and hitachi are good quality choices. dont touch maxtor with a barge pole!
graphics card. anything from a gforce 6800 or radeon 9800 up will be sufficent here. again shop according to budget here as either is enough to play at full quality. you can always upgrade later (assuming you got a fully loaded motherboard)
dvd-rw is optional all you need is a cd-rom but if budget allows go for a decent brand dvd-rw. remember this can be easily upgraded at a later date
any case will do pick one you like that fits your budget.
power supply (psu) i cant stress this enough - do not skimp here go with a quality brand.. antec, enermax or tagen are very good and very recommended.
go with any keyboard speakers and mouse you like
same goes with monitor.. whatever your budget allows.
and remember to allow for the operating system!!
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Feb 23, 2006, 12:07 PM // 12:07
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#11
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: OgreSlayingKnife.com
Guild: [MEEP] Biscuit of Dewm
Profession: N/
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Keyboard - $10
Mouse - $10
Headset - $10
SONY CPD-E240 Beige 17" CRT Monitor D-Sub - Retail $120.99
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824006005
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM - $87.95
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102059
-----------------------------------------
Total: $238.97
Try to earn some money your self too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Cooper
dont touch maxtor with a barge pole!
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I wouldn't go with anything but Maxtor. I have only ever owned Maxtor hard drives. The only one that ever went bad was the one I dropped on the floor for obvious reasons.
Last edited by SaucE; Feb 23, 2006 at 12:11 PM // 12:11..
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Feb 23, 2006, 12:50 PM // 12:50
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#12
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2005
Guild: Black Death Knights
Profession: E/
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the reason i say to avoid maxtor is because i repair/maintain/etc computers and everytime someone brings me a computer with a hard drive problem it has been a maxtor. i know many other technicians who echo this so i dont believe it is just me. yes maxtor are cheaper but experience tells me you pay in the long run.
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Feb 23, 2006, 01:52 PM // 13:52
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#13
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Wilds Pathfinder
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: OgreSlayingKnife.com
Guild: [MEEP] Biscuit of Dewm
Profession: N/
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I am a tech too. I have had nothing but problems with WD drives. Good thing they can be RMA'd.
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Feb 23, 2006, 02:01 PM // 14:01
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#14
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Ascalonian Squire
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Bo'ness, Scotland
Guild: Border Reivers [BORE]
Profession: N/W
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Is it me, or is everyone missing the point here? The original post suggests that the poster is intending to buy a complete PC, not build one
An there's nothing wrong with Maxtor's, in fact my first tower with a 2 Gb Maxtor (going back to 98/99 here) still works
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Feb 23, 2006, 02:40 PM // 14:40
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#15
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Krytan Explorer
Join Date: Jun 2005
Guild: Black Death Knights
Profession: E/
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reiver Fluffi
Is it me, or is everyone missing the point here? The original post suggests that the poster is intending to buy a complete PC, not build one
An there's nothing wrong with Maxtor's, in fact my first tower with a 2 Gb Maxtor (going back to 98/99 here) still works
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lol good point
and i meant the newer maxtors by the way... anything from 20GB up buts thats OT
ok if he wants to buy a prebuilt machine heres what to look out for.
does it have a real graphics card? as mentioned before 6800 class would be ideal although anything from radeon 9250 up is playable.
how much ram does it have? again you want at least 512MB here.
you should look at amd athlon64 based machines as at the moment and for the forseeable future they have a performance and technological leadership over intel based machines. for a prebuilt gaming rig thats all you need to look at really.
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Feb 25, 2006, 03:16 PM // 15:16
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#16
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Pre-Searing Cadet
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By the way, I'm planning to buy a laptop, not a desktop! I need a laptop for school next year, and I don't want to buy two computers =p
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Feb 25, 2006, 03:29 PM // 15:29
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#17
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Lion's Arch Merchant
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: United States
Guild: Clan Foxrunner
Profession: R/P
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I always liked Maxtor, but Seagate bought them out didn't they?
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Feb 25, 2006, 03:54 PM // 15:54
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#18
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: North Carolina
Profession: N/Me
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Maxtor is a fine hard drive, particularly after their buy out by Seagate. A lot of people have issues with Seagate and I never understood why. They are reliable, and they have zero heat issues. I used to be a Network Admin and all the RAIDs on my old network were all comprised of Seagate drives because no matter how dense the RAID they never had a heat problem. Also I would suggest against a laptop unles you really really really absolutely just need one. If you just want one so you can type notes in class or something then you'd be better served by good old fashioned pen and paper. The thing with laptops is that their internals are almost always proprietary parts which means they are difficult and expensive to upgrade, usually because everything is integrated onto one single board or just a couple of boards. this means no piecemeal upgrades. You either upgrade it all or not. While this isn't universally true it is more or less the norm amongst laptops. Desktops are infinitely easier to upgrade and they allow you to use non proprietary components which means you can usually get off upgrading cheaper. Although I will also admonish you to remember the maxim of upgrades, if it will cost you half the cost of a new system to upgrade your old system then you're better off ponying up the other half and getting a new system.
In the end it is up to you but I only recommend laptops as a necessity. If you can get by without one then do so. They are finnicky little machines at best and often more trouble than they are worth. The only things I can tell you is that there is no such thing as too much computer. If you are going to buy new then go all out. In the end you'll get a longer life out of it before you have to start ponying up for upgrades since, generally speaking of course, the high end hardware of one generation will have the same specs as the low end hardware of the next generation.
Oh and as for graphics cards....ATi for one reason. Crossfire. Fast fast fast and when you're in a pitched PvP battle frame rate matters. Dropped frames can mean the difference between life and death.
Last edited by Str0b0; Feb 25, 2006 at 04:02 PM // 16:02..
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Feb 25, 2006, 03:56 PM // 15:56
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#19
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Middle-Age-Man
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lansing, Mi
Profession: W/Mo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Reiver Fluffi
Is it me, or is everyone missing the point here? The original post suggests that the poster is intending to buy a complete PC, not build one
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I agree. I have mentioned this before. Allot of people just do not want to build a machine. It is a hassle. I used to build them...not worth the effort anymore. Computers have gotten cheap and fast enough that buying a pre-built works just fine.
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Feb 25, 2006, 04:25 PM // 16:25
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#20
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Desert Nomad
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: North Carolina
Profession: N/Me
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Yes but the pre built PC market has also changed. Consumers have a lot more control over the components they want in their systems. Because of this it helps to be informed about the hardware that goes into the machine even if you don't intend to go out and buy the individual parts and start Frankensteining it on your own.
Now this is more a matter of opinion than anything but I disagree as to it not being worth the effort to build your own machine. I don't care who the manufacturer is. I can build a better computer than any Alienware system for less by doing it myself. Not to mention the fact that building a machine increases awareness of the operation of the machine and that in turn makes the user more competent to handle hardware issues on their own. Admittedly it's not for everyone but I think everyone should try, at least once, to build their own machine. It's fun...really.
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