New Desktop - Ideas anyone?

[Lilandrael]

Right, so I'm starting a new job next week, and so will have some monies to splash out on a new desktop. At the moment I'm using a Toshiba Equium A200, with 80gig hard drive, vista home premium 32 bit, duel core processor, gig of ram and on board graphics, so hardly a gaming computer. Admitedly when I bought it, it wasn't for that but now I have the gaming bug..and well...you know how it goes. I can run lotr no problem but it's laggy and the graphics have to be set real low.

So, I'm not much of a tech head and since you guys tend to know what you're talking about computer wise, I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of some decent websites/stores where I can get a decent gaming machine.

'twould be very appreciated.

[Demonjay]

wel dear Lilandrael

i can try to help out a bit
but i have to say im not all that at home with laptops ..
but for my first question what do you want a laptop or just a system (tower,desktop)?

here are some requirement that wil make you run most of the games smooth

*AMD 64 bit 4200+ dual core processor
*at least 2 gig of ram
*graphic card 8600 gt
*300 gb hard drive
*ATX tower to build all your stuff in , why ATX? because you can expand more
*the power feed box or how do you call it let it be at least 450w
im not sure how it is in the UK because our electricity power is here 220v and in UK i think 110v
*moderboard dont have to be all that good but make sure you can build in your AMD pross and that the graphic card fits like pci-e/agp
*like the cooler on the processor try to get a average one im not sure about wichone with that but salman is a good brand

also i cant tell you the best website to buy it because again i dont live in the UK but those things you can get any comp store if you build it yourself
if you want to get a complete sry i dont know a good store
maybe takky can help you with that one

wel i hoped this helped you a bit to get a idea of what kind of system you should get
the things i named above are not the best of the best but all for a reasonable price and you will have a great comp that can run all games smooth
if you really have lots of money to spare
i can setup a even better system for you ;D

[Lilandrael]

Ooh that was really helpfull. I've been told that it would be wise to build my own, instead of getting a pre-built one. I'm after a desktop this time instead of a laptop - moving into my own place so will have space for one.

All I needed to know was what sort of processor/graphics card/ram etc to get, or to look out for. And you pretty much answered that for me.

Haha unfotunately I don't have oodles of money to spend, this is all a pre-thought. I don't actually get paid for another month. >_< But thanks a lot, it's will definitely help me when get I get round to dishing out the money. ^^

[taklinn]

Have a look at www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Its a UK based manufacturer, this is where I got my new comp from
check it out to see what they build as they do build some nice desktops and alot cheaper then the dell site. Its cool because you can choose everything that goes in it right down from an empty tower upwards even if you don't get one from here may give you some ideas of how much the one your looking for is going to cost as you can choose everything you want and you'll get an online quote for it.

You could also get advice from PC Specialists support/technical team contact info is on their site. If your going to go down that route register on their website it will be easier for them to contact you then.

Note: the more processors and the better the graphics card the better the cooling system you need i.e big 120mm fans and also the more fans you need to stop it from overheating. Also note Nividia Graphics cards are supported in more games then ATI is currently.

If you want to build your own you can get hardware from here:- www.ebuyer.com/

Heres what i have in my rig currently: -

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM note: you need 4gb of ram to run windows vista if your getting that. Im only on xp atm.
Graphics Card name: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 512mb.

[taklinn]

Pre-built is not always bad we just only hear from people about the bad stuff. Pcspecialist collect it repair it (if you cant repair the hardware problem yourself) and return it back to if your under warranty.

if your unsure about whether a pre-built you can upgrade them etc and have room in the case to do so pc specialist do alot of tower cases look at their descriptions to see whether they do have space the one i went for is:- The Trident case mainly because some of the caes they do i could not afford and the system specs above is what i could afford at the time.

Also note whatever you do dont get an Intel Celeron they are not gaming processers. I prefer AMD athlon coz they're built for gaming.

I can run LOTRO, Guildwars, World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons Online and all other online MMPORG's out there so far. I still get lag but thats because I'm on wireless on my pc at present.

[taklinn]

I suggest a graphics card that is 512mb or higher for good performance.

[Lilandrael]

Wow thanks so much! I've heard of pc specialist before, but couldn't quite remember where. That's such a huge help. Especially if I can build it on the website and see the cost. I know that dell do that, but I found that dell also limits you on what you can choose from. Plus, an ex of mine got a dell pre-built and a huge amount of things went wrong with it.

I'm going to have a good gander at it shortly, and spend some time having a good look round. Thanks again and i'll let you all know how I get on. ^_^

*Bounce*

[Lilandrael]

Right so I had a look and this is where I've got so far.

Processor (CPU) - AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz) 2 x 1MB L2 Cache (Socket AM2)

Memory (RAM) - 4GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard - ASUS® M2A-VM: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, x16 VGA, 2 x PCI

Operating System - 64 BIT WINDOWS® VISTA Home Premium (inc CD & License)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk - 320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)

Graphics Card - 512MB RADEON HD 2600 PRO PCI Express + DVI

Power Supply & Case Cooling - 500W (Peak) Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling - SUPER QUIET 22 dBA AMD CPU COOLER

Now I can't decide whether to go vista or xp. I'm using vista at the moment and I don't seem to have many problems with it, but I'm wondering whether it might be worth just getting xp because, well to be honest I prefer it to vista, it runs a lot smoother.

But anyhoo, that's as far as I've got so far - and with a monitor etc thrown in it is so cheep I almost bought it there and then! Any suggestions on how I could improve it would be welcome. Or am I going along the right lines here.

[taklinn]

Wow nice one I could only afford 160gb hard drive in my rig hahaha

Nice one nice specs there better than mine in ram and hard drive space lol

Just so that you know I have had probs with my radeon card but that was due to my drivers not installing properly but that was my fault because I didnt manage to wipe all files before updating my drivers.

I havent had a thermal issue as far as i know yet *touch wood*

The Power supply unit you get from pc specialist has an additional fan that blows cool air onto your motherboard which is handy.

[taklinn]

A good handy free bit of software is Driver Cleaner Pro you can find it on the net. Its a handy bit of software to wipe all ATI Radeon old drivers off your PC before you install new updated ones thus not having card probs when playing LOTRO for example like I did have before I got this piece of software.

[Lilandrael]

Ah I see! I shall keep that in mind when I get round to buying it. Won't be for a good while yet, so I'll probably be bobbing back and forth to this thread to remember what I picked. >_<

[PhantomStorm]

get vista for lotro direct x 10 graphics =)

[Lilandrael]

Yep i planned on doing that. I don't get any problems using vista at the moment, so i dont see why I would on a new desktop. Direct X 10 here i come!

[PhantomStorm]

or you could get xp and vista, and partition your hardrive, e.g say you have 500gb hd, then 250gb vista, and 250gb xp