[Sickness335]

Hi, I'm looking into buying a new gaming computer. The Computer I have now has some problems, and is somewhat slow on the new games coming out such as Star Trek Online. I want a computer that is under $1000, and can last me a good 5-10 years. What do you guys recommend?




Here are my computer specs:

Motherboard: Antec Sonata II
OS: Windows XP Service Pack 3
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Hard Drive: 1 TB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy

Edited by Sickness335, 30 January 2010 - 10:48 AM.

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To be honest, you could get much better gaming performance by upgrading your processor to a dual core Windsor series and upgrading your video card to a GTS 250. I had a similar situation, except I had a single core 2.1ghz and a 7300GS. I upgraded my processor to the Windsor 6400 dual core @3.2ghz, and upgraded my video card to an 8800GTS 512 (2 yrs ago), and my gaming is still strong for most games. But, if you're really looking to get a new PC, I can give you a suggestion. I gathered from your post that you will be buying a premade system, so I won't post EVERY part, just the important ones.

Case: Coolermaster Elite 310

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66ghz (Quad Core)

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz

Video Card: GTS 250 1GB

Every other part is up to you, but a system with those three base components should handle 90% of games out right now at great visual quality.

[dnaghitorabi]

To be honest, you could get much better gaming performance by upgrading your processor to a dual core Windsor series and upgrading your video card to a GTS 250. I had a similar situation, except I had a single core 2.1ghz and a 7300GS. I upgraded my processor to the Windsor 6400 dual core @3.2ghz, and upgraded my video card to an 8800GTS 512 (2 yrs ago), and my gaming is still strong for most games. But, if you're really looking to get a new PC, I can give you a suggestion. I gathered from your post that you will be buying a premade system, so I won't post EVERY part, just the important ones.

Case: Coolermaster Elite 310

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66ghz (Quad Core)

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz

Video Card: GTS 250 1GB

Every other part is up to you, but a system with those three base components should handle 90% of games out right now at great visual quality.

[Sickness335]

Thanks for responding. I actually decided about an hour ago I'll get a new Graphics card, PSU, motherboard, and case.

Here's what I got, tell me what you think:

Case $94.99
NZXT CS-NT-ZERO-2 Zero 2 SERIES ATX
http://www.zipzoomfl....tCode=10011772

MB $109.99
ASUS M4N72-E AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.co....annel&CMP=OTC-

VIDEO $100
EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130535

CPU $60.99
AMD Athlon II X2
http://www.newegg.co....AMD-_-19103687

Edited by Sickness335, 30 January 2010 - 10:33 PM.

[SpaceInvader75]

I just wanted to add a comment about the computer lasting 5 or 10 years. I think that is probably an unrealistic goal: It is possible for the computer to last that long, but the technology will likely be obsolete by then. I'm not saying you won't be able to use it at all, but eventually you run out of upgrade options and you will want to play better games on it, and possibly run a newer operating system. That's why I don't buy the newest technology as soon as it comes out, since the value drops so quickly.

Edited by SpaceInvader75, 18 February 2010 - 02:39 AM.

[SpaceInvader75]

I just took a quick look at your system specs and I have a similar system, which does OK for games, but I already need to upgrade it again.

I have exactly the same graphics card I think. One reason I picked it was EVGAs support, because I originally bought another card by another manufacturer that had good reviews but it didn't work out of the box. I was able to return it but before I could return it I had to talk to the manufacturer to confirm that card was bad. What made this difficult is that there was no USA phone support.

This card seems to run Unreal Tournament 3 well and it runs GTA IV, but not quite so well. The frame rate is low, and I have read the game is buggy, but sometimes it will start to lag to the point it is unplayable. This doesn't happen every game, so I'm not 100% sure it is my system, but going by the frame rates this game could use a better card. My system meets the requirements for Call Of Duty Modern Warfare, but it's not optimal for that game, and I haven't actually tested it (I think the video card would run it OK, if I remember correctly).

I think that this video card is a good deal for the money but if you are spending up to $1000 I would spend more on the video card. In my opinion that's probably the most important part of a gaming system, but I had to upgrade to dual core and better power supply at the same time so I couldn't really afford a better one.

Upgrading my system from a single core to dual core and and adding this video card was a huge improvement as far as gaming goes. Before that the best game I could with the built in graphics was the original Fable. Not very impressive considering that would run on the original xbox, but I didn't expect to do much gaming with built in graphics; I needed a new computer and $400 was all I could spend at the time.

You might want to consider this AMD cpu here:

AMD Athlon II X4 620

At under $100 it is has to be one of the best deals as far as performance to money ratio. If I have the money to upgrade my computer any time soon this is what I will be buying.

[SpaceInvader75]

I found this video card. I know there's only 1 review here but I've found other reviews for it. I think it would be worth spending the extra money on:

HD 4890

Edited by SpaceInvader75, 19 February 2010 - 10:05 AM.