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Chyster

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Joined: 02/08/2005 20:26:37
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Pay the money to get what you want, 'cause if you don't, you get what you deserve.

It's better to wait until you get the scratch together to get the best.

If at first you don't friccasee, fry, fry a hen.
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320

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Joined: 10/11/2005 21:28:38
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Pyramidion wrote:
From what everyone has said I still am leaving my options open to a workstation because of how much more I could get for my money, but also I'd be able to upgrade in the future. If the intel graphics will have a problem with such games then I may want to shy away from these laptops because they don't have another option, but I'm glad the processor doesn't make too much difference due to its price. So "if" I looked at a workstation would I want to build it by pieces or go through a site to customize it? 


For that 1500 you were talking about, you could buy a budget laptop for around 700, and build a budget gaming rig with the rest. My comp, for example, is a 3 ghz celeron. I reused some parts, but even from scratch it would have totalled out at around $600.
Okinesu

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In response to the idea of a new rig, I whole-heartedly recommend a Shuttle system.

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320

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Pyramidion wrote:
From what everyone has said I still am leaving my options open to a workstation because of how much more I could get for my money, but also I'd be able to upgrade in the future. If the intel graphics will have a problem with such games then I may want to shy away from these laptops because they don't have another option, but I'm glad the processor doesn't make too much difference due to its price. So "if" I looked at a workstation would I want to build it by pieces or go through a site to customize it? 


If you can build your own comp, it will be cheaper to do it yourself and you have the luxury of choosing exactly which parts you want. Also, most small comp shops will take a bunch of stuff that you bought on your own and put it together for you for a couple hundred bucks.

You might also consider a barebones system. This is a case, motherboard, power supply, sometimes cpu and ram. They do the wiring and mount the motherboard so you just have to plug the rest of the stuff in, which is pretty straightforward. The biggest advantage is a greatly reduced risk of frying the motherboard because of improper procedures or mounting. This is the most common n00b mistake, but obviously a costly one.
Pyramidion

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Chyster wrote:
Pay the money to get what you want, 'cause if you don't, you get what you deserve.

It's better to wait until you get the scratch together to get the best. 


Well I'd love to wait and buy a super gaming machine , but I'm going to have to have this for when school comes up so I'd just like to get it to be the best I can get it for the price range.

I guess most of the suggestions I'm reading are having me lean more towards the workstation, buying the parts seperate may be the way to get more for the same price... I'm pretty friendly with our local computer store here so they would probably be able to install everything for a low price. Now I'm wondering what's the most important parts to having a high speed gaming machine for under the 1,500 mark? I was mostly looking at the memory, hard drive space, processor, and video card. Oh one other question too, this duel processor unit that UT2007 is supposed to use, is it quite expensive to have? And thanks for all these responses, they're really helping me out!
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Spacey

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Okinesu wrote:
In response to the idea of a new rig, I whole-heartedly recommend a Shuttle system


We have a couple of these over at the Ohio State Radio Observatory, and several companies I have worked for have had them, and while they seem neat, they have always ended up being a major PITA in the end. It is nearly impossible to upgrade these systems because they lack slots, and that form factor makes them nearly impossible to find things like replacement PS's for, as well as next to impossible to work on. Mind you, I think nothing about working on 1U rackmount PCs and other small form factor electronics, but working on these things is like trying to change the oil, oil filter and plugs on a sub-compact sized car.

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Okinesu

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Spacey wrote:

Okinesu wrote:
In response to the idea of a new rig, I whole-heartedly recommend a Shuttle system


We have a couple of these over at the Ohio State Radio Observatory, and several companies I have worked for have had them, and while they seem neat, they have always ended up being a major PITA in the end. It is nearly impossible to upgrade these systems because they lack slots, and that form factor makes them nearly impossible to find things like replacement PS's for, as well as next to impossible to work on. Mind you, I think nothing about working on 1U rackmount PCs and other small form factor electronics, but working on these things is like trying to change the oil, oil filter and plugs on a sub-compact sized car. 


*shug* mine's never had a problem and has worked like a champ

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Pyramidion

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Ok now that I'm looking at desktops I've found a local computer store that sells some nice packages from what I can tell... here's what they're offering...

1) Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
2) Motherboard w/USB 2.0
3) 1GB DDR2 Memory
4) 128 MB PCIe Video Card
Mid-Tower Case
5) 200GB SATA Hard Drive
6) DVD/CDRW Combo drive
7) 3.5" Floppy Drive
8: 56K V.92 Modem
9) Gigabit Network Card
10) 17" CRT Monitor
11) Optical Scroll mouse
12) Microsoft keyboard
13) 3-piece speaker system
14) Windows XP Home Edition
15) MS Word, Works, Money, Picture It!, Encarta, and Norton antivirus
TOTAL=$1198

I think it's pretty good, especially since I have not seen a package deal with a 200 GB hard drive. I looked into getting a AMD processor but they don't sell them. So does this seem like a good deal and how will it stand up in higher standard games?
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320

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Spacey wrote:

Okinesu wrote:
In response to the idea of a new rig, I whole-heartedly recommend a Shuttle system


We have a couple of these over at the Ohio State Radio Observatory, and several companies I have worked for have had them, and while they seem neat, they have always ended up being a major PITA in the end. It is nearly impossible to upgrade these systems because they lack slots, and that form factor makes them nearly impossible to find things like replacement PS's for, as well as next to impossible to work on. Mind you, I think nothing about working on 1U rackmount PCs and other small form factor electronics, but working on these things is like trying to change the oil, oil filter and plugs on a sub-compact sized car. 


In a business situation, I would agree. For a home PC I think they are okay.

About two weeks ago I built a home theater pc for a friend based on a shuttle bare bones and it was actually very easy to work on. I was dreading the project until we dug in. I think the newer ones are better designed but I haven't worked on an older one so I can't say for sure. The drive bays all hinge out. The power supply was external and passively cooled (no fan) so it was extremely quiet. Kind of like the mac mini. We had it fully up and running in about 45 minutes. Honestly, nothing got stuck or snagged or required houdini-like contortions.

If I was pressed for space or building a HTPC, I would definately consider a shuttle. We showed it to some female friends and one said, "Wow! That's sexy!" I have never heard a female describe computer hardware like that. And let's face it, mac is stylish but not really sexy.

Needless to say I'll be building my own shuttle htpc when I get the duckets.

But for a gaming rig, I'll stick to my mid-tower.



320

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Pyramidion wrote:
Ok now that I'm looking at desktops I've found a local computer store that sells some nice packages from what I can tell... here's what they're offering...

1) Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
2) Motherboard w/USB 2.0
3) 1GB DDR2 Memory
4) 128 MB PCIe Video Card
Mid-Tower Case
5) 200GB SATA Hard Drive
6) DVD/CDRW Combo drive
7) 3.5" Floppy Drive
8: 56K V.92 Modem
9) Gigabit Network Card
10) 17" CRT Monitor
11) Optical Scroll mouse
12) Microsoft keyboard
13) 3-piece speaker system
14) Windows XP Home Edition
15) MS Word, Works, Money, Picture It!, Encarta, and Norton antivirus
TOTAL=$1198

I think it's pretty good, especially since I have not seen a package deal with a 200 GB hard drive. I looked into getting a AMD processor but they don't sell them. So does this seem like a good deal and how will it stand up in higher standard games? 


That price is a bit steep. It could be fair, though, assuming they are using good components. The devil is truly in the details. Tell them to email the parts list to you and post that up for us to see. That motherboard could cost $50 or $200. If that P4 is based on their old core, it's much cheaper as well. Dual channel memory? The list goes on...

IMO, a system build is worth about $200. So when you total up the parts they are putting into it, again IMO, it should come to about $1000. Based just on those specs, I don't think that's the case but the model numbers will tell the tale.

Don't get discouraged because we're saying "no no no". We just don't want to see you get taken for your hard earned cashflow.
Continuum

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Joined: 03/09/2005 05:20:36
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If you are building on a tight budget make sure you get the best motherboard you can as everything else can be added/upgraded later without to much headache




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Pyramidion

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Joined: 02/21/2005 14:31:28
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ok, well I'm definately going to check out the specifics soon... My family has been buying from the company for years so they're pretty reliable on their product, but I'll make sure I post exactly what parts are possible before I buy... I'm glad there's so many people who know all about this hardware, I know what I'd like it to do, but have no idea what accomplishes that, lol... I'll be posting specifics soon
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Pyramidion

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Well I did check out the specs on the computer and I'm planning on customizing it which is where I could use a little help.
It's the same as before but I can explain it a little better.

1) Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor
2) Motherboard w/USB 2.0 This is a p4 640 d91560X but will soon be upgraded to a 94560X... I hope that those numbers make some sense, it is an Intel... most of their products are Intel also
3) 1GB DDR2 MemoryI'm going to upgrade this to 2GB's
4) 128 MB PCIe Video Card For this I'm definately upgrading to an NVIDIA card, but I'm not sure which... I would like one under $250 or $300... I'll be researching tonight, but any help would be great!
Mid-Tower Case
5) 200GB SATA Hard Drive
6) DVD/CDRW Combo drive
7) 3.5" Floppy Drive
8: 56K V.92 Modem
9) Gigabit Network Card
10) 17" CRT Monitor
11) Optical Scroll mouse
12) Microsoft keyboard
13) 3-piece speaker system
14) Windows XP Home Edition
15) MS Word, Works, Money, Picture It!, Encarta, and Norton antivirus I'm going to be dropping this for Microsoft Office, Excel, Powerpoint... which some of it I can get much cheaper through an IT adviser.
16)DVD burner
TOTAL=? $1300-$1600?

So now I'm looking for a video card upgrade, I'm looking at NVIDIA for the most part. So how does this look so far, any other suggestions? Thanks for all the help you've given me so far, it's been extremely useful!
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320

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Pyra, it all looks good for the most part. I would suggest that rather than 2 GB of memory, you put that money into a 19" monitor instead. 2GB might make a difference down the road with 2k7, but 1GB is easily enough for 2k4. I was running 2k4 with 384 MB at one point and only saw a small performance boost when I upped it to 768 MB.

Pyramidion

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Actually 320 I'm playing 2k4 with a 15 inch screen so a 17" would be pretty good for me... I'm kind of looking more into performance and longevity. I wanted to go to 2GB ram so It could handle most software out there like high games like Far Cry or Doom 3, I probably won't play those just Unreal, but I'm just looking towards future software. The other thing is that I'll be leaving to RIT soon (Rochester Institute of Technology) to major in Software Engineering so I may be using some high end graphics.. I hope ... so that's kind of my reasoning for going to 2GB rather than the monitor. I thought about it, but I think 17" will be perfect for me
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