The Help Secret Find A PC Thread!

[Secret]

Okay so I have a really old and crappy computer and I want to get a new one. My budget is about 500$ to 600$ dollars and I need to be able to run games like

LEFT 4 DEAD Left 4 Dead System Requirements - Left 4 Dead 411
TF2 Team Fortress 2 System Requirements at FreakyGaming

And I want to be able to at least play these games well so their not choppy. I do not need a monitor or keyboard or mouse I just need the tower and I am willing to go with a refurbished tower.

So can yall help me please thanks!

 

[maccracker18]

Right now im kinda a hp fan kinda person, so this is way biased... and probably even more so because i found it using best buy's finder function i would probably say this one looks decent, and for 529.99usd it doesn't sound like too bad of a deal.

 

[Fire2box]

AMD X2 64 4200+ @ 2.2 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 500 watt OCZ PSU, EVGA 8800 GT 512 MB of ram.


that's my rig right there and run both maxed out with about AAx4. however I would go with a newer CPU and a 4850 ATI GPU.

 

[Lil Snap]

Secret,

I bought THIS several months ago, and it is really good, I have no complaints, save one. The onboard graphics is not the best. The ONLY thing I am going to do to upgrade is pop in an ATI hd4870, but the less expensive 4670 or 4650 will probably meet/ exceed most games that aren't Crysis, or whatnot. Check the specs on this system, and you should be impressed, especially for $509.99! (It was $650 when I bought mine)

Some Specs:
#
Processor AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad- Core
#
Processor Speed 1.8GHz
#
System Bus 800MHz
#
Cache Memory 2MB on die Level 3
#
System Memory (RAM) 4GB
#
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 8GB
#
Type of Memory (RAM) DDR2
#
Hard Drive Type Serial ATA II (7200 rpm)
#
Hard Drive Size 640GB

 

[Fire2box]

Secret,

I bought THIS several months ago, and it is really good, I have no complaints, save one. The onboard graphics is not the best. The ONLY thing I am going to do to upgrade is pop in an ATI hd4870, but the less expensive 4670 or 4650 will probably meet/ exceed most games that aren't Crysis, or whatnot. Check the specs on this system, and you should be impressed, especially for $509.99! (It was $650 when I bought mine)

Some Specs:
#
Processor AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad- Core
#
Processor Speed 1.8GHz
#
System Bus 800MHz
#
Cache Memory 2MB on die Level 3
#
System Memory (RAM) 4GB
#
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 8GB
#
Type of Memory (RAM) DDR2
#
Hard Drive Type Serial ATA II (7200 rpm)
#
Hard Drive Size 640GB

That's a pretty weak CPU for a quad core. Even now most programs still don't use all 4 cores so really right now that's like having a 2 core 1.8 GHz CPU at this point in time. Not to mention TF2 doesn't even support multi-cores yet since Valve likes their DX8 users. Any gamer that's still on DX8 needs to get government assistance with buying a a half way decent GPU.

----------------
Now playing: Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna (Full Orchestral Remix)
via FoxyTunes

 

[Lil Snap]

That's a pretty weak CPU for a quad core. Even now most programs still don't use all 4 cores so really right now that's like having a 2 core 1.8 GHz CPU at this point in time. Not to mention TF2 doesn't even support multi-cores yet since Valve likes their DX8 users. Any gamer that's still on DX8 needs to get government assistance with buying a a half way decent GPU.

You know, I thought it might be weak too, but I have yet to really task it even playing Fallout 3 (my onboard graphics on the other hand...) the good thing is that even the black edition Phenoms aren't that expensive, and they pop right into this MOBO should I decide to upgrade.

 

[Gump]

Hahaha that one from Best Buy is pathetic.

Do you mind ordering off eBay?

edit: Yes I can get a comp that will run Fallout 3 nicely. Not like mine (Radeon 4830, E8500, 4GB of DDR3, Windows 7 64-bit, 60fps [capped] in Fallout 3 at 1280x1024 with 4xAA or ~20fps at 24xAA, which cost a good bit more than $650 but you'll be able to run Team Fortress 2 with 60+ fps in DX9 and at least 2xAA for $600.

 

[Secret]

I would rather not order off of Ebay for security reasons and past experiences.

 

[Darkfinn]

I know it's not really what you are looking for... but I got a killer deal on a new Compaq (by HP) laptop over the holidays...

Compaq CQ60Z, AMD Athlon X-2 Dual Core processor (2.0GHz), 3GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G, integrated wireless, etc.

Paid just under $500 for it shipped to my door. IDK what kinda prices they have on them now... but its a good unit.

 

[Angusmac]

Okay so I have a really old and crappy computer and I want to get a new one. My budget is about 500$ to 600$ dollars and I need to be able to run games like

LEFT 4 DEAD Left 4 Dead System Requirements - Left 4 Dead 411
TF2 Team Fortress 2 System Requirements at FreakyGaming

And I want to be able to at least play these games well so their not choppy. I do not need a monitor or keyboard or mouse I just need the tower and I am willing to go with a refurbished tower.

So can yall help me please thanks!

Go to Dell's site and search their "refurbished" hardware section, they have good deals there.

-Gus

 

[dampatnight]

Darkfinn: that graphics card is not for gamers.

My Recommendation would be a HD4850 from ATi and a Phenom2 by AMD or Core2 by Intel whereever you get more for your money. (probably best bang for the buck would be a Core2 Duo on P43 Chipset. Or and older P35 if thats significantly cheaper)

 

[Fire2box]

Darkfinn: that graphics card is not for gamers.

Not to mention Laptops aren't really meant for gaming and the ones that are turn out to be useless when the next video card generation comes out. Plus your going to have to be plugged into a wall anyways due to crappy battery life. You will be spinning your hard disc drive and/or disc drive, using your CPU to a major extent and will be straining your video card. Not to mention the screen and sound sucking up the power they require.

Of course I know your not into laptops for gaming anyways. At least not on my level of PC gaming.

 

[Jewbacca]

My Recommendation would be to build your own computer. Buying the parts off various sites.

 

[Gump]

I know it's not really what you are looking for... but I got a killer deal on a new Compaq (by HP) laptop over the holidays...

Compaq CQ60Z, AMD Athlon X-2 Dual Core processor (2.0GHz), 3GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G, integrated wireless, etc.

Paid just under $500 for it shipped to my door. IDK what kinda prices they have on them now... but its a good unit.

Darkfinn that is really not a good computer. It's a laptop, so it's not a bad price, but if that were in a desktop it would run you $300 USD max case and all.

 

[kevindhca]

Secret, just pull the crap parts out of your tower and install good parts.

I recently built myself a new computer this way, and the parts for the tower cost me about $300 CAN.
I got all the parts from Anitec computers.

It's an Asus mainboard M3N78-EM, AMD X2 2.6Ghz 5000+ CPU, 4 Gig RAM, Coolermaster system fan.

This mainboard has onboard Nvidia 8300 graphics, but if you want to run graphic intensive games, you will want to install a good dedicated graphics card.

 

[ajsco]

Have you considered buying components and building it yourself. I saved ~£150-£200 building mine compared to buying it straight off.

 

[ArcticFluffy]

I would save 1200$ building me a computer that costs me 800$ Build your own dude. SO much cheaper.

 

[Notsorandom]

Okay so I have a really old and crappy computer and I want to get a new one. My budget is about 500$ to 600$ dollars and I need to be able to run games like

LEFT 4 DEAD Left 4 Dead System Requirements - Left 4 Dead 411
TF2 Team Fortress 2 System Requirements at FreakyGaming

And I want to be able to at least play these games well so their not choppy. I do not need a monitor or keyboard or mouse I just need the tower and I am willing to go with a refurbished tower.

So can yall help me please thanks!

Mac mini - Apple Store (U.S.)
Plus one copy of windows.

I've got a Macbook Pro from 2006, 3 years old, and it wasn't even a top of the line laptop when I bought it. Runs windows XP, TF2 and L4D just fine. Course, I also always turn down graphics to minimum on any game I play just so I don't murder the machine...but this is on a 3 year old machine. The new mini's are pretty much equal to whatever laptops apple puts out now, and are much cheaper. And frankly, windows XP was rated at running the fastest on the laptop im using compared to any other windows laptop at the time.

 

[Fire2box]

Mac mini - Apple Store (U.S.)
Plus one copy of windows.

I've got a Macbook Pro from 2006, 3 years old, and it wasn't even a top of the line laptop when I bought it. Runs windows XP, TF2 and L4D just fine. Course, I also always turn down graphics to minimum on any game I play just so I don't murder the machine...but this is on a 3 year old machine. The new mini's are pretty much equal to whatever laptops apple puts out now, and are much cheaper. And frankly, windows XP was rated at running the fastest on the laptop im using compared to any other windows laptop at the time.

Again why do people run Windows on Macs? Isn't the whole point of paying 300-1000 dollars more just so you can use a OS that's NOT windows?

 

[Darkfinn]

Darkfinn that is really not a good computer. It's a laptop, so it's not a bad price, but if that were in a desktop it would run you $300 USD max case and all.

I believe the point that I was trying to make is that it wasn't a bad deal for a laptop. If I wanted a desktop I would have gotten one... but frankly I spend enough time sitting behind a PC at a desk at work every day... when I get home it's the last thing I want to do. So I got a laptop... it's thin, light, quiet, has good battery life, and (most importantly) I'm not tied to a desk with it.

But considering all you gurus want do just shoot me down over it I guess I'll keep my mouth shut from now on.