What Desktop?

[Murphie]

Re: What Desktop?

Or (shudder) Best Buy.

This one would work just fine. And if you don't need all the accessories (Monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer) you could go cheaper.

Just make sure you buy one that at least meets, if not exceeds the recommended specs for the game.

[koston]

Re: What Desktop?

Mog I PM'ed you.

[DakAttack]

Re: What Desktop?

Dell does give good deals, but they're basically school computers with just enough ability to run an internet browser.

If you're a gamer you'll want to pay attention to a few different points: RAM is important for smooth game play and graphical lag. A whole gig usually works very well. You'll want to make sure you know if you're using an AGP/PCI combo or AGP/PCI-E combo. Graphics cards are either made for AGP or PCI-E, PCI-E being slightly more efficient, and any other piece of hardware you buy will either be PCI or PCI-E so it's important to know. Do not buy a graphics card in a store, they're much cheaper on Ebay even if they're completely new in their original wrapping, which is the only way I'd buy it. Currently two good graphics cards are the GeForce 6800 and Radeon x800 from the two leading companies. They're both very pricey, so you can find something a little weaker for a better bang for your buck.

[Tirrock]

Re: What Desktop?

My dell has worked fine on FFXI for me. The important thing is to make sure it has a video card though. And I'd say RAM is very important too. Dell computers tend to have a silly low limit on how much RAM you can put on there. (Mine is 512MB...).

When looking at dell's website, check the maximum amount of RAM that they offer while you're "building" it on their website. Also make sure that you check to see if they have a section on the building page about upgrading your video card. If they don't have it, then that computer won't work for FFXI and you'll need a different one.

I'd guess that you could get a computer that runs this game well for under $800 pretty easily. It might not run brand new games very well (if at all) though.

I got my computer for $750 back in early 2003. I spent $200 on a video card upgrade later that year, and another $50 or so on another stick of RAM.

[Thrasher]

Re: What Desktop?

HardOPC buys new computers anonymously and tests builders quality service and performance so you might find a new company to look into buying a pc from. And fortunately for you this is a great time to build a computer so it could be a great time to buy a computer also.

Now there are two manufactures of processors you will run into AMD and Intel and two kinds of processors they make you will see single core and dual core. If you want the fastest computer for the lowest price AMD single core is the way to go. But if you run a virus checker/winamp/photoshop/and everything else at the same time then a dual core may be better.(and more then a gig of ram also)
My personal recommendations processor wise are for single core processors go with AMD Athlon 64 the best gaming processors for the price. They use less electricity so you computer produces less heat so your pc can be quieter.

If you want a (slightly) more (I hate these words btw) future proof
computer the best way to go would (on a tight budget) be a Intel dual core, I think a Pentium D 930 would be the best dual core processor for a budget PC. (its like 170dollars new so its not that costly) But the AMD 3800+ dual core would also be a great processor (more costly but other components cost less and uses much less electricity then the Intel so quieter)


Yes I do build my own systems and if you have limited technocal knoldge then it is best to buy a computer from a company that will support you.
And read there dell review before you buy from them.

[GIOVANI]

Re: What Desktop?

Make it easy on yourself, just goto ebay and get yourself ANY cheap tower, look for comething that is going to be able to use your paripharels.
My system below is what I built and I spent VERY little but its now worth more than 1,000$
I upgraded to MAX ram (2GB) for 180$ and sold the 256<B RAM on ebay for 20$
I Had 2 monitors from old computers, keyboard and mouse, power cord ect. so all I wanted was a cheap worling tower, oh yeah I had a copy of win XP Home i bought off ebay so I didnt need an OS installed which makes it SO MUCH more affordable.
I bought my Intel P4 2.53Ghz for 170$ plus new video card sound card and Ram upgrade the total I spent is 200(Tower) 180(Ram) 70(Video Card) 30(sound card) total 480 that includes S/H
what I looked for: I did not know about AGP so with that aside (try for at least ONE AGP slot on your Motherboard its faster and easy'r to get a video card for AGP card slots)
I needed 2Ghz +
upgradable ram (2GB is great)
power supply of at least 250w (some dell/toshiba run at 180w so not enough power)
and the other USB 2.0, Floppy, DVD, CD drives
PPS: Hard drive was secondary because if you do not notice you can buy USB hard drives for cheaper than upgrading HD, honestly I just didnt have the money so I opted for cheapness instead of user friendly hardware, but if you do have the money get more than 40GB HD space and trt for somthing with over 7,000 RMP, look at anything above 5,200 as fast and under that or equal as SLOW

I cannot stress enough ebay is where I bought everything for my PC and it works great, but winstalling win XP does take some finesse and the lack of software you may need to borrow or scroung for that extra needed software package to make your computer usable safe and of coarse fun to use to maintain a working machine for years to come.