Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

OK, the topic is somewhat misleading, but I got a nice amount of cash coming my way next week and I'm planning to get a new PC out of it. I can't begin to figure out what's wrong with my existing PC (aside from it just being old). So I'm not gonna be dealing with this PC much longer.

I'm looking for a PC that can capably run FFXI and WoW, but not a gaming PC. This PC would be more for Photoshop CS2, web-browsing and the like, but I'd like to draw some inspiration from MMOs in my Photoshop projects, so I think I'd want a PC that can run them.

Plus it'll free up my TV for console games on occasion. /cheer.

I'm not really looking to build a PC, though, just trying to find a good PC for about $500 to $750 that would meet these needs. I'd also like to know which dual-core processors are better, if there really is a big difference between Pentium and Athlon.

[Mhurron]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

There is no difference between a design PC and a 'Gaming' PC. Chances are anything made in the last few years will be more then enough.

which dual-core processors are better - Core 2 Duo's

if there really is a big difference between Pentium and Athlon - There is if you benchmark the hell out of it or have extremely stringent requirements. Practically, you won't see any difference.

[Feba]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

bbq, if all you want is something that can play ffxi and WoW, nearly any computer you see will, unless you look for ones that won't.

Photoshop is a bit more complicated, but just go for that extra bit of RAM over a nicer graphics card.

Are you planning on getting Vista, or XP?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

Well, since you brought up Wacom Tablets, I have been thinking about a more hand-drawn approach and this would suit that all the better. What's a good, affordable type of tablet?

Feba, I'm gonna try for XP. Everyone I know that has Vista complains about it, even my family gripes about it, and for FFXI's sake it sounds like the best thing since Vista appears to clash with FFXI.

[Feba]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

oh, and don't buy ATI. Seriously, I got one once, caused nothing but trouble. Never heard a single good thing about them, either.


and yes mhurron it caused troubles on windows too before you say anything.

[Ameroth]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

Just get a decent processor. Doesn't even need to be a fancy dual-core. PS is processor intensive, much more so than FFXI is going to be. Get at least 1GB of RAM and a decent proc.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

For FFXI performance, I'll say simply enough: Any Vista-ready computer will be overpowered by FFXI standards and quite enough, there's no need to invest significant money in raw power. Because the DRM infesting Vista is so computationally intensive, you need a fairly powerful system to do much of anything in Vista. Which means so long as you avoid Vista itself, a Vista-ready system will run circles around most older systems. If the very potential of TCPA-compatibility turns your stomach, there are still a lot of used systems from a few years ago that are also quite capable.

I ended up spending about $600 on building Meredith (and that included a number of false starts, hardware returns and such...) and it's powerful enough even with FFXI restricted to one CPU core (Creative's SB Live! driver and POL/FFXI sound don't work well together in an SMP environment) that I don't even notice lag from sandstorms at 1536x1536 texture resolution (AMD Athlon X2 6000+, don't remember if I got 1GB or 2GB DDR2, GeForce 7600 GT KO). My only complaint with the system is that I don't yet have 3D acceleration support in GNU/Linux (Never quite finished setting this up; I've been meaning to set up two separate X installs, one based on nVidia's GL and one using Nouveau+Mesa, but I just haven't had the time). I kinda miss my Radeon 8500 with its native DRI support, but I'll manage. Heck, a system this fast, I may be able to do an awful lot with pure software rendering anyway (said Radeon 8500 was originally purchased for a Pentium-II 400MHz box).

[Jarre]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

Basically any modern processor (except celeron) with a seperate graphics card of at least 256mb ram, 2Gb ram for the main computer and if you can still get a machine with a OEM version of xp, get it! you will need the ram for CS2 if you do anything special on it.

[DakAttack]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

My friend bought a nice refurbished PC from HP recently. Everything except the graphics card for $400.

[Malacite]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

You're talking about two major shifts in focus here...


A PC that's built for multimedia applications is going to have different priorities over a gaming PC. That said, FFXI really doesn't need much to run.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

A good CPU with RAM enough for Photoshop will be more than good enough for FFXI.

If you're serious about PS, hard drive speed may be another consideration. (More so if you ever want to branch to video.) I'm not so sure about video cards; seems like most of the silicons on GPUs are spent on 3-D acceleration rather than 2-D acceleration, though I think modern OS's like MacOS X 10.4+ (or is that 10.3+?) and Windows Vista can take advantage of things like the texture memories for 2-D uses.

PS is a strange beast, though, so ask the experts on what it can use in terms of hardware. If you'll be taking a class for Photoshop, it'd be good ask the instructor for advices on what kind of hardware to get.

If you have a knowledgeable friend who can put together a PC for you, that's probably the best bet--certain better than buying random boxes from consumer companies.

[Caspian]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

If you're plan on playing WoW on it, I have a bit of info. I put WoW on my desktop and within 2 minutes of playing, it froze. The whole pc froze, and whenever I try running it, it freezes up within a few minutes. I went to the wow boards and there were quite a few people having the same problem and it started right before I got the game. Its not enough people for blizz to apparently give a rat's ass, and their help people were fairly useless. Same canned answer to everyone's problem and it didn't help anyone. Anyway, there didn't seem to be any commonality between everyone with the problem. However, a lot of people did have an Nvidia 6800. And even after I removed wow from here, it still acts up occasionally. Basically, if you can avoid it, try a 7800 or something.

[Kuro]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

Of the Wacom tablets, the most affordable are either the Graphire or Bamboo line. I don't have much experience with either, but a 4x6 of either series should be around $100. I think they are trying to phase out the Graphire series, since you can't find the non-bluetooth versions on their online store.

The Intuos series are the more professional level ones with higher pressure sensitivity. Cintiq is just pornography.

http://www.wacom.com/bambootablet/

QFT

The Bamboo are pretty much the gateway to tablet glory. Yeah the Intuos is a lot better in quality, but unless you're a professional graphic artist you do not need one of these.

The bambo comes in 2 types, the normal sleep black version whch i have, and the Special play varity made for doing graphics. The Play version is a little big (stress little) and comes with a mouse and some spare nibs, but for the price tag, I just stay well clear of that price for an extra inch or two and a crappy little mouse ¬,¬

If you're starting out in the word of graphics tablets get a Bamboo normal, its hella cheap and hella good, wacom rarely ever break! Thats why I mine as i can take it into uni and don't have to be ultra carefull.

In a price range of $500 there is no reason you can'y get a PC and tablet that will do what you want. Not sure how good computer stores are around there, but I used to work for pc whors *lighting strikes as storm clouds gather* as a temp and I did see a lot of good choices made for people, so oh no no no you need this *points at 10' tall pc* to run minesweeper, going on.

[Effedup]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

For Proc, go with Intel...I've done a bit of side by side comparisons (since we have so many machines with both procs where I work), and all other factors aside, the Core2Duo's perform better. Granted, all these little tests were done with Vista, so your mileage running XP may vary a bit. A 2.4 GHz should do you just fine for Photoshop, provided you have enough RAM (like others have said, 2 gigs should be your starting point, just make sure you get the fastest RAM you can afford that your Mobo supports.

Given that you want to buy as opposed to building your own, I would check out the various models of HPs in your price range. They are decently spec'd for the money, and outside of some lesser concerns (comparitively weak vid cards for instance) they aren't too bad. Dell's can be decent, too, although I've been hearing a lot of horror stories from our customers lately about them; seems like there's no middle ground with them anymore, they're either great or they suck.

Is your current PC so old as to preclude upgrading? Honestly, that's usually the cheapest way to go...unless you are building from the ground up.

[Mhurron]

Re: Seeking new FFXI/WoW-worthy PC.

A PC that's built for multimedia applications is going to have different priorities over a gaming PC. That said, FFXI really doesn't need much to run.

Nope, same crap. Same Processor, same drive, same motherboard same RAM, same video card. There hasn't been a real difference between PC's and workstations for years now.

serious about PS, hard drive speed may be another consideration

This is true, but the nice thing is that it is very easy to deal with without having to resort to 15k SAS drives. An inexpensive SATA RAID controller and 4 drives (RAID 6 or 10) is very fast and photoshop will like it a lot. Now, unless you're using a lot of the system stressing filters, you don't even need that and a single SATA II drive is fast enough.