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The Rebel Faction » Forums » General Discussion » Rebel Cafe » Computer advice needed

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Park Kraken
1  11:19pm 28/07/07        
Back with a Vengeance
Ok, I'm looking for a new computer, since my old one died. (first power supply, now either RAM or video card is bad). I want something cheap (200-300$) that has at least the same gaming capacity as my old system.

Old System stats:
3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Celeron Processor
256 MB RAM
GeForce 5500FX video card

I'm thinking of ordering a barebones computer off of E-bay, any number to choose from, but my question is this:

Will a:
1.4 GHz Dual Core Processor

have at least the same processing power as my old Celeron processor? As for the other stats, the video cards and 1 Gig of Corsair RAM seems more than adequate. I'll just transfer my old hard drive, sound and networking cards, plus CD-ROM and DVD drives over, don't want to bother reinstalling all the software crap anyways.

So, advice on what to get in order to have at least similar peformance, preferrably better, on a low budget?
Daemon Hyfe
2  2:58am 29/07/07        
The Emperor<br> Almighty Bastard
You want a $200 gaming computer...?

I'm confused.
Death_Stalks_Thee
3  2:59am 29/07/07        
Nothingness
Might be hard to find a gaming computer for only $200, sry.
Into doom we fight, but in glory we die
Irtar's Best Friend, Irtar
4  5:32am 29/07/07        
The Slothful Padawan
He's after a computer that can game as well as his old one. Not a gaming computer. :P

AKA he's after similar stats.

WELL, the beauty of dual core processing is that it allows you to run two processes at the same time. In reality, it's two processors in one unit. Now the problem is this: Do you plan to run just one major process at a time or multiple things at once?

If you're using Windows, dual cores are awesome since the Windows crap in the background is half the reason you need to rev up the processing. The newer the Windows, the worse it is for this.

But since you're asking this question, I bet you're not working in a UNIX-based environment.

SO, my suggestion is a pre-built rig with no monitor. Dell has some for a decent price. I suggest Dell just because they have some of the best warranties out there. The problem is that everything comes with the devil that is Vista. But you could always just format the damn thing when you get it. :P

Something like this should do beautifully

http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ca&CS=cadhs1&l=en&OC=D531A2V_F_4E

/end geek
Death_Stalks_Thee
5  5:37am 29/07/07        
Nothingness
Ok, nvm then sry misunderstood. :P

Also for the video card, i think they got Invidia 6900s for like 50 bucks if you go to the right store, I almost bought that but ended up getting and Invidia 7600 myself.
Into doom we fight, but in glory we die
Irtar's Best Friend, Irtar
6  6:02am 29/07/07        
The Slothful Padawan
Nvidia. >_>

And yes. I don't like ATI video cards or Intel processors. I like my machines with Nvidia video and AMD processors. AMD has always been a step above Intel in terms of quality for gaming, and I've had nothing but trouble with ATI drivers.
Morgan Evanar
7  6:14am 29/07/07        
A Very Questionable Potato

And yes. I don't like ATI video cards or Intel processors. I like my machines with Nvidia video and AMD processors. AMD has always been a step above Intel in terms of quality for gaming, and I've had nothing but trouble with ATI drivers.
Core2Duo is faster in almost every single benchmark, and the Radeon X1xxx always outdid the Geforce 7xxx cards in terms of image quality, and traded in terms of speed. You don't really know what you're talking about.
Like I said at fans, save another $300 and then I can actually tell you to buy something worth buying.
Daemon Hyfe
8  10:31am 29/07/07        
The Emperor<br> Almighty Bastard
I was going to say... $200 is a good price for just a dual core processor to run a decent computer.

I can't imagine trying to run any game made in the past 5 years on a machine < $500.
Park Kraken
9  10:39am 29/07/07        
Back with a Vengeance
I'm just looking for a gaming type computer capable of running Battlefield 2 or WoW at their recommended or slightly better specs than recommended.

Those specs are a 2.4 GHz Processor, 1 Gig of RAM, as for graphics cards, a card that has 256 MB of RAM. Give me that, and I'll be happy.

EDIT: And I don't want Vista. I don't care what anyone says, I love my Windows XP and want to keep it.
Park Kraken
10  11:33am 29/07/07        
Back with a Vengeance
Well I will probably go to computer renassiance and see what all they recommened, plus talking to my sister's fiance to see what he thinks, since he built his own gaming computer.

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