BadAim Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Tonar, the 8600 is crap......don't even consider it. The 9600 might be worth a gander though. I've heard that some of the 8800 GT's are going for $150 or so - serious bang for the buck. The mini ATX should go into your case fine, but it will be cramped. I would be hesitant to buy an aspire power supply, see if you can get a Thermaltake, antec, corsair or something along those lines, if you look for sales you can get a good price. My best advice is to be pacient, you've lived with your present computer this long, a couple of weeks of research won't kill you. You will have to live with any mistakes much longer than that. PS I'm really sorry if I sound like your father, it's old age setting in and I really can't help myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAim Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 For instance, this might be a better choice for a motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128337 It is fullsize, has lots of features and still has an intel chipset, and it's still pretty cheap. and this power supply is name brand, high power and pretty cheap (just sans bells and whistles) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-Homepage. Just trying to put the slow down and study bug in your ear. I've rarely regretted doing my homework, I've often regretted jumping on that can't pass up deal. There I go again......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 My best advice is to be pacient, you've lived with your present computer this long, a couple of weeks of research won't kill you. I know, I told myself that last night. I am many weeks (3-5) away from doing anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAim Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 My best advice is to be pacient, you've lived with your present computer this long, a couple of weeks of research won't kill you. You will have to live with any mistakes much longer than that. Well, I wouldn't take any of my advice, as I can't even spell patient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 me neither Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Tonar , you are doing the right thing by being patient. Do your homework, Newegg is a great place to start, besides their learning center, they have the best customer service in the business. I bought all my parts for my new rig through Newegg, and have nothing but praise for them. Also don't go with the 8600 GT spend the extra on a 8800 it is worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2008 After doing some budget exercises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAim Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 That happens sometimes. I recommend keeping up with the hardware, so that you'll be prepared to snap up the deals as the funds become available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 or I can go the Bestbuy rout and be able to get 12 months 0% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 What do you guys think about this? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 7957307299 I would add a nice video card, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blairgowrie Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 Tonar m8. You are only going to get what you pay for. Gateway uses some low quality stuff. I bet the power supply is low end. Much better to custom build even although you have to wait a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 Tonar m8. You are only going to get what you pay for. Gateway uses some low quality stuff. I bet the power supply is low end. Much better to custom build even although you have to wait a while. I am pretty wary of mass produced PCs, they typically use fairly lower quality parts as Blairgowrie mentioned. However, they do buy all their parts in bulk and typically get things at a much lower price than what you are able to buy them for, even over the web. Also, they typically don't make very much money on the hardware, but make their profit by bundling in all sorts of third party crap that you can uninstall, extended warranties and service fees, and Microsoft even pays them for every copy of windows that they ship (or so I hear) A couple of things: check the power supply, if it is less than 500 watts, you may have trouble with running a good video card with it. Check the motherboard brand, is it a no-name board? Or is it a brand like ASUS, DFI, Gigabyte? Make sure the case uses the ATX form factor standard, not something else. Also, with 3 gigs of memory it is likely running 1GB dimm + 2 GB dimm, so the memory won't be running in dual channel mode.  It comes with Vista, so you may have some fun getting TrackIR+joysticks+IL-2 working on it (or it may all work perfectly, who knows!) All-in-all, this bundle is a pretty good deal, and seems like it could be a decent computer with a new graphics card.  If you are hot-to-trot on a new rig, this will probably suit you fine (if you get a good video card). Keep in mind, you won't be getting the performance of building it with better parts yourself, but that is to be expected by saving a few hundred bucks. I think the general consensus you will find among the PC hardware enthusiasts you ask (such as myself and Blairgowrie), building with parts you put together will give you more performance and better longevity. However, if you have never built a PC from scratch, buying a bundle like this and replacing the parts as needed may be a better option than buying all the parts for your own build, and making a costly mistake while mounting the CPU. Just like buying your the parts individually, the key here is to do your research and be patient! Find out the parts its built with, google them, look for reviews (I tend to not look for reviews, as they are always glowingly positive, but google for terms like "Gateway AMD X2 6000 unable to boot" or, "Gateway AMD 6000 problem", where you find posts by users experiencing trouble rather than reviews that the company PR machine paid to have put in PC World) Good luck! Stingray Edit: oh I forgot to add, with a powerful enough video card, it should get you to "perfect" graphics. Getting to perfect with IL-2 typically doesn't take that much actually, the game was written so many years ago that the graphics it uses are kind of dated. Playing perfect at a high frame rate on some of the super detailed custom maps I have seen... well, that remains to be seen. Just keep in mind the screen resolution you are planning on running, the higher the resolution, the more powerful of a graphics card and computer you will need. Running 1024x768? No problem. Running 1280x1024, this computer should be fine. Running widescreen 1600x1000 maybe starting to push this a little bit, running 1920x1200 may not be do-able with good frame rates, but again, depends on the video card you choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 Thanks Guys, still in looking mode, and deciding on my LAF (Lazy Ass Factor) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 Went back to newegg and filled my shopping cart again. Kept it under $600 (not including the graphic card) Here is what I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klinger Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 Looks a good system m8. I would spend a little more on the PSU though. The reviews for that one were mixed. It can damage your system if it fails. This is the cheapest I'd buy from Neweggs selection: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 my money must have gotten hot and dry because it some how evaporated !! Looked it up on google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldtimer Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 Hi Tonar, I've recently gone through this exercise - it only took about 12 months! Anyway, I ended up with: Antec 900 case Foxconn X38a Mobo E8400 Cpu 2Gb 1066Ghz DDR2 Ram Corsair 750W PSU ATI 4850 Video card Windows XP Pro and various bits from my old machine. Spec was assembled with help from BG, Quazi, Klinger and BBloke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconise Posted August 26, 2008 Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 For memory, make sure to get DDR2 667 memory, because of the base clock speed of 333 in a 1333 FSB motherboard, DDR2 667 memory will run at 2x the base frequency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconise Posted August 26, 2008 Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 Health warning - this assumes you adopt my basic philosophy for all things computery - ie if it ain't broke, try to fix it a bit better. OMG, if I could only avoid that myself! I constantly break things trying to fix them a bit better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 For memory, make sure to get DDR2 667 memory, because of the base clock speed of 333 in a 1333 FSB motherboard, DDR2 667 memory will run at 2x the base frequency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Thanks Falconise, I have to read that a couple more times to get more out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconise Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Ahhhh, to be wrong about something computer related... oooh, the shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconise Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Thanks Falconise, I have to read that a couple more times to get more out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blairgowrie Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 I have to say I really enjoy reading your stuff Falconise. You definitely know what you are up to although I suspect you are a few steps ahead of me, especially on the ram. Do you belong to a squad? For some reason I relate you to the Fightin' Irish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonar Posted August 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 And he can type!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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