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Topic: Computer Buying Help

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V8_Ninja

I have a pretty slow computer (a Dell Inspiron E1501, to be exact) that can't play a whole lot of modern day games. I am looking to buy a new computer specifically designed for gaming purposes. I have found two different computers that fit my price range and my needs; The Velocity Micro Edge Z5 and the Velocity Micro Edge Z30. I'm debating whether I should get one or the other. If I choose the Z5, I would be saving a good chunk of money for the cost of it possibly getting dated fast (AKA I couldn't play games that came out in 2012 on the lowest resolution at 60 FPS). If I went with the Z30, I'd have a good enough graphics card and processor for it to last a long time but for the cost of price (Keep in mind that I'm looking for a sub-$1,400 desktop that's very good for gaming). Other suggestions would be very much appreciated, but keep in mind what I'm looking for;

#1. A Sub-$1,400 Price-Tag

#2. It Can Run Modern-Day Games

#3. It Will Last for a Good Time (1/2-1 1/2 Years)

Recommendations are welcome and thanks in advance.

EDIT: Number 3 changed due to the fact that I Starkiller pointed out that technology gets outdated pretty fast.

Edited on by V8_Ninja

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Namo

I suggest a Mac, dual-loaded with Windows 7. Yeah, thats possible.

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Impresario

Hmm $1400 is a nice chunk of change to build your own. Maybe try an older 680i board and a quad core set up? Also can you use you old mouse, monitor, keyboard, dvd drive, etc, this really helps in keeping the cost down.

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V8_Ninja

@Impresario I actually would build my own computer due to the fact that I could get very good parts for much less. But the thing is I have absolutely no knowledge of how computers are built. I'm also one of those people that have some weird condition/curse where if I worry about something it comes out fine but if I don't worry about something it comes out terrible. And on top of that, I've heard that some assembly of certain parts need to be so precise that if you mess up by a little, you've basically wasted a couple hundred dollars. It's just not the thing for me.

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Starkiller

When it comes to computers... they're outdated fast. Very fast. I really don't think you should be deciding based on how long it can keep up with the video game market. If you really must though, you should be able to upgrade the graphics card or whatever you need. If you take the first option (the cheaper one), you'd live fine off games coming out now and in the near future, that's just my 2 cents though.
Me, I'm using Dell Dimension 3100, 5(ish) years old. Believe me, I'm living well. After a graphics card upgrade, it stopped playing video games at around... Red Alert 3.

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V8_Ninja

@Starkiller Thanks for the insight. So, the important thing in the long run is that I should be able to change graphics cards, right?

Edited on by V8_Ninja

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Astraea

Have you ever heard of Asus? It's a computer brand specifically designed for gaming and you can easily get the second best laptop they have or the best desktop (I would not recommend the desktop because they are huge).

I do not own an Asus labtop but my friend sure likes his, the resolution and speed on it are impressive. The only problem I find are the blue lights on the sides; I believe most Asus laptops have it but the lights can be adjusted.

Astraea

V8_Ninja

@Ray_Silver I'm typing this comment on one of Asus' netbooks right now and for the year that I've had it, it's pretty good. I didn't know that they made game-specific computers though. I'll definitely look at what they have.

And on a side note, does anybody know the major difference between dual core processors and quad core processors? I know that a dual core has two "cores" and a quad core has four "cores", but from what I can tell, it makes no difference to anything except for how well multiple programs run which isn't really what I'm going for.

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Impresario

Building a computer is like building a Lego set. Everything fits together 1 way. Sure there are compatibility issues and some of the newer vid cards are very long and sometimes cover Sata slots, but that's why you read forums to hear about these problems. All you really need to know is the difference between Amd and Intel chips.

The Internet is full of How-to articles like this one = http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_build_awesome_p...

The only way to learn is to try, My 1st REAL build was an Asus board with a Pentium D with 2 gigs of ram (can't remember the video card). It's really great fun.

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Starkiller

V8+Ninja wrote:

And on a side note, does anybody know the major difference between dual core processors and quad core processors? I know that a dual core has two "cores" and a quad core has four "cores", but from what I can tell, it makes no difference to anything except for how well multiple programs run which isn't really what I'm going for.

You seem to get the idea already, except multiple cores can be used for one program (I think, but I know that's true for newer programs at least). So, a quad core CPU quadruples a single-core's processing speed (unless they're slower).

And yeah, it's be good to be able to upgrade. My computer really HATED upgrading, so maybe you'd want to look into that. But this field goes beyond me. :/

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V8_Ninja

@Impresario Thanks for that! It definitely makes me think things over.

@Starkiller What was the biggest problem for you when started replacing you graphic card(s)?

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Starkiller

Well, it was partly ignorance, but I don't see how we could have known beforehand. When I put my graphics card in, my CPU refused to start, because it didn't have enough power to boot up - not that we knew that at the time. Once we found out, we had to upgrade THAT too, but not too bad, it was only 20 dollars or so. Also, the motherboard only had two slots (don't know what they're called ) to put in certain things, and one was already taken, so that'll make it hard to do anything with it again, unless I decide to buy a new motherboard. Not gonna happen in the near future.

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Impresario

Heh that may happen the 1st time around Starkiller. Really though, sites like these have the basics of computer hardware.
http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/

Head over to Newegg.com and start going through the parts and read the specs and reviews form other builders. Spend a few weeks and get up to speed on the different pieces of the puzzle.

Oh and btw, I am guessing your talking Pci slots heh.

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V8_Ninja

@Impresario Thanks for posting that "Building Gaming Computers" website link on here. It gets straight to the point with all the technical parts of computers. I'm definitely going to build a computer now.

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Ravage

I've been looking into it (haven't decided to build one yet because I'm not sure if I have the money) and the most important thing is the motherboard. If you get a good motherboard, you can easily upgrade it without having to worry about slots. When selecting the processor, it is a very tough decision, but it is worth knowing that Intel has a new slot type for like every new processor of theirs, so it makes it really difficult to upgrade your processor in the future. AMD tends to use one type for a little while, so you should get an upgrade in later. That's not guaranteed of course
Make sure you get enough slots for various things, etc. Right now, from what I hear, the best video card for your money is an HD uh...I can't remember now. It has support for DirectX 11 (unlike current NVidea) and you can upgrade to crossfire (two cards) in the future (assuming your motherboard supports it). So choose your motherboard based on what you want, and if you don't have a ton of money to spend, choose one that will allow upgrades in the future.

EDIT: I think it was HD 5900 or something similar to that.

Edited on by Ravage

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Starkiller

Impresario wrote:

Oh and btw, I am guessing your talking Pci slots heh.

That's the one. I'm pretty sure there were things that were supposed to go with "PCI super-ultra express x8" slots while mine only had plain old PCI. Had a little trouble with that too.

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V8_Ninja

@Ravage I think you're talking about the Radeon HD 5900. I've been wondering about that too, but I have to think about the whole package. Saving money is my first priority.

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Impresario

The thing is that the "best" is only the best for so long. Build with what your budget allows. Imo spend the money on a MB and proc, these are the most important. Everything else can be swapped out when needed. Once you start swapping the proc that's when you get issues with operation systems and that dreaded (insert giant corporation name here) validation issues.

When it comes to SLI and Crossfire I prefer to use my money to go with one semi top of the line instead of two midline cards. Sure there features are great but atm there really isn't an advantage to running two in modern games. Sure the Nvidea sites state different and all the hardcore builders disagree but from my experience go with one card at the max you can afford. Hell i'm still running an original 8800GTS (hmm $600 when they 1st launched iirc) in this machine and it handles games just fine.

Running an Evga 680i board, C2D 2.66 e6600 oc'd to 3.4, 2 gigs of corsair 800 mhz ram, and my Evga 8800gts 640 mb, built this 4 years ago and it still handles games just fine.

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Vendetta

You can go prebuilt, there's a ton of excellent deals out there. If you're looking to future-proof your investment as best you can, research the bus and RAM speeds. You can upgrade video cards, amount of memory, your hard drive, and even processors in the future, but the bottleneck will always be bus speed. 1400 will get you very far these days.

Vendetta

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