computer advice

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ianuam

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Aug 28, 2008
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spazzattack said:
You need a computer with the following: A big hard drive(180 and +), lots and lots of ram (2-3gigs), a good video card, a good sound card, and if it's a laptop get a 17' screen.

If money isn't too big of a deal, Alienware makes top notch rigs.
2-3gigs isn't a lot of ram. Also, for gaming for the love of god don't get a Laptop, you'll regret it. Desktops are better for gaming for a multitude of reasons. Go read Eggo's thread, there's a lot of good information in there :)
 

Jamanticus

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Sep 7, 2008
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Eggo said:
Aries_Split said:
I forgot we were talking about OS.

64 bit is a more complicated architecture than 32, and many operations are gonna have some problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64

Many operations? Then how am I and many other Vista 64 users able to even function?

Again, do you have any specific examples?
So, having a 64 bit OS might not be a bad thing?

I've been divided (just like so many people I've seen here) about whether to get a 64 or 32 OS.....When I built my pc 6 months ago, I was advised to go with a 32, since iTunes wouldn't run on a 64..... Now that I think about it, though, a 64 doesn't sound that bad, considering that I have Vista, which already munches up a gig of RAM for its GUI.......And now that I've read the article on WOW64.....

Your thoughts, Eggo, Aries?
 

Elim Garak

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Jan 19, 2008
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Wait until Core i7 comes on the market, then get a quad core - even the slowest one does very well. Should be out within a few weeks I think.

I would go with 64-bit - been running XP since forever. Win7 seems to have decent perf though, so as soon as it comes out I am upgrading. All hardware for the past couple of years had 64-bit drivers, so don't listen to the other people wining. The only problems that I've had were with SecuROM DRM crap (2-3 games only though) - but a ton of people had problems with that on 32-bit as well. And cracks come out within 1-2 days of a game shipping, so that's not a big deal.

Anyway, get at least 4 GB of memory (although if you do 32-bit don't bother going above 3 GB). I would go with an ATI card - they have the hardware edge during this cycle. Plus I've found their drivers to be more stable.

If you've got the money, I would also get solid state OS drive. Boot time is way faster. If you have more money, do solid state RAID 0, but be sure to back up that drive regularly.
 

CrafterMan

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Aug 3, 2008
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Haha Eggo is a genius :) any advice from him is gold. I recommend anything Alienware, I work in Retail and to be honest I recommend Alienware over anything at the moment, pricy but damn well worth it, I know I may get criticism but Ive seen these systems work and damn are they fine.

Joe. :)
 

CrafterMan

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Aug 3, 2008
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? Even so, I find their machines well built and as far as I know the failure rate has been slim. I dont want to flame, but they are good systems my friend.
 

CrafterMan

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Aug 3, 2008
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But yeah if you have the expertise to build your own, Mr Groovy Pants is correct, and he no doubt has more experience than me, I was only saying that I have good experiences with Alienware, they have been reliable and powerful
 

antibonk

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Apr 10, 2008
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Its been said already. But www.newegg.com + Custom built = teh win sauce.

Ive been custom building the computers for myself and my wife for almost 10 years now. It is defiantly the way to go.

As far as 64bit vs 32bit O/S. If your going to have more than 2gigs of memory, go 64bit all the way. I switched on my last build, and the only compatibility issue I had was with my old laserjet printer does not work under 64bit XP. Other than that I have had 0 issues with switching.

Cheers
 

Elurindel

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Dec 12, 2007
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Well, contrary to popular belief, a processor is not as important as it used to be, so you can get away with a low-end dual-core if you have a decent graphics card. I only have a 2.13ghz processor, yet I can play Assassin's Creed just fine, owing to the greatness of my graphics card, in this case, a Geforce 8800GTS 512mb.
If you're looking for a decent gaming rig, try looking at different computer-building sites, then see if you can get the bits cheaper elsewhere.


Also, you won't get much use out of more than 2 gig of RAM, unless you have Vista. If nothing else, it's apparently built to make better use of RAM.
 

crimsondynamics

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Nov 6, 2008
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Well, I'd tell you to go full-bore and get two 4870x2 in a Crossfire motherboard plus 16GB of RAM, a 64-bit OS, and two Solid State HDs in a RAID-0 configuration for your applications and WD Raptors in a RAID-1 for starters. Or something like that.

However, I think you missed out a key piece of information for anyone to give you the "right" advice: What's your budget?