New Total war computer

[Xenoneb]

I'm getting a computer for around 500 dollars. I already have a monitor, and I was wondering what you would suggest. I'm looking at this right now http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/pr...328&navAction=

[Jaketh]

Integrated ATI Radeon 3000 Graphics

You would have trouble running even Medieval 2 total war on any setting, and since its vague im assuming its on the very low end of the 3000 series which has been obsolete for a few years now

[♔Jean-Luc Picard♔]

The power supply is also only 350 watt so if you upgrade the video card you may end up having to upgrade that as well.

[irishron]

Don't waste your money. If it's setup like most, it may play Medieval2 on low, outside medium, Empire on low and forget Shogun2. If the BIOS is locked you may not even get that.

[irishron]

For $500 US prebuilt? No.

What is your budget and does it have to be a prebuilt?

[Xenoneb]

700 dollars most, it doesn't have to be prebuilt, but I would prefer it.

[irishron]

Let these gurus put together a list for you, then.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

where do you live? if your lucky and its canada, you can pick and choose parts from NCIX and pay $50 for them to assemble it if not well either learn how or find someone that can build one, and give them an exact part list that we here on TWC can recommend

you will not find a gaming PC thats prebuilt for $700 thats worth a damn

a phenom II x6 + 5770 system is $1000 here and for $200 less you can get double the gaming performance system of the same specs as the prebuilt with same performance can be done for $500 lol,

do it right and get a proper gaming PC the first time otherwise your simply going to be kicking yourself in the balls later for wasting cash on a pos

[Xenoneb]

Okay. So self built is really good?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

no prebuilt sucks

a SELF BUILT machine for $500 will beat a $1000 prebuilt when it comes to gaming. essentially by buying a wallmart special lol your spending 2x as much for no damn reason.

[Xenoneb]

Sorry, typo.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

anyway whats your location?

Canada? USA? UK? Australia? Germany? etc etc so we can track down an E-tailer to get parts from.

[Xenoneb]

USA

[Crazyeyesreaper]

alright so that would be Newegg then

i suggest you look around for local PC shops that can build a PC for you if you give them a part list, and find out what the charge is, thats going to be your best bet,

in the mean time whats your budget?

do you need a monitor? etc

[Xenoneb]

500-700 dollars, A have a monitor mouse and a keyboard.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

DVD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811815004
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986
CPU + GPU COMBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.717981
MOBO + PSU COMBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.703454
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313086

Heres the Rundown

Intel Sandybridge Core i5 2400 3.1ghz quadcore
8gb of DDR3 1333mhz ram for maximum compatibility with the motherboards chipset
1 terabyte Samsung F3 Hardrive
Entry Lvl Biostar Motherboard H67 chipset *they do not like 1600mhz ram
GTX 460 1gig
500w Corsair CX V2 power supply
Xigmatek Asgard II case
Sony DVD burner
Windows Home Premium 64bit

to give you an Idea of gaming performance

an HD 3200 in Unreal Tournament 3 at 1024x768 res gets 22-30fps
a GTX 460 1gig in Unreal Tournament 3 at 1024x768 gets 270+ fps

an HD 3200 in COmpany of Heroes at 1024x768 gets 40-50fps
a GTX 460 in Company of Heroes at 1024x768 gets 384fps

an HD 3200 in Quake 4 at 1024x768 gets 22fps
a GTX 460 in Quake 4 at 1024x768 gets 228 fps

In terms of CPU performance an i5 2400 offers about 40%-45% better performance then the Phenom II 955

in games like Shogun II, in the CPU benchmark thats built into the game a Sandybridge i5 quadcore offers a 100% performance improvement over a Phenom II quadcore.

essentially put even if you put a new PSU new GPU into the Samsclub PC it would still be the overall inferior system. especially since the GPU is $165 a decent PSU $50 $475 + 215 = $690 it has less ram and a slower hardrive, to top that off the motherboard included is an OEM board, with stripped out features and mediocre bios. a 760g board retail can get the job done but OEM mobos are as cheap as you can get.

not to mention all parts above have better warranties seperate then any OEM PC does as a whole, not to mention your rig is upgradable and should parts fail they can be replaced seperately instead of sending an entire PC in to Dell / HP / Acer etc.

with the above parts list, find someone local that can build the PC for you, just qoute NCIX's cost they charge $50 to assemble and install the OS there based out of canada, but if you qoute NCIX pc builder price they will relent and usually do the work for you and at the end of the day with all mail in rebates returned the total cost would be $685 shipped after rebate, with a $50 builders charge it comes to $735 for a fully assembled PC with the above parts if you do it right.

[Xenoneb]

Thank you so much.

[mrmouth]

You could go the AMD route and stay awfully close to $500. I think I put one together for $490 a couple of weeks ago with a GTX460.

And most shops are going to charge $75-100 for a build, no matter what. I think your best bet is AMD given price/performance, which is phenomenal. And I'm saying that while being an intel guy.

The below build was $497 a couple of weeks ago.

[1.21 GW]

god damn it electronics are cheap in america

[Crazyeyesreaper]

for SHogun 2 and newer battlefield games paying for an AMD system is currently a complete waste of money,

take it from someone running an AMD system pushed to its extreme limits and an Intel Sandybridge 2500k,

there is no contest and it reall is a waste of money to by amd right now.

Shogun II, a phenom II averages have the frame rate of a 2500k in the cpu heavy tasks aka melee fights etc.

were talking 15-17fps vs 27-33fps, that makes a massive difference in terms of playability

in Bad Company 2 which is cpu intensive and uses 4 cpu cores or more a 965 at 4ghz is still 20-30% slower then a 2500k at stock.