Buying a new computer

[Nukeworker]

Hi guys!

Here is a short question. I plan on getting a new computer because my old "toaster" here cant take the graphics if i attempt to use EC. My question is what kind of Computer should i buy..Or rather what kind of graphic card should it at least have?

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Whats your total Budget you can spend and do you realy want a PC or better a Laptop..
Is it only to play UO or other games too?
Do you plan to use 2 Monitors to play?

 

[Reth]

If your only wanting to play UO EC, then almost anything that has a dedicated GPU can run it at max fine. What's your budget? You looking to buy parts yourself or a pre-built?

I'd look for a PC with an ATI Radeon 5670/Geforce GT 640, at least a dual core CPU (an Athlon II or Phenom II if your going budget, maybe even an i3), and at least 4 GB RAM.

Something like this PC will play EC just fine. It won't play much else, mostly because of the RAM though you can buy more for cheap (another 8 GB for $50 or so).

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Desktop or Laptop?

Building it yourself or off-the-shelf?

I've built almost all of my own computers the last 15 years. I have however bought 2 HPs off the shelf and both served me well for many years. One is now 9 years old and still provides internet and office type functions for my wife.

If you buy off-the-shelf any Phenom II with a dedicated graphics card will do. Even one of the newer Athlon IIs would do but for the price difference/value the Phenom is the better choice. You'll save $50 to $150 by going AMD over Intel. If you prefer Intel, any of the newer Sandy-Bridge or Ivy-Bridge CPUs will run the EC fine. Look for a dedicated graphics card but all indications are that at least the Ivy-Bridge integrated graphics are top-notch. It should run the EC well.

Definitely shoot for 8GB of memory. Memory is cheap and can provide a lot of headroom for future growth at 8GB.

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

Whats your total Budget you can spend and do you realy want a PC or better a Laptop..

Laptops are inferior to Desktops in almost every aspect, besides mobility. They cost a hell of alot more, they don't have near the power, they overheat easily due to their compact design, and they can't really be upgraded. The lifespan of a laptop is far shorter than that of a desktop, due to the overheating issues and inability to upgrade alot of the parts.

Building it yourself or off-the-shelf?

I suggest never buying a computer "off the shelf". You almost always get gypped on at least one part (usually the graphics card). Plus buying "off the shelf" is alot more expensive than building it yourself. If you buy the parts off of NewEgg or TigerDirect, you can get them for alot cheaper than retail, and you can fully customize your computer to your specifications. You generally end up with alot more powerful computer for alot cheaper than if you bought "off the shelf". If you don't know how to put together a computer yourself, there are plenty of guides on YouTube and some websites that show you how to do it, and what you'll need.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

If you're looking at building a desktop/tower system, airflow is a BIG thing to look at so my recommendation would be to build your own from scratch (the parts are all keyed in such a way you can;'t really screw up as long as you match them correctly). In doing so, I would start with the tower case itself in which my recommendation is the CoolerMaster HAF series, you get a LOT of space, all the cords run behind the mobo, and it uses GIANT fans on the unit (which also has inputs ready for liquid cooling if you go that route) to move air through it.

I've run ASUS boards with AMD chips for at least the past 10 years and have had really good results. Any reasonably current GeForce card (really any DX10/11 capable model) will run the EC fine, and as stated RAM is dirt cheap so splurge away for 8+ Gig. You may also want to consider a third party CPU heatsink/fan combo as the factory one will not be all that great.

SSD hard drives are becoming affordable but may still be out of budget, my break point for them has been $1/gig on a 256Gig drive, so play that one as desired.

Also take into account the power requirements for any Video Card(s) you put into the machine and get a power supply that can handle them plus a bit more for the rest of the machine, otherwise you'll get bad results (i.e. the system will shut down under the first bit of 3d load).

And finally, take the time to keep things CLEAN, both in terms of Windows software and dusting out the case, fans and etc itself.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

if i was upgrading to play the EC, or even CC in some instances, I 'd ask what the Devs use, since theirs seem to be crash proof

 

[Picus of Napa]

I built a new rig as a christmas gift to myself. I would concur with the airflow statement as I got a coolermaster box and placed 5 fans on a push/pull config cooling through the top. I also added a radiator system to cool the intel I7 chip and it runs a lot cooler during the most intense stuff I can throw at it. Air is COLDER leaving the rig than the ambiant temp in my comp room.

HIS 6970 card, 16 GB ripsaw ram, Gigabyte MB, SSD drive to hold windows and a 2 TB to hold games. I run BF3 at max everything with not a single issue and when the HIS card goes on sale I'm going to crossfire it. UO does not crash/lag unless I run into a dragging issue no matter what else is going on. Civ5 is "fast" during large maps with 15+ players though that game lags any rig from what I've read.

 

[Omnius]

I have a 5 year old mac mini that runs the class client as fast as most high end pvpers. As for the EC. I found anything with a dedicated graphics card will suffice. I just don't recommend the EC.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Laptops are inferior to Desktops in almost every aspect, besides mobility. They cost a hell of alot more, they don't have near the power, they overheat easily due to their compact design, and they can't really be upgraded. The lifespan of a laptop is far shorter than that of a desktop, due to the overheating issues and inability to upgrade alot of the parts.

Depends on the Laptop Sir!

There are Laptops out there, you get for under 1000$ you can handle everything very nicely for 2 years easy..

The only real disadvantage of a Laptop is you cannot change graphics...

If you got the space at home, f.e. your own room for electronics and stuff, and plan to only sit there as you play, go for a PC..
If you plan to sometimes go outside and want the chance to be able to play your games on the road, a laptop is the only thing..

Nothing funnier taking out the Ultrabook at this Bar, order some food and a pitcher of beer, and run some grinding sessions at Covetous

 

[DJAd]

180 stamina 5% SSI on ring and imbue 30% on weapon. Using a longsword.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

180 stamina 5% SSI on ring and imbue 30% on weapon. Using a longsword.

What? LoL

 

[Nukeworker]

So many good advices Thx for the tips guys..much appreciated!

 

[Roland of Atlantic]

Build it yourself, you can get good barebones kits from Tiger Direct and add a graphics card to them. I went that route and have had my new comp running EC for about a month, and all those annoyances I thought were attributable to lag? They weren't. I can lap Luna and go to lagfest EM events with only the barest hint of lag. Don't get a laptop. Trust me, my last one was a laptop. The thing overheated constantly because I had it running a desktop monitor and it accumulated so much dust on the inside (that can't be cleaned without disassembling it). And I HIGHLY recommend the EC. Hands down. There are tons of things you can do with EC that you can't do with CC. That's a fact. To my knowledge, there is nothing you can do with CC that you can't with EC.

 

[Coldren]

My wife got me a machine from Cyber Power PC. Granted, this is high end, but they have nice configurators that let you pick and chose what you want within your budget.

• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Intel(R) Core™ i7-3820 Quad-Core 3.60 GHz
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600MHz
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 16X PCIe Video Card
• ASUS P9X79 Pro (Intel X79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 ATX w/ UEFI Bios, BT GO, SSD Caching, 7.1 HD Audio, Intel GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 4 Gen3 PCIe x16 & 2 PCIe)
• 120GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III 6.0 Gb/s SSD
• 500GB Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-III 6.0Gb/s
• Thermaltake Frio OCK CPU Cooler

I used to assemble my own, but this site does all the legwork for you of determining what parts can go with what.

I'd highly recommend them.

 

[Angel of Sonoma]

Depends on the Laptop Sir!

There are Laptops out there, you get for under 1000$ you can handle everything very nicely for 2 years easy..

The only real disadvantage of a Laptop is you cannot change graphics...

If you got the space at home, f.e. your own room for electronics and stuff, and plan to only sit there as you play, go for a PC..
If you plan to sometimes go outside and want the chance to be able to play your games on the road, a laptop is the only thing..

Nothing funnier taking out the Ultrabook at this Bar, order some food and a pitcher of beer, and run some grinding sessions at Covetous

Which laptops would you recommend? Thanks!

 

[Redxpanda]

Hi guys!

Here is a short question. I plan on getting a new computer because my old "toaster" here cant take the graphics if i attempt to use EC. My question is what kind of Computer should i buy..Or rather what kind of graphic card should it at least have?

I guess what you get depends on your budget. The EC doesn't take much to run it....I was running it fine on a Radeon X1300 and a PNY Geforce 210. However, you want to have a video card that will be able to play future games as well. It all depends on your budget.

I just built a decent computer and it only cost me about $500 in parts.
AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition
8gb of Ram
Radeon 5850

Etc...

 

[G.v.P]

Hi guys!

Here is a short question. I plan on getting a new computer because my old "toaster" here cant take the graphics if i attempt to use EC. My question is what kind of Computer should i buy..Or rather what kind of graphic card should it at least have?

What do you have right now? Not sure anyone asked. First, depending on your tech savvy, we should figure out if you really need to buy something new or if you could add some RAM and a new video card to your existing setup (which may or may not require a new power supply). That kind of upgrade would probably cost maybe $200, far less than a totally new computer but if you shop around--and as others have noted--you can get something great and complete for $500-600 (maybe not with a monitor, but you never know).

My computer is approaching six years old, runs EC fine but I put a 1 GB vid card in there and some other stuff. Dual Core AMD, cost around $600 with a 19" monitor included. Consider waiting for back to school deals if you buy retail, or keep your eyes out for back to school deals.

180 stamina 5% SSI on ring and imbue 30% on weapon. Using a longsword.

I think you're looking for the Yew Times classifieds, no?

Which laptops would you recommend? Thanks!

I bought this Acer as an upgrade to an old HP laptop, it's pretty nice for the price (Quad Core, 1 GB video ram, Acer brand quality). I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB though. My main concern with this laptop is the screen is very bright. I run it with the lowest possible screen brightness and still feel the screen is bright. Bright screens are nice for gaming, but can be problematic for Internet browsing. I love Windows 7 though, even though I admit they steal a lot of ideas from what Mac was doing like, what, twenty years ago, now? Oh, one more note about this Acer--I really ought to leave an Amazon review--seems like the left hand side USB port isn't 2.0, which I found odd. But I guess in general, if you buy a laptop and the cost is really cheap make sure you look at the layout. It's annoying to buy a laptop only to find there is one USB port and it's on the left side (which may require you to buy an extension cord for your mouse in order to use it as a right hander). The Acer has one on the left, two on the right, and a full keyboard, which was the main selling point for me aside from the 1 GB vid ram .

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Which laptops would you recommend? Thanks!

Hiya!

It depends on your budget - and where you want to go - here are some keynotes i always use if someone asks me what machine he/she should buy:

- Screen: Do i want to take the book mostly outside? Than dont get a GLARE screen or you can use it as a mirror but wont see anything elese
- Running Time: It should at least take you to 3-4 hours gaming - for UO CC most of the current machines with Ci3 2nd generation and Intel HD 3000 graphics or Nvidia's Optimus technology will take you there easy..
- Weight: Do i want to carry 6 pounds with me or better under 4 pounds? Think about it - if you go into that direction, you fail with getting a 15.6IN machine - not even the newest Semi-Ultrabooks Acer, Asus, Samsung, HP just releasing at 15.6IN take you under 4 pounds - so you will have to look for 14In or 13.3IN
- BUDGET, BuDgEt, budget...

Here are my Top 3 Notebooks i recommend, and since i think you are in the US, i had to use a US store for it, we are blessed here in Central Europe with other prices and configs i noticed, but thats the best i could search in for the US market:

Full-Gaming totaly crazy super specs for a nice money - will take yoou to aprox. 1 1/2 hour gaming UO CC - but will make you happy with ANY OTHER game out there playing at FHD:

Amazon.com: ASUS G55VW-DS71 15.6-Inch Gaming Notebook (Black): Electronics

Matte screen...High End Baby...i got my hands on the Asus VX7S some months ago for an EOL-Deal (i work in that industry) and bought it - its simular to this one but tec-wise 1 year older - its CRAZY...This one will make you happy for that money..

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire V3-571G-6602 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black): Computers & Accessories

Maybe look for the new version with 3rd Gen Intel Ci5...BUT this is a very very cheap Powerhouse!

Amazon.com: ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A-DB51 13.3-Inch Ultrabook: Computers & Accessories

If you want gaming on the road and a sexy thing you need to go ULTRABOOK - and there is the PRIME out now with the best affordable screeen you can get currently: IPS FHD - if you can afford it, go get this baby - the Intel HD4000 is not bad - if you only play UO it will laugh about it for me its currently the best Notebook out there for that price: Super Slim, Super Screen, Super Fast, Super Sexy Looking...SUPER Running Time: you will EASY hit 6 hours playing UO CC with it on the road!

So its on you

 

[Ludes]

One important thing... Do not skimp on your power supply.
Get one with ball bearings in the fans.. avoid sleeve bearings.

 

[Nexus]

I'd say do a build if you have the skills or find a buddy that can do it for you. Also don't just look at Tiger Direct and Newegg, they aren't always the cheapest place to get components.

Here's what I did when I built my budget gaming box, I went to Newegg, found pieces I wanted then googled for them and clicked "Shopping". This let me compare prices from various vendors. Some parts came from Newegg, others from Amazon, and a few form places you probably haven't heard of like "Chief Value". Also if you are close enough you can get a good deal on some parts from Microcenter, though they won't ship all parts but have some stores in a few large cities. Also look at other sites like "Geeks.com" for things like video cards, most their parts are out dated, but unless you want to spend the huge sums on a current gen video card, getting one that is a generation or two back that will work fine is easy and cheap enough there.

I managed to shave about $200 off my Build by shopping around, and paid less than $500 total, though I did save the HDD, Power Supply, and Optical Drive out of my old machine since they were upgrades that weren't too old, still buying those would have only offset the savings vs. buying all the same parts from Newegg or Tiger.

Currently I'm running on.

Windows 7 Home Premium/Linux Mint 13 dual boot
8GB DDR3-1333mhz
AMD Phenom II x4 970 3.5ghz (which I could OC but don't care too..)
Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System
AMD Radeon HD 5750
ASRock mde770de Motherboard
Antec 650w Power Supply
I've got two pretty standard HDD's installed both are SATA drives with a 7200 rpm speed one is 500gb other is 320 gb.

 

[Ludes]

Personally I'd be worried about running only 650 watts.. specially powering a gaming video card AND a liquid cooler.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Personally I'd be worried about running only 650 watts.. specially powering a gaming video card AND a liquid cooler.

The 5750 draws less than 100 watts and the Phenom II 970 is 125 watts TDP. If he was running a 300 watt video card then maybe a 750 watt power supply would be better suited.

I'd be surprised if his current system is pulling more than 350-400 watts at the wall.

 

[SpyderBite]

I have a 5 year old mac mini that runs the class client as fast as most high end pvpers. As for the EC. I found anything with a dedicated graphics card will suffice. I just don't recommend the EC.

I run the EC on a 2012 13" MBP w/16gb RAM via Parallels Desktop and it plays better than my fully loaded Dell and Windows 7 Premium. UO (even EC) still has the system requirements of a 2003 machine.. even for PvP.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

One important thing... Do not skimp on your power supply.
Get one with ball bearings in the fans.. avoid sleeve bearings.

"It's all ball bearings nowadays!"

 

[Nexus]

Personally I'd be worried about running only 650 watts.. specially powering a gaming video card AND a liquid cooler.

The Water cooler peaks at 2.6 watts. The Video card isn't especially powerful, it's mid range for an AMD card, but than NVidia's mid range in terms of power.

I'd thought about a heftier PS, but the numbers didn't add up. I've seen companies like CyberPC selling heavier duty machines with the same level of Power Supply in them. But to be safe I ran Prime 95 to check stability and get the Memory a good burn in.

 

[Roland of Atlantic]

Really guys? Dude doesn't need to hear about high end stuff like uber power supplies and liquid cooling. That's all well and fine if you build and tweak and overclock and all but a harcore gaming PC just isn't necessary to run EC. Look at the context of his original question, he isn't a harcore gamer. A couple things to look out for if he buys a complete setup:

1) A modern processor. Quadcore would be nice.
2) A good amount of memory. 8 gigs works just fine.
3) A good standalone graphics card. Doesn't have to be the model of the week. Just don't fall for the word "integrated" anywhere they mention graphics.

If he wants to have a go at building a setup, he can easily get a better system than an off the shelf model for around the same price, but it means he will have to do a little research and figure out what he wants based on what he wants to play, and how it relates to his budget.

 

[Woodsman]

I run the EC on a 2012 13" MBP w/16gb RAM via Parallels Desktop and it plays better than my fully loaded Dell and Windows 7 Premium. UO (even EC) still has the system requirements of a 2003 machine.. even for PvP.

I play in Parallels these days on a 2010 Mac, although I have used CrossOver, and it runs fine.

UO is not exactly Guild Wars 2. If we can run it just fine in a virtual Windows environment, plenty of people can play it with normal computers these days.

 

[Nexus]

Really guys? Dude doesn't need to hear about high end stuff like uber power supplies and liquid cooling. That's all well and fine if you build and tweak and overclock and all but a harcore gaming PC just isn't necessary to run EC. Look at the context of his original question, he isn't a harcore gamer. A couple things to look out for if he buys a complete setup:

1) A modern processor. Quadcore would be nice.
2) A good amount of memory. 8 gigs works just fine.
3) A good standalone graphics card. Doesn't have to be the model of the week. Just don't fall for the word "integrated" anywhere they mention graphics.

If he wants to have a go at building a setup, he can easily get a better system than an off the shelf model for around the same price, but it means he will have to do a little research and figure out what he wants based on what he wants to play, and how it relates to his budget.

That's why I listed what I have in mine, I built it on a pretty tight budget for a PC I intended to play games on, and I included everything you listed there in it for under $500. My reasoning for listing it all was to point out that A) Newegg and Tiger Direct aren't always the cheapest, and B) You can put some impressive perks in a PC through competitive pricing. What I paid for the Liquid Cooler was the same as what I'd spend on a decent Good CPU Cooler since Stock one's are typically Loud or Inadequate.

***EDIT***
Actually I just looked back over the info on my PC, spent right at $420 building it.

 

[Ender]

Wow. Way too many posts in here recommending just pure overkill.

If the original poster plans on playing games from the last two or three years, then it's good advice. But really anything with a dedicated video card and more than 2 gigs of RAM and a processor from the last five years should work.

 

[Goodmann]

180 stamina 5% SSI on ring and imbue 30% on weapon. Using a longsword.

I would go with the 10 ssi over the 5 and maybe a broadsword

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCK23GM - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - Foxconn A9DA AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Internal DVD Writer 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-222BB/RSBS

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card (11192-22-20G)

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

$530 with a full OEM version of Win7 Pro. If you already have an OS you can knock off $140 from the price.

As mentioned earlier, Newegg isn't always the lowest price on an item. The trick is though to check Newegg frequently and watch for their deals on items. Newegg is constantly knocking $20, $30, $50 or more right off the top of the price of an item with no rebates. Add-in rebates and frequent "Free Shipping" and you can easily save $100 and more if you exercise some patience.

For any computer build using new components, you'll be hard pressed to do better than $400 but you should be able to build a decent $400 computer that can run most modern games and definitely can run the EC.

As to the components I linked to, I highly recommend Western Digital, NZXT cases, G-Skill, Sapphire Tech and Samsung. You can add $30 for a Phenom II CPU and $15 for 8GB ram. My personal choice for motherboards runs more to Gigabyte & ASUS but Foxconn is a capable manufacturer of budget boards.

 

[Nexus]

Spoiler

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX250OCK23GM - Processors - Desktops

Spoiler

Newegg.com - Foxconn A9DA AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Internal DVD Writer 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-222BB/RSBS

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card (11192-22-20G)

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116992

$530 with a full OEM version of Win7 Pro. If you already have an OS you can knock off $140 from the price.

As mentioned earlier, Newegg isn't always the lowest price on an item. The trick is though to check Newegg frequently and watch for their deals on items. Newegg is constantly knocking $20, $30, $50 or more right off the top of the price of an item with no rebates. Add-in rebates and frequent "Free Shipping" and you can easily save $100 and more if you exercise some patience.

For any computer build using new components, you'll be hard pressed to do better than $400 but you should be able to build a decent $400 computer that can run most modern games and definitely can run the EC.

As to the components I linked to, I highly recommend Western Digital, NZXT cases, G-Skill, Sapphire Tech and Samsung. You can add $30 for a Phenom II CPU and $15 for 8GB ram. My personal choice for motherboards runs more to Gigabyte & ASUS but Foxconn is a capable manufacturer of budget boards.

The NZXT Case you linked to I can vouch for personally. Has many features you want from a higher end case without the cost. Plenty of room, good airflow and cable management features built in, not to mention no less than 6 fan mounts. It's a bottom PSU Case and unlike most cheap cases of the time, it actually includes a screen for the PSU fan. I also went with GSkill for the Memory and can say I'm more than pleased with it. Also FoxConn MB's are the stock for many manufacturers, HP, Acer, Apple, and others, I went with ASRock which is a subsidiary of ASUS myself. Windows 7 OEM you can get for less than $70 though, just takes a bit of searching.

 

[Poo]

I just go to dell and hit buy.
A week later it arrives on my doorstep.
That's about as computer techy as I get.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

The NZXT Case you linked to I can vouch for personally. Has many features you want from a higher end case without the cost. Plenty of room, good airflow and cable management features built in, not to mention no less than 6 fan mounts. It's a bottom PSU Case and unlike most cheap cases of the time, it actually includes a screen for the PSU fan.

I have three NZXT cases including this one. They make good affordable cases and like you said they also include many desirable modern features you want in a desktop case. My new favorite among case manufacturers is Fractal Design. They're about twice the price of NZXT but they really make some fantastic cases.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

I just go to dell and hit buy.
A week later it arrives on my doorstep.
That's about as computer techy as I get.

Not everyone can or wants to build their own computers. You buy one from a reputable manufacturer or reseller with a quality customer service reputation and you then only have to deal with them for troubleshooting, repair and warranty. As opposed to each individual component manufacturer. You pay a premium and you generally get a lot of proprietary components that make upgrades more difficult but if you're a non-techy then that's typically a non-issue anyway.

 

[Roland of Atlantic]

You pay a premium and you generally get a lot of proprietary components that make upgrades more difficult but if you're a non-techy then that's typically a non-issue anyway.

You just said the "P word". Proprietary needs to be stomped out in order to continue to keep the playing field level.

 

[Borric]

I have been considering purchasing this kit for a while. Its been a long time since I put one together, so I was wondering what you folks thought about it before I buy it.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

I have been considering purchasing this kit for a while. Its been a long time since I put one together, so I was wondering what you folks thought about it before I buy it.

Looks like a good system to me. For $750 plus tax & shipping plus an OS, you could probably do a lot better on price if you shopped around for the parts. Granted that mainboard and CPU aren't inexpensive parts. If you want Intel though, it's gonna cost you more than an AMD system.

I would say though that that rig should serve you well for 5 years easy and even longer with what by then would be considered dated software.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Its amazing people still buy and discuss Desktop configs - here in Central Europe we are at 60% Notebook / 40% Desktop in companies and private its even "worse" we are running 80% Notebook/Tab/Netbook/Ultrabook and 20% Desktop & AIO...

Especially with Notebooks at prices around 450 Euro ASP...

But if you have fun with it - KEEP ON GOING - dont let the Desktop die!

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

I have 5 desktops, 1 dedicated server and 3 laptops in my household.

Laptops are great but they'll never completely replace the desktop and will never match the 24 in. displays on all my computers and especially the triple 24in. display I'm purchasing next month.

 

[G.v.P]

Check out this site for back to school deals:
Back to School Deals and Discounts

 

[G.v.P]

Not everyone can or wants to build their own computers. You buy one from a reputable manufacturer or reseller with a quality customer service reputation and you then only have to deal with them for troubleshooting, repair and warranty. As opposed to each individual component manufacturer. You pay a premium and you generally get a lot of proprietary components that make upgrades more difficult but if you're a non-techy then that's typically a non-issue anyway.

I think the toughest part for a first time builder is the warranty issue. You end up saving money by piecing a case together but then you don't have the possibility of an extended warranty to provide coverage if any of the pieces fail past the manufacturer's date. On the flip side, if you do buy from a manufacturer like Dell or something, you really ought to get rid of all of the Wild Tangent games and other intrusive programs which come bundled with the system, and you almost always have to replace the power supply if you add even the smallest of additions, such as a USB powered device. Luckily companies like Dell have dialed back their proprietary efforts, which made customization harder to accomplish.

My worst manufacturer experience had to be a Gateway desktop purchase. Gateway became very popular for a time but they weren't putting out quality products, in my opinion. Learned that the hard way. As I understand, Acer bought Gateway in 2007. I've always liked Acer as far as performance. Dell and HP aren't bad either. Most of the time all you have to do is find a low price point then replace the power supply and video card, maybe add some RAM.

I own five computers right now (3 desktop, 2 laptops), tempted to get (gut) a sixth after reading this thread, lol.

 

[Borric]

I have 5 desktops, 1 dedicated server and 3 laptops in my household.

Laptops are great but they'll never completely replace the desktop and will never match the 24 in. displays on all my computers and especially the triple 24in. display I'm purchasing next month.

Triple displays are part of my plan as well. I am going to purchase the TripleHead2Go.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

I am happy i stoped this craziness early enough and more place arts in my flat than monitors hehehe
if you to long in this industry and have 24/7 to do with hardware, you cant see it anymore and be happy if you come home and NOT beeing sourrounded by 3 or 4 24 to 27 inch lcd or led's B-)

 

[Saint of Killers]

AMD Athlon 6400 Processor 3200+
2GB RAM (upgraded 3 yrs ago from the .5GB I ran for years)
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series vid card (worst card possible I believe)
Windows 2000 Professional SP4
FTW!

That's what I run currently, and to the original poster, avoid at all costs if you want to run EC or want to be able to go to an event.

To the other random 5ssi-180stam-30ssi longsword guy who posted, I prefer ssi 60 when all is said and done with a longsword so max swing can be achieved at 150+ stam.

 

[O'Brien]

AMD Athlon 6400 Processor 3200+
2GB RAM (upgraded 3 yrs ago from the .5GB I ran for years)
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series vid card (worst card possible I believe)
Windows 2000 Professional SP4
FTW!

That's what I run currently, and to the original poster, avoid at all costs if you want to run EC or want to be able to go to an event.

That's mildly amusing, considering those exceed the official recommended specs.

 

[Borric]

The kit I mentioned above came with:

• MSI Z77A-G45 Intel 7 Series Z77 Motherboard
• Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50 GHz Quad Core Unlocked
• MSI DH-24AAS-17 Internal DVD Writer
• Corsair Vengeance 8GB Desktop Memory

I purchased two extra items at the time I ordered the system:

• Corsair Vengeance 8GB Desktop Memory (for a total of 16GB)
• Intel BXRTS2011LC High Performance Liquid Cooler - 120mm Fan, 2200 RPM Max, 74 CMF, 35dBA Max, 150mm Radiator

Including shipping costs, I spent $930. This system rated at 5.9. Only because of the hard drive. The CPU and RAM both rate at 7.7 and the on board video graphics and gaming graphics both rate at 6.5.

I have also ordered a new SSD:

• OCZ Agility 4 AGT4-25SAT3-256G 256GB Internal Solid State Drive - 2.5" Form Factor, SATA III, 6Gbps, TRIM, Ndurance 2.0 Technology

Which should arrive in the next few days. The cost of the drive, including shipping is $189.99.

In a week or three, I am going to order a video card:

• Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 100312-3L Video Card - 2GB, GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0(x16), CrossFireX Ready

I am seriously considering buying two of the above video cards. The cost of the card is $199.99.

If I buy just the one video card, I will spend a total of around $1320 ($1520 if I go with two video cards) on a computer that I HOPE will last me for 5 years. Once I have all of the parts together, I will install the EC and let you know how it works.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

That computer should easily last you five years of gameplay and then if the parts hold out, another five years as a 2nd computer.

 

[Omnius]

I think you should buy a mid level mac mini... Low power draw, quiet, discrete graphics, runs everything, and if you buy one that's refurb, you'll save a lot of money. Upgrading the ram yourself to 8gb will be cheap and takes under 60 seconds.