So with the release of Aion coming near, and some of the summer sales nearly slipping away, I've come to the decision to purchase a new computer because I've upgraded mine several times and at this point it would be a better deal to just start fresh. So, I know a decent amount about computers as I've spent countless hours learning different scripting programs and tons of other stuff through my century of online gaming, however I am not too familiar with much of the new hardware and specs. I've been looking around a favorite website of mine for a few weeks and I set my budget at 900$ (without a monitor) but that does have to include tax and shipping as well which will probably run 60$ each. I have taken particular interest in these 2 deals: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_II/ http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Core_2_Quad_Configurator_II/ And a friend of mine is looking into computers of the same calibur for cheaper, or better deals for the same price, but just wanted to get any opinions from people who know a good bit about computer hardware and gaming. (P.S. I will be running XP because I can't stand Vista.)
Yea I'm in the same boat.. I used to be up to date.. but its been many years now since I've looked at parts.. (Still using a 6800 and got 2 of them when they were 300 each..) Like to find a somewhat good comp that'll last me a few years for around 500 dollars.
id say go with the intel machine and see if you can bump that 250 to a 260 video card and youll have a nicer uper mid end machine
I would go with the Intel machine, intel cpu's run cooler, overclock better, and run faster then AMD machines.
Unfortunately the 250 GTS is super cheap because it's a summer special, so upping it would be pricy, but I'll check it out, thanks for the input. =)
Also consider changing the processor from a Q8200 to an E8400. The E8400 is a dual core, but will OC better than the 8200. And I didn't see the OS but you might as well go with the 64 bit if you didn't.
I already ordered it now with the Q8200, but I will only be using the computer for gaming so I should rarely if ever need to over clock. I'll still do all my internet browsing, iTunes, Ventrilo, etc. on the computer I am currently using as I won't be dual boxing in Aion. As for the OS, I'm putting XP Professional 64 bit on it because I don't like Vista at all. Edit: I ended up upgrading to the 260 GTX because I've heard many good things about it and it was only a $57 upgrade, and the only other change was I bought a different tower. I don't like towers with the "mesh" texture, best way I could think of describing it. They stay cooler, but they get so dusty and annoying to clean that I went with a case that was a bit cheaper but a friend of mine has that has never given him problems.
I like the second link, but if you have 900$ and you have a Fry's around, i would go there and custom build one. Thats what i did and they have awesome deals. Good luck on your purchase and let me know what you end up getting. Either way they are all decent.
I was going to say, if you wanted a laptop, my wife got a really nice Gateway FX for $1150. It amounts to the same kind of hardware Alienware charges $3000 for. Both of those look good, I just always have a problem with buying from sites like that because I like a good warranty.