PC Upgrading Discussion

Damian Henderson · Jul 22, 2009

It's easier to do that yes, unless you have another gpu around somewhere you could try.

Will Marquez · Jul 23, 2009

Damian,
Another question for you. Currently my monitor is an Acer 20" LCD, if I upgrade my video card to any of the ones you recommended will I be able to use my 37" HDtv with better picture quality / resolution than my current video card?

Christopher Aponte · Jul 23, 2009

Let me help Damian with the answer here

It's short and simple:
Yes it run much better with one of those graphics card :wink:

Will Marquez · Jul 23, 2009

Christopher Aponte said:
Let me help Damian with the answer here
It's short and simple:
Yes it run much better with one of those graphics card :wink:

Sorry for all the noob questions this PC upgrading stuff is a bit new to me and just want to understand it a bit more before I invest more into it. Thanks for all the help! :good:

Sam Peacock · Aug 6, 2009

Help with buying a new PC

Im thinking of buying a gaming pc for Rfactor, i have looked at some and they all seem to be quite exspensive, i have seen this one on the dell website for £699, http://www.alienware.co.uk/product_...ode=SKU-DELL&source=DLLUK0005&from=DELLUK:aur

i dont now anything about pc software so can anyone tell me will i need to spent this amount of money to get the best out of Rfactor and other racing tittles? thanks

Roy Visser · Aug 6, 2009

I think you can get something allot better then that if you put something together yourself. Dell is very good with customer support though..

Mike Hill · Aug 6, 2009

Sam,

Without doubt you would be able to buy something far less expensive that would have the same (or similar) spec as this. Buying Alienware is like buying something based on a designer brand name in computing terms - you really are paying for the name. Having said that, it is generally pretty well built stuff.

However, if you are prepared to learn a little, you qould be able to buy the parts seperately and build yourself a rig that will be as good as, if not better, for probably something like 30/40% cheaper.

Its also fair to say that you dont actually need a top of the range setup to get really good performance out of racing sims like rfactor or GTR-Evo. I'm sure you will end up getting some advice on here from one of the sites experts (Damian, where are you mate?) on some better and cheaper options than this!

Peter · Aug 6, 2009

If bought a pc with a Athlon x2 7750 BE , Nvidia gts 250 1gb ddr3, 500 GB with XP in a Antec 300 case for 450 pounds and a play GTR-evo and rfactor at the highest setting so it doesn't has to cost mutch.

holmglen03 · Aug 8, 2009

I highly recommend PC Specialist (www.pcspecialist.co.uk), you can get a very decent PC for not much dosh, I got my PC from there. I would suggest a PC for you, but I don't know about system requirements etc.

Christian Lyngbye · Aug 8, 2009

Maybe you should wait till september when the intel core i5 comes out. It's a mid to low range chip and it may push the prices lower.

Damian Henderson · Aug 9, 2009

I guess you are not capable of building your own PC?

If not you will have to pay a bit more then normal, if you can build your own PC or are willing to learn I can help you with parts.

Let us know.

Sam Peacock · Aug 9, 2009

i havnt a clue about building one, atm, tho with some help im sure i could do it. if it saves me money im up for trying anything.
when im looking at gaming pc's i realy dont know what im looking for. all the specs make no sense to me as its somthing ive never learnt about. if its not to much trouble could somone post up some pc specs that i should be looking for? i want my games to run very well, tho without spending more than i need to. thanks

Sam Peacock · Aug 9, 2009

holmglen03 said:
I highly recommend PC Specialist (www.pcspecialist.co.uk), you can get a very decent PC for not much dosh, I got my PC from there. I would suggest a PC for you, but I don't know about system requirements etc.

all i want from a new pc is for it to play the games (Rfactor GTR etc)at there best, it dosnt need to have anything more than they require, thanks

Damian Henderson · Aug 9, 2009

For a PC to run rFactor / GTR games you don't need anything special as they are not demanding games at all in today;s world.

I would recommend that you do get a PC that is at least a bit more future proof for future sims though.

Because your buying a pre built system it costs a bit more but a quick look at the shop recommended above shows a system easy capable of playing any of todays sims maxed out at high frames per second as well as many other games out there.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php?page=spec&&spec=gaming600

Stay away from Alienware, complete rip off.

Mikael Larsson · Aug 10, 2009

When I bought my computer it was the next best parts that could be found. A little more expensive but I still have it and play most games on it. The benefit of putting in a little more money: it will last longer. That is, you will be able to play games tomorrow as well. As Damian said, more futureproof.
My computer is now 7 years old and I definitely have to say it was worth the extra money to get the almost top of the line.
The only thing that's not worth it, is to buy the latest processor 'cause the prizes are sick.
When I plan my next computer now, I would go for an Intel i7 920 and put in more money in the graphics.

Sam Peacock · Aug 12, 2009

Thank for all the replys guys, after looking at pre built pc's ive decided that im just going to have to build one, it seems to be the only way im going to get a good price, or one closer to my budget, i didnt realize that the alienware was just the tower with no monitor etc lol. ive been on the pc world website as ther is one close to me and i can pickup any parts they have instore. (trying to save on delivery cos i live in N.ireland )
Are these parts suitable and is there anything else i will need?
It will be a couple of months befor il be buying anything so there will be plenty of time for me to shop around if needs be. thanks

PNY 2 x 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Desktop PC Memory

AKASA AK-ENP2SATA-BKUK BLACK EXTERNAL ENCLOSURE FOR 3.5" SATA HARD DISK DRIVE

PNY GeForce 9800GT 512MB PCI-E Graphics Card

LG SATA 22X Internal DVD Re-Writer with LightScribe

LG W2243S-PF 22" widescreen monitor

PC Performance Support and Protection

ECS 8100VM-M5 Motherboard and AMD Motherboard and CPU Bundle

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer PCI Internal Soundcard Compucase 6K03

MATX Compucase 6K03 MATX +PSU

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade with Service Pack 1

Total cost comes to around £630. idealy i dont want to spend anymore, if thats possable

I have been doing a bit more looking and have found this PACKARD BELL X9610 Refurbished PC Base Unit £499
Intel® Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor
<LI class=indentFeature>(2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB Cache) Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
4GB DDR2 667MHz memory
768MB NVIDIA® GeForce 9600GS

640GB SATA hard drive (7200rpm)
Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
15-in-1 media card reader
8x USB, 2x IEEE 1394 FireWire® ports

to me this looks like a good buy, should i go for this rather than building one?

Christopher Aponte · Aug 13, 2009

I would go for the new product....then I know I would have warranty on the parts for when one of them fails :wink:

btw could you link the motherboard and processor again?
because you have put a mATX case, but don't know if the motherboard is also a mATX

Eric Nelson · Aug 14, 2009

[mod] I gave Eric already a headstart on new hadware. I hope he doesn't mind [mod]

budget is around $500 and only need a tower. I'll post in the harware section and see what happens.

Christopher Aponte · Aug 14, 2009

Eric Nelson · Aug 14, 2009

WOW chris thats really nic eof you to do this for me! Damn the help and friendship you get here at RD is always amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll definitely look into your grocery list this weekend when I get a chance but it appears to be in the ball park for sure!