PC Specs- Can i play PSU?

[Pseudo]

Im not much of a Techno nut, but ive been thinking will I be able to play PSU with my Dell 2400, Hopefully one of you can answer this for me.

Ive managed to play sims2 and Black and white, without any slowdown or hitches but im concerned as looking at the detail in PSU it may be too much for my PC to handle. Im also on 1MB Broadband.

The PC specs are..

RAMRAM installed 512 MB
Max supported RAM 1 GB
Memory specification compliance PC2700
Memory speed 333 MHz
RAM form factor DIMM 184-pin
RAM technology DDR SDRAM
Video OutputGraphics processor Integrated Intel Extreme 3D Graphics
Video output form factor Integrated
Video output type Graphics adapter

Other specs here..
http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Dimension_2400/4507-3118_7-30824846.html

When i took the cover of i realised that there is only one PCI slot for a 3D card, but i dont want to fork out $90/£45 for a new card if i can play PSU anyway.

[Espilonarge]

Unless Sega/Sonic Team specify the real specs required for PSU, we have no idea. What we say and think can only be suggestive.

Judging by how graphic intensive the game is, I would suggest being somewhere above these specs.

1.5 GHz CPU
1 Gig of RAM
64 Meg video card

Also, never use an Intergrated video card. Not only are they slow, flakey and chew up your normal RAM (most of the time) but they're not supported by gaming companies due to how annoying they are to deal with.

Try getting a NVidia or ATI type card (most newer models come with atleast 128 megs of VRAM) and make sure you don't do something stupid by filing down a PCI-E card to fit it inside a PCI slot. That'll void your warranty instantly.

EDIT

Ok, I looked at the specs personally over at Dell's website and I'm just gunna do one thing..

*insert screaming here*

Celeron, no AGP slot, limited support for RAM... Your defently not gunna get your moneys worth out of that computer to play PSU. Those things are more like work computers, they won't handle high-end graphics like DooM3 without being bugged down by how very weak the system is, over-heating or just blowing up (well.. kinda blowing up, you'd most likely just fry the Power Supply Unit inside.)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Espilonarge on 2006-02-19 05:09 ]</font>

[coomdoom]

you should be fine from what i see here

[Ryna]

Like Espilonarge said, you'll need to find an ATI/Nvidia graphics card. That particular integrated graphics card gives horrible performance. Also, it would probably be helpful to max out your RAM.

[Pseudo]

Thanks guys, like i said the only option i have now is using the one pci slot for a new graphics card. Guess i got my moneys worth for buying somthing cheap.

[Inu_Shadi]

Operating System: Win 2k/Win XP
Processor: 1.6 GHz Pentium 4
RAM: 256 MB
Video Card: 3D card with 64 MB of VRAM
Direct X 9.0c
Hard Drive Space: 8.0 GB
Network Connection: Broadband

Recommended requirements have not been released officially. However, one can assume that 512MB or above will be recommended, along with the best darn video card you can afford!

Also, take note that according to Sega Direct, you will REQUIRE a DVD-ROM drive to install the game.

[Tystys]

I'm glad they're doing the DVD rom thing. Means less disks to keep up with (ahem, FFXI)

[Blitzkommando]

Installing a graphics card might be a problem for that system. I say this because the power supply is rather low, 250W. And, if it is like other companies, such as HP the PSU is one of those 'wonderful' special made units that can only be replaced by Dell and generally at the same wattage. We had a similar machine try to run a graphics card in replacement of the Rage Pro that was put in it, and it would crash within minutes of starting Windows. We then changed cases (The HP case did not support a PSU exchange) and upped the PSU to 350W, and it worked.

I would say the best card, which truthfully sucks just about as much as integrated graphics, would be a Rage Pro based upon the power supply. That Celeron 478 is part of a family of processors that are notoriously power hungry due to their construction. This is especially true of the Prescott, which is the core used in that computer. It will, at idle, take up about 90W, and at full load even more. This also presents the problem of heat into the equation as the Prescott core is also notorious for heat.

Frankly, you would get better results by purchasing a Playstation 2 and a USB keyboard and would be cheaper in the long run.

[VioletSkye]

Actually he could easily add something like a GeForce FX5200 128MB PCI card and it would run smoothly with no problems even with a 250watt ps. It sucks that there isn't even an AGP slot but performance wise it wouldn't make a huge difference anyway. You could easily up the ram another 256-512MB. The Dell Dimension 2400 power supply is proprietary but you can find replacements for it but they are 250 watts also.

An FX 5200 128MB PCI card will run you about $52 + $5 shipping from NEWEGG (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814164044).
If you decide to upgrade RAM, use a program like CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php) to find the manufacturer of the ram so that you can match it (which isn't always necessary, but is highly recommended especially with budget pcs.) Or you could just call DELL and ask them for pricing on a RAM upgrade. Use CPU-Z to find out how many RAM slots you have total and how many are being used. I believe it has only 2 slots for memory, so if you have 1 stick of 512 MB RAM then you could add another stick. If you have (2) 256MB sticks of memory then you would have to replace one or both of them.

If you up the RAM to a gig and added an FX5200, you could do that for around $120 and it should run PSU descently (you won't be able to have ALL the eye candy turned on and maxed, but it should look pretty nice) but you need to consider the fact that you probably won't be able to upgrade it any further than that and at $120, you'd be better off just buying a PS2 and a keyboard like Norvekh said. That way you can play games from a HUGE library and not have to worry about performance.

One thing I will note about the 2.4 Prescott Cel D is that it is an easy CPU to overclock, but given the fact that you have a minitower I wouldn't recommend it as it would most likely run WAYYY too hot and I doubt you have the room to add proper cooling. You could always purchase a new case and mod it even more but again as Norvekh pointed out, it would cost alot more in the long run then just buying a PS2.

Given the fact that you can run Sims 2 and Black and White without problems, you may want to just try PSU without doing any upgrade and if it runs choppy then consider getting a new videocard like the one I mentioned.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-19 11:21 ]</font>

[Blitzkommando]

Not to go too off tangent here but, how hot did the 5200 get anyway? I know the 6000 series was blisteringly hot but I don't remember the 5000 series (especially since I was running a 9800 Pro at the time).

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-19 11:21, Norvekh wrote:
Not to go too off tangent here but, how hot did the 5200 get anyway? I know the 6000 series was blisteringly hot but I don't remember the 5000 series (especially since I was running a 9800 Pro at the time).


Good question, I'm not sure to be honest. I do know that it does run great in the Dell Dimension 2400's though because that's what I've used in the past for an upgrade to that machine and I've never had any problems.

[Pseudo]

The DVD drive isnt a problem as i opted for that as a Combined Drive CD/DVD, i`ll try PSU without an upgrade first, So heres hoping i will see you all on there. ^_^'

[Inu_Shadi]

My PC sucks rightnow, im building a whole new one for PSU, cause ill never buy PS2

Current PC:
AMD Athlon 1.2 GHZ
384 MB PC133 RAM
120 GB HDD ATA 100( i think)
ATI Radeon 9550 AGP
DVD-RW

Future PC:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+_2.0 GHZ Socket 939
1 GB MB PC3200 DDR RAM
120 GB HDD SATA 150
Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT PCI Express 16x
DVD-RW

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Inu_Shadi on 2006-02-19 18:46 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Inu_Shadi on 2006-02-19 18:47 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Inu_Shadi on 2006-02-19 18:54 ]</font>

[hypersaxon]

My computer has a Celeron unfortunately, it's 2.8 ghz so it's decent at least. I have 512 mb ddr sdram, but I don't have a graphics card. It's a Compaq Presario running Windows XP. Does anyone know if there's a video card slot in one of those, and if so, what card would be best?

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2006-02-19 19:11, hypersaxon wrote:
My computer has a Celeron unfortunately, it's 2.8 ghz so it's decent at least. I have 512 mb ddr sdram, but I don't have a graphics card. It's a Compaq Presario running Windows XP. Does anyone know if there's a video card slot in one of those, and if so, what card would be best?

It really depends on which model you have....

But can't you just open the case and look? >_>

[Inu_Shadi]

On 2006-02-19 19:11, hypersaxon wrote:
My computer has a Celeron unfortunately, it's 2.8 ghz so it's decent at least. I have 512 mb ddr sdram, but I don't have a graphics card. It's a Compaq Presario running Windows XP. Does anyone know if there's a video card slot in one of those, and if so, what card would be best?


hmmm sounds like my friends computer, his had no AGP slot, and only 1 PCI slot left...sad lol, open it up and check, thats the bestway, or email compaq...amzingly their customer support is good, cause i was originally gonna put a PCI graphics card in my friends computer, so i emailed compaq and they said it was 250 watts but it wouldnt need upgrading to run a PCI graphics card



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Inu_Shadi on 2006-02-19 20:20 ]</font>

[hypersaxon]

Thanks. I'll talk to my uncle about it since he's the family expert as far as computers go (he went to college http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif) hopefully I can get a nice card in there. If not, I'll just have to really tone down all the settings and stuff.

If they announce an Xbox 360 version, I'm getting that instead though http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Espilonarge]

Back a couple years ago I used to have an ATI Radeon 9100. That thing wiped the 5200 off the floor when it came to Need For Speed Underground even at the settings on max.

One thing thoe I wish people would do is stop buying Dell/Compaq's. There marketing technique is to lure people in with low prices but give them products that do not set a standard for average computer systems. The parts are hard to upgrade let alone they're a real computer techies nightmare when it comes to fixing them, I know that for a fact since I've had to deal with them personally and it almost makes me want to rip my hair out everytime.

[VioletSkye]

I'm not sure what benchmarks you've looked at, but the 9100 doesn't hold a candle to the 5200. In fact the 5200 beats out the 9200 in many of the BENCHMARK TESTS (http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Video-Cards/FX-5200-vs-R9200/3/). If by some miracle your 9100 did run Need for Speed better on your machine, chances are VERY VERY high it won't run anything else better than a 5200. Lastly, factor in the fact that the 5200 is easy to overclock and I can guarantee you the 9100 won't even be able to touch it (even with Need for Speed.)


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-20 08:59 ]</font>

[Omega_Nova]

Since we seem to be posting computers, I'll post my whacky set up.

Processor: AMD 64 bit 3000+
Ram: 512 MB
DVD-RAM (writes DL discs, I don't think some do that)
Hard drives: 200 GB, 10 GB
Nvidia GeForce MX4000

My only concern is the Graphics cards, since I progressively upgrade my computer *I started with an old Compaq, thats why I have a 10 GB hard drive* I tend to have awesome performance in certain areas and piss poor items in others.

On a side note, how far could I overclock the MX4000? I'm curious as it has no fan.

[OdinTyler]

Well, if it has no fan, Id suggesting getting one if at all possible. I know it sounds odd, but, even if you got a small fan to sit on your desktop, aim it at your computer to cool it down. Its actually helped mine at times. Another important point is the video card. Video cards are a pretty good determinant if you can play games on your computer or not. My graphics card isnt that great so most games I miss out on, despite decent processing power overall. If your comp has a decent processor & video card & all youre worried about is your comp overheating, theres always a way to fix that.

[ajenteks]

Since PSU can run on a PS2, I highly doubt that the PC requirements are going to be that high, and that running the game sans the bells and whistles will be very taxing on the average system out there today.

[Ludamec]

I'm gonna be getting an HP Pavilion laptop soon, but I wanna make sure I can play PSU on it. It meets all of the minimum requirements with no problem, but I'm worried about the Graphics Card, its an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M IGP card...is that good enough to run PSU by any chance? I'm not sure how good the ATI mobile graphics cards are, what do you think?

Processor Brand: AMD Turion 64 (good for gaming?Only PSU)
Processing Speed: 2.0 Ghz
System RAM: 1 Gig PC2700 DDR
Video Card: ATI Radeon 128MB DDR Xpress 200 IGP
Cache Memory: 1MB

[VioletSkye]

You'll be able to play PSU on it http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif I don't have the time atm to get into any specifics on your setup but it should run fairly well. The IGP video isn't the best for gaming but it should be fine. Another issue to contend with when gaming on a laptop is that the harddrives are usually only 5400 rpm as opposed to the standard 7200 rpm of a desktop. Some are even as slow as 4200 rpm. When you configure your laptop, try to go with a 7200 rpm harddrive and that will make a considerable difference.

**Update** I checked out the Pavilions's that have a Turion and none of them can be configured with a 7200 rpm harddrive, in fact for one of them the only option is a 4200 rpm. If you are getting one of the models that has at least a 5400 rpm option, I would go with that.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-20 15:23 ]</font>

[Ludamec]

the one I'm planning to get has 4200 rpm I believe, how much of a difference will it make in performance compared to a 5400? If need be I believe I can make some alterations and get a 5400 instead

[Ludamec]

*sorry for double post* its 200 Gigs dual layered Harddrive btw, if that helps.

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-20 15:58, Ludamec wrote:
*sorry for double post* its 200 Gigs dual layered Harddrive btw, if that helps.


it's not actually "dual layered" its just two 100gig harddrives. If you can, it would improve performance to go with the 2 80gig 5400 rpm harddrives. When I get back later maybe I or Norvekh if he sees this can help you configure it so that you get the best performance.

Ludamec, what model of Pavilion are you looking at?



On 2006-02-20 09:04, Omega_Nova wrote:
Since we seem to be posting computers, I'll post my whacky set up.

Processor: AMD 64 bit 3000+
Ram: 512 MB
DVD-RAM (writes DL discs, I don't think some do that)
Hard drives: 200 GB, 10 GB
Nvidia GeForce MX4000

My only concern is the Graphics cards, since I progressively upgrade my computer *I started with an old Compaq, thats why I have a 10 GB hard drive* I tend to have awesome performance in certain areas and piss poor items in others.

On a side note, how far could I overclock the MX4000? I'm curious as it has no fan.

Without knowing what type of airflow you have and what your cooling situation is (how many fans? what size fans? are you using a stock CPU fan and heatsink, etc.) I'd say you probably wouldn't want to do much if any overclocking. I'm not saying that you wouldn't be fine overclocking but without having an idea of your setup, I can't in good conscience make any suggestions. If you don't mind spending a little cash on a descent VGA fan and heatsink (and if you have the room to add it) then you could push it, but honestly its not a great card for overclocking and more than likely wouldn't be worth the effort.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-20 20:25 ]</font>

[Espilonarge]

On 2006-02-20 12:14, ajenteks wrote:
Since PSU can run on a PS2, I highly doubt that the PC requirements are going to be that high, and that running the game sans the bells and whistles will be very taxing on the average system out there today.
PS2 = PS2 BIOS OS
PC = Bloatware OS

A PS2 doesn't require much because the BIOS (PS2's OS program) isn't very large or uses other background programs to operate. This gives programmers the space and freedom to archieve high-end games without needing allot of hardware. Due to the PS2's OS being placed on a ROM chip, the only way to adjust the settings is by storing them on a memory card/internal battery.

A PC however is a diffirent subject altogether. Due to an issue in XP called "bloatware" just like its 9X/2K/NT brethren, background tasks and programs take up allot of resources. Due to bloatware, the system requirements are high for a game because it requires the ability to do what it needs without being bogged down by anything happening in the background.

If your system is acting wierd because of FPS rates becoming eratic, frequent crashing and other milicious issues (overheating and restarting) then all I can suggest is this.

If you can't afford new hardware for your PC then I suggest buying a second-hand PS2. Just remember that 2nd generation PS2's already have a LAN port built into the console, the 1st generations will require you to buy the LAN addon. After that, your pretty much ready to play PSU.

While waiting for PSU to be released, I suggest you check the lineup of titles that are already released. PS1/PSX games are compatible with PS2 so you can go to a second-hand store and play some old classics. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[kazuma56]

MY PC is no where near being called a good gaming machine but I'm fine with the 30fps max capablity.

Celeron 2.50GHZ
1GB Ram (upgraded from 256)
3D Fuzion Geforce FX 5500 256 mb VRAM (replaced the integrated graphics)
1M-Bit net connection

I'm going the PS2 route just for easy accessability...and that I won't have to fight my brother over the PC to play it.

[Blitzkommando]

It's pretty darn easy to get XP to run on less than 384 MB of RAM using up 1% or less of the processor allocation as well while still running a firewall, antivirus, driver components, and other essential tasks. It simply means not installing all of the wonderful programs in the background. AOL is a prime offender, taking up well over 50MB of the RAM at any given point, and because it is consistantly running little things it never enters the page file. ATI Catalyst Control Center is another excellent example. While it does give a 'pretty' interface that is easy to use and configure, it puts this at the cost of running several processes simultaneously. This can easily be avoided by downloading the 'basic' drivers from ATI or by using the 'thinned down' versions from places such as Guru3d.

Windows XP itself isn't the problem so much as all of the third party applications that users tend to run in the background.

Onboard graphics also suck up the RAM and processing extremely fast. The memory is automatically allocated to graphics only, and you won't be able to use that memory for anthing else. It can vary from 8MB all the way to 256MB if the user were to choose to allocate that much, although generally users see 32, 64, or 128 MB allocated to onboard video.

Other areas that can affect performance negatively can be onboard components. Most notably, onboard sound can lower performance, though generally not by too terribly much. This happens because the sound, which could be processed via a card of some type is instead processed through the processor. This means that it will constantly, even when no sound is on, process just a little bit of data every cycle. Even a cheap sound card can help just a little bit, and increase sound clarity and quality as well.

Overall, when doing gaming or other high resource applications the user should close as many programs as possible to allow the greatest focus to occur on the primary task at hand. Checking out task mananger is a good thing to to every so often, if to just see what is running and how many resources are being used by what.

I had a problem recently with a printer driver, the current version for my printer, queuing up the print spooler to 50% of my processor, which would be 100% on a single core machine. I uninstalled the driver and it fixed the problem. My problem of course is that the standard Windows driver is not fully compatable with my printer, so it does not print correctly, but the performance gain outweighed the loss of capability.

[Para]

*objects to the comp specs*

I really don't think you can run PSU. Integrated graphics just won't cut it and until you get yourself a graphics card, PSU will be almost unplayable to most gamer standards.

Fyi: I think that computer is not worth it... The fact that it uses celeron as its processor tells me its a cheap cpu.

But erm... those specs don't even list an AGP bridge or AGP architecture... nor PCIe... just looking more closely at the specs listed... it says it has 3 PCI bus slots and specifies the cpu socket but does not say anything about the AGP or what speed the AGP architecture is at...

As for other people's CPU concerns... the 64 bit AMD cpu line are great. I own one myself and it loads things extremely fast. The biggest backdraw for me at the moment is my RAM. I only have 512 DDR ram. I suggest that anyone who already have a decent graphics card and good CPU should look into buying more RAM if they have 512 ram or lower.

Oh and the 5000 line of Nvidia cards? I had a fx5500 and it worked great for pso and fairly well for ut2k4.

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-22 16:00, Nites wrote:
*objects to the comp specs*

I really don't think you can run PSU. Integrated graphics just won't cut it and until you get yourself a graphics card, PSU will be almost unplayable to most gamer standards.

Fyi: I think that computer is not worth it... The fact that it uses celeron as its processor tells me its a cheap cpu.

But erm... those specs don't even list an AGP bridge or AGP architecture... nor PCIe... just looking more closely at the specs listed... it says it has 3 PCI bus slots and specifies the cpu socket but does not say anything about the AGP or what speed the AGP architecture is at...

As for other people's CPU concerns... the 64 bit AMD cpu line are great. I own one myself and it loads things extremely fast. The biggest backdraw for me at the moment is my RAM. I only have 512 DDR ram. I suggest that anyone who already have a decent graphics card and good CPU should look into buying more RAM if they have 512 ram or lower.

Oh and the 5000 line of Nvidia cards? I had a fx5500 and it worked great for pso and fairly well for ut2k4.


If you are speaking of the original poster's pc, he doesn't have an AGP slot and in fact NONE of the Dimension 2400's have one (which is why I recommended a PCI card lol.) Unless Sega is really sloppy with the coding, I haven't seen much of anything in PSU that is exactly cutting edge as far as graphics go. He will be able to run it, the question is, will the quality be acceptable and will it run smoothly enough for a descent experience. If not, like I mentioned earlier, adding some more RAM and getting a $50 FX5200 should definitely make for an acceptable gaming experience with good framerates. You also forget that the CPU is an excellent overclocker (even if it is a Celeron) and with a better heatsink and fan which he could find for around $20, it would easily be stable at 3.0Ghz or more.

Here is an image of the mobo for the Dimension 2400's and as you can see no AGP slot is available which is obviously why it wasn't mentioned in the specs and, again, why I suggested a PCI card.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200407/dellDIM2400_mobo.jpg


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-22 17:48 ]</font>

[Para]

How about not buying dell computers period lol... make your own computer.

Dell PCs aren't worth it. (maybe their laptops but PCs aren't worth it.) The celeron... the no agp bridge, integrated graphics chip.... this computer wasn't designed to play games and upgrading it now... might not be even worth it. Maybe he COULD get a new mobo with the same socket as his current dell mobo but with an agp bridge... but in the end... it would make more sense to just buy a new computer.

All the latest gpu makers like ATI and Nvidia are phasing out last year's stock and bringing in new stock already... heck I got my radeon x550 256mb of graphical memory for only 87 bucks canadian!

What I also dislike is that if he's being forced to use a PCI graphics card... it just doesn't seem like its worth it. Sure he could probably play it but gonna be some stress over graphics and lag to come.

No offense about your computer but that's what I think about Dell PCs and how they're just not made for gaming.

[Espilonarge]

Mayby Sega/Sonic Team will make it so if it detects theres no video card installed in any of the slots (AGP/PCI/-E) that it will refuse to start.

It may sound harsh but its reality. Onboard video cards are really "obsalete" when it comes to gaming on a PC and motherboard manafactures should stop making boards with them as a cheap alternitive. They tend to cause more problems then anything when it comes to a board with them installed on it (chewing up RAM, overheating the board, refusing AGP/PCI/-E cards, really slow performance, etc, etc.)

I can only stress so much about how bad onboard video cards are. Atleast if they do what I said about refusing to start with an onboard video card, it'll defently make users relise they've been jiffed by a low-end piece of crap. Even then I don't want to see someone steping forward once every couple of seconds and being told the games "to slow" because they're using an onboard video card.

[VioletSkye]

You both seem to be missing a HUGE point..... not everyone who buys a PC is a gamer. Does my grandmother really care if she has a Geforce 7800GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card so that she can occassionally browse the internet and read her email? Does the average office worker need one so he/she can type up a report, work on a spreadsheet or check his/her email? Absolutely not. Also keep in mind that in many households dad or mom may not want and/or may not be able to spend $1200+ for a gaming machine. Onboard video doesn't "overheat" the boards, and some are much better than others in terms of the codecs used and the performance.

You need to realize that true "gaming" pcs are more of a niche computer (although that niche is getting larger and larger all the time) and that the VAST majority of users do no gaming on their machines. Integrated components bring down costs significantly and make it possible for people to buy computers who otherwise might not be able to afford one, thus making them far from obsolete.

As a once professional pc builder (now I do it only as a hobby) I can attest to the fact that for some users, getting a cheap $500 or $600 pc from a place like Dell isn't a bad way to go. As a builder you don't make nearly as much money on a cheap bare bones system and who wants to be responsible for supporting that machine when the user is more likely to be less computer literate and have more issues. That eats up a lot of your time. If I build a $2000-$8000 gaming machine, chances are the person is more computer literate and will give me less headaches because they won't be screwing things up as much. That's a pretty broad statement, but it holds a great deal of truth. I can build a MUCH better machine than Dell any day of the week and I have even built some spectacular cheap rigs (less than $600) that will blow away a higher priced Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, Emachine etc, but like I said I don't make as much on them. If someone has less than $600 and wants me to build them a pc, I normally tell them that I don't have the time and that they may be better off contacting another local builder (or pc shop) or trying a company like Dell simply because they seem to build some of the better low to mid level consumer pcs. Another reason a customer may want something like a Dell is they usually can get an LCD (even if it is only 15") and 24 tech support. Let Dell spend 2-6 hours a week dealing with someone who bought a $500 pc http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

If you can build a mid to high end pc yourself (and honestly, unless you are liquid cooling, overclocking, case modding etc., it's pretty easy to put a machine together) than you will most likely end up with a better running and higher quality machine that will be much easier to upgrade. If you aren't wanting to tackle a build yourself but want something custom made, contact a few local shops and see what they offer. There are numerous bigger companies that specialize in gaming rigs that you can check out also:
Alienware (http://alienware.com/)
Falcon Northwest (http://www.falcon-nw.com/flash/)
Monarch (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv)
Voodoo (http://www.voodoopc.com/omen.aspx)
Widow PC (http://www.widowpc.com/)




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-23 18:22 ]</font>

[MasterChuck]

Hi, I'm going to start by saying I'm pretty computer-build illiterate as far as CPUs, graphics cards, AGP, whatever is concerned. I have a Sony Vaio w/ a Centrino wireless chip, 512 MB of RAM, and 100 GB that runs UT2K3+2K4 beautifully but on FFXI took quite a long time to load surrounding players in the major cities but looked great. IN your honest opinion what would you do in my predicament?

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-23 18:52, MasterChuck wrote:
Hi, I'm going to start by saying I'm pretty computer-build illiterate as far as CPUs, graphics cards, AGP, whatever is concerned. I have a Sony Vaio w/ a Centrino wireless chip, 512 MB of RAM, and 100 GB that runs UT2K3+2K4 beautifully but on FFXI took quite a long time to load surrounding players in the major cities but looked great. IN your honest opinion what would you do in my predicament?


What model is it? Did FFXI run smoothly after everything loaded?



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-23 18:58 ]</font>

[MasterChuck]

Sony VGN-FJ170/B notebook computer.

Concerning FFXI, the game worked but I had to disable weather effects and shadows for the game to run "lag-free" (I believe there is no inherent lag on FFXI, just the lag that stems from the user's PC). Also other players would take anywhere from seconds to minutes to load, or show, on my screen. I believe my RAM can be upgraded but no idea about my graphics card. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-23 19:11, MasterChuck wrote:
Sony VGN-FJ170/B notebook computer.

Concerning FFXI, the game worked but I had to disable weather effects and shadows for the game to run "lag-free" (I believe there is no inherent lag on FFXI, just the lag that stems from the user's PC). Also other players would take anywhere from seconds to minutes to load, or show, on my screen. I believe my RAM can be upgraded but no idea about my graphics card. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif


You can definitely upgrade the memory, but the video unfortunately is not upgradeable. Since the integrated video will take up to 128MB of your system ram, you would probably want to upgrade that. I'm assuming you have the 1.73GHz processor which probably isn't going to make for smooth gameplay (considering it has to handle graphics duties also.) You do have a 5400 rpm harddrive though so that's at least better than the 4200 rpm that some notebooks have. Honestly, I'd say that if you have a PS2, you would definitely have a better gaming experience with that version than you will with your notebook.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-23 19:33 ]</font>

[MasterChuck]

Much abliged. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Thanks for your help.

[Para]

If you tell your customers to buy DELL PCs, don't you feel like you are letting them get cheated by DELL? Like you even said, you can build much better PCs than what DELL or COMPAQ can offer for the same price. My PC costed me like what? 54 bucks for 512 DDR ram... a hundred something for the mobo, another 100 for the SATA drive.. AMD Athlon 3200+ 64 bit CPU for about 180 bucks.. 87 bucks for the radeon x550. altogether about 500-600 bucks and a really high performance PC can run many games on it. Just looking at the right places and you.

Granted that some people don't even need to play games on their computers thus not needing the extra GPU power. However we're striving from the issue with the original topic. This guy wants to play PSU and he's wondering if he can support it. We say no because he's using celeron processor with integrated graphics. If he's open to upgrades... I really advise against it unless his upgrades are really really cheap.

[VioletSkye]

On 2006-02-23 22:25, Nites wrote:
If you tell your customers to buy DELL PCs, don't you feel like you are letting them get cheated by DELL? Like you even said, you can build much better PCs than what DELL or COMPAQ can offer for the same price. My PC costed me like what? 54 bucks for 512 DDR ram... a hundred something for the mobo, another 100 for the SATA drive.. AMD Athlon 3200+ 64 bit CPU for about 180 bucks.. 87 bucks for the radeon x550. altogether about 500-600 bucks and a really high performance PC can run many games on it. Just looking at the right places and you.

Granted that some people don't even need to play games on their computers thus not needing the extra GPU power. However we're striving from the issue with the original topic. This guy wants to play PSU and he's wondering if he can support it. We say no because he's using celeron processor with integrated graphics. If he's open to upgrades... I really advise against it unless his upgrades are really really cheap.


What you described isn't a high performance pc, it's a budget pc with some descent components and not nearly enough ram lol. If I don't want to do a build for someone I always suggest going to another local computer shop first, but if they ask about going with a Dell I tell them to check it out. You have to realize that not all of my customers are gamers and if I can tell that someone really isn't computer literate AT ALL and they want some cheap system, I don't want to be the one they call every 10 minutes because they mess something up http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif The great thing about building pcs as a hobby is that I can choose whether or not I want to build a pc for a certain customer. I do it of course for some added income, but mostly because I enjoy it. What I don't enjoy is getting called repeatedly by the same customer over and over because he/she doesn't really know what they are doing. I support every machine I build and I stand by my work (which is excellent btw http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif ) and I have no problem helping someone out with issues from time to time, but what I'm talking about is the user who really knows nothing about computers and calls me constantly for every little thing (and believe me there are plenty of those.) I have enough things going on in my life (all of which are good thankfully) that I don't want to waste my time teaching Joe User the basics of using his/her new pc http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Basically it boils down to this, when I install an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of Windows on a machine, I am required to provide technical support for that system. Having built pcs for many, many, many years now, I have learned to trust my instincts when it comes to certain customers. If I get the feeling that a customer has no clue how to use a pc then I usually try to steer them to another option otherwise I end up wasting huge amounts of my time because they want to call me continually while they figure out how to operate it and do certain things. I get paid only for the build, not for the hours I spend trying to help them get started. I have hosted classes on PC Basics and was paid for that, but thats a different thing altogether. You have no clue at all how many HOURS!!! I've spent and how many miles I've driven to help out customers that have messed something up or don't know how to do something basic. I no longer wish to mess with that, so I am much pickier about who I build machines for now.

BTW I disagree with your assessment that the original poster can't run PSU simply because he has a Celeron. I think he might very well be able to run it and with a PCI card it could run descently.

After reading my post, I realized it may have sounded harsh towards you and that was not my intention. Thats great that you build your pc and I wasn't trying to say it wasn't a good one, it's just not what I would categorize as "high performance". I'm sure it runs great and can out perform pcs from major sellers in the same price range or even higher price ranges. I don't think a customer who buys a Dell is necessarily getting "ripped off" though.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-24 23:06 ]</font>

[2D]

On 2006-02-23 22:25, Nites wrote:
If you tell your customers to buy DELL PCs, don't you feel like you are letting them get cheated by DELL? Like you even said, you can build much better PCs than what DELL or COMPAQ can offer for the same price. My PC costed me like what? 54 bucks for 512 DDR ram... a hundred something for the mobo, another 100 for the SATA drive.. AMD Athlon 3200+ 64 bit CPU for about 180 bucks.. 87 bucks for the radeon x550. altogether about 500-600 bucks and a really high performance PC can run many games on it. Just looking at the right places and you.

Granted that some people don't even need to play games on their computers thus not needing the extra GPU power. However we're striving from the issue with the original topic. This guy wants to play PSU and he's wondering if he can support it. We say no because he's using celeron processor with integrated graphics. If he's open to upgrades... I really advise against it unless his upgrades are really really cheap.



Great part is if you upgrade your ram to at least 1 gb of DDR.You will not have any problems in the close furture.Video cards last about 2 years before you have to get a new one..If you get the right one.

I used to have a dell PC.But i have my own now i built it with my friends help it was completey free 3.0 ghz procsser 1gb of DDR Ram geforce 7700.

It wouldve been cheaper then a dell computer too =P