I'm almost finished building my new PC (just awaiting the processor), I just wanted to know your thoughts on this system bacause the last one I built was horrendous (you don't wanna know). Here are the following components - 750Watt PSU ASUS P5QL-E Motherboard Nvidia 8800GTS DDR3 320MB PCI-E x2 x1GB Crucial Memory PC8500 80GB SATA Hard Drive (not too fussed about storage) Intel Heatsink Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 2.13GHz I am mainly building this PC to run the new games (Call Of Duty, Operation Flashpoint 2 etc)..let me know what you guys think and what you could do to improve this PC. Thanks!
Thanks for the reply, I'm not really bothered about the Hard Drive, do you think these components would work well together to run new games such as GTA?
Why have you used a graphics card that's more than 2 years old? The CPU is much the same, it's old (though unlike the graphics card, that's not so much a problem) (and if it's 2.13Ghz it's a 6420, not a 6320, that CPU is 1.86Ghz). In general, OFP2 might be quite demanding so with that card you may have to drop the detail settings quite a lot to get it to run smoothly - you could have paid $70 for a Radeon HD4670 which is every bit as fast, has more memory and uses a fraction of the power. Or, preferably you would have gone with a more powerful card such as a $130 HD4850. The Crucial memory is likely to cause you problems in the future as high-speed Crucial RAM is very unreliable. The motherboard, though basic, should be alright, but I can't say, a lot of cheap Asus boards are pretty poorly made. The 750W PSU could be great or it could be terrible, depends what brand it is. Overall I'd give the system 3/10 for games, as it's using 2007 midrange hardware, not at least 2009 midrange (preferably high-end) stuff, which I would recommend to play OFP2.
Some useful info with the last post, the Asus Motherboard had some good reviews to it which is why I bought it, the CPU is the 6420 2.13GHz (my mistake in the post made earlier) which I'm happy with, but as for the graphics card, I just didn't know which one to go for, the 8800GTS is something I saw on eBay for £55 so I decided to go for it as it seemed like a good price, I prefer nVidia over ATI. Thanks for the info though.
Well you aren't likely to find much better for £55 I suppose, but in general for new parts, ATI offer better value right now.
Well I've just finished putting the PC together, works brilliantly, I just played Far Cry 2 on full settings, doesn't lag a single bit, I'm going to try some more games right now, I might look into an ATI graphics card in the near future, I think I'll stick with 8800GTS for now.
My screen is 17" which I'm happy with, the real "HaHa" is the fact that the 8800GTS just crashed on me and doesn't stop playing up, I was in the middle of Far Cry 2, it froze and kept flashing, so I rebooted my PC and has been bombarded with strange purple lines. Hmmmmm...the ATI does seem quite tempting now....any advice on which one...something between £60 and £75
Oh dear, the wonder of second hand stuff on ebay... Ah yeah, 17" tends not to be considered much these days. The common resolutions are 20-22" (1680x1050, HD4850/GTS250), 24" (1920x1200, HD4870/GTX260) and 30" (Crossfire or SLI setups). For 17", cards like the 8800s and HD4670 are generally OK. This should do you fine: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512Mb-Sapphire-HD-4670-DDR3
I have a Playstation 3 which is good enough for me, the PC is just a little something on the side, as for that graphics card, it looks pretty good, what are your thoughts on it? My PC only works in Safe Mode which is a pain.
Well I've just bought the card, as for the 8800GTS..the seller agreed to give me a refund, now I know not to trust second hand stuff off eBay. Thanks for your help sammorris.
I'm back, I just fitted in the new ATI Radeon HD4670 and it works flawlessly, my screen resolution is now 1280x1024 which is the same as the games I play and I haven't spotted a problem yet, it sounds like a silly question but can someone lend me one of these games? Armed Assault, Crysis? My internet is quite slow which is stopping me from downloading them. Thanks
Would it not be possible to put it onto a disc? Your help would be much appreciated, you've done a great job of helping me choose the right graphics card.
DVD-Rs cost money to buy, and it'll cost money to post the disc, not too much if you're from the UK, but if you're from a different country, then it'd be quite expensive. I'm sure you can wait a day or two to download the game. Even on a 384kbps basic ADSL connection, you can download the requisite 7GB in 50 hours.
That's fine, I'm getting abit too eager to try some real games with this card just to see how far I can push it. It's a lot smaller and lighter than my 8800GTS which I found really good, now the inside of my PC doesn't look too clogged up.
