• Best of luck to the class of 2024 for their HSC exams. You got this!
    Let us know your thoughts on the HSC exams here
  • YOU can help the next generation of students in the community!
    Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
MedVision ad

Wats the best gaming PC these days? specs/quote approx price (1 Viewer)

Vangineer

Treehugger
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
527
Location
Tree
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2003
i think i can spend 4 grand which is a whopper...but i need it for CAd and games, so plz gimme ideas.
 

Ragerunner

Your friendly HSC guide
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
Messages
5,472
Location
UNSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
4 Grand will be able to get you a nice gaming computer, unless you plan on also buying other peripherals like monitor, speakers, mouse, mousepad etc..

If you are after just the core components, no doubt you'd mainly want to get SLi 7800GTX!

Though I reckon for the huge amount of money u have to pay for that is not worth the performance increase.
 

Minai

Alumni
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
7,458
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2002
Uni Grad
2006
politik said:
Anything from Alienware should be more than suffice for your gaming needs.
It's a bit of a rip off compared to building your own though..
 

Roguedeth

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
315
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Minai is right, Alienware builds good computers but they over charge you way too much.
 

bscienceboi

Active Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2004
Messages
1,582
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
$4 grand?
You can get a decent computer for less than $2k

Using CAD --> Dual Processor.
 

insert-username

Wandering the Lacuna
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,226
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 or Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
1GB RAM minimum
nVidia 7800 GTX 512MB SLi
Two 160GB HDs (Western Digital, 16MB cache, 7200 rpm, NCQ, SATA II) in RAID 0 array
Creative Extreme Fidelity Sound Card
Whatever peripherals you can afford after that.


I_F
 

AntiHyper

Revered Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2004
Messages
1,103
Location
Tichondrius
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
insert-username said:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 or Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
1GB RAM minimum
nVidia 7800 GTX 512MB SLi
Two 160GB HDs (Western Digital, 16MB cache, 7200 rpm, NCQ, SATA II) in RAID 0 array
Creative Extreme Fidelity Sound Card
Whatever peripherals you can afford after that.


I_F
Yumm thats excellent!
 

Roguedeth

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
315
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
politik said:
But Alienware supplies a warranty with their machines. Not to mention the time gained by just ordering as to building it yourself. Dont get me wrong, I prefer building one, but Alienware clearly are the best at gaming pc's.
it took me 2 hours to build my first computer. Anyways you should have indiviaul warranty on all the hardware.
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
Alienware is good if you want to show off. Otherwise building your own would be much better value.

I'd recommend an AMD X2 with 7800GTX SLi system. FX57 would probably not fit in the budget if you want that SLi system, and you don't just want a gaming machine.
 

Collin

Active Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
5,084
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
politik said:
But Alienware supplies a warranty with their machines. Not to mention the time gained by just ordering as to building it yourself. Dont get me wrong, I prefer building one, but Alienware clearly are the best at gaming pc's.
No one contests the quality of Alienware PCs, but they're so freakin' overpriced that when you buy top-end, you won't be getting specs near what you could get if you built it yourself. Many people get Alienware because they're afraid of building it and then it doesn't work, forcing the user to isolate the component at fault. Places like AusPCMarket (which isn't the cheapest online retailer, but still pretty damn cheap compared to Alienware) build and test it for you for free.

Anyway, insert-username has it pretty much nailed, although nowadays with titles like F.E.A.R I'd be more inclined to move the RAM minimum to around 2GB.

4 grand though? Fuck you buddy.. gimme that cash. :D
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
For the cost of an Alienware PC you can build your own, and throw out whichever component malfunctions in the next 3 years and buy a new one and still have change (not to mention all parts have warranties too, just more of a hassle to replace them rather than send it back to Alienware).

AusPCMarket's build quality is excellent should you let them put it together.

And just out of interest, Alienware didn't win.
 

darksbane

Do Not Tap on Glass
Joined
Apr 1, 2005
Messages
115
Location
Lismore
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
Last edited:

Serius

Beyond Godlike
Joined
Nov 10, 2004
Messages
3,123
Location
Wollongong
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
heres what i would do with your money: go town to the nearest budget computer parts store or computer fair
pick up the following parts
put computer togther, and enjoy

AMD athlon 64 3500+ venice - $299
DFI LandParty nF4 Ultra D - $198
1GB Corsair TwinX 3200C2 - $189
Antec Smart Power 2.0 500W - $112
Elsa ATI Radeon X800XL 256 MB - $352
Logitech x-530 5.1 speakers - $92
Sony 16x DVD Dual layer burner - $48
Samsung 16x DVD ROM - $30
Western Digital 200GB 7200rpm HDD - $116
Samsung 930BF 19" 4ms LCD - $729 [ no need to skimp on monitor]
Antec Super Lanboy Case - $120 [ a good case if u wanted to mod]
Logitech Deluxe Keyboard - $20

mouse either:
Logitech Mx525 optical gaming mouse - around 60$ of 1600 dpi goodness
or the god of mouses, Logitech G5 laser mouse - 85$

chuck it all togther, leave some wiggle room, in pricing for a few exstra heatsinks, some thermal glue etc [using the g5 mouse in this price]and we come in at
$2 450

not bad considering the parts used... this would be one sweet gaming computer, if any1 wants to tweak this build to get it closer to the $4000 budget feel free, iam sure u could sink some money into a better keyboard or an insane cpu like the new AMD Athlon FX-57, $1505 of raw cpu speed

so there ya go, i made u a comp for 2500 bucks, and u have 1500$ left to go spend on some kick ass games
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
Why would you get a X800XL from a crap brand when you can afford the best single card solutions available.
 

Serius

Beyond Godlike
Joined
Nov 10, 2004
Messages
3,123
Location
Wollongong
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Templar said:
Why would you get a X800XL from a crap brand when you can afford the best single card solutions available.
because it is the same shit, wahetevr brand it is so i went with the cheapest

the x800xl is a decent card that is a very cost effective solution,
if we were going for "the best" in every single thing, we would end up with a pc around 10 grand, not 2.5

keep it mind that high end parts need to be coupled with other high end parts to get the most for your moneys worth. there is no point getting a 512mb card, unless u have a motherboard to support it, likewise there is no point getting one unless you have a shitload of ram, otherwise the "information bottleneck" will simply be moved from the the graphics card to the ram.

the author of this forum need indicate that he wanted money left over for games and other shit
 

Templar

P vs NP
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
1,979
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
Even with a 7800GTX it would easily fit under $3000, not to mention it is a much better card. And brand does matter.

Serius said:
keep it mind that high end parts need to be coupled with other high end parts to get the most for your moneys worth. there is no point getting a 512mb card, unless u have a motherboard to support it, likewise there is no point getting one unless you have a shitload of ram, otherwise the "information bottleneck" will simply be moved from the the graphics card to the ram.
Every motherboard that supports PCIe can handle 512MB cards, a better argument would be that there is no evidence to suggest that they are clearly superior to their 256MB counterparts on current games. 1GB can support any card on most games for RAM. And you get a high end card not to play games at astronomical frame rates, but with eye candies, so there would be no major bottleneck apart from the graphics subsystem.

And the author said he needed the computer for both CAD and games, not money left over.
 

Serius

Beyond Godlike
Joined
Nov 10, 2004
Messages
3,123
Location
Wollongong
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
they are like $800? yeh what the hell, chuck one in

he said he need money left over for games, as in after buying the parts for the pc, he needed atleast a few 100 remaining from the 4grand to be able to buy the games

did i interpret that correctly?

maybe iam not getting the scope of the 4000 thing, i tend to be a cautious, budget gamer
i check to see how the equipment goes, and i make sure i dont get something new when it first comes out, incase something newer and better comes out a week later.... iam also used to trying to skimp on money by getting cheaper brands, shopping around and prefering more bang for buck as apposed to raw power for a leg and an arm

that build is what i would get with his money, actually some of those parts are gonna be in my next upgrade, and some are allready in my pc
 

darksbane

Do Not Tap on Glass
Joined
Apr 1, 2005
Messages
115
Location
Lismore
Gender
Male
HSC
2006
I understood it that he was looking for a computer for cad and gaming for under $4000....I know where your coming from though Serius, I tend to be fairly cautious, budget limited too, that system you suggested is pretty nice but I'd make these changes:

AMD athlon 64 x2 3800+ - $492
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLi-D - $259
2.0GB TWINX-3200C2 (400MHz) DDR RAM Corsair - $419
Antec TruePower 550W - $149
XFX GeForce 7800GTX 512meg DDR3 Dual DVI VIVO PCI-E - $1199
Logitech x-530 5.1 speakers - $92
Pioneer DVR-110D 16X DVD-/+R/RW Dual Layer - $62
Samsung 16x DVD ROM - $49
Seagate Serial ATA NCQ 300GB 7200RPM 8mb Cache - $215
Samsung 930BF 19" 4ms LCD - $729
Antec P180 Performance One ATX MidiTower(no PSU) - $215
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - $100

mouse either:
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse - $99
Logitech G7 Cordless Laser Mouse - $149 (2000 DPI)

All prices from umart.com.au aapart from mobo from nintek.com.au

With the G7 mouse that comes to $3851
 

Vangineer

Treehugger
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
527
Location
Tree
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2003
lookn gud boys, i just spent heaps of money buyn car, mp3 player, pocket scooter and now need another 1200 bucks of saving for the 4 grand = )
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top