Gaming desktop...

superscaper

bumpydog wrote: »

( no offense to people on this board but the quality of tech knowledge over there is probably a bit better).

Actually that is a bit condescending (not to mention presumptuous).

johng_uk

superscaper wrote: »

No. As I said you can get ones capable of going well beyond HD resolutions so using the "HD" name is meaningless as it's only a single resolution. You can get monitors that have an HDMI cable as well which allows you to connect it to HD sources such as sky+, blu ray players etc but unless you're specifically doing that or conversely trying to connect your computer to an HD TV it's pointless looking for either graphics card or monitor with "HD" associated. Nice as a bonus but it has absolutely no bearing on gaming since games could play at lower resolution than HD or above HD resolution (and you don't see "super HD" labels or anything like that) and anything in between with various other technologies for the graphics besides resolution which is only one factor.

So the total opposite to tv's, dvd players etc which must state Hd ready on the box!

I think I've eventually got my head around it - Thanks mate!

johng_uk

superscaper wrote: »

I think you've misunderstood. Games already can play at HIGHER resolutions than HD. So making games as HD only (which is pointless anyway since it's only a single resolution) is actually a step backwards. HD was brought in for video/TV viewing. Gaming is a separate issue and been "ahead" of that for years.

As for blu ray you can already get blu ray writers for pc and it also has no bearing as it's merely a larger storage solution than DVD, nothing more. It adds nothing in terms of capability other than being able to pop in a blu ray movie which again is a separate thing from gaming.

Gottcha.

So there's no benefit to a blu-ray player outwith being able to store more stuff and watching blu-ray movies.

johng_uk

tonyhague wrote: »

johng_uk wrote: »

Going back to my pervious post about waiting - It may actually be worthwhile. I'm sure the Blu-Ray technology and HD cards will drop sharply in price in the short/medium-term, making it sailly to splash out on a non-compatible system now [/q] my guess is bluray players/disks will drop price significantly in around 2 and a half to 3 years, enjoy the wait. HD cards?? guess everyone else has answered that one (as I did also)

Cheers Tony - The penny is slowly dropping! :rotfl:

johng_uk

superscaper wrote: »

Actually that is a bit condescending (not to mention presumptuous).

:rotfl: I'm sure you'll get over it mate!!

nephilim

http://www.arbico.co.uk/Arbico-OC-4870-XL-Custom-Built-PCW-Power-Gaming-PC-p-18297.html


Customise it with the following

Case - Quiet Antec Sonata III Black
Power Supply - Corsair 750W Dual 12V SLI Ready PSU
Memory - 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair 800MHz DDR2


Total comes to £888.98 (including VAT) with those customisations.

I have a similar spec PC and it runs like a dream with crysis at top graphics and COD4 at top graphics.


*EDIT*

Fixed the price

johng_uk

bumpydog wrote: »

I know this probably is the response you didn't want, but my advice would definately be to build your own. I completed my first desktop build a couple of years ago and it really was dead easy ( the whole build was completed in around 3 hours ). Plus you get a machine with exactly the spec you want for a price that is probably cheaper than buying a ready-made system, and the satisfaction of building your own is brilliant

take a look over at http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/ and maybe post the same question in thier forums. ( no offense to people on this board but the quality of tech knowledge over there is probably a bit better). If nothing else they will be able to give you advice on the best components, even if you decide against building it yourself.

good luck mate

Thanks for the site mate. I'll deffo have a look for interests sake, but can't promise I will take the plunge!

DatabaseError

bumpydog wrote: »

..no offense to people on this board but the quality of tech knowledge over there is probably a bit better..

none taken. my 1st build was a 486, my latest (sat boxed in my kitchen to go) is an intel quad with a hd4850 gpu, so I've had a little experience building, I also participate in hardware forums

johng_uk

tonyhague wrote: »

none taken. my 1st build was a 486, my latest (sat boxed in my kitchen to go) is an intel quad with a hd4850 gpu, so I've had a little experience building, I also participate in hardware forums

Is it actually as easy as stated Tony?

I just worry about troubleshooting etc. If it was so easy and cheap - Why doesn't everyone do it?

I for one am not very technically minded and would be wracked with worry that I'd break something or set it up wrong and not be able to sort it!

DatabaseError

honestly, John, the hardest part is getting together a shopping list. the components are a bit like lego, if it doesn't fit there, it doesn't go there. The PC in my kitchen took about 20 minutes to build, and another 2 or 3 hours to load with vista64 and all the software, cost £552 without keyboard, screen, software or mouse, and will play any new games, though the owner only wants to play civ 4 on it for now, the pc is going to Malta, so it has to be 'futureproof' for a few years.