Should I buy this pc (spec inc)

MercilessKiller

btw does CSS work well with vista yet? I know its had big fps probs recently..

Just deciding which OS to install on thursday

Psychofly

I've never played CS:S on Vista. I know a few folk who do run it on Vista and swear by it. It seems to be a bit hit and miss going to Vista. Some people I know couldn't wait to reinstall XP.

donnajunkie

the pc i was looking at was only 8400 and that is well above alot of the minimum specs i have seen but i guess it wont be that good then. the problem with the top spec pcs is they are all vastly over price, like knocking on £1000 and more.
dont other aspects of a pc's spec contribute and perhaps compensate if the graphics card is less than 8600?

BillScarab

Donna, so much depends on what you want to do with it. What games do you want to play? Also what size monitor do you have? To get good graphics on a 30" monitor takes a very powerful graphics card or two. To get good graphics on a 17" monitor takes a much less powerful card.

Psychofly

The 8400 will play some games but you'll find that within 6 months maybe you'll be struggling with games. Turning all the graphic options down and running the games with slow and jumpy graphics.

The two most important parts for gaming in my opinion are the graphics card and the memory in that order. Next would be the processor.

You don't have to spend £1000 for a good machine. The machine I specced for MercilessKiller came to around £550. Stick on a £160 widescreen 22" monitor to that and you've got a killer games machine. Particularly with companies like Dell providing 9 months interest free it can be a great way to good PC without throwing money into cheap components and planning to upgrade 3 months down the line.

MercilessKiller

pfft who needs widescreen thats just greedy. Dual 19" for the win

Psychofly

I slid my 19" tft to the right and slid a 22" Cibox WS into it's place.
Wish I had dual 22" but I can't quite justify the price. Nice playing BF2142 and CSS though on the left monitor while I watch a movie in VLC on the right

b33r

MercilessKiller wrote: »

I don't need an OS at all I have my own legal OS's through MSDN Academic Alliance.

FYI, I'm pretty sure that if you use software gained through the MSDN AA then it can only be used for instructional or research purposes so technically it wouldn't be legal if you are gaming (unless you are doing a Game Development course )

That's purely for your information so that you are aware, and that's how it was when I read the EULA, it may have changed, you might want to check.

I swear that's all I did with my OS I had through MSDN couple of years ago

P.S. Good luck with your build, psycho has pointed you to the light, I have an E6600 and a 7950 GX2 plugged into a Dell 2007WFP 20in WS monitor and its a true beast.

MercilessKiller

I used my home pc for work and play

It has software such as Visual Studio, Office etc etc.. all part of MSDN AA to help me through my degree

Aiadi

Thank you Psycho and MK for this informative thread. I have ordered one on Scan's 9mo interest free offer for my first own PC build. I'll try and keep you posted.