Krakah Jax

I've sort of tuned out to how things have changed once I bought my last computer from Alienware 3 years ago. When I got it, it ran everything flawlessly. Newer games, though, are giving me major headaches (Bioshock, CoD4) , and even some of the older ones (WoW, CS:Source) that used to run fine are lagging and having issues.

I haven't upgraded anything in the system at all. Just been using it as is until now.

I'm wondering if it's worth it to try and upgrade this machine, or if I just need to start over. I want to try and stay under $1250 if possible.

My current system:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+ @ 2.2 GHz
RAM: PC3200 (200 MHz) DDR-SDRAM 512MB x2
Mobo: Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800P-8237)
Video: GeForce 6800 128MB AGP 8X
Sound: Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS

I'm just not sure it's worth it to buy new components for this one. I've heard AGP is now majorly outdated by PCI-Express.

Anyone have any recommendations of things to look for, and things to avoid when looking for new hardware? AMD/Intel? Geforce/other? Should I have a 10k rpm main hard drive or will a larger 7200 rpm suffice?

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Sykon
Undead Rogue
Draenor

Bylimet Spiritwalker

I can't say enough about the GeForce 8800GT w/1024 mb.

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Live like it matters!

Cados Evilsbane

For under $1250 I would not recommend a new system if you want it with newer games in mind.

For a quick fix I suggest you buy a GeForce 7900 (AGP 8x) or nice Radeon-HD card and stick another 1GB of RAM in there and you should be better off. Check out NewEgg.com and Pricewatch.com for good prices on these components.

A 7200RPM HD will suffice you for your older system. I use a 10k 150GB Raptor as my main drive, but the noise of it spinning is really irritating sometimes. If you really want to splurge though and reformat your drive, feel free to get a 10k. Reinstall Windows no matter what you do (if it's been a while).

In any case I suggest you spend as little as possible on a couple good upgrades and start saving up for a killer home-built gamer machine in a year or so. The only thing I would ever think about buying from Alienware is one of their laptops anyway.

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Krakah Jax

Using a configurator at cyberpowerpc.com I came up with what *LOOKS* like a decent system for the price.. I'm skeptical though because I've never bought a premade system from them before.

As copied from site after configuration:

$1092.00(before all applicable rebates)


CASE: Apevia X-Supra Gaming Mid-Tower 420W Case (G Type Black Color with Side-Window)
CPU: AMD Athlon™ X2 6400+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
MOTHERBOARD: Asus M2N SLI NVIDIA nForce 560 SLI MCP Chipset DDR2/800 SATA RAID PCI-Express MBoard w/GbLAN, IEEE1394, USB2.0, &7.1Audio
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO CARD 2: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
LCD Monitor: NONE
HARD DRIVE: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

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Sykon
Undead Rogue
Draenor

Jedd Corpse

I bought a computer from Cyberpowerpc.com... Best computer I have ever had.

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Greystone Thorngage

Not much will take advantage of 4GB of ram, 2gb is usually VERY sifficient. In fact you can look at a few articles on many sites stating the Windows XP, handles above 2gb POORLY, and that Vista only handles it marginally better.

Also, almost no game worth playing supports SLI/Duel Video Cards, and most of the time you have to turn it off. I dont recommend it.

Everything else looks good

Sanchek

If you're building a new machine and are interested in performance, I wouldn't suggest staying with AMD.

Greystone Thorngage

i have Core2 Duo, works really good, i do have some heating issues though.

Taleren Bloodsong

I too have purchased a pc from cyberpower and I've been nothing but happy with it. Spent about what you want to spend about a year ago and it's ran great for me.

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Krakah Jax

Thanks for the infos everyone. Going to look into things a bit further and see what I can work out. Only thing I fear is if I build this new machine... I'm never going to see daylight again :P