Advice on a Gaming P.C please

[EESeizmic]

Well it's christmas soon and i've got quite a bit of money saved up, so i thought i'd by myself a nice new comp, I looked around and seen a few good 1s but I have a question I play online games alot like Aoe 3/Quake 4/Battlefield 2 etc so i need a really good graphics card to play them and i was just wondering would this comp play HIGH end new games with super graphics/battles?

3.2 Ghz
400 GB
512mb nvidia geforce 7600GS Graphics card
Intel Pentium D 950 Dual Core Processor

Costs somthing like 700£ without the screen.

I have 1000£ to spent though so idk yet but that's the comp i'm looking at right now graphics card seems nice, Intel, Alot of space for games, Ghz is pretty decent so idk you guys probably know alot more than me so i could use some advice please thanks.

 

[mammikoura]

how much ram?
But overall, I wouldn't buy a computer like that.
Intel core 2 duo dual core cpu, at least 1gb of ram and 7600GT or better.
Something like that.

 

[EESeizmic]

I managed to get the full specs here :

Intel Pentium D 950 Dual Core Processor

3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center

2GB DDR RAM

300GB Hard Disk Drive

Dual Layer DVD ReWriter Drive

512MB nVIDIA GeForce 7600GS Graphics

Built-in TV Tuner + Remote Control

802.11g Wireless Network Ready

19" LG TFT Monitor


What does the 512 MB mean on the graphics card btw? b/c i've seen people saying nVIDIA GeForce 7900GT 256Mb graphics cards are better than the 512 MB 7600GS 1s if that's the case what's the point in the 512MB ?

This is early stages yet for my gaming P.C though hopefully you guys can advise me into somthing better.

 

[mammikoura]

the 512mb in the vid card is the amount of memory it has. But it's not just about the amount of memory, lots of other things to think about too. Generally it's the core & mem clock speeds and # of pixel pipelines that matter the most.

The rest of the specs are pretty good, but I wouldn't get that cpu.

 

[EESeizmic]

For about 100£ Extra i can buy this :

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6400

2 x 2.13GHz, 1GHz FSB, 2MB Cache

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center

2GB DDR RAM

400GB Hard Disk Drive

Dual Layer DVD ReWriter Drive

512MB ATI Radeon X1600SE Graphics

Built-in TV Tuner + Remote Control

802.11g Wireless Network Ready

19" Widescreen TFT Monitor


I don't really know what it means by 2 x 2.13 Ghz (I'm new to computer hardware but i learn fast ) but 2.13 Ghz is pretty low compared to 3.4Ghz obviously the 2x means somthing but i'm not sure what.

I'm MAINLY worried about the graphics card though, my 4 yr old computer couldn't handle games like BF 2/ Quake 4 and had to play Aoe 3 in low settings due to a shitty graphics card so could you tell me if
512MB ATI Radeon X1600SE Graphics is a good graphics card please? If it's not could you advise any GOOD graphics card which will play high end games on high settings please? I'm willing to spend 200£/(380$ if you're american)+ on a good graphics card. Thanks for the help/advice sorry for the newbie questions.

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

the x1600 is good enough. and a core 2 duo 6400 2.13 ghz pwns everything out there right now.

 

[EESeizmic]

Ah cool thanks for the info i'll be buying that computer then, my last question though : Is it worth buying a 200£ Graphics card :
GeForce 7900GT Chipset

256MB GDDR3 Memory

PCI-E Interface

Dual DVI Outputs

Serious Sam 2 Bundled

Zalman Heatsink / Fan attached

Is it better than the Radeon x1600 ? And is it possible 2 use them both in the same comp?

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

1. Yes it would be worth it/
2. No you cannot use both.

 

[THEpiGUY]

Ah cool thanks for the info i'll be buying that computer then, my last question though : Is it worth buying a 200£ Graphics card :
GeForce 7900GT Chipset

256MB GDDR3 Memory

PCI-E Interface

Dual DVI Outputs

Serious Sam 2 Bundled

Zalman Heatsink / Fan attached

Is it better than the Radeon x1600 ? And is it possible 2 use them both in the same comp?

Yes, it's worth it, by all means. I was just about to reply and say not to get the X1600SE, it's almost a terrible card. The SE is the lowest of the X1600 series. It's got a 64-bit memory interface, and it has hyper memory, which basically means that it's going to use up some of that 2GB of your main RAM. I doubt it could run BF2 at medium settings with decent FPS. On the other hand, the 7900GT, though it only has 256MB of RAM, should be able to handle it much better. The only thing you'll really need a lot of video RAM for is eye-candy effects, such as anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. But there are other more important factors that influence that more than the amount of RAM you have, and the 7900GT comes out on top. It's faster in every aspect.

Everything else looks very nice too. The E6400, though it is lower in GHz, is a much better processor than the 3.4GHz Pentium 4. And no, it's not because 2x2.13GHz=4.26GHz, because that isn't how it works; it's just because of the different architecture. The 2x part just means it's dual-core. The 2GB of RAM will be beneficial, and 400GB of hard drive space should last you a while. So with the 7900GT, that's a great system. The X1600SE would really hold it back in games.

 

[EESeizmic]

Thanks a bunch you've helped me loads all the info etc hehe Ya i will buy that system with a 256MB 7900GT then thanks again guys