Desktop computer choice.

[Mirror]

Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 5212 Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2GB DDR2 250GB NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS Windows Vista Home Premium - Desktop PCs

or

Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER GS-514 Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 4GB DDR2 320GB NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Desktop PCs

Which one should I get, or if you find any others, custom casing, with a good price approx. 400-700$ is my max.

[ace_012]

What are you looking to do? If the most resource intensive game your going to play is WoW then you can get the first one, but if you got the money I would get the second one. However, I would never buy a prebuilt computer though. If you feel like building your own, then I believe you definitely should. The first one's video card sux, I have used it beofre and the most it can play is WoW on max settings w/o multisampling. Scored like a 3.5 in Vista's rating system, out of 5.9. That 9500GT should be tonz better.

Sorry for the long drawn out post IMO, get the second one. It is much better, but I just glanced over them. How do you feel about building your own though?

[Mirror]

I was looking for along the line of WAR hammer, and AoC, maybe some WoW too.

[TheNlghtmare]

If you're going AMD at all.... spend the extra cash and go Phenom my friend. "Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER GS-514 Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 4GB DDR2 320GB NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit - Desktop PCs" looks better though. Don't be stingy when you buy a new computer. Look at it as an investment, because it is one in the long run.

[kelat]

I didn't really look, but don't buy the computer with the 8400 GS

NVIDIA has had a lot of problems with their 84/86 hundred series of cards. They are made with defective parts and they will crap out. I already had to send my laptop that has a 8600 GS in to be serviced because the video card started to die...

Avoid the 84/86 hundred series of cards, you'll be better off.

[Zifa]

I didn't really look, but don't buy the computer with the 8400 GS

NVIDIA has had a lot of problems with their 84/86 hundred series of cards. They are made with defective parts and they will crap out. I already had to send my laptop that has a 8600 GS in to be serviced because the video card started to die...

Avoid the 84/86 hundred series of cards, you'll be better off.

I got Nvidia lol, i got absolutely no problem!

[Fadelol]

I got Nvidia lol, i got absolutely no problem!

It is known that nVidia have delivered graphic cards with defect chips in the 83/84/85 and 86 series of cards. That is the series of cards based on the G84 and G86 chips just like Kelat said. Now, they are not defect as in completely broken but they are not "working as intended".

Here is some to read up about it:
All Nvidia G84 and G86s are bad - The INQUIRER
Nvidia plays the meltdown blame game - The INQUIRER

[Mirror]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll be choosing the 9500 GT.

[ace_012]

Fadelol, are you referring to the heat creep problem? I haven't clicked your links yet, but I'm guessing that's what your talking about since you didn't mention the 88 series.

In my experiences with the 8400 GS and 8600 GT, I have yet for either to die on me. However my computer is barely ever turned off, I have no reason to turn it off. The reason I said get the 9500 was purely for performance matters

[Fadelol]

Fadelol, are you referring to the heat creep problem? I haven't clicked your links yet, but I'm guessing that's what your talking about since you didn't mention the 88 series.

In my experiences with the 8400 GS and 8600 GT, I have yet for either to die on me. However my computer is barely ever turned off, I have no reason to turn it off. The reason I said get the 9500 was purely for performance matters

Yeah it is , I was just trying to make the point that just because someone haven't experienced a problem themself it doesn't mean there isn't a problem at all.

[Mirror]

Well can you tell me if I could run WAR, AoC, WoTLK and Firefox? Maybe all at the same time lol (no not really).

But could the computer atleast run like WAR and FireFox at the same time without lag?

[ace_012]

Yea no problem, I mean it really is a problem, not like it isn't real or something.

@Mjc111
Yea dude definitely, not sure if you could run all that at once w/o lag though lol.
But yes, you can definitely run (by war you mean warock?, or what?) well, you can WoW on max settings dude w/ firefox without much lag at all. It's just as good as mine, and I can play WoW @ 1280x1024 on max settings and 8x multisampling without much lag at all in shatt, and then some "noticable" lag while using firefox on my other monitor at the same time.

[Mirror]

If I was multiboxing could I do about 5-6?

[ace_012]

Eh idk if you could on Vista. I don't have much experience multiboxing though. I was running about 3 or 4 instances with lag though, I'm not sure dude you might if you turn the settings down low. You wouldn't need high settings in instances though I would guess, since it's all closed up.

Well you do have 4gb of ram, I think you could pull it off if you use like RAM idle LE and some other nice performance tweaks. Might want to ask more people with multiboxing experience though.

[kataldt]

Honestly, you should build your own. You save a LOT of money doing this. Only do this if you know how, or have a friend/relative who knows how and is willing to help.

I build my computer for ~$1500 US, including three 22" LCD gaming quality screens and an 8800 Ultra. (Back when the Ultra was fairly new, no less)

A comparable system from a vendor (WITHOUT the two extra screens or the extra video card to handle the third screen) was well over 2 grand.