New Desktop Advice

[NagatsukaShumi]

As I have discovered, ym current rig is inadequate for gaming these days and as a result I am looking to purchase another with the money I saved whilst ill last year and wanted some of your opinions.

I am looking at the following three atm...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...ory_oid=-35614

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...rmationSection

http://www.cube247.co.uk/?customise=11

Could you give me any thoughts? The bonus with the ACER is that your warranty isn't voided should you put in upgrades as their parts all have codes on, so they can still deduce if it is their parts at fault etc.

The top one is the one I can go in an buy whenever, the other two would be mail ordered though obviously I want it to play ETW having got some time off work!

Any other suggestions are incredibly appreciated!

[Lemur]

The first two PCs had me kinda puzzled. For that kind of money, why would you go with two mid-range video cards instead of one good one? I've never understood the use of SLI with mid-range components.

The third one is a more logical build, although a lot of it is overkill. 12 gigs of memory? Really? Are you planning to do industrial 3D rendering or something?

None of these computers look like lean, mean gaming rigs to me.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Its more that I am trying to find something that I won't have to replace entirely after a couple of years, I presumed the more "overkill" it had that longer it'd be until I had to mess about upgrading or getting another PC, considering the prices these days.

[Lemur]

Well, what you do with your money is your business, but I'd recommend buying a nice gaming rig and investing the spare cash into a nice municipal bond with a 2-year yield. That way the bond comes of age right about the time you're wanting a new rig ...

There's no such thing as the computer that doesn't feel old eventually. Especially if you're a gamer. If you plunked down all the money in the world on the best possible 486 computer in 1989, it still wouldn't be able to play Fallout 3.

Better to nurse your PC along with the occasional incremental upgrade until it's obviously time to start over. And best to have savings set aside for our admittedly expensive hobby, PC gaming.

[NagatsukaShumi]

Currently looking at Cyber Power Systems, mostly because its customisable to a silly degree, tend to be able to build up rigs for around 1500 with big graphics cards (single) and memory where required.

When I said last, I meant more along the lines of last in the sense that come 3 years time, I won't have to buy a new one just to play a game on low (Which is the case with ETW, I can't even run it remotely smoothly on low and everything turned down or off, yet my PC runs MTWII) and tbf the most graphically demanding games I ever buy are TW games, so in reality all I want it to do is last the next two TW titles (including ETW, so essentially ETW plus whatever TW).

I think the reason I am concerned is because this time it is me buying it, the other times it hasn't been me doing so, so I am being rather cautious and finally learning a bit about what goes in them, I can mod games and such forth but when it comes to whats inside the machine to do all that on I am mostly clueless.

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/sy...ity_i7_Heaven/

That is the base system I am looking at with some minor tweaks (Overclocking S&S, with required cooling equipment for that, maybe the top of the range ATI card and a bit more memory).

EDIT - The case of money is that I have alot of it due to being ill last year, so it just built up hence why I am looking to just buy a new one atm. Although your suggestion to save cash over a long time etc up is a good one

[Lemur]

That looks like a more reasonable rig. My suggestions: Change the case to either the Antec P182 or the Lian Li PC-A10. Those are both rocking cases, sturdy and quiet, and not tarted up into geek ghetto fabulous (as so many gaming cases are).

The Thermalight or the Coolermaster CPU coolers should give you good service for air-cooling. Don't forget to blast your coolers with some compressed air every six months or so.

The 4850x2 is a fantastic video card for the money. I'd say it sits on the high end of the price/performance sweet spot. An excellent choice. I would not consider moving to any higher-end card. You start paying hundreds of dollars for incremental improvement; better to wait for a newer card in a couple years' time.

Depending on how many educational films you collect, or how many games you like to have installed simultaneously, you may find a single 500 gig drive to be a bit tight. I would consider stepping up to a 1 terabyte model, or adding another drive. Remember, the average game now takes up 4–6 gigs of HD space. I have a partition on one drive that has three games and my non-Microsoft apps installed (for some reason Office gets cranky if it's not on c:). Total size? 110 gigs! The mind boggles. Nobody is trying to code smaller these days. Give yourself elbow room.

I would not buy a BluRay drive for any reason whatsoever. Well, maybe if you're a complete film buff and you just have to see Australia in all of its glory. But otherwise, no. And with multi-core computers and outstanding onboard sound, I don't see any reason for discrete sound cards anymore.

These is my thoughts.