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New System? (Redux)


Glenn9999

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  • 4 years later...

Since this post has all the details (namely specs for both computers) for some questions I want to ask, I decided to necro it to save time.

The person I built this system for wanted something more portable, so I ended up taking the opportunity offered me and acquired it. So I have both computers. But I need to downsize since I don't have any personal need to run both computers.

People might remember the video card thread I made regarding the Athlon XP 2000+. That's still a valid concern, but doubly more so with the new system (specs in #15), since I built it more as an Internet surfer than a general computer capable of games and high-end video, consistent with the needs of this person. Thirteen year old Deus Ex looks like crap on this system, and that's saying something. Needless to say, old computer is running that.

So...suggestions? I've been literally completely out of the hardware side of things for the last year and a half or so, so I can't really comment on the new stuff that's out. I can obviously research and locate a video card for the new system and be okay with that, but is the reasonably priced newer stuff worth enough of my time that I should drop both the systems, especially since getting into Windows 7 would be a consideration in the planning? Should I go portable myself, would what is reasonably available run about anything I could want? Again 2-3-5 years down the road?

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The CPU is fast enough for every day use of a PC, but if you step up to windows 7 you might drop in an extra 2GB RAM and install a 64bit OS on it (total of 4GB). Par it with some PCI-E video card and it should even do blu-ray and H.264 video well on it.

Can you give me a list of games you would like to run or are there any special apps like Photoshop or ACAD that you would like to use?

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The CPU is fast enough for every day use of a PC, but if you step up to windows 7 you might drop in an extra 2GB RAM and install a 64bit OS on it (total of 4GB). Par it with some PCI-E video card and it should even do blu-ray and H.264 video well on it.

Can you give me a list of games you would like to run or are there any special apps like Photoshop or ACAD that you would like to use?

None in particular. The only thing that would interest me is older games that I took an interest in but couldn't run on the older system for whatever reason that I can get at reasonable prices. For example, Deus Ex: Human Revolution (if I can get it free of the DRM known as Steam, no active internet connections here for gaming). But the main projected potential use would be blu-ray and H.264, along with higher-end flash games, which dog on the new system. Ancillary interests in a new system would involve having features that I could program for and use that I have interests in (for instance, dynamic frequency scaling).

Edited by Glenn9999
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In that case stick with cards around 50USD like the ATI/AMD HD6570 (650MHz GPU) or the 60USD HD6670 (800MHz GPU), both have a 480:24:8 core configuration that would give you enough power for modern games at high settings on a 720p resolution or at low settings on 1080p. It will reproduce blu-ray and H.264 1080p with 5.1 sound trough HDMI without any problem. These cards will do DX 11, but Windows XP will only do DX 9. New, soon to be released, cards will support DX 11.2 but you will need Windows 8.1 for that...

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Thoughts on the machine question? If I order the vid card, the order will likely include a copy of Windows 7 as well - will that machine handle Win 7 alright or will I be wishing for an upgrade anyway? Any ideas on what that should be, at a reasonable price point (main concern being what mainboard).

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The Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 with 2GB that it has now and 2GB extra (28USD *) will work fine with windows 7 64bit, especially when you put in a HD6670 for 60USD * (total 88USD *).

Now, you could upgrade to a twice as fast system for less than 171USD, that's 83USD more than a video and RAM upgrade but you get a CPU that uses less power, has new instruction sets, and does a job in about half the time compared to the E7400, plus it will provide USB 3.0, SATA 6gbps. The integrated graphics from intel might be enough for the things you do with the PC, it will have no problems to reproduce 1080p and blueray and will even run older games. Sure it doesn't have the graphics power of an HD6670 but like I said you might not need that power.

This is the list op components that would be the heart of your system:

Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80637G1610

for 50USD *

GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H LGA 1155 Intel B75 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

for 75USD *

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-4GBXM

for 46USD *

You might be able to sell the motherboard, CPU and RAM you have now for 60USD on ebay.

* Prices are plus taxes.

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For those that are interested, I ended up with this one. Basically the Nvidia card in the same class as the ATI one listed (according to my research), because it supports VGA and I'm not ready to spring for a new monitor yet. The copy of Deus Ex picked it up and ran with it (given it is running DX9 drivers). The DX10 drivers will have to wait until the OS upgrade gets done. Running very smoothly now with all the graphics packs installed at the highest resolution.

Quick question #1: I'm not really noticing much of a change for other graphics oriented things (flash games for instance). Is there stuff I need to reinstall so they'll pick up the GPU?

Quick Question #2: I notice the card supports HDMI, which means I could probably plug my flat screen TV into it. Any experiences in doing that, or even letting your regular TV double as your computer monitor? Or are TVs generally too crappy to work well as monitors?

Basically other than that, my computing is fixed until I can spring for the next set of upgrades.

Edited by Glenn9999
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99.9% Of the video cards that you can buy still support VGA (DVI to VGA adapter will come with 99% of the retail cards) so for 90USD is wasn´t the best pick. Flash uses mostly CPU so you will get some improvement with a videocard but not much indeed. The HDMI support audio as well, and they can be used as a monitor, you just need to find the real native resolution of the screen; eg. 1366*768 screens might be natively 1280*720 as the downscale, 1080p screens are natively 1920*1080 so no problem there. There are also plasma screens that are 1024*768 in 16:9 format.

For 90USD you could have had a HD7750 that has 60% more balls over a a GT640...

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