New Computer

[Dylon]

hey guys, i was planning on a new computer, but i dont want vista just cause theres alot of stuff that doesnt work right on it right now, so i was wondering what kind of processer and other stuff i would need if i wanted to replace vista with xp, and if theres a way to get a free version of it with product keys etc. thanks for the help

[Sigi]

Shit varies.

What are you going to use the system for primarily, what is your budget/timeframe.....

[Dylon]

what else do you think im gonna use it for? FF of course. my budget is like 600 to 800 bucks (inolol) i just want a pc that would be able to switch from vista to xp and be good still, and better then the pc i have now

[sekaran]

Anything you plan on reusing from your current PC?

[Skyylya]

can you post what you have now?

600-800 bucks isn't going to get you a ton unless you have a lot that you can reuse from your current PC. a processor, video card and video card would run you close to 500-600 bucks, if you're talking new case, new mobo, new hdd's, new dvd / cd-rw, cooling, PSU then you're not gonna be able to get a spectacular machine.

Depending on a light budget look at one of the lower model core 2 duo's, like an E4300 or something around there, get a P5B MOBO and 2 GB of Geil ram, for cost you probably wanna get a lower model nVidia chip since a better card would cost almost your whole budget. get like a 7600 series or something a 256 or 512 card if you can find one for a low price. Those are the most important components, things like PSU, case, cooling and drives are good, but most likely to be re-usable by your old machine.

but try to post what is on your current PC.

[Amele]

800 will do you pretty good if you skimp on either monitor or graphics card.

if you can (at all) reuse your case, HDD, and PSU. (only reuse the PSU if its 450W+) you should be able to reuse your optical and lolfloppy drives unless they died on you.

with 800, I'd budget 300 for the motherboard and processor, 150 for the videocard, 150 for the RAM, and 100 for a decent but not zomg monitor. this leaves you with 100 dollars for incidental stuff that you might need to pick up (like additional case fans or thermal paste or a heat sink for the processor if you get OEM etc.) or to go a little overbudget on one of the other components.

this presupposes you can reuse your HDD, your PSU, your case, and all your peripherals.

if FFXI is the only game you plan to seriously play, prioritize the Processor, RAM(to 2gigs, above 2gigs won't be as important for XI on XP) and Motherboard, in that order. if you're looking to play other games too, then you'll want to consider a decent videocard too (XI can run just fine on a geforce4 .. lol)

this will get you a sweet last gen system (like, top end stuff from a year ago) or a midline current gen system (excluding graphics. this will probably be the midline for last gen either way.) depending on your taste.

get dual-core! AMD or Intel doesn't matter much to me but generally get AMD if you're looking at CoreDuo vs 939 and get Intel if you're looking at Core2duo vs AM2. assuming the prices are the same. as an example of real FFXI application of dual core, I dropped a dual core into my system with no other changes and doubled my frame rate in dynamis.

[evilbau]

what else do you think im gonna use it for? FF of course. my budget is like 600 to 800 bucks (inolol) i just want a pc that would be able to switch from vista to xp and be good still, and better then the pc i have now

work the deal sites and that can be a healthy budget. Take the time to research and I bet you could get a pc better than most people who simply go to newegg and 'Add to cart' lol. Build a good pc for 300-400 is very possible. budget card from woot $25, mobo + cpu for $100 and up from frys, depending on the week, 2GB DDR2 RAM $32 AR, FAR case and psu, or ~$50-$70 for quality (antec, etc.), $50 or less for HD, etc etc. Retail is for suckers. I would settle for 40% off MSRP at the minimum.

or something like this http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/744654/ (sorry but deal died this morning) for about $200 and add more ram, etc,

could OC if you have the expertise and/or if you do a lot of reading like this (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=132900) or this (http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=3904)

Especially if you are only using for FF, you don't have to spend very much. The more you know about this stuff, the more powerful your system will be at a cheaper price. If you don't think you are savvy enough to work the system like this, just buy retail from best buy or something.

[Skyylya]

This would be a good processor in your budget, it has a better FSB than the E4300 and the conroe core is better than the alternatives imo all for an extra few bucks. If that extra few bucks is important, you'll lose some performance, but the E4300 is still a good choice, esp if you plan to overclock it to the performance of an E6600 level or higher.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115005 - E6300

This is a good MOBO and is recommended by a lot of builders. The P5B is a lower version of the P5B Deluxe and the more expensive and higher performance P5k3's, but as you're on a budget this would be better and fits nicely with the Core 2 Duo's. it is PCIe compatible so it'll give you a bit of forward movement if you wanna improve your stuff down the road (not to far though).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131030

I like corsair ram a lot, it is real good quality as they are a great company overall. This ram is real good for your price range and fits with your MOBO. January this ram was 200 bucks but now you can get it for about 80. It has a good heatsink on it and if you try to overclock this ram can handle that well with the other pieces i've recommended.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145015

so far we're at 360 bucks(not including tax/shipping) and we still need a video card, HDD, case, cooling, DVD/CD combo, monitor, mouse/keyboard; minus anything you can reuse of course.

This is a good video card, it's the 8600 256mb card which is good performance and you save on the size vs. the 8800's (which are huge). it's a decent cost too vs. the $400+ for the 8800's and whatnot. it is dx10 compatible if you keep this card in the future and is a modest 114 bucks. If you wanna spend a few extra bucks on this go for a 512mb card of the same generation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130085

up to 474 bucks now. Depending on how old your other PC is you might wanna look at case/PSU next.

Casewise you wanna just get something that is ATX compatible for your MOBO and has good circulation and something that you'll like to look at. There are to many to pick a particular one to recommend. for PSU i recommend a corsair hx520 or 620w you'll probably only need the 520 which will be around 100 bucks give or take, i just ordered the 620w for my rig which was 149, the 520 will be less. Between case and PSU you're probably looking at least another 200.

HDD wise, you'll wanna look at a samsung spinpoint, try to get a 16mb cache and at least a 7200 rpm. size wise depends on what you need it for, but those two things are best for performance. This'll probably run you another 150 bucks give or take depending on how many GB you get. Also, get a s/ATA if you look at anything else, IDE is a thing of the past and slower.

right now we're over 850 bucks. I'll stop recommending stuff here as we're over your budget. But there are some things you can take away if you can re-use old stuff, but you'll wanna get stuff that is at least what i've shown as far as cpu, mobo, ram and gpu.

There are other things you can get as well, this is just what i recommend for your budget.

[evilbau]

fyi that board handles DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
and the memory in that link is DDR2 675 (PC2 5400)

[Skyylya]

the ddr2 800 pc6400 is also a lot more expensive, he can save money and get the 675 and overclock it a little if he wants, otherwise it'll fit within his budget better and he'll still get really fast ram.

He's gotta skimp in some area, While i don't think Ram is an area to skimp on i think that this is the least detrimental since it's among the easiest to overclock.

Just my opinion. he could get the ddr2 pc6400 for like 120 or something if he wanted a little lower quality, after that it jumps up to like 160 or something.

I agree the ddr2 800 is better no doubt, but i was giving him a budget option.

[Dylon]

well, im not gonna be using my old pc for parts, my brother is still gonna use it for small stuff like myspace, but this pc cant handle FF that well so im trying to get a better one for myself, plus im not worried about the monitor, and idk if u guys answered my question of, can i get a brand new pc for 600 to 800 dollars and downgrade from vista to xp without replaceing anything...

[sekaran]

You mean like a Dell? Easy.

[Skyylya]

you can get a new pc for 600-800 bucks, but if you're talking total package, it's not gonna be that good unless you get some phenomenal deal somehow.

I don't know what you mean by "downgrade from vista" Just install XP, Vista isn't the the norm yet anyhow and IMO still needs some kinks worked out before it's reall ready to be the norm. I still use xp.

In my opinion though, you're not gonna get a great PC for any game let alone ffxi with just 800 dollars, but maybe someone else can help you with one of the deal sites for a total package, I mostly browse individual hardware and stuff.

[Amele]

you can get a new pc for 600-800 bucks, but if you're talking total package, it's not gonna be that good unless you get some phenomenal deal somehow.

I don't know what you mean by "downgrade from vista" Just install XP, Vista isn't the the norm yet anyhow and IMO still needs some kinks worked out before it's reall ready to be the norm. I still use xp.

In my opinion though, you're not gonna get a great PC for any game let alone ffxi with just 800 dollars, but maybe someone else can help you with one of the deal sites for a total package, I mostly browse individual hardware and stuff.

if he excludes the monitor ('I'm not worried about the monitor') 800$ for DIY builds a very nice rig.

I run XI at 1600x1200||3200x2400||etc with vent, gaim, firefox, and sometimes Source in the background; all without ever dipping below 25FPS outside of whitegate AH/MH (including dynamis) and my DIY only cost about 900$ before monitor.

strip out my SLI since it's not really necessary for just XI and you could do it for 700$ probably.

[Skyylya]

you can get a new pc for 600-800 bucks, but if you're talking total package, it's not gonna be that good unless you get some phenomenal deal somehow.

I don't know what you mean by "downgrade from vista" Just install XP, Vista isn't the the norm yet anyhow and IMO still needs some kinks worked out before it's reall ready to be the norm. I still use xp.

In my opinion though, you're not gonna get a great PC for any game let alone ffxi with just 800 dollars, but maybe someone else can help you with one of the deal sites for a total package, I mostly browse individual hardware and stuff.

if he excludes the monitor ('I'm not worried about the monitor') 800$ for DIY builds a very nice rig.

I run XI at 1600x1200||3200x2400||etc with vent, gaim, firefox, and sometimes Source in the background; all without ever dipping below 25FPS outside of whitegate AH/MH (including dynamis) and my DIY only cost about 900$ before monitor.

strip out my SLI since it's not really necessary for just XI and you could do it for 700$ probably.

I'm curious what parts you'd get for 800 if you were to build it yourself, and getting everything you need new. Unless you know of some awesomely cheap site

what are the specs of the PC you got for 900, including monitor i'm sure you were over 1k which is 200 bucks over his budget cap.

[Amele]

well, I'm at work so I don't remember -all- of it. but I'll be as specific as possible.

DFI Lanparty nforce4 motherboard, (socket 939) 150$
2 gigs RAM (I don't remember the brand - probably crucial ) 100$
Opteron185 (2core socket 939) 245$
600W dual 12V supply (either antec or rosewill) ~75$
BFG 7800GTOC x2 ~150$ ea. (was more like ~200ea. before rebates)
120 GB HDD (Seagate) ~80$
some sony +/-R/W DVD burner 30$
I reused my keyboard and mouse (not that kb/mice together should run you more than ~30$)

ok so this is actually 950 and not 900 (I misjudged the difference in price between the original CPU and the one I'm running now) strip out one of the 7800's (hell put in an 8600 for 150$) and you'll get to 800$ - drop down to a 450-500W PSU and use the spare change to buy a case. (should save about 30$)

LCD is a samsung 204B 20.1" 1600x1200 I got a deal on at bestbuy for like 180 (I think they're about 240 retail now? ) so about 1130$

everything but the harddrive and CPU was OEM.


in his particular case, this is what I'd build for 800$ 'today' (including a monitor, all prices = newegg for simplicity)

ASUS P5B LGA775 - 117$
Intel core2duo E6300 conroe - 164$
Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB DDR2 800 - 70$ (114.99 pre-rebate)
Apevia X-Navigator ATXA9NW series (your choice color) - 100$
^this includes a power supply
Western Digital 120GB Caviar SE 7200RPM - 50$
EVGA 256MB 7600GT (256-P2-N615-TX) - 75$ (90 pre-rebate)
Asus 18x DVD+/-R DRW1814 - 29$ (with lightscribe cause it's nifty)
--> 605$ for the complete tower, including all cables and fans except for ethernet.
Acer AL1917WAbd 19" widescreen - 160$ (5ms, 1440x900, 300 cd/m^2)
--> 765$ for the complete system

ok, so you'd probably end up spending another 50$ for a keyboard and a mouse from here if you didn't have spare, so I'm over budget by 15$, although, I built a general gaming rig and not a 'FFXI' only machine - the FFXI only machine looks more like: "best processor and motherboard and ram I can buy. geforce4 Ti4200 for 10$ videocard, 40GB harddrive, DVD-rom instead of burner" etc.

[Skyylya]

That's a good build for that price today, my only concern is forward mobility. That PC will run well but after a year if you wanted to play anything new you would need to upgrade again, when if you spent a few extra hundred dollars now you could extend the life of your pc by a couple years.

That gpu is kinda cheap and 256mb won't be good for if you want to run games other than more simple stuff out right now. You'd have to upgrade that by the start of next year if you wanted to play anything new. Other than that I think the build woul last a good while. I'd go with a samsung spinpoint or a seagate for the HDD though with a 16mb cache over the 8mb. But that's just me. And def a sata, not sure which one you listed as both the IDE and SATA were 50 bucks.

Good find on the parts though for the most part. My build would be cheaper too, i didn't really calculate the rebates.

[Vertabreaker]

I agree with Skyylya.

I would get a different HDD(I've had nothing but bad experiences with WD) and get a SATA HDD rather then IDE.

As far as the GPU goes, you could bump that up to 512MB for not much more keeping the whole tower still under $800.

[Amele]

it is SATA, I just neglected to specify (SATA3.0GB/s) and yeah. 16$ more would get you a 250 with a 16MB cache. I've never had an issue with WD, but I had considered a Seagate Barracuda in a similar price range (I think it was 10$ more) although it was also only an 8MB cache.

the two components that are gonna cause the most issue moving forward with the 800$ (well. more like 605$ tower) rig I posted are the CPU and the GPU yeah. (as usual) I put a couple extra bucks into the motherboard so that you would have the flexibility to upgrade components later on.

cpu is pretty straightforward and obvious. 2 years from now, buy the best core2duo/core2extreme that you can afford just after they move to the first major product line the motherboard won't support.

you could put an extra 200$ into the GPU now - and get it to last about another year and a half. (so ~100$ a year)

or you can buy another 120$ card a year and a half from now (so ~100$ a year) if you need a dx10 game. -and- have a chance to find out if you should switch chipset manufacturers because ATI or NVIDIA won the next gen race for midline cards.

all that said, if I hadn't needed to provide a monitor too in the 800$ I would have spent almost all the extra budget on putting in an 8600 or 8800 and getting dx10 support.

again though - for the OP's stated purpose, a Geforce4 Ti4200 would be sufficient so anything PCI-E at all is going to be more than enough.

EDIT: and to be fair we're assuming he has a copy of windows XP and a license for it lying around - so If this isn't the case I guess we're still over budget about 150$ lol

[evilbau]

better, more realistic prices

U DEALIN' : GOOD