Buying gaming comp help!!

[Tyler.]

Hey guys.

So my computer is still going...kinda. The Vista UI is bugged as fuck and explorer crashes pretty regularly. Also it's just recently started to freeze in games for no reason and I have to totally restart it. So I'm thinking maybe of getting a new cheapish gaming PC.

I don't need anything overly "1337" as I will barely notice the difference and don't need it. I will be using it for internet/listening to music/playing some high end graphics games like Witcher 2 and Skyrim and also next year I'm doing some recording stuff at Uni so I'll probably be messing around with music work on there. I won't be doing any video editing or extensive photoshopping stuff.

There is this one that I'm looking at now, I think these two are just the same but with difference cores or somethin', so advice on which brand AMD or Intel is better for my situation would be good. Also I would be adding one of the 1GB graphics cards, so once again advice on Nvidia or or ATI would be good. Here are the two:


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-AMD-965-8GB-DDR3-3-4Ghz-PC-Desktop-Gaming-Computer-/320752837873?pt=AU_comp_dekstop&hash=item4aae5be4f1

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Intel-i7-8GB-DDR3-3-4Ghz-PC-Desktop-Gaming-Computer-/320750103791?pt=AU_comp_dekstop&hash=item4aae322cef


For the record my computer specs at the moment are:

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor 2.6ghz
4gb ram
Nvidia GTS 250 graphics card 512mb ram.

I've only had a tiny bit of struggle in games with this and only on the highest settings in games like Witcher 2.

I can only really afford $500-700 and I'm not too interested in an amazing gaming system, just something that'll fucking work properly again and run games to a good standard.

[Jake]

Don't buy AMD machines.

[Boni Boy Blue]

Intel Quad Core are better and worth the little extra than Athlon. Also, if you get 4GB RAM make sure you run a 64-bit OS.

[Tyler.]

Intel Quad Core are better and worth the little extra than Athlon. Also, if you get 4GB RAM make sure you run a 64-bit OS.

What's the difference between 32 and 64? The comp I've been using for about 3 years is 64-bit Vista with the 4GB Ram. Would I notice the difference if I was in 32 bit on a new computer? And I'll probably be getting one with 8GB ram, I guess since ram is so cheap nowadays anyway.

[Stef]

Why? Cause 32bit won't use your 4GB. Only 3GB

[Jake]

Windows Vista and above can actually make use of 4GB. (So long as it's not the starter editions).
There's maths to prove it. The only reason people see 3GB on a 32bit OS is usually down to graphics cards.

But 64 bit applications will run faster, allow you to expand your memory beyond 4GB.

[Tyler.]

Ah k well I'll make sure to use 64 bit then. Thanks for you help guys. I'm not too fussed so when I get the money I'll shop around but probably grab that intel one with a nvidia graphics card

[Boni Boy Blue]

My gaming rig is in dire need of an upgrade. Mine is a Q8300 overclocked and 4GB of 800Mhz overclocked to 1.13 GHz and a GSX 580. 2TB HHD RAID0 setup.

[Tyler.]

I just want to be able to play games without them freezing after an hour requiring me to restart the computer, and explorer.exe crashes every 20 minutes which minimizes the game and doesn't let me do anything for 20 seconds. Especially annoying if I'm playing an online game (which I luckily don't do much any more)

This computer is fine for me to play on good graphics on nearly any game out at the moment. If I upgrade to something ridiculous I'd never be able to go back to something just decent when it dies and I'm poor again.

[FuckT41182]

buy a book, it's better

[Madjid]

buy a book, it's better

Lame.

Tyler, 4GB Ram is too much, while 512 MB of video memory is too low for a "decent" gaming machine.

2 Gb Ram + 1 GB video card = <3

[Jake]

buy a book, it's better

Lame.

Tyler, 4GB Ram is too much, while 512 MB of video memory is too low for a "decent" gaming machine.

2 Gb Ram + 1 GB video card = <3

With a 1gig card... The card will set aside a fair chunk of RAM for it's own use (yes, even cards with dedicated memory do this, but obviously they don't use as much as an on board card). So I'd still go for 4. It's not that expensive.


And I don't think crysis runs well on 2gig. I've had it use 8 on my old PC.

[Boni Boy Blue]

My main machine has 12GB RAM. You can never have too much.

[FuckT41182]

buy a book, it's better

Lame.

Tyler, 4GB Ram is too much, while 512 MB of video memory is too low for a "decent" gaming machine.

2 Gb Ram + 1 GB video card = <3

With a 1gig card... The card will set aside a fair chunk of RAM for it's own use (yes, even cards with dedicated memory do this, but obviously they don't use as much as an on board card). So I'd still go for 4. It's not that expensive.


And I don't think crysis runs well on 2gig. I've had it use 8 on my old PC.

definitely 4, 2gig is weak and you can always feel the difference, I had both 2gig and 4, and 4 just better

[Tyler.]

buy a book, it's better

Lame.

Tyler, 4GB Ram is too much, while 512 MB of video memory is too low for a "decent" gaming machine.

2 Gb Ram + 1 GB video card = <3

With a 1gig card... The card will set aside a fair chunk of RAM for it's own use (yes, even cards with dedicated memory do this, but obviously they don't use as much as an on board card). So I'd still go for 4. It's not that expensive.


And I don't think crysis runs well on 2gig. I've had it use 8 on my old PC.

Yeah since it's not very expensive at all I may as well have 4 aye, even if it isn't that necessary.