Graphics Card

[vbraun]

Why?

Its cheeper and more fun if you design and build your computer yourself, and a lot of times you end up with a faster computer for less money.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Very certainly true.

I just built one today, or rather yesterday. Pls refer to my 'This is the PC I am building...' thread.

 

[Thunderfall]

I am not sure it's cheaper, but it's certainly fun.

 

[MarineCorps]

I am not sure it's cheaper, but it's certainly fun.

Well it most likely is cheaper since you don't have to pay for service. One of my teachers told me once "the more work someone else does, the more it costs."

 

[Thunderfall]

Well it most likely is cheaper since you don't have to pay for service. One of my teachers told me once "the more work someone else does, the more it costs."

Yeah, but computer makers buy components in bulk which is significantly cheaper and can pass some of the savings to consumers.

 

[Speedo]

No, I also play other strategy games, but all of them require minimal system resources. I would like to try out some roleplaying games (e.g., City of Heroes) and I have a friend who is pushing me to join him in playing WarCraft online. I'd like to be prepared for any strategy games that come out in the next three to five years. Most likely, I will never play the really demanding 3D games, though. Still, based on what most people are saying, it sounds like I should bite the bullet and get the GeForce 6800, even though it will increase the cost of the system by about 20%

Lets go ahead and be honest by saying that it's pretty doubtful that you're gonna be able to get a comp that will really be able to play games 5 years from now. Still, you're going to get the most longevity out of a 6800GT.

Why is it not easy to upgrade a Dell PC?

Dell is notorious for using non-standard components. If you are able to upgrade at all you will probably have to do so through Dell.

ie:
-You usually can't replace a Dell power supply with a standard ATX one. It won't fit.
-If you buy one of the smaller desktop models you may find that you don't have room for expansion cards... like a new graphics card.
-Then if you went to buy a new case so that your graphics card would have room, you'd probably find that you couldn't put your Dell motherboard into the new case, since it's not a standard ATX motherboard.
-Should you want to add more RAM, you'll probably find that most RAM you buy will not work with your system. You'll have to buy the RAM direct from Dell (I think Crucial also offers Dell-compatible RAM), either way it comes out being much more expensive than standard DDR/DDR2 RAM.

No, I don't even know what PCI-Express means. (I know what PCI means, but I don't know what "PCI-Express" means.)

PCI Express (or PCIe) has the same basic purpose as PCI or AGP (side note, AGP was used only for graphics cards, while PCIe can handle all expansion cards), it's just much faster. Your new system will be using a PCIe card - you look at the names you posted in the first post, that's what "PCI Express x16" is talking about

This article might be a little on the complicated side, but if your interested:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1087

Also, don't buy DELL, fo for an AMD64.
----
Why?

AMD processors at the moment give better preformance than Intel's. AMD processors are also cheaper than Intel's, not to mention that AMD motherboards are cheaper than Intel mobos.

Honestly, a Dell system would probably serve you just fine. Building your own PC is fun though, and has the potential to be cheaper. If you are interested in building your own, I've got parts arriving next week for my new system and plan to write up a little something about how to build your own PC, if you want to see what's involved.

Just to give you an example of what you could do:

Athlon64 3000+ (Venice core, 90nm) - $146
ASUS A8N-E motherboard - $120
eVGA GF6800GT - $309
Corsair ValueSelect DDR400 RAM 1Gb (2x 512) - $90
Maxtor 200Gb SATA150 HDD - $86 (of course you can save money here if you need less space, or get a larger drive for a little more)
Antec Mid-Tower case w/ 350W PSU - $79

All total: $830

 

[Zakharov]

Why is it not easy to upgrade a Dell PC?

I was going to write about how Dell pcs only accept Dell custom hardware (and even then it's not 100% guaranteed). However, it seems Speedo has explained it better than I probably could.

 

[MarineCorps]

I was going to write about how Dell pcs only accept Dell custom hardware (and even then it's not 100% guaranteed). However, it seems Speedo has explained it better than I probably could.

I was able to install a CD ROM drive from an old HP onto a Dell without any problems.

 

[Speedo]

I was able to install a CD ROM drive from an old HP onto a Dell without any problems.

Of course basic things like that will work, along with your standard SATA or PATA hard drives. It's more of the guts of the comp -mobo, RAM, PSU, etc- that are proprietary.

Of course I'm sure that if Dell (and I should point out that all of the major comp manufacturers really do this stuff; we use HPs at work and they're just as bad as Dell) thought they could make a few extra bucks by having nonstandard drives, they wouldn't hesititate. They're just more interested in the stuff that people really want to upgrade.

 

[Comraddict]

I was thinking along those lines; I just wanted a confirmation. Thanks for the info!

I wouldn't say it's "crippled-down", but I know it's not as good as the GT. In my system it's more a processor issue when it comes to performance. But thanks anyway.

Sorry for thread-jacking.

sorry, but it is crippled down... GT has 16 paralel pipelines and 1000MHz memory clock.. your has 8 pipelines, and 700MHz memory clock.

 

[Gainy]

Got a RADEON 9600 SERIES. It would be fine for civIV?

It will be enough to run it, yes.
----------------------------
Questions of my own:

When you buy processors off of these websites, do they come with fans? Or is it just the actual processor?
What about cases? Do they comewith PSUs and fans?

For the past few months i've been thinking about building my own PC. Will probably end up doing it around December.
I have built several PCs in the past, but I have always just had the parts given straight to me. So i'm a little unsure. Any help would be appreciated.
Am I right in saying these are the only components that i'd need?

Processor
Mobo
RAM
Graphics card
Sound card
Hard Drive
Case
CD/DVD Drive

Anything I have missed? Would extra cooling thingies be recommended?

 

[Speedo]

When you buy processors off of these websites, do they come with fans? Or is it just the actual processor?
What about cases? Do they comewith PSUs and fans?

Processors listed as "retail" have a HSF (heatsink - fan) included. "OEM" means it's CPU only.

I don't think I've seen a case that didn't have fans included. Whether or not the PSU is uncluded just depends on what kind you buy. Be warned - if you get a generic brand case which includes a PSU, it's probably going to be a generic PSU, not of the best quality.

 

[Goober]

Hrm, so I've a question here, will my trusty old 64 Mb nVidia GeForce4 be good enough for CivIV? The rest of my system will handle it, I am just concerned with my Video Card. When I bought it, it was top of the line . . . gosh, technology changes so fast these days . . .

The recommended Video Card for Civ4, is that kinda equivalent to what I have?

 

[Zelig]

Hrm, so I've a question here, will my trusty old 64 Mb nVidia GeForce4 be good enough for CivIV? The rest of my system will handle it, I am just concerned with my Video Card. When I bought it, it was top of the line . . . gosh, technology changes so fast these days . . .

The recommended Video Card for Civ4, is that kinda equivalent to what I have?

Is it a GF4 MX or GF4 Ti? An MX is a Geforce 4 by name only, and I doubt you'll be happy running civ4 with it, however a Ti card should be able to run Civ4 nicely at reduced settings.

 

[Goober]

Is it a GF4 MX or GF4 Ti? An MX is a Geforce 4 by name only, and I doubt you'll be happy running civ4 with it, however a Ti card should be able to run Civ4 nicely at reduced settings.

It doesn't actually say. Here is its name in the exact wording:

"PowerColor Nvidia GeForce4 440 64 MB DDR AGP TVOut TV"

I've no idea if that helps, or really how to find out the difference.

 

[The Person]

sorry, but it is crippled down... GT has 16 paralel pipelines and 1000MHz memory clock.. your has 8 pipelines, and 700MHz memory clock.

It has worked well for me for half a year, but I see your point. 700mHz is not as good as 1000mHz. But I don't care as long as it is able to run Civ4 reasonably. I'm sure it will. Instead I worry if Civ4 runs good with me...

 

[Zelig]

It doesn't actually say. Here is its name in the exact wording:

"PowerColor Nvidia GeForce4 440 64 MB DDR AGP TVOut TV"

I've no idea if that helps, or really how to find out the difference.

Ah, that's an MX card, it will probably run, but not particularly well, unless you've got all the graphical goodies turned off.

 

[Goober]

Hrmf, well, technology changes too darn fast for my liking . . .

Well, thanks Zelig, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there, eh?

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

These are all top-line cards, so any of them should run civ4. I like the GF 7800 best.