check out my really all powerful, really new, gaming rig

[lord of the mark]

Emachines (yeah, I know)

Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading, 3 Ghz
512 MB RAM
160 gig HD
Ati Radeo Express 200 integrated Graphics

And, yes, mirabile dictu, a PCI slot.

All for $250 (US) after rebates.

No monitor - this wasnt a bundle - we intend to get that in a couple of days. (we're looking for a 17 in LCD)

[DrSpike]

You know what I'm going to say.

[lord of the mark]

Build the next one myself? I doubt I could have built one for $250, even if I knew how. this was a slam dunk, as we say.

Upgrade the RAM? Sure we'll get around to that eventually.

The IG? But at $250, I can replace the whole PC when the IG is obsolete. And this is at least ATI IG, not the Intel horror. And Ive got a graphics slot, so theres a chance of eventually upgrading to a discrete card. Which should be pretty good deals by the time feel a need to do that.

Meanwhile I want to upgrade the RAM on the dino - now going from 48 meg to 64 on a machine im mainly going to use for playing very old games, or when all three of us are using a computer, probably isnt worth the trouble - but it will be my intro to the inside of the box, so worth it as a learning experience.

But first we've got to get a monitor - was that what you were referring to? You dont expect me to build THAT

[DrSpike]

I suppose $250 isn't that bad.

[snoopy369]

The RAM on the dino may well be the most expensive thing (if it's one of the old kinds of RAM and not EDO, as I'd assume) ...

$250 isn't bad, you probably couldn't build it that cheap indeed. You probably could add a $50 graphics card if you find you needed it

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by snoopy369
The RAM on the dino may well be the most expensive thing (if it's one of the old kinds of RAM and not EDO, as I'd assume) ...

Well thats not entirely clear. Its an IBM Aptiva E56 (2137, I think) according to 4allmemory a stick of memory for it costs $30 (ouch!) but then 4 all memory insists it can take a 128 Meg stick, for a total of 256 Meg, when I distinctly remember that it can at most take a 32 Meg stick, and comes with one 32 meg stick and one 16, and so can be updated to 64 meg by replacing the 16 with another 32. Now somewhere else I saw a site offering, I think a 32 meg stick for $10, but tht must have been the more generic memory, I guess. I dont really trust either of them. Do you know of a reliable site that sells old RAM?

[Standup]

I always use Crucial.com for work and personal purchases. They've been pretty accurate so far. although they're quoting $44.99 for a 128mb stick.

Interestingly it's only £24.66 on the UK site - i normally expect British prices to be much higher than their dollar equivalents.

[General Ludd]

$250? Wow, computers really have gotten cheap since I built mine...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by General Ludd
$250? Wow, computers really have gotten cheap since I built mine...

Mind, you that was a Columbus Day Sale, we went on Monday, and the Compusa was sold out, and we went to another that had only 2 left. Im not sure if its cause some folks are holding off buying to wait for Vista, or if its cause new chips are coming out, but it does seem there are some good deals out.

[lord of the mark]

well I finally upgraded the RAM on this thing. 1 gig stick, from A-data, only $33 at Microcenter.

And this is the first time I've opened up the box on a desktop. Didn't fry anything apparently, and the Control Panel shows 1.37 Gig of Ram (its the new 1 gig stick, plus the original 512 meg, minus the IG shared memory)

Now that I've been inside the machine, I really crave adding a video card, even though I really dont need it for my current gaming needs.

[DrSpike]

Go on - you know you want to.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Go on - you know you want to.

No, now the shopping process begins, including probably several threads here

[Solver]

You don't really need one too much, probably. If you play old games, the integrated card you have can handle them well enough. If you wanted to play something really new and intensive, you'd need a good video card for it but the computer performance would be bottlenecked by your CPU. The clock speed is okay, as they've stalled lately, but newer games benefit greatly from multi-core processors.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Solver
You don't really need one too much, probably. If you play old games, the integrated card you have can handle them well enough. If you wanted to play something really new and intensive, you'd need a good video card for it but the computer performance would be bottlenecked by your CPU. The clock speed is okay, as they've stalled lately, but newer games benefit greatly from multi-core processors.

I know some people here dont think much of sys requirements lab, but from what I could gather from that the video card is my constraint (not that Ive dealt with the RAM) much more than the CPU. I think there was only one or two games (assasins creed, I think, maybe Crysis) where the CPU failed, and both of them the vcard did too. But lots where the v card alone failed. In fact pretty much all current 2008 games and almost everything from 2006 (or even before) on except strategy games, and even some of those failed.

The RAM should get me Civ4 though, and that should hold me a while.

I guess what it comes down is that for the newest most intensive games I would need a high end video card, but my CPU is a constraing. But I have no intention of buying a high end video card. Im thinking more along the lines of a cheapo video card that would still be an improvement over the IG, and would help me with say, circa 2006-2007 RTS games, or circa 2004 shooters, that kind of thing.

[Wiglaf]

You spend more time talking about hardware than playing games..(if not then you need to play less games)