Yet Another PC Help Thread...

You know the drill...


So I have an Intel Core 2 duo 2.1GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, PLENTY of disk space, and a GeForce 8800M GT 512MB graphics card.

Scored a 638 on the benchmark, i'm guessing I need a new graphics card(inb4 you need new everything lolnoob)?

Oh and btw, this is on my laptop that I paid 2k for about year and 1/2 ago. (FML)

Sadly replacing a graphic card in a laptop isn't as simple as walking to best buy and picking up a new one.

You have to match the motherboard pin settings/shell type. You'd want at least a 1gig graphic card just to even start with.

Another issue with laptops (especially ones almost 2 years old) is that the socket type won't match any better processors on the market today. Which would mean motherboard replacement with leads back to matching shell type and being certain it even fits/matches up.

The amount of money you would spend on a graphic card/processor/motherboard upgrade ANYWAYS would cost more if not as much as a new laptop.

It's not worth it trust me.

i know you put 'inb4 new everything noob'... but you pretty much answered your own question lol.

Goodluck :)

Thanks Clinpachi, I was afraid you were going to say that! And yes, I understand about replacing a graphics card in a laptop, it's definitely not worth the time and money. /sigh, oh well, guess I need to start working on building a new desktop, any suggestions on an average/above average(FFXIV wise) setup I could go with? (That doesn't completely break my bank...)

Sorry, double post... Also I meant to add this in
Can anyone explain this? Just curious as to how my laptop this the specs I listed it scoring the same as those specs...

I stopped reading after vista.

But in seriousness aim for 4gigs of GDDR3 RAM... many people just think any 4 gigs is great. GDDR3 RAM runs at higher clock speeds. This means that all components within the Graphics Card can benefit from receiving information at a faster rate. Pixel Shader Units and vertex Shader units can receive the information faster (the components that process information) and therefore work more efficiently, giving a boost to frame rates while gaming.

Core 2 duo is only 2 cores... try to aim for 4 cores as it won't cost TOO much extra part for part. The geforce is nice but i'm an ATI person at heart. 1gb dedicated graphics should be fine though.

Any PC worth any salt pre-built should come with windows 7... ultimate wouldn't hurt.

Oh and also as a separate suggestion.. try to find one with a 10,000+ RPM hard drive instead of 5,400/7,200. People underestimate the usefulness of a nice fast hard drive.

Case
Thermaltake Element G Gaming Case Black
Case Lighting
None
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction
None
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion
None
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 930 Processor (4x 2.80GHz/8MB L3 Cache)
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive
None
Processor Cooling
[Free Upgrade] Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator [SOCKET-1366]
Memory
6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1800 Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 - 1.2GB - Single Card
Video Card Brand
Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA
Motherboard
[3-Way SLI] MSI X58A-GD65
Motherboard Add-on
None
Power Supply
850 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-850TX Power Supply SLI Ready
Primary Hard Drive
300 GB WD Velociraptor HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 10000 RPM, 3.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Data Hard Drive
None
Optical Drive
24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
2nd Optical Drive
None
Flash Media Reader/Writer
None
Meter Display
None
Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Network Card
Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)

Total Cost roughly 1,800$ Will get you Very high performance on high Graphics settings.

I'm not sure what your definition of "Breaking the Bank" is, but generally, I would never recommend building a Gaming PC for less than 1,500$ Retail price. That's about when the sacrifices you have to make, take a nosedive into shittytown.

With Smart shopping, and a self build, you could probably make the same rig for 1200-1500 I'd say, as a conservative estimate.

Your biggest issue is Vista. My laptop has close to the same specs, slightly slower on the processor but a better video card by just one model and mine blasts right through the benchmark. Problem here is vista eats a lot of resources up on its own. You won't find that issue with Windows 7.

Although this takes a little more work...
If you're hesitant about getting a new pc, try separating your operating system out if you're able to. Many PC slowdowns are caused by too much being on one drive and/or one OS. I recently installed Windows Server 2008(no you don't have to go that extreme) to house all of my development stuff and am using linux for school work with my laptop set up to tri-boot. By keeping my Windows install that I use for gaming clean and free of any other programs, it maintains its top speed. Thats another route you could possibly look into.

If you don't want to do that though, I recommend a new PC. As Clinpachi said, laptop hardware is extremely difficult to upgrade, especially GPUs. Most GPU's in a laptop are soldered directly onto the motherboard making them almost impossible to upgrade unless you feel like taking a HUGE risk. Not only that, whats even more impossible is trying to upgrade the cooling in a laptop, which would be necessary for upgrading to a more modern gpu. Best to get a new computer if you don't want to use the multiboot method and separate what each OS does.

Not a bad suggestion above.

If you spend the same 2k you spent on your laptop... and spend 2k on a custom rig you piece together yourself on a DESKTOP... you can probably futureproof yourself for about 4-5 years easy.

I built my computer about 2 years ago and only just now the i7 gives it a run for the money.

I still run any game i want (even crysis) very amazingly well.

As an example i watch HD television on my TV tuner... 2 copys of FFXI running seeking party... and playing just cause 2 until i get the "incomming tell" jingle lol.

Zero lag... no issues. (Of course i have 3 monitors in case you wonder how).

I leave for the navy in september... this PC will be passed on to my wife.. and i will start a new PC next year when we move into a place :D

Can't wait.

that looks like its gone be nice PC set up! now y'all opinion on these PC..I'm not computer savvy and looking for a new PC.these are w/in my budget limit...hopefully link works..can y'all get me YaY or NaY..let me know

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006736%20600030537&IsNodeId=1&page=2&bop=And&CompareItemList=10|83-229-193^83-229-193-TS%2C83-229-167^83-229-167-TS%2C83-227-267^83-227-267-TS%2C83-227-176^83-227-176-TS%2C83-227-261^83-227-261-TS

The first thing you did right... was shop newegg.com... place is sex on the screen.

Be careful buying AMD processors... i'm VERY jaded after having SIX dead processors and many issues with their products. SO i won't steer you either way on Intel vs AMD.

Those seem to all offer DDR3 RAM and a very decent graphic card. The i3 is actually a nice price for what it is... it has bad reviews sofar though.

PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE REVIEWS ON NEWEGG.COM... they are very accurate and informed.

Just keep in mind you GET what you PAY for... these are very very low end computers... even the 699$ one. These will only last you about 1-2 years on full usefulness.

If you save up an extra 400-500$ you could easily make it much more powerful and last 4-5 years easy.

I'll always ask what they need it for and how much they're willing to spend. But if someone wants power and reliability and money is no object, Intel all the way. AMD's are good for budget conscious consumers who don't do any hardcore number crunching programs such as gaming, etc. However I've seen too many AMD's fry out doing things that the equivalent Intel processor can do with extreme ease.

AMD dual cores beat Intel dual.... but when you go 4 to 6 core performance AMD gets destroyed... anal raped... cooked on a fryer... eaten by a pack of wolves... and then ***back out again.

Intel i7 series processors are sooooo sex. I can't wait to see what they come out with as i exit RTC and start to plan my new build. I'm going all out again for sure.

One thing you really need to be aware of too is "Bottlenecking".

Essentially, your PC is only going to perform as well as the worst component you have.

AMD Processors have a tendency to Meltdown. It's sort of a "Too good to be true" situation, when an AMD Processor 150dollars cheaper is outperforming an Intel, but that's because the Intel has slowed itself down while the AMD is running at 80 or 90c.


I would never run another AMD processor without something like Everest constantly running to make sure that heat doesn't go above 70c.


Also, something to note, especially because I just rechecked the Ibuypower rig, and it comes with a Free "Liquid cooling system". Those are great and all, but one thing you really have to remember, is the coolant (Usually distilled water, or a special glycol based solution) is not infinite, and will need to be "Topped off" eventually. Normally there is some kind of alarm within the system to alert you when such a time happens, but be aware of that. Otherwise, they're fantastic.

i wouldn't bother with Vista pick from XP or Win7 if your not wanting the DX11 support go XP

also "Disk Space: 15GB" if your going SATA you can get a 200+GB HDD for around 100+ cheap so look into that

as for Video cards try to get a GeForce GTX 260 it runs the game just fine for me

as for Radeon cards i heard the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 can rival the new GTX 470 and 480 line of Nvidia cards

amd wins price:performance
intel wins performance


you can easily make a budget build, $700, computer to play xiv on mid to high settings. all depending on the final bench marks.

This one is HIGHLY debatable of course, as certain games are built around certain gpu types and it appears most of what I play is built on nvidia...but ATI Crossfire will beat out an nvidia SLI set up any day. That being said, if you're not going that route, but rather using a single gpu, nvidia is where its at.

as what Markers said go for a Budget rig and later on upgrade


GeForce GTX 460 <---- on EVGA runs for around 150UDS its a steal

the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 runs for 694UDS around the same price as the GTX 470 and 480

CPU wise idk im rather picky as well with RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.448444

Throw on windows 7+gpu that fits motherboard and your at 500+

if you feel the need the cpu can be upgraded down the line. same with the ram

Might as well.

Operating System: Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.31 GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Memory: 3GB of RAM
Disk Space: 82.9 GB left.

And it's a Dell. ._.

I scored a nice 0 on the benchmark.

I'd prefer to play XIV on a PC, even at medium settings. Building or buying a new one isn't much of a possibility at this point.

there's your biggest problem.

well you should do 1 thing and that is to upgrade our video card a 6150Se wont cut it cuz my 8600GT has a hard time running the game with shadows on highest

just get yourself a GeForce GTX 260 or better

that being said
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-216-55nm-Superclocked-PCI-Express-896-P3-1257-AR/dp/B001NXDQD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1280556289&sr=8-1

the superclock is perfect and alil over 200UDS

That's actually a very doable upgrade. I'll look into getting one, thanks.

np

also Linear if u wanna push it to the next level
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1373-AR&family=GeForce%20400%20Series%20Family&sw=

your looking at 250UDS

not sure something that big will be of much use. Its going to bottleneck big time because of that cpu. Will definitely help performance, but how much of a boost that will actually be received may not be worth the cost.

you maybe right about that

Buying a Pc or building one fine desktop? What about other gamer junkies that don't know how to build a customized desktop for this game, so where do they go from there?

Hello. I'm in the same position as others replacing my old lap top for a new one. The number one most aspect of being a gamer is pure comfort on how to go about playing games. I'm at spending budget between 500-800$ not because for XIV but the fact my old lap top is doesn't suit my needs for multitasking programs.

Any recommendations?

Meh, never mind. Waste of money rather wait for ps3 release.

This has never happened to me. I have an AMD x6 1090T and it idles at 21c and plays the beta at 33-35c. The highest its gone was 40.