please take a look Hi, I am new to here....I am planning to buy a new computer. and i dont know much abt computers... I cant decide which one is the best for the sims 2 and other expansion packs.. so i need some help from the experts here.... this is the one i am thinking to buy, please tell me if this one is good for the game HP Pavilion Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium Processor Type Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 Processor Speed 2.4GHz RAM 2GB SDRAM (Exp. To 8GB) Hard Drive 400GB SATA (7200RPM) Optical Drives SuperMulti DVD Burner With LightScribe Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 7350LE w/ TurboCache The GeForce 7350LE graphics card with 128MB dedicated memory/623MB shared video memory ok..I have some more questions.... for the graphic card.. is 128MB good enough to play the game.. is there any singnificant difference from using 256MB graphic card? and for the processor... if i use Intel Viiv Core 2 Duo or AMD, will it be slower when playing the game? I want to know what are the difference with those different configurations... Thanks a lot... I'd appreciate your help..
First up the I would always be a little dubious of the shared memory thing. Second it is tough to say how well the machine would perform compared to your existing one without knowing what the existing one is. It would play the game, but the how well bit is a moot point. I think it would tend to suck considering the price (I am assuming $975) 2 GB of memory is a very bare minimum (considering that Vista is gonna hog up a lot of that). I Googled for GeForce 7350LE and (bearing in mind that LE is for Light Edition) it seems to me that it is a "special" card used in HP machine only ... this mean it will definitely be the least possible: manufacturers don't put kick-butt hardware into off-the-shelf products because they build down to a price, so they can make a profit. My advice would be this. Assuming you already have a PC with keyboard, mouse, screen, printer, etc., you would be better off shopping around for a custom built tower unit. You could then specify the bits that go into it and if you find a local firm you could even supply your old unit so that your old hard drive can be added to the new machine, thus saving you you the hassle of transferring your old documents and media (or sacrificing them to the upgrade) ... as well as giving you you some "free" extra hard disc space. For TS2 I would suggest that. I don't what sort of price you'd have to pay for "your" system ($974 was one price I found), but I just did a quick run on a build to order site in my country and I designed this: Which would suit me a lot. The Radeon x1950 Pro is agreat card with half a gigabyte of dedicated fast memory and unlike budget priced cards it feeds its memory twice as fast (in other it words it has a 256 bit memory interface.) Such a machine would cost 574 GB pounds, a little more than the HP package but (probably) ten times better for gaming. Note that if you go for a custom machine you would be without the "freebies" that come with off-the-shelf packages (such as preinstalled software) ... all you get is Windows Vista installed ... plus the disc, of course. Note there are usually any number of freebies that come with the motherboard and the graphics card. Depending on the manufacturer of the card there are some rather nice ones Just my two cents ... a voice in the wilderness against the wastage of computer firms selling crappy packages and orphaning millions of usable screens to landfill. Save the planet now. When your old monitor gives up the ghost a new 19" LCD is only a $150. Keyboards and mice are like party-favours ... they almost give 'em away in packets of cereal.
First of all...Thank you so much for your kind reply... after reading your post...i think builiding your own computer is a much better option....i never had a custom made ones, dont know anything abt it...so I looked online for the DELL custom build computers...I think the price is not bad at all comparing to HP...it is not totally custom made though like yours.. u cant choose mother board and the cooling system ... anywyas..Here is the system components i came up with: Module Description Dimension 9200 Intel Core™ 2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition Memory:4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs Keyboardell USB Keyboard, english Monitor:No Monitor Video Cards:256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT- DDR3 Hard Drive:250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive (7200RPM w/DataBurst Cache™ Floppy Drive and Media Reader:No Floppy Drive Modem:No Modem CD or DVD Drive:Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability Sound Cards:Integrated Sound BlasterAudigy™ HD Software Edition Its only $1079 after the online purchase saving of $360...i think it is a great deal.. I have never ordered computers online..so i need some opinion... and do u think this graphic card will be ok for the game? i wanted to go for a better one .. but they are quite pricy...there are two more options: 256MB nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS which is $200 more and 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX which is $550 more... Thanks a lot! Emily
LOL you need to be patient when pressing the post button. Now I am not currently a fan of the nVIDIA range. They are too expensive and underperforming and too confusing numbered. I still think the ATI Radeon X1950 XT CrossFire is a far more awesome beast, whcih can be had, off the shelf, for less than $200 ... a lot less. It has 512 megabytes of memory and a 256 bit memory interface as opposed to that GeForce 8600 which only has a 128 bit interface (this means that the 8600 will take twice as long to get stuff in and out of its memory as the ATI card ... think of that memory interface as a door ... the ATI has double doors ... and you know how sims get hung up in doorways? Well computer bits and bytes aren't any more sensible except that they do obey the laws of physics, but only while Shrodinger's cat isn't looking.) Come to think of it I'm not a fan of Dell, much either. If you are willing to say what country you are in, we could help your search with a few suggestions; otherwise, try Googling for custom built pc. If you're in a largish city there are likely to be local companies that will build you exactly what you want and will be able to advise you on the pros and cons of the various choices. Also don't be beguiled into thinking that the free interet security offers are worth much ...you typically have to pay to register the installed software. Likewise the ubiquitous MS Works, which is a cut down office suite. If you need word processing, spreadsheet power, then a better bet is to download the free (open source) Open Office, rather than end up with a less than satisfactory computer that was sold with lots of shiny "freebies". There's no such thing as free. If they're giving you something with one hand, they most assuredly will have their thumb on the scales where you can't see ... even if it is merely setting their prices artifically high. That Dell is not cheap at $1,000. Not even if it included a monitor, overnight shipping and 3 years onsite warranty. Anyone else got any advice?
I agree with Mirelly. Dell isn't that good a option. I went to my local China town where there are hundreds of computer shops more than willing to build you a machine with the best capability. At a competitive price. Most are game freaks as well. and also by building a fully custom machine you won't have problems upgrading it. Make sure you get a large tower so you have room for extra fans and expansions. HTH regards and good luck moon.
I am from Toronto, Canada.. i am sure you can find lots of custom build PC here... like i said i dont know much abt computers.. i have no idea what's the best...what kind of price is reasonable for what brand...hehe.. it would be great if you have some suggestion of any trustable companies for the custom build pcs around... so you dont think its a good price for Dell? i thought it was cheap with such nice system components....lol...
You're better off searching locally, asking around (find some geeks ... I mean, seriously, geeks love to share their awesome knowledge), as a last resort use your Yellow Pages. I found http://www.infotechcomp.com/ and click on the AMD computers button in the left hand navigation bar, the top left machine is reasonable for $999 - I think that's the price for tower case only.) Maybe you could do a deal and get them to swap out that 128 bit memory bus GeForce and bung in an ATI Radeon x1950 Pro. It would really kick some serious bottom, then. It also comes with Windows XP Pro which is much nice than Vista ... though you can upgrade to Vista later if you want. But we're talking a thousand bucks here, so (in my world at least) it takes the better part of a three or four months to get that sort of cash together without stopping paying all the bills and forcing the cat to take up mousing again, so don't rush into any purchase. Take your time and learn the sort of questions you need to ask. Forget the processor for the moments. You want to know things like are there some USB ports on the front? what about microphone, headphone sockets on the front as well? how much RAM can I put in this baby? (2 to start with but up to 8 should be possible, if you can't up it to 8 it'll get obsolete real fast) how many PCIe slots has it got? You DON'T want onboard graphics AT ALL!! ok? :( You DO want a serious graphics card with a 256 bit memory bus and at least 256MB video memory, but preferably 512MB. You can get all that for a grand, Canadian ... you'll be stuck with your old screen, keyboard and mouse, and speakers ... but look on the bright side. You'll have less to cart to the recycling centre so you'll even be saving the planet! And those items finally die you can pick up replacements, expertly assembling from shredded Mattel toys in Shangai, at you local Walmart (or whatever you have there) for pennies and cents and stuff. I paid 200 quid for my 15" Sony LCD screen nearly five years ago ... there are 19" ones in my local store for less than a hundred now. (BTW My screen is on it's second computer ... and, because it's a Sony and there's not even one dead pixel ... yet *touches wood* it'll be showing the results of my thrid one as soon as I get the funds together for my next ugrade ) Good luck and let us know how it pans out, huh? And feel free to post up the specs of any system you're considering and we'll give ya an honest opinion. Truly, that Dell sucked harder than a Dyson accidentally plugged into a nuclear power station.
