gaming computer

[2mcgrath]

im looking at either upgrading the desktop i have some to play some of the better games on or just building another.i have an emachines desktop.has 2.3 ghz processor intel celeron.graphics card is just an intel onboard card.the hard drive in it is rather small its only a 40gb.im trying to do this on a budget,would i come out better upgrading a few things in the one i have or just starting from scratch and just buy a piece here and there until i finish building one?what kinda video cards etc.do you guys recommend?im looking to play games like call of duty stuff like that.and if i upgrade the one i have couldnt i just use an external HD for more space?

here is the requirements for cod 4

Minimum System Requirements
DirectX : 9.0c
Hard Drive Space : 8 GB Free
Operating System : Windows XP/Vista
Processor : Pentium 4 @ 2.4 GHz/AMD Athlon 2600+ or any Dual Core Processor @ 1.8 GHz
RAM : 512 MB (768 for Windows Vista)
Video Card : nVidia 6600/ATI Radeon 9800Pro


and here is the requirements for call of duty world at war

Minimum System Requirements
Disk Drive : DVD Rom Drive
DirectX : 9.0c
Hard Drive Space : 8 GB Free
Operating System : Windows XP/Vista
Processor : Pentium 4 @ 3 GHz/AMD 64 3200+
RAM : 512 MB (1 GB for Vista)
Video Card : 256 MB (nVidia GeForce 6600/ATI Radeon X1600)


looks like my processor isnt up to par for world at war

[prophet665]

Everything comes down to money. What is your budget? Do you want to build it yourself or buy from large company or a boutique shop? Do you need a new monitor? Are you trying to future proof your machine or just get it working for CoD?

There are lots of options, but it all boils down to money.

[2mcgrath]

well as cheap as i can get by with,i just mainly want one thats capable of playing the newer games such as call of duty games like that.i know some of the video cards require a better power supply as well.and if i got another computer i would probably want to build it myself.although i have never built one but always wanted to.

[prophet665]

It is better to have someone walk you through it the first time you build a computer, if nothing else to look over your shoulder and say "You are doing it correctly." After that you can usually do it on your own, though on the three systems that I have built, nothing ever went smoothly all the way through.

There is no cost advantage to building your own. In the old days it was different, but now you can get a decent computer for under $800. The satisfaction you get from doing it yourself and having EXACTLY the parts you want are what you receive by doing it yourself.

What is your upper limit? That is really an important decision because you don't want to start ordering parts and run low on cash or even worse, finish your build and be unhappy with it. Having a definite budget in mind helps with making decisions on parts.

What size is your screen? What resolution do you want to game at? This is extremely important for choosing a video card.

Keep in mind that you are going to probably want to buy another copy of Windows. If you want to throw a decent amount of RAM in to it, you will need the 64 bit version of Vista. That adds about another $130 to the price.

Is this strictly for games and going online? What about video editing or photo editing?

[2mcgrath]

this would be strictly for gaming and surfing the net at times,i was thinking of maybe upgrading some things on the one i have now for time being to allow me to play some of the newer games out,but i dont know that the processor in it is really good enough to get the job done.i plan on picking up another lcd monitor sooner or later,i did have one and it screwed up.im not looking for a real fancy set up just something to get the job done for what i want it to do,i wouldnt be playing on it all the time as i have a 360 that i mostly play.im suppose to receiving an hp tower from my brother in law that was upgraded for gaming but has got a virus and will not boot up so he just bought another one and didnt fix that one,so i dont know what the virus done to it.

[prophet665]

this would be strictly for gaming and surfing the net at times,i was thinking of maybe upgrading some things on the one i have now for time being to allow me to play some of the newer games out,but i dont know that the processor in it is really good enough to get the job done.i plan on picking up another lcd monitor sooner or later,i did have one and it screwed up.im not looking for a real fancy set up just something to get the job done for what i want it to do,i wouldnt be playing on it all the time as i have a 360 that i mostly play.im suppose to receiving an hp tower from my brother in law that was upgraded for gaming but has got a virus and will not boot up so he just bought another one and didnt fix that one,so i dont know what the virus done to it.

Wow...he is just going to ditch the old computer? Even if you have to buy a new copy of Windows, that is a lot cheaper than getting a new computer. What are the specs for that one?

Even if you upgrade your CPU, your on board graphics card is not going to cut it for playing any games.

For $569.00 ibuypower.com has an Intel machine that will play anything you want right now and comes with Windows. You can't get much better than that. It is not top of the line, but it will run CoD at a decent resolution. Here are some places to look for specials:

ibuypower.com
aeoncraft.com (more high end type systems - not outrageous, just not bottom of the barrel)
cyberpowerpc.com

Unless you have your mind set that you want to build it yourself, these are all good options. I currently use a 2 year old Aeoncraft system that has been rock solid. I paid $1800 for it and this $570 system from IbuyPower blows the doors off of my computer. It is just the nature of the beast.

[2mcgrath]

thanks for the help,yeah he said he would send me the tower,all the upgrading on it was done at a computer shop ram is upgraded video card the whole nine yards.maybe i will have it some time next week to check out,im not sure on the specs on it,but he used it mostly for gaming and not long before it got the virus it was completely upgraded so i hope it will pan out,i dont know to what extent the games required he was running on it though.the $569.00 for the one your talking about is a pretty good price,that may also be something for me to consider

[prophet665]

Just make sure you wipe the drive to get the virii out of it. You can never fully clean a computer once it has been infected. The only 100% solution is to reinstall Windows. That is the price your brother in law pays for walking in to the dark side of the internet.

[2mcgrath]

he had a virus before but had it fixed then not long after got another one lol

[prophet665]

he had a virus before but had it fixed then not long after got another one lol

What happens is the first virus is actually a downloaded and downloads a ton of other stuff to the computer (trojans, keyloggers, spamming software, etc...) and it never gets cleaned even if you have an anti-virus programs.

Unless you wipe and reload that computer, I would never use it for anything that requires a password, banking, or buying stuff.

Good luck with it and let me know how it works out.