What is a good price for a computer?
By
American_Angel,
Posted on: 2009-12-21 23:39 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
the operating word there is "gaming".
There are other solid computers out there, for far less, but gaming often requires exceptional performance from just about every part of the computer, possibly most notably the video card, hence the high price.
try googling "custom computers" for a list of sites where you can custom select parts to go in a rig, which helps price out specifically what you need. www.ibuypower.com is but one of these. There's also sites like www.newegg.com and www.tigerdirect.com which might have good deals depending on what you are after.
Cost of a "new computer," no. You can get those for $300 or so. They won't run COH particularly well, though.
You're paying for capability.
Now, *building* mine is running about $1100 including OS. (No monitor, since I have one I'll be using.) If you know what you want in the system - shop around. If you're not sure what you should have, shop around.
Of course, you can always look up FatherXmas and follow the links in his signature - he tends to work out $600 (or so) builds and $1000 builds that are just fine.
good point mentioning the OS, Bill. I priced a few desktops out recently and to get the version of Windows 7 that I wanted drove up the price $200. If only a free OS was the one for which games were written. I'm already working with Open Office 3 on the side to wean myself off of expensive future MS Office programs.
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That sounds like a reasonable number. That probably won't let you run Going Rogue at max settings, but it's vastly beyond what you would need for surfing the web.|
Originally Posted by LegionAlpha
I showed them what I was looking for and all they could tell me that a good gaming computer would cost me roughly $1000 to start and I was thinking that is insane. Is that the cost of a new computer these days?
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I'm curious, though; "insane" how? Are you surprised the number was that high or that low? Frankly, I'm amazed at how computers keep getting cheaper while increasing exponentially in processing power. My first computer had a Z80 CPU with a clock speed of 2MHz, 48KB of RAM and a 104KB storage drive. It cost nearly $2,000 and that was over THIRTY YEARS AGO so that was big bucks. Today, you can get a computer with a CPU 1000x faster, 20,000x as much memory and a drive ONE MILLION times larger - for around $300.
P.S. I build my own computers and will be building a new one early next year. My target cost (having done minimal research at this point) is about $1400 for a system that can beat up Going Rogue and take its lunch money.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
A friend a sometime ago told me I could get a computer that would run (current then) CoH for about $550, so I saved up enough for that price he told me. Did not think I would be buying a "awesome" computer that will "take Going Rogues lunch money" between a $1000-$1500. 
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I was also surprised that you considered $1000 to be "insane" ... for gaming, as others have pointed out, you need lots of processer power, a good amount of RAM, a fairly powerful video card, a sound card (in case your motherboard doesn't have good onboard sound), a power supply unit that can power all of it without getting winded, a decent motherboard to tie it all together, and of course, a case to hold it all with the fans to keep it all cool. CoX has been CPU intensive, up to now, allowing for maybe a bit less in the video card department, but with GR, it is obvious that the video card is now figuring a bit higher in the mix. When you consider that the cost of one of the video cards they've stated should run GR at medium settings runs about $160 - 200 depending on the brand you pick up, there's nearly 1/3 of your saved budget right there - and that would be a video card they are phasing out... Getting a video card that would play GR at high settings will cost you $350 - 400 - and there goes 2/3 of your budget. Add in the CPU and you've blown the rest of that $550 - and you've only purchased two components out of an entire system.|
Originally Posted by LegionAlpha
A friend a sometime ago told me I could get a computer that would run (current then) CoH for about $550, so I saved up enough for that price he told me. Did not think I would be buying a "awesome" computer that will "take Going Rogues lunch money" between a $1000-$1500.
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So ... for watching DVD's or web browsing or email, sure - $550 will get you a pretty good machine. For gaming ... not so much.
Storm
Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...
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Although it is worth pointing out that the enhanced graphics in GR are optional. If your system is not powerful enough, they can be turned off.
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Originally Posted by PerfectStorm
CoX has been CPU intensive, up to now, allowing for maybe a bit less in the video card department, but with GR, it is obvious that the video card is now figuring a bit higher in the mix.
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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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City of Heroes runs reasonably well on Linux (I've got a tweaked version of WINE that fixes the one major bug, if anyone's interested). No telling if Ultra Mode graphics will work with it, though.
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Originally Posted by Rodoan
good point mentioning the OS, Bill. I priced a few desktops out recently and to get the version of Windows 7 that I wanted drove up the price $200. If only a free OS was the one for which games were written.
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I have an 8-core 9GB gaming rig that cost $1100. That's about $600 less than the boutique prices, or even those for the big-name online builders.
I'm pretty sure it'll handle Going Rogue with ease, although I hadn't heard there were going to be any enhancements in that which would require more power.
Well, it could handle it with ease or suck horribly. There's no way to tell without specifying the video card.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
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Head to the wiki and look up Going Rogue, specifically the bits about "Ultra Mode." Or search on Positron's name and the phrase "Ultra mode" - or "Nvidia" should do it, too. 8 cores don't mean a lot to COH, nor does 9 Gb RAM - you exceed what it would use, that's about it. But if you threw all that together with, say, integrated graphics (for whatever unholy reason,) you'd not be able to run Ultra mode. |
Originally Posted by Mallard
I have an 8-core 9GB gaming rig that cost $1100. That's about $600 less than the boutique prices, or even those for the big-name online builders.
I'm pretty sure it'll handle Going Rogue with ease, although I hadn't heard there were going to be any enhancements in that which would require more power. |
Ultra mode, of course, is not required for GR - and might, depending on development, be released outside of it in a patch, or as part of the sync issue instead of the expansion, we'll have to see.
NewEgg.com sometimes has OS for $99, FYI
I built my own system. The mobo (motherboard) is backward and forward compatible, meaning it will take a Pentium D Processor of a Quad Core, and anything in between. At the time, I did it because I could not afford to replace my Pentium D, and I was on a very tight budget.
Out of my old computer, I took the DVD drives, the floppy drive and the fans. The rest I used for a basic school work system for my kids.
I also took 2-3 months to slowly get the parts first, which not only fit into my budget, but also allowed me to get some good Daily Deals. The last thing I got was a new CPU, because I came into some money and that has the shortest warranty.
In my new one, here's what I bought at at around the prices I can remember:
- Mobo (motherboard) Gigabyte $65 on daily deals
- Compete Case off Daily Deals $30
I spent a week researching the case. I wanted something snazzy looking that had no sharp edges. Ended up with this beautiful Black and Yellow one, mid-sized. I mean it is a beauty...people compliment it when they see it, and the only light on it is the front grill. It came with a couple fans. - Power Supply - $40
The cases sometimes come with these, but in doing my reading of the reviews, the included power supplies often suck. So I bought a new one (around 900 watts). - Ram $25x2=$50
My board is expandable to 6 gb of ram, but I was doing this on the cheap, so I got just 2 gb. G-Skill I think. I am still running Win XP until I know the Win 7 has worked out most of the bugs...just prefer it. Vista was just out at the time for about a year, and there was no way I was making that switch, even though a friend gave me a disk. - Video Card $65
Let me say this...many people will say for this you have to spend big money...that's bull. I got a Sparkle brand one for $65 that is equiv. to a GeForce 9400 GT. My graphics have never looked so good. I run 3 instances of CoH sometimes on my system with this video card, 2 gb of ram and a 2.0 Dual Core and although I only set one instance to high settings (the highest with world detail turned down) I have very little trouble. Zoning is the only real delay, and I've found that zoning one at a time works better in such cases). I mean, I had a 250 mb card before this one and the difference is indescribable. From the Toons to the water.
Some of the Prices have gone up since then, but if you are patient you can get amazing deals. And always read the reviews, at least 10 per product. Not only to the reveal weaknesses, but you can learn things from them for use in building your system.
On my Mobo, I learned I can overclock it from 2.0 to 3.0 (I have only done it once out of curiousity).
I have never overheated my system. Once in a blue moon, I DC....but that's because of the cable provider I think...or server overload at times.
In two months, I am building my wife a new system and upgrading mine. I might switch to Win 7 then, or at least buy it so I can use it when ready.
I forgot to mention, I used my old hard drives in the new system too. A 160 GB and an old 80 GB Sata I use for client files.
Upgrades in hte near future:
- going from 2 gb to 6 gb ram
- getting a 2tb hard drive
- I want to put a PVR card in so I can record my cable shows to my PC...always wanted to do it, and then will be the time.
- Maybe a new monitor
Forgot to mention...I went with strictly the Free Shipping items on all my orders from NewEgg.
An Example of a Daily Deal:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare ...
- 750GB
- 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
- SATA 3.0Gb/s
I was looking around a few computer stores, getting prices getting a idea of what to buy to get ready for the new Going Rogue and other one other MMO. I showed them what I was looking for and all they could tell me that a good gaming computer would cost me roughly $1000 to start and I was thinking that is insane. Is that the cost of a new computer these days?