New Computer

HunterSmith · 02-17-2011 04:16 PM

Going to get a new computer built for myself, any advice on what it should be?

Mistress Phanta - L50 Illusion/Empathy Controller
Blind Fury - L50 Katana/Super Reflexes Scrapper
Hunter Smith - L50 Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster
Twirling Dervish - L50 Dual Blade/Willpower Brute

Rodion · 02-17-2011 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterSmith

Going to get a new computer built for myself, any advice on what it should be?

It would probably be more useful to ask what characteristics the computer should have: number of processors, processor speed, amount of memory, etc.

But the most important part is probably the graphics card and the amount of graphics memory. There are so many out there, and unless you follow the graphics card market closely it's hard to tell what kind of performance you'll get out of a particular card. It's hard to compare performance among cards just by looking at specs, especially across manufacturers.

I've got a card that works okay with Ultra Mode, but there are a lot of places where it stutters so I'd like to upgrade. For me it would be useful to have someone rank a number of graphics cards in terms of how well they run the game with various settings: marginal with low-level UM, acceptable with medium settings under UM, runs well with medium settings for UM, runs well with all graphics settings maxed out.

Then there's the issue of power supply and number of slots, and types of slots. For those of us with older computers (two years old), it would be nice to know what graphics cards use less power but still perform well.

Ironblade · 02-17-2011 08:17 PM

Tell us what you plan to use it for. "I'm only going to use it for CoH." would lead to different suggestions from "I play 14 different games and do ray tracing as a hobby."

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Infernus_Hades · 02-18-2011 11:53 AM

Dissolution · 02-18-2011 03:42 PM

As another member posted it will help if we know what other things you will be playing or will coh be the most demanding program. You should be able to max ultra mode for about 700-800 dollars for the computer itself.

The above system is pretty good you will need to find a motherboard also though.

Hyperstrike · 02-18-2011 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterSmith

Going to get a new computer built for myself, any advice on what it should be?

What do you plan to use the computer for?
Any hardware preferences (or hardware vendors you want to stay the hell way from)?
What's your ideal budget (real dollar amount not "as little as possible")?
What's your maximum budget? Asking so that if a small bump in price can yield a huge increase in performance, we know the limits of what you're able to spend.
Will you need anything besides the computer itself (new monitor, keyboard, mouse, additional software besides the OS, etc).
Are you comfortable with building your own computer or would you prefer pre-bought?
Any "MUST HAVE!" features?

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

HunterSmith · 02-18-2011 06:53 PM

Will have up to about 2,000 to spend (Monitor and such not included in that).

Will probably have it built for me (not comfortable to do it myself)

Primary use will be playing CoX (preferable in max Ultra Mode)

And thanks for all the replies so far.

Mistress Phanta - L50 Illusion/Empathy Controller
Blind Fury - L50 Katana/Super Reflexes Scrapper
Hunter Smith - L50 Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster
Twirling Dervish - L50 Dual Blade/Willpower Brute

Dissolution · 02-18-2011 07:23 PM

2k can get you a fantastic machine. You are going to love ultra mode all maxed out.

Father Xmas · 02-18-2011 11:33 PM

For $2K (assuming US $) you can build a tiny god of a gaming PC. Assuming you don't fret the money away on a $300 case weaved out of buckytubes laced with kevlar. And even then we are talking top shelf parts, multiple video cards, a stupidly high output power supply, an SSD boot drive , etc. just to get near $2K.

Anyways wait a month, by then the new Intel Sandy Bridge parts will be back, now that the chipset is fixed. Also Win 7 with SP1 DVDs should be available.

Here are a few references you can look at.
bit-tech.net's PC Hardware Buyers Guide
Tom's Hardware - Best Gaming CPUs for the Money
Tom's Hardware - Best Graphics Cards for the Money
AnandTech Bench - Benchmark Database

Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

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Dissolution · 02-19-2011 12:31 AM

Lol yea a 300 dollar case or a 300 dollar name tag.

Hyperstrike · 02-19-2011 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

For $2K (assuming US $) you can build a tiny god of a gaming PC. Assuming you don't fret the money away on a $300 case weaved out of buckytubes laced with kevlar. And even then we are talking top shelf parts, multiple video cards, a stupidly high output power supply, an SSD boot drive , etc. just to get near $2K.

Anyways wait a month, by then the new Intel Sandy Bridge parts will be back, now that the chipset is fixed. Also Win 7 with SP1 DVDs should be available.

Just for gits and shiggles, I decided to hit CyberPowerPC for a look at their configurator.

3.2Ghz i7 960, 6GB RAM, 120GB SSD, 2TB HD, default board, Radeon 6950, Blu-Ray optical and liquid cooling came out to about $1700 with OS. Such a system would tear CoH a new one.

That still leaves about $300 buffer space.

$88 more would get him a Radeon 6970
$144 more would take him to 12GB of RAM

Still, as you said, it's probably best to wait for the reworked Sandy Bridge chipsets to hit the market in a month or so.

Heck, if you aren't looking for rush shipping you can shave another 5% (about $86) off.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.