PC Gaming Question

That is some serious setup!!!!
I'm not big into gaming, but I doubt many games, if any, would use all that potential!!!!
FWIW, my "lowly" P4 3.2 with nVidia 128 and 512Mb Ram fairs very well. Now will it be smooth in one or 2 years time, when Flight Simulator 2007 comes out? I think not!
That's more a setup for engineering purposes!!! LOL

 

The Athlon 64 FX-55 is a WEE BIT OVERKILL from a price/preformance standpoint, but then again, it is Christmas . The CPU alone accounts for $800 of the price, but it is the fastest CPU out there at the moment.

The price you listed for all these goodies matches up with what Newegg lists them for, so not a bad price on that end.

You COULD spend a lot less for something that is 95% as fast. Sort of a Corvette / Ferrari type of argument.

 

What exactly makes a case a "Gaming" case?

 

Multiple fans & lots of bling bling. Here's some shots I took @ Quakecon 04.
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LOL! the paper machine, thats funny!

I suspected it was only the LED's and neon and sleek case design which made up a gaming case, but I suppose cooler temps=better performance, just like in the petrolhead universe.

 

You don't mention what the original computer had or the games he wants to play so I can't say if it's worth it. I have to say just taking a quick glance at the specs that it one hell of a config. I'm surprised he didn't ask for more hd storage. This would be close to the top...... until............. welcome to the world of computers.

GoodLuck

 

EXACTLY

Alienware builds some fast computers, and if you spent 3500 on one already...

:-\

Looking at it from my standpoint:

He has the best of everything on that list. My guess is that he has the best of everything from two years ago, which isn't that bad. It will be more than enough to run WHATEVER game.

 

My system has the "best of everything" from around a year ago (P4 3.2GHz, GeForceFX 5950 Ultra 256MB, 1GB PC3200 DDR-SDRAM).

I don't play games as much as I used to, but if I wanted to play all the latest games at max detail with high performance, all I need to do is upgrade the graphics card. It isn't necessary to repace everything else after only a 1 year period.

The same can't be said after 2 years, however. It depends greatly on what the system you got 2 years ago was. But what will make the biggest difference when it comes to games is the graphics card. Also, make sure you have 1GB of DDR-SDRAM.

 

That computer would maul virtually any game in the development pipeline currently (with the possible exception of Unreal 3).

 

Buy him a cheap PII laptop with maybe a 10 gig drive, put on DOS 6.22 as the only operating system, & install MAME. Then tell him to go play some real games like Battlezone & Asteroids

You're out a couple hundred bucks max & he'll be introduced to the classics!

If that's overbudget, I'd grab a Pong game at a garage sale & pick up a B&W TV for $40 or so.... Maybe then he'd appreciate his current setup.

 

Your son is full of ****. His Aleinware PC will play EVERYTHING currently out at 90% graphics detail. Alienware builds extremely fast PC's with the latest and greatest of everything, then they tweak it even further.

If my AMD1.0 with Nvidia 64mb Graphics card & 256mB Ram will play Call of Duty at 90% detail w/o a hick up, I'm sure his PC is just fine.

 

If it's Far Cry and Half-Life 2 he want's to play, I can understand that he want an upgrade, but those 2 games is probably the only 2 who can use that upgrade to it's fullest.

 

I guess the unanimous message is screaming "no need for such a monster".

On the other hand, I WANT a furry purple puter!!! MUUUHAHAHAHA

 

Steve,

I think the concensous is this is not necessary.

For example:

I/O Magic 16x Dual Format/Double Layer DVD+/-RW

It is a DVD burner, not needed for any gaming that I know of. That said, I would purchase it for burning DVDs.

If you list the specs of his machine we'll tell you what might be good to "upgrade" for gaming. Usually the graphics card and RAM (I have 2 GB) is a good place to start.

I don't think he is trying to get anything over on you. I think he just wants a cool computer. Seems these days you can have bragging rights just like cars. I can relate.....we all wanted the best.

 

Only thing I'd change is the hard drive.

Swap it for a Western Digital Raptor instead.

Also if you wait afew weeks there is some nice PCI Express video cards coming out.

 

From all that I would get only the memory RAM, video card (although i think there are some better out there), hard drive and the DVD Recorder. The Athlon 64 is fast but i dont think it will be fully utilize in gaming; are any games out there 64 bit yet? i doubt it, so i wouldn't drop the money on that until software/games catch up, and probably by next year those 64 bit processors will be much powerful.

I think that for gaming what he really needs is an insane video card, his current CPU should be enough until next year. thats just my opinion.

 

Doom 3.

 

I second that. Downloaded the Demo to test it out ... and it was pathetic! A P42.2 GeForce 5600 with 512Mb of Ram can't even make it smooth in bad quality and 800x600 resolution!!! Maybe the fact that it's a laptop didn't help much, but it was FAR from being playable. Yikes.

 

If you want the best gaming pc on the market, look no further: http://www.falcon-nw.com

They're not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

 

I would also say that CPU is WAY overkill. You can save about $500 there going with a althon 64 3500+.

Also, if you want the best, you need to look at the new SLI technology from Nvidia. You can run two 6800 Gt's together for seriously insane framerates.

Other than that though, sounds like a great PC.

As far as HL2 goes though, I hear it scales very well on older machines. It might be just fine. Far Cry, on the other hand, requires a LOT of power to run.