New Competer

[cwfergtx]

I am starting to look at getting a new computer tower only within my budget and would like some help deciding which would be best. Budget is between $500.00-$750.00. This is mainly used to play DDO. Been looking at both Dell Inspiropn 580s and HP Pavilion p6680t computers. What requirements should I be looking for on my new computer?

[Trillea]

I am starting to look at getting a new computer tower only within my budget and would like some help deciding which would be best. Budget is between $500.00-$750.00. This is mainly used to play DDO. Been looking at both Dell Inspiropn 580s and HP Pavilion p6680t computers. What requirements should I be looking for on my new computer?

Commercial computers are a huge ripoff, I would try to find a friend that can build them. You will get MUCH MUCH more bang for your buck. If this is not an option however, Dell has decent computers.

[gabriul]

You should try checking out some of these and comparing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006736%204021%20600030537&IsNodeId=1&name=Gaming

[articwarrior]

I am starting to look at getting a new computer tower only within my budget and would like some help deciding which would be best. Budget is between $500.00-$750.00. This is mainly used to play DDO. Been looking at both Dell Inspiropn 580s and HP Pavilion p6680t computers. What requirements should I be looking for on my new computer?

nice graphics card for obvious reasons
a nice cpu to process info faster
RAM is absolutely required so maybe 2-3gb
nice harddrive to go with the cpu

basically all I can think about for ddo

[Ciaran]

I am starting to look at getting a new computer tower only within my budget and would like some help deciding which would be best. Budget is between $500.00-$750.00. This is mainly used to play DDO. Been looking at both Dell Inspiropn 580s and HP Pavilion p6680t computers. What requirements should I be looking for on my new computer?


I bought an IBuyPower at the high end of your range and have been very, very happy with it. I bought it through Newegg.com. I bought it to run AoC at high settings and it did so wonderfully. It has no problems running DDO at highest settings in DX10.

You will read mixed reviews about IBuyPower, but I found more positive reviews than negative ones and have been completely happy with my purchase after a year and a half.

[AZgreentea]

In that price range, you could build a computer that was decent. This summer I paid $965 for my build with a refurb monitor. I got a new case for free (Antec 1200 for my b-day) and I kept my old mouse and keyboard.

AMD Phenom II X4
ATI 5820

Plus a $60.00 mobo with Gigabit networking, AM2+ and internal sound (I can always upgrade later), a 500GB standard hard drive (plenty of room for more later, in this case), and a 750 watt 80 plus certified PSU. I have 4GB of RAM, and I bought a 3 PC copy of Windows 7 when it first came out.

It might also be possible for you to upgrade your old computer slightly. You just have to decide if its worth it to upgrade or replace. Be careful though, sometimes starting an upgrade results in a full replacement.

**EDIT
When you are building on a budget, what you can manage to get for free or low cost can make all the difference in the world for other parts (like the GPU and the CPU). Now that christmas is rolling around, try to get a build in mind. Then ask for individual and easy to identify components from people. You dont want your 85 year old grandpa trying to figure out what CPU want. Well, unless he gets you a gift card to Frys Electronics.

[Nuralanya]

Commercial computers are a huge ripoff, I would try to find a friend that can build them. You will get MUCH MUCH more bang for your buck. If this is not an option however, Dell has decent computers.

Absolutely - my other half runs a computer repair business and finds that many brand-name computers are much more difficult to repair or upgrade than generic ones. Some, and I think Dell is one of them, even have awkward things like special power supplies that are wired up differently so that you can't replace them with anything but a branded part. It's much better to build your own (or have someone build it for you) so you can get exactly what you want.

[madmaxhunter]

Made me log into Dell! That's against my geek religion. I have an Alienware system (yeah owned by Dell now, arghh). Built my son a Dell system that he uses to play DDO. His was about a grand. The problem with the low end Dell systems, they are mainly meant for newb users. I agree with the above posters to max your graphics and mem. Hard drive is a dump stat, haha. You can always upgrade that later. Just do the build system to up those stats.

Note: If you didn't know this already. Check for Dell coupons, just google "Dell coupons". You can get free shipping or a monitor or something. Personally, I'd start there. A lot of the coupons will link you back to Dell with the discount already applied.

Let us know what you got, and how you like it.

Lighthardtt Tuisian of Sarlona
leader Bridge Burners

[Marcus-Hawkeye]

Commercial computers are a huge ripoff, I would try to find a friend that can build them. You will get MUCH MUCH more bang for your buck. If this is not an option however, Dell has decent computers.

I used to do this, but now life has gotten far too busy to build PCs. I go for refurb machines now. Out of the 30 or so I've purchased, I've had issue with 2 of them and even then it was fairly easy to have repaired.

With the price restriction, I'd look at either this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5753605&CatId=4965

Or if you could squeeze it in:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6147827&CatId=114

But honestly for worry and hassle free (or as close as you can get), go Dell or HP and build your own within your price range. I've used Dell support in the past and they were definately top shelf and were very helpful, and even sent a guy out to fix it the next day (lucky me!).

It's up to you. I can spend time researching and figuring out exactly what I want down to the motherboard mounting screws (and believe me I used to). But now, without the time, I found letting the big names do that sort of research for me has actually turned out to be much better than I had originally been told, heard, or thought it would be like.

[smithtj3]

I work for a business that does custom PC builds. Sure our builds run a bit more expensive than Dell, HP, etc but they're worth every cent. Performance wise there won't be a huge difference (though our builds are completely customizable) but as far as the system's lifespan. . . pray you get five years out of a Dell or HP with regular service maintenance. I've seen many a Columbus Micro Systems build last 10 years without a technician touching it.

Plus, a good number of the staff here play DDO so we understand the game's demands better than any other PC business.

Company Website:
http://www.columbusmicro.com/

. . . and here's how much I appreciate the needs of a gamer:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Columbus-Micro-Systems-eXcelius-Core-i7-Gamer-PC-/380207392533?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item5886206715#ht_1607wt_905

Though this one is a bit more than you wanted to spend.

Feel free to give us a call, I'm extension 39 and can get the ball rolling with a system quote.

[cwfergtx]

At work we have Dall Employee Purchase Program to get a small discounts.

[Dulcimerist]

At work we have Dall Employee Purchase Program to get a small discounts.

In the long run, those discounts aren't worth it. I've experienced some horror stories with Dell customer support, and have heard a lot of additional horror stories.

[smithtj3]

At work we have Dall Employee Purchase Program to get a small discounts.

Heck, I can probably get you a DDO Player discount if you go with Columbus Micro. Trust us when we say avoid Dell. Unless you want to be writing one of those Good By DDO forum post because your computer is in it's death throws, do not buy a Dell, an HP, an eMachine or anything manufactured in China for that matter.

Seriously, I'd be more than happy to put a DDO system quote together for you in your price range. You can also reach me by email tsmith@columbusmicro.com

[ninjaeli]

DO NOT i repeat DO NOT GET ANY ACER!

[Sanadil]

Whatever system you decide to go with...just make sure it has this:

http://www.inthecore.com/baconbutton.jpg

Its an automatic I WIN in ddo...

[cwfergtx]

He gave me a temp computer while he and his friend fixes mine.

[Ratnix]

but as far as the system's lifespan. . . pray you get five years out of a Dell or HP with regular service maintenance. I've seen many a Columbus Micro Systems build last 10 years without a technician touching it.



I have a Dell from '99 it still works fine. I bought my sister a Dell in late '00, her ex has it but the girls say it still works fine.

The only problems with 10 year old computers are the same no matter who builds them.....they are 10 years old and their technology is just ancient.

I could maybe find parts to upgrade some of my components(RAM,GPU) but it would be very hard and definitely not worth it. It is a 10 year old computer, the cheapest PoS computer you can buy a BestBuy will out perform it.

I have also bought Dell's recently for my Mom, Niece and helped pick one out for my now ex-gf. All of them work just fine after over 4 years. My Uncle has also gotten a couple of them that are still working perfectly. In fact the only problem I have ever seen with any Dell build computer is my Niece's Laptop she recently purchased, and that was just a bad HDD, which was instantly replaced by Dell.



Now, while I have never had any issue with a pre-build Dell system I would also console on building your own computer.

I did see one comment that I do disagree with. As I have said on these forums before, I am running a '06 computer which I have upgraded the graphics card from a 7900GTX to an 8800GT and the 8800 is more than enough card to run everything on Max settings.

You don't need to go out and get the best graphics card out there if you only are playing DDO. In fact, unless you are playing FPS games and just must have the maximum fps out of your game, you don't ever need to get the biggest and baddest card out there. It just isn't necessary and is a waste of money.
The same can be said for RAM. While having the super fast RAM can be nice, it isn't necessary.

Going balls to the wall when building a PC isn't necessary unless you are building the PC specifically for high end gaming. If you skimp a bit and get cheaper stuff when you first build it, you can save yourself some money and then upgrade those items when and if you need to later when you have some extra cash.

If you are willing to cannibalize your old PC you can save yourself even more cash. You probably cant get much out of it but you can easily pullout the Optical and the HDD. Depending on how old your old computer is it might even be possible to pull out the RAM. This can save you a bit of cash in the building phase, allowing you to get slightly better components