NeilT

I havent used my PC for gaming since Half Life was the latest game, and now with the release of Doom 3 and Half Life 2 on its way, thinking its time to enter the PC gaming field again, so need a new pc. Problem is due to work and young family I've been out of the scene for so long I've no idea what to get, spec wise. The last graphics cars I bought was a Voodoo 300 AGP!

So, can anyone suggest a decent spec machine that will at least allow me to play Doom3 and hopefully Half Life 2 (when its out) at a decent res and speed?

So far thinking of the Dell pc's (have purchased loads from Dell for the office and always impressed) something like P4 3.0 Ghz job but havent a clue on graphics cards

Anyone want to offer some help?

cheers

Neil

MJW

Go for the Radeon 9800 Pro as you can pick them up for around £120 : probably the best pound/performance ratio. The latest and greatest is the Radeon XT range but they're overpriced at £250-£300 IMO

NeilT

ok, was thinking of something like this

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...xps&l=en&s=dhs

seems like a pretty good bet?

TAINTON

Another for Ati's Radeon cracking cards 9800Pro should stand you in good sted. At the moment im still running an 8500 Radeon - Not the cheapy version and when configured correctly should see benchmark figure around 9600 untweaked.

ChrisB

On that Dell, you'd certainly want to upgrade the standard ATI Radeon X300 video card to the X800SE or to the X800XT.

As the guys above have mentioned, the Radeon 9800 Pro offers a great band per buck ratio at present.

Prince Popeye

I've just ordered a Gaming Pc from meshcomputers.com. Its a monster spec one.

http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/elite_5.htm

Cost me around 1500 quid as i've upgraded the 9000XT(at a cost of 40 quid) to a Geforce Fx 6800 Ultra (350 quid at Dabs)

Got it on six months interest free so I pay it all in 6 months Its got to be done as my athlon XP1900 is not up to the job even with a 9600 Pro. It can't even handle soldiers heroes of ww2 at a low spec

lightning101

Nice spec - just checked out the component build price including Dual Layer Sony drive but basically same spec.

MJW

Popeye, I would switch the monitor on your order as it only has a 25ms response time, which isn't very good for games - 16ms would be preferable.

Neil, a 3ghz machine with at least a gig of ram should be enough and I agree about Dell - I've bought a few machines for work and they've been spot on. You'd be better off going elsewhere for the graphics card though. Try CCL Computers. I've used for them for quite a few bits and bobs and their prices are pretty good.