davyboy

I need a new family PC. It needs to do family stuff, but I'd also like to play a few games. GT legends springs to mind.

Would a modern PC play these games without the need for an extra graphics card?

Would a £300 jobbie from PC world do the job?

I'd love to get a MAC as they only have a few to choose from, but feel I'd miss playing the odd game, and end up with a lovely look computer that is just used for web surfing!

jura11

iTrader: (7)

No on newer games,you will need extra graphic card,but at these times you will be OK with ATi HD5770 which now cost under £80.

And please don't buy PC from PC world,depends where are you located,just search online for deals and if you are not sure,post here and someone will help you


About the Mac,depends what graphic card is there,if its there Intel HD,this grpahic card is good for just watching movies in HD,etc.,but not for gaming but if its there nVidia graphic card,this can play newer games in nice resolution with nice details


Jura

CREWJ

If you want to play the newer games these links should help;

Full Graphics Card Hierarchy

Battlefield 3 Specs

From the sounds of it you don't need a high spec computer. £500 can buy you a pretty decent computer these days. £300 would be a budget computer and would struggle to play anything remotely good.

Scooby Soon!

buy a mac and then by an xbox,

sorted

davyboy

I already have a PS3.

Does GT Legends run on XBOX?

Not really that interested in modern games.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Not really GT Legends is only for PC

For this game you will be really OK with 5770


Jura

CREWJ

I like that, £1200 to do something that £400 would so just as well.

Scooby Soon!

drb5

iTrader: (4)

Get a new Mac Mini off Ebay for around 460...

Tidgy

i did that as well when he said it lol

CREWJ

In case you haven't noticed he's not after a powerful computer. Why pay 3x as much for his needs?

Tidgy

im yet to see an xbox word proccess, surf, play games as well as a pc to date.

my machine cost me £800 and it wipes the floor with ps3 and xbox. so thats only double

JackClark

I'd pay 3x the price for quality and service. I do it all the time as I'm fortunate enough to have the choice. Buy cheap buy twice.

Scooby Soon!

bargains can be had on macs I saw an imac 27" refurb for about £650 but the main problem is he mentioned gaming, the recommended video card for Battlefield is £150! http://www.pc-titan.com/product_info...out--full.html

and thats not even the best available and you can bet your bottom dollar that by christmas you will be lucky to run any game on that video card you will need something twice as powerful, thats why I have never understood gaming on PC's (and I have tried back when I used to have a packard bell 486 DX2-66) every game that comes out requires more ram, bigger memory card and a faster CPU.

If you want a cheap PC get one for £200 - £300 and then bin it in 18 months / 2 years (maybe push it to 3 years if your lucky) but don't try and keep upgrading it to play games it will be a bottomless pit....and don't forget that new video card won't fit your motherboard because the sockets not the same or it needs more power or your case is too small etc etc etc

Hanley

Wow, it's hard to read when there is no space after a comma!!!

CREWJ

A Mac and an Xbox will come to £1200
That is true but he said he's not after playing games like BF. He only needs a low end graphics card.

Tidgy

get a pc and you dont ned an xbox or a mac lol

so thats 400 off at least lol

Tidgy

also on a slight sidenote, you may not be able to run gt legends on a new machine. Just to further muddy the waters

CREWJ

That's what I'm saying

Tidgy

dell xps 8300 aint bad as a starter machine, £549, monitor from pc worls at 140 and for uder 700 you;ll have a decent machine

jura11

iTrader: (7)

How to say in most games,CPU power is not everything,what counts in most games is GPU.

As i said before out there is few games which support Duo or quad core CPU,i've tested few months back P4 clocked on 3.3GHz and mine i7-930 clocked on 4.3Ghz with same specs,just i7 have more RAM(unfortunately older P4 don't support DDR3) and same GPU(5870) and from mine test with P4 games has been OK(i've tested like new games like older),with i7 i've get 10-15fps more,but mostly games on P4 has have around 70-90fps on highest detail etc.

About the PS3 and xbox 360 try install on your PC PS3 emulator,you will be surprised with like your PC is slow with this,same like with Xbox 360 emulator.

Just try install PS2 or PS3 emulator ,you will see what i mean.


Jura
Quiet agree with quality and service,but not with price.We all have choice like me or you,just depends on what you want from your Mac/Apple PC


Jura

This recommended graphic card is overpriced,you can buy easily this car used on eBay for lot less

Older GTX260 or even Ati 5770 cost less like this new,if you fortunate you should buy 2x ATi 5770 for price of this card.

You are still living in world when everything needs to upgrade every few months/years,in meantime all games are almost same(just Crysis pushing boundaries higher) are build with same tools and mainly 2 year PC still can play new games without the doubts,just you are need better GPU(Graphic card)

All new graphic cards are PCI Express,no need buying new motherboard(yes before has been AGP format,which thankfully don't exist),because all motherboard have this port.
Almost all cases will take these cards,out are usually too slimmer version of GPU and don't take too much power from PSU(but depends on GPU)


Jura

CREWJ

The only reason to get a new MB these days is to change the CPU.

fitzscoob

Bought my last pc from Overclockers.

Really pleased, they have some bargains on there as well. I ended up moving my gaming pc into work to cope with all of my day to day stuff as I stopped getting time to play games.

Tidgy

im yet to find a decent emulator, but dont forget emulators are just that, there basicly fudging it to work and they wont be the best encoding known to man due to them being mainly by amatures and not having anywhere near as much dev input as the real thing.

best bet is get a game on both and see what there like. Although be carefull what you choose, some are just copied across using emulation so not true games for that specific platform, thast the real test

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Agreed on this

Jura
Overclockers UK are great i must admit,there are sometimes great bargians

Jura

I know,emulators are not the best,but if you find cheap PS3 DevKit or Xbox360 devkit under £1k,these DevKits cost more than any PC or mac out there,PS3 Devkit cost £7k an Xbox 360 $100 just for XNA and for proper Devkit ask Bill,i'm sure you will be surprised

Agree best is try play games like on PC or consoles,but sometimes is good too have both like me

Few months back my friend tried play GT4 on PC via PS2 emulator,what pain to play,never ever


Jura

davyboy

Still none the wiser.

Scooby Soon!

how about something like this:

cheap but ok PC, not quite as good as a mac but cheaper and you still have money for an xbox or video card

add a monitor for £100 - £150 and you are good to go

jonc

Personally I would rather build my own PC given the choice, that way you know exactly what you are getting to meet your needs. This is what I've always done. However, if you are looking for an off the shelf product, bare in mind that most PCs are pretty generic inside, but I would consider this as a minimum spec, given the budget:

Intel i3 processor
4GB Memory
1TB hard disk

The i3 processor's in built graphics chip should be sufficient for a game written in 2004, but if you want full details enabled then you're probably better getting something like a low to mid range graphics card like ATI HD 6570 or Nvidia GTS 450.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

I've agree,best to do is build own PC and is easy to build,its not rocket science

Best is buy Barbone bundle,which don't include HDD,Optical drive and GPU(Graphic card)

Good Barbone bundles are from £170,here is link

http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/

For HDD,depends how much space you want,i would suggest 500GB-1TB £31-£77 and best are for me WD Black or Blue series

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...d5000aakx.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...d5002aalx.html

DVD/optical drive cost from £14.98

GPU/Graphic card,again depends on your needs and i would suggest ATi 5770 or nVidia GT440

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...ihd5700series/

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c...40fermiseries/

Jura

CREWJ

If you know how then that is the way to go. I've always built my own rigs and laptops.

But the OP doesn't seem the type that knows how to build a computer.