Advise a Noob

[jdkirk904]

I currently have a Dell XPS DXG061 Intel Core 2 CPU 6400 @ 2.13 GHZ, 2.0 GB ram with a NVIDIA GEFORCE 7900 GTX, 5.12 MB.

 

Now the question from a computer noob. Will DCS A-10C run on this computer without any major problems, or do I need to upgrade some of the hardware, like the CPU, RAM and Video card?:dunno:

[dave4002000]

Vid card and ram are borderline and will most likely get by with low detail settings. You'll most likely have to upgrade that cpu though.

 

:: Disclaimer for Blaze :: ;)

 

My post here reflects what i see in the current beta. This beta is not finalized nor optimized. This beta release does not, in any way, reflect the performance of the final game.

[power5]

Your CPU is running slow. Its a dell so OC is difficult and would require software clocking instead of through BIOS. 2GB means some more stuttering when loading textures. 4gb will help. Your video card will be fine at low settings and lower resolutions. Dont expect to play on a 1080p very well.

 

Watch Tiger direct. They often have Barebones systems needing only OS for dirt cheap. Couple weeks ago was a AMD x4 w/ 2gb DDR3, 1tb, optical drive, video card (weak, but still included) case and PSU. For $299. For another $75 you could get 2gb ram, and then start saving for a graphics card. There are good deals out there if you can put it together yourself and have an OS serial number laying around.

[dave4002000]

I've got everything set the same except

 

Scenes: High

Vis Range: High

Shadows: Medium

Cockpit Res: 1024

 

I average about 40fps at Nellis and between 20-30 everywhere else.

 

I have yet to see my video card get pushed to the max(usually around 60%), but my cpu regularly sees 100% usage on both cores. I think my next upgrade is going to be a new Phenom (have yet to decide between the Thuban or Deneb)

Edited October 28, 2010 by dave4002000

[jdkirk904]

Crap, that's what I was afraid of. I'm thinking of upgrading with a Intel pentium 4, dual core, up the ram to 4 and upgrade the Nvidia card. Think that would put me up there to play with maxed settings?

 

Oh by the way,thanks for the answers.

[Echonomix]

Crap, that's what I was afraid of. I'm thinking of upgrading with a Intel pentium 4, dual core, up the ram to 4 and upgrade the Nvidia card. Think that would put me up there to play with maxed settings?

 

Oh by the way,thanks for the answers.

 

 

Pentium 4 are old and retired. You will most likely have to build/buy a new computer if you want to run at max settings. It's very unlikely for you to be able to upgrade cpu, or much of anything hardware wise, on a Dell. If you find the service tag, you can look it up on support.dell.com

Edited October 29, 2010 by Echonomix

[jdkirk904]

I have a call into someone to come by and give me an estimate on building a gaming comp, but just in case, what type of top of the line ($1500 to $2500 range) would you guys recommend?

[dave4002000]

i7-970 + Gigabyte Motherboard combo at newegg $1,300

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.520913

 

G.Skill 6Gb Tri-Channel set $100

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

 

EVGA GTX480 $500

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130551

 

 

That'll put you in at $1900 for the main parts. You'd still need a 750W or greater power supply and some other odds and ends. It would probably come to around $2300 for the whole setup. You can save about $500 by not going with the i7-970 and just get the i7-870. 3.2 hexa-core vs 2.9 quad-core.

 

I love AMD processors, i've owned a bunch of them...but, right now, they are behind the curve when it comes to competing with the i7's.

[jdkirk904]

Dave,

 

Thanks for your replys. What do you think of the alienware line?

[HiJack]

Dave,

 

Thanks for your replys. What do you think of the alienware line?

Terrible :P

[dave4002000]

HiJack pretty much nailed it on the head

 

Alienware USED to be good before they got taken over by Dell. Now it's just another dell product. I have a friend that bought a newer dell/alienware, after sending it back to them 5 different times because of something wrong with it, he finally just told them to keep it and built his own. If you have the time and patience to learn how to build a computer, you can save a lot of money and have a much better computer than any of these "off-the-shelf" commercially built ones.

[StrongHarm]

I disagree Dave. I've designed computers for major manufacturers, and built my own for many years. Until about 5-10yrs ago it was much better to build your own. You didn't have to deal with proprietary hardware and it was cheaper. My newest build was to cost me around $4k in parts from newegg.com. I found a Dell system with the SAME exact hardware for $2800 new / $1400 refurb. I bought the refurb and a 3yr warranty. I've had 3 components go bad since purchasing it.. but it wasn't Dell made components, it was 3rd party manufacturers such as nVidia and Corsair. It would have probably cost me around $500 for replacement parts. The fact is, if you have enough knowhow to build your own system, you have enough knowhow to diagnose a problem with a Dell system and request new parts. There are no proprietary parts anymore other than the case and maybe the power supply and fans. Dell has the ability to purchase the same parts that you would get from newegg, but at half the cost.

 

My water cooled XPS720 with a 6850 quad extreme @3.66ghz (Dell Alienware at $1400) is still going strong almost three years later, and I'm getting ready to renew the 3yr warranty for less than $200. I'll get a new system from Dell soon (for cheaper than I can build one) and make this a secondary system or gaming server, with free parts if anything breaks.

[jdkirk904]

Strongharm

 

I prettry much have decided to get the Alienware Aurora Desktop with the following specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

 

Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor (3.2 GHz, 8MB Cache)

 

6GB Triple Channel 1333Mhz DDR3

 

Dual 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460-SLI Enabled

 

500GB-SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD

 

Single Drive: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)

 

Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio

 

High Performance Liquid Cooling

 

Think that should get me max settings?

Edited November 24, 2010 by jdkirk904

[CrossMAX]

...maybe in final release version yea. I have I7-950, 3x 2GB 1600MHz RAM, dual SLI Nvidia GTX 470. Frame rate sometimes drops to 12FPS. =/

[StrongHarm]

jdkirk904.. that should do the job.. with a nice long warranty. You might look at going a step up on the processor. The 930 is at the bottom of the i7 barrel (see tomshardware). You might be able to step up for a low price.

[power5]

Most of the dell "same" system parts are not equal. No idea what the PSU is made of. The mobo may have the same x58 chipset, but they are usually gutted for dell to get rid of stuff they do not need. Removing extra PCI slots and such. I have no idea how you spec'd out a newegg PC for $4k and matched that with a $2800 dell. You will have to show me some proof on that one. I agree that getting normal computers is almost not worth the hassle, but top end gaming setups always seem to be cheaper at newegg than a boutique for me.

[Spectre_USA]

They always pan out that way for me as well, I've built my last 3 rigs over the last

6 years that way.

 

Even as a DCSE getting their discounts, I can't beat the parts route, and can tweak

the specs my way.

 

Unless the combat simulation worled picks up, however, I may have built my last

gaming rig about 4 months ago...

[Revelation]

Strongharm

 

I prettry much have decided to get the Alienware Aurora Desktop with the following specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

 

Overclocked Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core Processor (3.36GHz, 8MB Cache)

 

6GB Triple Channel 1333Mhz DDR3

 

Dual 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460-SLI Enabled

 

500GB-SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD

 

Single Drive: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)

 

Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio

 

High Performance Liquid Cooling

 

Think that should get me max settings?

 

The only thing I recommend is getting dual HD and running in RAID 0 to get better read/write speads as your data is split on two drives. This is the best thing you can do to increase your performance, IMHO, short of buying an SSD if you other parts are "good."

[Steel Jaw]

Never *ever* buy propriatary CRAP like fecking dell or hp etc...you cannot do jack with them. Only seniors should buy those idiotic brand names.

 

Tiger Direct is the way to go OR OR learn to buld your own...it aint hard and you can build a custom gaming rig tailored for your needs.

[Steel Jaw]

I disagree Dave..

 

I disagree: Dell is STILL fecking junk. :P

 

Like Norton, they FUBAR everything they come into contact with.

[EtherealN]

I have a call into someone to come by and give me an estimate on building a gaming comp, but just in case, what type of top of the line ($1500 to $2500 range) would you guys recommend?

 

Give me a budget and I'll see if I can figure something out for you. You shouldn't be looking at more than roughly 1000 dollars for the "what you need", though you might go up to 1500 or 2000 dollars for really high performance. Also, would you be needing a stationary machine or a laptop? Laptops are generally more expensive for performance (though not massively so), and in that case I would recommend an ASUS G73. ( http://rog.asus.com ) The pricerange there is 1200 to 2000 dollars depending on exact configuration, I'd recommend the options in the 1500 to 1700 area with processor and screen as the main focus.

[EtherealN]

it aint hard and you can build a custom gaming rig tailored for your needs.

 

While actually possible and somewhat affordable, it's not quite easy to build a custom laptop for yourself. ;)

[159th_Viper]

I disagree: Dell is STILL fecking junk. :P

 

My U2410 disagrees :D

[kylania]

Never *ever* buy propriatary CRAP like fecking dell or hp etc...you cannot do jack with them. Only seniors should buy those idiotic brand names.

 

I bought a Falcon Northwest machine once. After a year or so I went to add more RAM and a second harddrive.

 

Upon opening the case I came to find out that they had FILLED the open RAM slots with glue and physically REMOVED the 2nd IDE slot from the motherboard.

 

When I called them to ask what was wrong with it, since my motherboard had essentially been vandalized they said they normally do that when customers don't get the extra features and all I had to do was send it in to them and they'd return it within two weeks with the parts added.

 

Never bought pre-built again. :pilotfly:

[Steel Jaw]

How long ago did this Falcon Northwest INFAMY occurr?

 

I will send them a nasty gram.