What is Digg?Sponsored by Dragon Age: Origins
Join the Dragon Age: Origins development team on Facebook view!
facebook.com/DragonAgeOrigins - EA presents BioWare's new dark fantasy epic Dragon Age: Origins. '9/10' from Game Informer.
89 Comments
- MathieuB, on 05/29/2009, -5/+52"These suggestions are ridiculous."
Because?
"Pretty much all the recommendations are for AMD processors."
Oh, that's why. Hi, Intel fan boy. Beside the brand of the processors, your point is?
"...based on price/performance, something where Intel is shown to be competitive..."
And your sources are? Benchmarks? I'm supposed to believe your word?
Let's take some real world numbers and do some comparisons here:
In the low end: Intel E5200 ($70) vs AMD X2 7750 ($70). Platform cost being similar.
Mainstream: Intel E7500 ($140) vs AMD X3 920 ($140) Platform cost being similar.
High-end: Intel Q9400 ($220) vs AMD X4 940 ($190) Higher cost for Intel quad.
Here's a great benchmark for you to check out, for GAMING results:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx? ...
3 cpus versus, along with 2 games, AMD comes on top in all of six opportunities.
Now, of course, let's not forget high-end, which is a different story and here's why:
Enthusiast: Core i7 920 ($290) vs X4 955 ($255).
Here, not only the Intel cpu is more expensive, but so is the motherboard and the memory setup. Not to mention that the X4 955 could simply be used as an upgrade on AM2+ boards.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx? ...
AMD and Intel cpus both win 2 benchmarks each, Intel winning one of the two with a good lead. If the cost was the same or the price gap smaller, it would be a tough choice but I would recommend with Intel.
Problem is, it's not the case here, the cost is NOT the same at all.
In my opinion, which is based by the current market prices, these benchmarks and my 8+ years of experience in the industry, AMD currently offers better value for their platforms compared to Intel.
If Intel were offering better value (like they did when the first Phenom was around), you'd see more Intel suggestions in the recommendations. The reason I picked AMD was a clearly higher performance for low-end, mainstream and high-end cpus.
Now, my main point here is: When it comes down to Intel Core i7 920 vs Phenom II X4 955, performance wise, they are head to head, depending on the game. The reason I picked the AMD platform was for the lower cost, which allowed me to suggest better parts with the saved money, including better videos cards for the system. Yes, Intel offers higher performance at the very top, with a price. Thus why you'll see Core i7 featured in higher-end gaming PCs, not in a $1000 system.
As I said, platform wise, AMD currently offers the best value in my opinion. Of course, expecting Intel to react with prices cuts and soon, core i5. I'll be waiting to recommend them in the systems then, no worries.
Know this: I'm the biggest fanboy. Of whoever offers the best bang for the buck.
Anyway, anyone knows that at high-resolutions, the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU. - UndeniablyRexer, on 05/29/2009, -0/+33Nothing like buying a $1,000 gaming computer to fight the recession...
- xero69, on 05/29/2009, -2/+25Well $1000 buys a lot of cool old video games from Ebay too
- Cancerkitty, on 05/29/2009, -0/+21I tried my hand at system building a few times. You can get a hell of a lot more bang for your buck that way.
- seroevo, on 05/29/2009, -0/+16Followed by:
"6 Things to do with your Holodeck that don't involve sex." - w00tdigg, on 05/29/2009, -0/+15Chances are if you have the money to buy a $1000 PC for gaming, you aren't really hurting from the recession.
- D3koy, on 05/29/2009, -1/+16And that's the end of that discussion...
- Rioracer916, on 05/29/2009, -0/+14Or at least better quality hardware for at or less cost than a prebuild system.
I like having an upgrade path with my machines. - Wargala, on 05/29/2009, -2/+16Or you could NOT buy a computer and save $1,000. :)
- xXVenom77Xx, on 05/29/2009, -3/+14Predicted Digg story for 2050:
"6 DIY Holodecks less than $10,000,000 to fight the recession" - diggduggDOOM, on 05/29/2009, -0/+102 - fight with or against zombie Ron Paul and his Free Marketeers in "The Revolution 2: Undead Boogaloo"
- Stupidumb, on 05/29/2009, -0/+8Yeah, but, video games...
- inactive, on 05/29/2009, -0/+8it actually costs less if you consider the absolute crap all the parts are that are not selling points.
- Elranzer, on 05/29/2009, -0/+7It would also buy 1000 bacon cheeseburgers from Wendy's as well.
- offrdbandit, on 05/29/2009, -0/+7Having OEM Windows disks is one of the biggest advantages of building your own rig.
I cant count the number of windows licenses I've seen pass into the "I've lost my disks and can't reload" netherworld. I've recently been given one I can't reload. It's got a recovery partition, AND it's still asking for recovery disks. Someone spent good money on that license and it's pretty much gone. - shredswithpiks, on 05/29/2009, -0/+6Whether or not DIY PCs are more or less than pre-builts mainly depends on the price-range you're looking at. The $400-$600 systems from dell can't really be built cheaper, but they can be built nearly as cheap with better components. The $1500 on up gaming systems can easily be built for cheaper with better components.
- Jeepinator, on 05/29/2009, -1/+7A self-built PC will always cost less and be of a higher quality than a pre-built computer of comparable specs.
- vsujohn2, on 05/29/2009, -0/+5Well, this question actually is pretty relevant this time.
- inigomntoya, on 05/29/2009, -0/+5Agreed. Anyone who thinks that $1000 is 'trimming it down' during a recession deserves to pay that much for the crap they will get.
its funny that just a few days ago there was this article:
http://digg.com/pc_games/Eight_Hundred_Dollar_Kill ...
The comments actually contain some good tips for getting it down to the $600 range without a major loss in performance. - lilrabbit129, on 05/29/2009, -0/+5I'm in that boat now. My PC is getting long in the tooth, and its old enough that most of its ports/slots are outdated. Its actually cheaper to get a low-end system thats faster, and get an updated component than try to find a component that will work with my system.
*sigh* AGP. - scubachef11, on 05/29/2009, -0/+5Don't tell me to fight the recession by building a new computer...
- lynx44, on 05/29/2009, -1/+5That's a little hard for me to believe, the best deal I can think of on storage would be $100 for 1.5 tb, and you would need three of them. There's $300 right there, plus a case, mobo, cpu, ram, power supply, raid controller and tuner card, you got that all for less than $200? I guess it's possible, I'm just skeptical.
- LMN8R, on 05/29/2009, -1/+5What's with all of these stories I've seen on Digg in the past few months? Building cheap gaming PCs has been easy to do for well over a year, since the introduction of the 8800GT at the end of 2007.
At the end of 2007, it was possible to put together a gaming PC with a Core 2 Duo, 2GB ram, and an 8800GT, even with a legitimate OEM copy of Windows for $100, for under $900 total w/hard drive, case, power supply, and everything else you need.
That is a machine that can run Crysis on High settings, for under $900 at the time of Crysis' release, that can still today kick the crap out of most everything out there. - Myztry, on 05/29/2009, -0/+4The attempts to make the Windows OS into a consumable is pretty lame. Certainly the best way to obtain Windows legally (I mean according to law - not EULA which are not laws) is via the OEM channel with hardware. Purchasing with a hard drive essentially gives you a free hard drive which you can use to swap over allowing fall back when you discover the new OS is a commercial beta.
But then it's rarely necessary to buy a new copy of Windows. Often the new computer is the result of a dead/redundant(wiped) PC, meaning you already have a legal copy of Windows according to copyright and other laws. If you think a EULA binds that copy of Windows then sell it to a friend for $1, and buy his copy for $1. Adhesion contracts do not transfer with legal sale.
Quite simply the best way to save money on a computer is not to buy a dozen copies over time for a couple of computers. The right to use a retail purchase does not expire. - lilrabbit129, on 05/29/2009, -0/+43 - Relive Star Wars as Luke Skywalker. You can't be Han, or else that would violate the "don't involve sex" part.
- D3koy, on 05/29/2009, -1/+5If nothing else, not having to uninstall all that garbage bloatware makes building your own machine worth it.
- inigomntoya, on 05/29/2009, -0/+4Yup. I always compare getting a PC to getting a car.
Just like how a mechanic builds a hotrod and a commuter buys a Honda.
Do you want to maintain it yourself? will you be adding on more parts or upgrading hardware? Then build it yourself.
Do you want something that does what it says it does? Will you rarely open the case? Will the majority of the computer's life be word processing and Internet browsing? Then buy a prebuilt machine. - Elranzer, on 05/29/2009, -0/+3I come to these articles not for the article itself, but because they always spur insightful comments from the Digg users. We all have the drive to beat the article's author for price-per-performance, and we pretty much always do.
- inigomntoya, on 05/29/2009, -0/+31 - light your death stick
- chamberlanderic, on 05/29/2009, -1/+4buy a PS3 80gb 400$ (or xbox whatever), buy for 600$ of games ( about twelve) that will run on your system guaranteed. no bugs. no drivers. and play till your eyeballs fall out.
- solid12345, on 05/29/2009, -0/+3I don't get it, how will I exist?
- Myztry, on 05/29/2009, -0/+3Slots have always been the issue.
Ram slots, processor slots, graphic slots, etc often don't transfer across generations. It can often be much more expensive to acquire new last generation slot hardware than to buy current generation new hardware. - lilrabbit129, on 05/29/2009, -0/+3Its possible, given the right combination of deals and tradeoffs.
There's some cpu/motherboard combos at Fry's for $100. - dstz, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2An intel E8400 is cheap, efficient, a 85$ p45 gigabyte (the plainest, and still features heavy ds3, now ud3) is more than fine for it, and i have bought as many AMD cpu as Intel's, so i don't mind either way. Both companies make fine processors.
- Darksoul, on 06/01/2009, -0/+2See that is hard to say because that card is a non gaming card. That system is just meant for business If it was me I wouldn't waste my time on upgrading it just do like you said and build a new one yourself. Just remember to ask yourself like this article said. Also I would add one more to it.
1. What resolution will you be playing at?
2. How high do you want the graphic settings to be?
3. What games do you want to play?
And more to answer your other question yeah your Quadro is holding you back, that graphics card is just a business only type of thing you could still probably put a decent graphics card in and it would give it a decent boost but still after looking at the specs I would still say build a new comp yourself it will be worth it money wise. - zip000, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2I was talking to a guy at work about building computers - both of us are sort of indirect computer support people, not our primary job, but we do a lot of it - and he was adamant that building your own costs more...and I just don't believe it...maybe it can be, but when I built my own, and compared comparable systems at the major retailers, my build was about at least $100 less than at any retailer.
I don't know what he was talking about. - anexanhume, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2For the $850 system, the 4890 is only a good choice if you are averse to crossfire configs. If not, you're better off with two 4770's or something similar.
- Jeepinator, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2That's pretty much correct. A $1500 custom PC is going to blow away a $1500 pre-built. I am talking probably twice as fast here too.
- Ommatidia, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2As for the original Crysis, on very high (where the real DX10 eye-candy is at), even the $1,000 rig will chug at some points in the game at 1920x1200. Specifically, the busier outdoor parts.
So, yeah it'll play, but it'll get a little choppy in certain parts. - chrislewis, on 05/30/2009, -0/+2I have the same approach - I built for value (maybe with a little room for expansion) and then replace it when I get sick of it.
- AndrewLeon, on 05/29/2009, -1/+3i thought the point of owning a PC was the ability to do incremental upgrades.
If you really want to "fight the recession" max out your ram (cheap) and drop some $$ on a decent video card. BAM better gaming computer. - Grummond, on 05/30/2009, -0/+2I've been running my PH2 940 overclocked for 3 months now, and it hasn't started the wonkiness yet. Maybe mine has a defect?
- LMN8R, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2yep, the only reason why I replaced my 8800gt was because I found a ridiculously good deal on a 4870 - $140, $20 rebate, selling my 8800GT for $70 = $50 upgrade.
- CowGoesMooo, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2The 8800GT is probably the best value for money card to have come out in a long time, I loved mine (have a Q6600 too, very good value CPU especially when overclocked). Upgraded to a 4870 though, which actually is also a pretty good value card still, although I can't help thinking sometimes that I should've saved for another Nvidia card to avoid the bias some games have towards them. Still, Crysis and Fallout 3 maxed out are the only things that really present a problem (poorly coded games aside), and I can run games like Dead Space at almost 200fps, so I'd say it was a worthwhile purchase.
- CowGoesMooo, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2Wow, that was a good deal, especially considering I paid more than six times that, I bought it for £190/$306. That's UK prices though I guess, although to be fair I did sell my 8800GT to a friend for £40 shortly after, so I got some of my investment back.
- Johnglave, on 05/29/2009, -1/+3Video games? What are you talking about? Without a computer you couldn't surf Digg ;'-{
- shredswithpiks, on 05/29/2009, -2/+4"Anyway, anyone knows that at high-resolutions, the GPU is the bottleneck, not the CPU."
Which makes your giant wall of text mostly meaningless in a discussion about what's better for gaming PCs.
My opinion is to buy something cheap that overclocks really well (I've had best experience with intel core2, but YMMV) and dump a bunch of money into the video card instead. - Ommatidia, on 05/29/2009, -0/+2"...and play till your eyeballs fall out."
Which will inevitably occur, if you're used to PC games ;) - TheThirdLevel, on 05/29/2009, -1/+3Want me to gasp so your e-peen can get hard?
-
Show 51 - 93 of 93 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is