Hardware Is this a good computer?

[jgu1994]

Pavilion Elite m9060n Desktop, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 CPU, 3 GB, 640 GB SATA HD, Blu-ray/HD DVD ROM with LightScribe DVD Burn nVIDIA GeForce 8500, ATSC/NTSC TV/FM Tuners, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Vista Home Premium

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=...amp;dcaid=17653

Ok, so, I'm getting a new computer, and my dad came up to me today and said that this one looked pretty good. All the components have matched my expectations except for the graphics card. Is an 8500 512mb any good? I plan on getting a bunch of games when I get my new PC, so I was wondering, what games can an 8500 play, or what can't it play at least. Also, I'm not looking for any monitors and such, I'm just getting a new PC. Is there a better deal out there that doesn't go over 800 bucks, or is this computer good enough to run games like halo 2, the orange box, gears of war, and crysis on low settings?

 

[juggernaut911]

thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

 

[fischju]

8500 is meh. You won't be able to play the newest games at the defualt resolution of your monitor. But that is a pretty good deal, especially with the BD/HD DVD player. No game "needs" DX10. But Halo 2 runs like crap on everything.

If you don't care about BD/HD DVD playback, you could get a better PC for the same price.

 

[DrKupo]

thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

 

[DrKupo]

thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, at a solid frame rate I'd like to add. which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

 

[fischju]

thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, at a solid frame rate I'd like to add. which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

Whew, I was about to come in here and yell "FUCK YOU" if you had given a link to any apple site...

 

[jgu1994]

So do you think I should get this computer? I'm not going to be getting one for another 4 years till I go to college, but by then, I'll probably have grown out of PC games. So, would I probably be able to run like gears of war, or crysis on any settings?

 

[juggernaut911]

thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, at a solid frame rate I'd like to add. which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

legally?

 

[DrKupo]

So do you think I should get this computer? I'm not going to be getting one for another 4 years till I go to college, but by then, I'll probably have grown out of PC games. So, would I probably be able to run like gears of war, or crysis on any settings?

On any settings? Do you mean on any settings you want or just on some random (low, med, etc) setting?

QUOTE(juggernaut911 @ Mar 4 2008, 07:21 PM) thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, at a solid frame rate I'd like to add. which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

legally?

It can't run on XP legally, but it can run on Vista with a 7800 (and most every DX9 card that is remotely recent) with no modifications made. You are wrong, again.

 

[jgu1994]

So do you think I should get this computer? I'm not going to be getting one for another 4 years till I go to college, but by then, I'll probably have grown out of PC games. So, would I probably be able to run like gears of war, or crysis on any settings?

On any settings? Do you mean on any settings you want or just on some random (low, med, etc) setting?

QUOTE(juggernaut911 @ Mar 4 2008, 07:21 PM) thats good, you should build it.

for halo 2, you need a DX10 series card, so for good gameplay, 8800GT. i play orange box on an old ATI X1300 Pro, you'll dominate it then.

Look at you being wrong, again. Halo 2 plays on an 7800, at a solid frame rate I'd like to add. which is absolutely not an dx10 card. It absoultely does not require the 8800 in any shape or form, nor does it even have a DX10 mode, the game runs in DX9 and just "checks" for Vista. It can be played in XP, with no graphical differences, with some slight modifications.

legally?

It can't run on XP legally, but it can run on Vista with a 7800 (and most every DX9 card that is remotely recent) with no modifications made. You are wrong, again.

For the crysis part: I'm talking about as long as I can run the game smoothly with minimal lag.

 

[fischju]

All settings low at 1024x768 is a possibility.

 

[DrKupo]

All settings low at 1024x768 is a possibility.

Yeah. The 8500 is a low-end card that is more suited to bluray playback on a HTPC. It's not a gaming graphics card.

 

[jgu1994]

All settings low at 1024x768 is a possibility.

Yeah. The 8500 is a low-end card that is more suited to bluray playback on a HTPC. It's not a gaming graphics card.

So most likely it will be able to run all games except for crysis, or are there any other games it probably won't run?

 

[DrKupo]

All settings low at 1024x768 is a possibility.

Yeah. The 8500 is a low-end card that is more suited to bluray playback on a HTPC. It's not a gaming graphics card.

So most likely it will be able to run all games except for crysis, or are there any other games it probably won't run?

It's not going to run Assassins Creed, Call of Duty 4, all UT3 engine games and many other games enjoyably. I do not consider all settings on low an enjoyable gaming experience.

 

[fischju]

Options:
1 - Spend another $200 on a video card, making it $1000
2 - Build a better PC for $800 (minus the Blu-Ray/HD DVD player)

 

[jgu1994]

Ok thanks, you guys have been very helpful.

 

[ZeWarrior]

Most guys already summed it up but an 8500GT is terrible for gaming. Disregard anything linki says about it being an okay card for the price when it is pretty bad.

 

[Cletebob]

I just built the following for about $800, and have been very happy so far. I would really consider building/having someone build a PC for you.

Gigabyte MB
Intel Core 2 duo E6550 (overclocked to 3.0 GB with stock cooling)
2 GB G.Skill DDR2 800
250 GB Seagate SATA 3GB Hard-drive.
19" Hanns-G widescreen monitor
20x SATA Lite-on DVD/CD R/RW/DL
XFX Nvidia 8800GS XXX edition PCI-E 2.0 vidcard

It runs everything I have nicely, and would probably run everything you asked about really well. I got it all from Newegg.com. Also got a decent case and 2 80MM Blue LED casefans.

 

[juggernaut911]

Ze, you and linki never agree with eachother... but ya, ignore linkiboy, he's a crackhead dictator.

im a kid so im gonna get the 9600GT, like 8600GT v2. its fairly priced-ish and it if you spell it backwards it says 69!!

 

[ZeWarrior]

I just built the following for about $800, and have been very happy so far. I would really consider building/having someone build a PC for you.

Gigabyte MB
Intel Core 2 duo E6550 (overclocked to 3.0 GB with stock cooling)
2 GB G.Skill DDR2 800
250 GB Seagate SATA 3GB Hard-drive.
19" Hanns-G widescreen monitor
20x SATA Lite-on DVD/CD R/RW/DL
XFX Nvidia 8800GS XXX edition PCI-E 2.0 vidcard

It runs everything I have nicely, and would probably run everything you asked about really well. I got it all from Newegg.com. Also got a decent case and 2 80MM Blue LED casefans.

Wow you could of gotten much better for the same price. Why'd you get an E6550 and not something like an E8400? Or an E6300 to save money? And overclock it to 3Ghz

And how what mobo do you have? The DS3L? Either way it's a good PC though.