Hi everyone. I've been computer-less for about a month, due to my hard drive dying, stuck sharing a piece of shit Compaq. I'm looking for a new computer because my old one is a few years old, and it's a shitty Acer laptop, so worry everything else will break soon. I'm looking for a desktop in the $300-$500ish range, so I can get back on CSS and play LoL with decent framerates.

I've been looking into the customizable PCs, like HP/Costco has, and I have a few questions. I'm a programmer but I, embarrassingly, don't know shit about hardware, so some answers to generally understand what to look for would be great.

This HP Computer

1. Regarding processors, what's the difference between 2.6ghz and 2.7ghz? I remember my old comp was 1.8ghz, and it was pretty slow, does the small number difference make a noticeable difference to warrant $30 extra?

2. Regarding memory, what is the difference between 1 and 2 DIMMs?

3. Regarding the graphics card; if I were to get an integrated card to start with, could I upgrade it later, or am I stuck with an integrated?

4. Do game framerates depend on both computer resources (processor speed, RAM) and the graphics card, or just the graphics card? With 1.8ghz, 3 gig ram, and Intel Media Accelerator gfx card, my framerates on CSS would go up and down from 5 to 100 constantly, making playing difficult.


Does anyone have any better customization services or computers that are in the price range and decent? I'd like to refrain from building a computer considering my lack of hardware knowledge and budget, which I hope to resolve both soon.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Bad link.

You can upgrade your GPU as long as it has a PCI-E slot, which it probably will. With a cheap HP computer you will be limited on how high you can upgrade it because of the 6/8-pin connector that almost everything nVidia 8800 and above requires. You won't be able to play Source and maybe LoL until you get a real video card put into it. I used to play on a shitty HP a long time ago and got drops in CZ to the minimum 4fps in 2 smokes. You are going to have to make LoL and CSS the lowest quality and use FPS configs for Source and still struggle to play.

Do you need a monitor?

Without:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 883227357R

With:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... spiron-620

1) Probably not
2) a DIMM is a stick of memory; think about upgrade capacity. If you get a system with 2GB of RAM in the form of 2x 1GB DIMMs, then that's two slots occupied when you want to upgrade. If you get one with 1x 2GB DIMM, then you have an extra slot for memory when it gets time to upgrade.
3) Depends on if it has a PCI-E slot
4) It depends on all of it, but for a game like CSS, any modern processor with at least 2-4GB of RAM (to satisfy Windows 7's performance) should be able to run it on a cheap (old) video card like an ATI 8800GT or something.

I had 60FPS constant on the 8500GT I was running. As long as you don't get another 'budget' processor like a Celeron or a regular "Pentium" or one of those Semprons or the lower end Fusion chips you're all set. If you DO however, a quick query on here about the motherboard's upward mobility would be a good move. That way when you aren't so hardware-shy you can just pop a better cpu in and a video card.

I really appreciate the answers everyone; thanks.

U can buld a pretty descent gamers box for 500 or so if you know what your doing

Zonata if you see this, if you can save a bit more $, these guys are really good:

http://www.avadirect.com/silent-pc-conf ... PRID=20965

Ahhh I remember that card...ran anything source based fabulously...even got to run COD2 decently and Quake 4. Tried to play Oblivion.....it was a no go :(

I am using the 8500GT now and it no longer runs Source "fabulously" but that's possible because of the engine update and I'm also running Celeron 450.

However, it DOES run Oblivion...on medium lowish settings.

That's a pretty narrow budget Zonata, it may just be more useful to save up and buy something half decent that will last more than half a year.

Here is a very budget build
Its Amd based for budget reasons but should play newer games like bf3 on medium at 30-40 fps Source games will run well over 100

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813138283
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103911 (its older but will be sufficient to get the job done)
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125403
Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820178333
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136769
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827135204
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182199
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147060

Total cost is about 480 bucks

Clorox, can you read? He refuses to do a build himself because he doesn't know a goddamn thing about PCs on the hardware end. That being said, Zonata should FIND SOMEONE who DOES and then ask them to build it for him. Or look at one of the many online resources for DIY computers and figure it out. It's actually really easy to do and not screw up.

I built my first self-assembled system without a clue. I asked around @ n00bfest and Super Effect volunteered to help me with the process and I called his ass like 3-4 different times throughout the process for help, but I got that motherfucker built.

Yeah, I have built computers without a clue. It worked the first time around. All I did was spend a little time browsing around just to make sure of what I was putting where and everything in computer building is pretty straight-forward because the slots are idiot-proof assuming you are able to make shape and size determinations.

And considering that Zonata is a pro on the software side of things, that end is a no-brainer for him. A lot of the people in n00bfest are computer nerds both hardware, software and networking. That makes builiding a legit system something that he should try because it's way more economical and he's more likely to get a good build for what he wants to spend.

I would say go with an AMD APU and you won't need to spend money on a GPU, which will help cut back costs, for 500 bucks you could get that easily, since the graphics is tied to the CPU the more you overclock it the better your graphics is too

Onboard graphics are sub-par for any type of gaming. Hes much better off with a discreet Gpu

JoeMamma has an APU, and he had issues with gaming but if you get an APU and THEN get a discreet GPU it's actually not too bad.

TRUST ME when I say this...IF you get an AMD A-series, get a Radeon HD GPU to pair up with it. Yes, the new APU's come with graphics already, but I couldn't even run Source at anything over 20 fps. Now, I bought a Radeon HD card to pair up with those embedded graphics, and I'm F*CKING blown away by this machine of mine!