N3O Age Of Empires and Starcraft 2 Clan

Hey all. Firstly just wanted to say, life is really looking up for me again (taking the missus away this Easter for a 4 day break ) and she is really beginning to get along better after speaking to a professional. Meanwhile I am still plodding along and am currently getting a bit more free time.

Unfortunately my lappie has decided it wants to go on its final legs so I am just going to keep it for work from now on, which means I want to buy a desktop. Currently I found this. However,

A) Will this play top range games on good graphics, i.e. S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Empire Total War.

B) Is this a good price?

Here are it's specs:

Processor (CPU): AMD PHENOM™ X3 8650 (2.3GHz) 3 x 512K L2 CACHE (Socket AM2+)

Memory (RAM): 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard: ASUS® M3N72-D: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 2 x PCI

Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64 bit Edition + SP1, CD & Licence (£83)

USB Options: 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk: 160GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk: NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2): NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive: 22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive: NONE

Graphics Card: 1024MB GEFORCE 9600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card: NONE

3rd Graphics Card: NONE

Sound Card: ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Modem: NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Floppy Disk Drive: NONE

Memory Card Reader: INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case: STYLISH TRIDENT MID TOWER ATX CASE - SILVER/BLACK

Power Supply & Case Cooling: 450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling: STANDARD CPU COOLER

Firewire & Video Editing: NONE

TV Card: NONE

Monitor: 17 Inch Wide TFT Silver/Black 1440 x 900 8MS, D-Sub (£59)

2nd Monitor: NONE

DVI Cable: NONE

Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black) (£6)

Mouse: Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse (£4)

Speakers: LOGITECH S150 2.0 DIGITAL USB SPEAKER SYSTEM (£8)

Printer: NONE

Surge Protection: NONE

Webcam: NONE

Headsets (VOIP): NONE

Anti-Virus: NONE

Office Software: NONE

External Hard Drive: NONE

Home Installation: NONE

Warranty: 1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

Delivery: STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity: 1



Other Features Included As Standard...

Software: CD/DVD authoring software and Power DVD software is included with all DVD Writers.

Ports: Each computer comes with 1 x PS/2 keyboard port and either 1 x PS/2 mouse port or 2 extra USB ports.

Fans: Where necessary your computer will come with extra case fans fitted.

Memory: Our memory comes with a 100% tested lifetime warranty!

Bezels: All our drives come in either silver, black or beige and are all of a
high quality & matched brand.

Support: We offer lifetime hardware technical support during normal office hours.

Cables & Manuals: A power cable, all drivers, manuals, and a heatsink & fan are included with every order.

Service: Our computers come fully assembled & thoroughly tested. We are so confident in the quality of our computers that we offer a free collection and re-delivery service* should you ever have a problem with your computer.

Installation: If you order an operating system it will come fully installed with the CD and licence key.



So there you go. All this is for £639 including VAT and delivery. So is this is a good comp/good deal?

Thanks

Is £639 including the OS and the other bits with prices next to them? (In other words, is £639 everything).

Yeah that £639 is everything in that list, to quote them "Installation: If you order an operating system it will come fully installed with the CD and licence key"

Edit: just looked its a triple core processor.

Stalker is an oldish game so you should be able to run that no problem, not sure about triple core processors but I think it will run Empire well.

I have both games and can run Stalker on full graphics and Empire on medium. My system is:

E6600 Dual core processor @ 2.4GHz
2 gigs of RAM
Geforce 7900GS

Yeah someone did say the processor was a bit weak. I might fiddle with it and see if I can get a different quote with a dual one

go quad for cpu !!!

there getting really cheap

For the money that's a pretty good set up - includes Vista, monitor etc. You will really notice the load speed increase on AOE3.

I ran the demo for Empire: Total War on a similar specced ring (replace Core 2 duo for the X3) and it handled it smoothly ...

Please remember that using an Intel quad or dual core will require a different motherboard as the X3 is AM2+ and Intel quads are LGA775, so no easy upgrade possible. That being said, the X3 is still a decent CPU for most users and only the extreme boys will need anything faster.

So basically that rig will run STALKER on top settings and Empire Total War on sort of medium/good settings?

[quote=""Highlander999""]So basically that rig will run STALKER on top settings and Empire Total War on sort of medium/good settings?[/quote]

STALKER stats:
HIGH SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Microsoft® Windows® XP (Service Pack 2) / Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4
Processor type : Intel Core2 Duo E6700 / AMD 64 X2 5200+
2 GB RAM
10 GB available hard drive space
512 MB DirectX® 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 / ATI Radeon® X2800
DirectX® 9.0 compatible sound card

The graphics card may not run it all maxed out and totally smooth, but then again your monitor will only work on 1440x900 so there's a good chance. If not this is still above recommended (ie not minimum) so you may only have to drop a few to medium settings.

It will run the games you have said on reasonable settings. Try to swap CPU for a core 2 duo, you don't need a quad, and a triple core AMD won't give you as much ummph as an intel core 2 duo.

As for the price, it's pretty good. I searched up the list and could build that same system for about £550, but they include warranty, building it and delivery so it's not bad at all.

Having said that, changing components for others, I reckon you could get a much better build for the same money.

i agree with the others, especially strokeyblofeld^^,

take what they've said plus why do you need a crossfire/SLI mainboard when you will only use one single gpu?

you really want a 17inch monitor?? 8O
do yourself a favour and get at least 19", i even recommend 22", of course this will require a bit more performance from your pc

as graphic card, imo forget the recently outdated 9600GT and get a GTX 260, it became really cheap in the past few days plus is a whole lot better

I'm a noob with all this, i don't know what is needed and what isn't needed.

So from that list (as I have no technical knowledge at all) could you copy and paste it, but replace the stuff which is/isn't needed, to a) save me money and b) make it all in proportion better to run games well. Many thanks

Hey all, cheers for the help so far. I've had a bit of a fiddle around, and got this:

Processor (CPU): AMD PHENOM™ II X4 810 (2.6GHz) 8MB CACHE (Socket AM3)

Memory (RAM): 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard: ASUS® M3N72-D: DUAL DDR2, S-ATA II, 2 x PCI-Ex, 2 x PCI

Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 32 bit Edition + SP1, CD & Licence (£83)

USB Options: 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk: 250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk: NONE

RAID (HDD 1 & 2): NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive: 22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive: NONE

Graphics Card: 1024MB GEFORCE 9600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card: NONE

3rd Graphics Card: NONE

Sound Card: ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Modem: NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Floppy Disk Drive: NONE

Memory Card Reader: INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case: STYLISH TRIDENT MID TOWER ATX CASE - SILVER/BLACK

Power Supply & Case Cooling: 450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling: STANDARD CPU COOLER

Firewire & Video Editing: NONE

TV Card: NONE

Monitor: 19 Inch Wide TFT Silver/Black 1440 x 900 5MS, D-Sub, DVI, Audio (£79)

2nd Monitor: NONE

DVI Cable: NONE

Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black) (£6)

Mouse: Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse (£4)

Speakers: LOGITECH S220 2.1 SILVER/BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£12)

Printer: NONE

Surge Protection: NONE

Webcam: NONE

Headsets (VOIP): NONE

Anti-Virus: NONE

Office Software: NONE

External Hard Drive: NONE

Home Installation: NONE

Warranty: 1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

Delivery: STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity: 1



Other Features Included As Standard...

Software: CD/DVD authoring software and Power DVD software is included with all DVD Writers.

Ports: Each computer comes with 1 x PS/2 keyboard port and either 1 x PS/2 mouse port or 2 extra USB ports.

Fans: Where necessary your computer will come with extra case fans fitted.

Memory: Our memory comes with a 100% tested lifetime warranty!

Bezels: All our drives come in either silver, black or beige and are all of a
high quality & matched brand.

Support: We offer lifetime hardware technical support during normal office hours.

Cables & Manuals: A power cable, all drivers, manuals, and a heatsink & fan are included with every order.

Service: Our computers come fully assembled & thoroughly tested. We are so confident in the quality of our computers that we offer a free collection and re-delivery service* should you ever have a problem with your computer.

Installation: If you order an operating system it will come fully installed with the CD and licence key.

£731 inc VAT and Delivery.

Get a bigger Hard Drive, it's not that much more money. I have 250GB in my self-built PC, and already wish I had sprung for at LEAST 500GB.

The site where I buy my PC parts (newegg.com) has a 250GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s HD with a 16MB cache 7200 RPM for $54.99.....a 500GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s HD 7200 RPM 32MB cache for $64.99. $10 or £6.81

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400 (2 X 3.00GHz) 1333MHz FSB/6MB L2 Cache

Memory (RAM)
4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P5QL: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 3 PCI, 2 x PCI-e x1

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64 bit Edition + SP1, CD & Licence (£83)

USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

1st CD/DVD Drive
22x DUAL LAYER LIGHTSCRIBE DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive
NONE

Graphics Card
512MB GEFORCE 9800GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Floppy Disk Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
STYLISH TRIDENT MID TOWER ATX CASE - SILVER/BLACK

Power Supply & Case Cooling
450W Quiet Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan

Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER

Firewire & Video Editing
NONE

TV Card
NONE

Monitor
19 Inch Wide TFT Silver/Black 1440 x 900 5MS, D-Sub, DVI, Audio (£79)

2nd Monitor
NONE

DVI Cable
NONE

Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black) (£6)

Mouse
Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse (£4)

Speakers
LOGITECH S220 2.1 SILVER/BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£12)

Printer
NONE

Surge Protection
NONE

Webcam
NONE

Headsets (VOIP)
NONE

Anti-Virus
NONE

Office Software
NONE

External Hard Drive
NONE

Home Installation
NONE

Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

Quantity
1

£633.04 ex VAT.

£728 inc VAT and Delivery.


This is from the same site you have been using, the CPU is better, the GPU is better, the hard drive is bigger, the OS is 64 bit (will recognise all your memory).
Everything else is pretty much the same, (speakers, mouse, keyboard etc).
It's around the same price your last spec was, but IMO will perform better.