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A question for you computer knowledgable people.........well maybe two.

A

Anonymous

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I kinda got into playing a on-line game called World of Tanks. Normally I play with my son who is in Germany and we play as a team and can talk back and forth using a headset and the "Q" button on the keyboard. Since he's half way around the world we look fordward to spending an hour or so doing battle a few times a week. At first tried the game on the laptop (Vista) but it would drop the frame rate down to 4 or 5 when in combat in a town with a lot of buildings. I have reactivated my old console and put the game on it and the graphics look a whole lot better and the frame rate has doubled. He**, I can actually hit something now. I do have a high end graphics card in the console but it has only 2 gig of DDR 2 Ram. Now for the question, how much ram will it support running on Windows XP home edition? I checked with a local about updating the ram to 4 or 8 and he said it was useless to do that and XP is a 32 bit system and will only operate with 2. Is this correct? Now for the second question. If I decide to upgrade to a faster machine (console) would I be better off building a machine or buying a pre built product? My son is a Windows expert with what he does for the Army and builds his own systems and I'd have him build me one if he was here, but again, he's a few thousand miles away. OH! if you guys are in to the video game thing I'd strongly suggest World of Tanks, for me, it's a hoot. :thum
 
XP Home will only see up to 3gb of ram, constraints of the 32 bit system. A 64-bit Win 7 system would see up much, much more. You'd also need to find out how much ram the main board can support and if it can support a 64 bit system if you want to got the +3gb and 64 bit route.

As for building your own or buying a prebuilt, that's personal preference IMO. I build my own and have for years. Mainly because I want to control what goes into it, not the manufacturer. You can also get bare bones kits that have all the guts, but you build it and load the OS. Sometimes you can get one of those that has better parts for less than a manufacturer's pc(HP, Dell, etc). Bad news is, there's no real support. You have to deal with the parts manufacturer when something breaks if said part is still under warranty.
 
Thanks, I can't decide which way to go. How do I tell how much the motherboard will support?
 
If it's a manufactured pc, you can usually find the info for it with the serial number and product code. Then look up the specs on that particular pc. If it's one you built on your own, you'll need the brand and model or part number off the system/mother board to find the specs.
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
OH! if you guys are in to the video game thing I'd strongly suggest World of Tanks, for me, it's a hoot. :thum
Click to expand...

Been playing it for several months now. I'm not normally an online gamer but I saw a commercial on Military Channel and thought I'd check it out. I was hooked!

I went through a bunch of lower tier stuff and am now down to just 3 tanks, the Chinese T-58, Stug III and Jadgpanzer IV. I kept my artillery for awhile, but the previous update killed the fun of them. I'm just waiting to sell off my Jadg IV and it's Jadgpanther time! Lots of kills coming!! I've grown fond of the tank destroyer lines.

BTW, for those that don't have a CLUE what I'm talking about, check it out. The graphics are GREAT and it's a load of fun when you finally start getting the hang of things. Beware....it IS addictive!
 
Build your own.

I'm running winblows 7 pro 64 bit with 16 gigs of ram, Asus motherboard, 2 gig sata hard drive, AMD FX8120 8 core processor and an nvidia graphics card with 4 gigs ddr3.

Built it about a year ago for under 600 bux. I did reuse the case but upgraded the power supply.

I have not tried to play any games on it but it kicks ass in Photoshop and Illustrator.

I think I'll go try out that game..............................
 
Where did you get your guts? One place or did you shop it?
 
Directron.com is usually pretty hard to beat. I shop their prices on Amazon when I buy and usually end up buying from them. Some items like DVD burners and peripherals you can get cheaper on Amazon.

I get my stuff the next day if I ship or I can drive 20 miles and get it within an hour.
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
Maybe we can create a Company, yeah, the "Sxers".
Click to expand...

That might be fun. I played for a while last night in practice. Have to learn from scratch. Have not played anything online since battlefield2.
 
The latest system I built (for gaming) VERY strongly resembles Sluggo's and works great for me. I used to shop all over and price stuff to death. In the last few years I essentially just use Tiger Direct. They are always offering "barebones" or kit deals that are pretty hard to beat. I've bought a LOT of stuff from them. If you follow fairly close to Sluggo's recipe, I think you'll be happy.
 
Need an answer on this one....................it's complete except the operating system which I can have them install. I'm not sure I can build it for the same money (or can I)? Is it too much? Will it last for the next 10 years and keep up with things? What is it's weaknesses?
http://www.directron.com/bf4-gamer-hasw ... ter-1.html
 
I'm seeing there that assembly is optional or extra, if that matters to you.
My system is a little older, one of the first AMD motherboards that suited me I could find with USB 3.0. My AMD quad-core CPU is a notch slower. My graphics card is just barely notch behind that one. I don't have a $90 SSD drive but my main hard drive is twice that size. My case is a tad fancier with a door in front. Not too far from an equivalent machine altogether. Main difference is I prefer AMD performance per dollar over Intel. Mine ran me right about $650, bought in selected pieces. So, to me, that one is a couple hundred too high. If what hardware is different from mine was two notches better rather than one, still a little high. If I paid $650 for what I have almost two years ago, I'd expect to score the same stuff now for like $450 at most. Deal looks even worse now. Doesn't help that the company name only rings the faintest of bells. If that was a Dell, I'd feel a whole lot better about the price.
Lasting? Who knows. There's a PC at work I replaced with a used one the original died of Y2K. Doesn't get used much but it's at like 15 years old. A rarity. Other PC's that have to work for a living go about 5 years. Mine tends to upgrade in bits and pieces. Nothing much has a chance to get old.
Maybe a PC could last 10 years. Viable? I don't know. I have a laptop that is a bit over 10. Very weak battery but it works. So slow I can't stand to use it. So old it's not useful with any form of Windows, I had to install Linux. And it's still so slow I can't stand to use it. So, such a tower might make 10 years if you keep the dust cleaned out of it. You may not really want it in 10 years though.
 
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