Help me decide on a computer ....

[y0immatt]

I?m in the market for a new computer and looking to spend less than $1000 for an entire set up.... meaning monitor included.... I?m going to be using this computer for very light gaming (Unreal Tournament 2004 ) .... so graphical designs .... and mainly for DVD encoding and burning and multitasking ?. I?ve done some research and I know I want one that?s either 3.0GHz + or Pentium D 2.8GHz + ?. Also dual channel ram would be nice and a hard drive with more than 150gigs ?. With that said here are some that I am really considering ?

Sony VAIO PCV-RS710GX
A few questions about this one ?. Is it dual channel ram and also if I were to upgrade the video card ? do I need to upgrade the PSU too since it seems like its less than 300 ?.

Sony VAIO RB42G
HP M1264N
HP M7160N

I think these have integrated graphics ? will I be able to add an AGP or PCIe graphics card to this ?

Thanks ? and any other suggestions on any computer would be nice too ?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Wrong forum...

 

[drifter106]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Wrong forum...

you gotta be chittin me..lol

If you browse thru the general hardware there are a lot of threads on what components to buy to make a system

if you want to buy a prebuilt thats an option too

intregrated g cards is probably something you will want to stay away from if you want to change cards

depending on your motherboard (agp or pci-e) will determine your video card (they have to be the same)

to run a top of the line video card you need a 400 watt + psu (the 7800's aren't as bad as the 6880 u for wanting power)

I strongly suggest you look at some of the threads so you can order what you want insteading of purchasing something and then immedeiately turning around and having to upgrade, not very cost effective...

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Wrong forum...

Even though people mostly talk about notebooks here, this is the "pre-built" forum. I can't think of a better place for his post.

 

[Tostada]

Anyway, you're obviously not looking to build your own system here (not sure what drifter106 is talking about).

You don't have to stay away from integrated graphics as long as you get something with an AGP or PCI-E x16 slot. The first system specifically mentions that it has an AGP slot. The 2nd is a PCI-E board. I'm pretty sure that anything listing the 915 chipset with GMA950 graphics (like the 2nd HP) is also going to have a PCI-E slot.

Notice that the Intel GMA900 integrated graphics gets 36.2 FPS in UT2K4 in 1024x768 with 32-bit color. That's more than playable for the non-hardcore gamer, but if you're crazy about framerates I'm sure it flies in 800x600 16-bit.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050524/vga_charts-03.html

You don't really have to worry about the power supply unless you're upgrading to a pretty high-end video card, and by that I mean something well over $250 that sounds like a leaf blower. Even though 266W doesn't sound like much, it really depends more on who makes the power supply, and if the 266W PSU on that first VAIO blew up I'm sure Sony would replace it. Even if you did want some huge video card, you can just go replace the PSU yourself with something bigger.

I think all those systems have dual-channel DDR2, but it's not really going to make any difference in any of the stuff you mentioned except maybe helping your framerate in games (if you're using integrated graphics).