So I have a small budget (approximately 700 Canadian dollars) that I have put aside to get myself a budget gaming rig (desktop+LCD+video card). I don't really need to play my games on the best available settings, but I would like to be able to play on the best settings I can afford within the price range...
I am only somewhat knowledgeable about the hardware side of computers, so I would really appreciate feedback and alternative suggestions regarding the hardware I am putting together here.
Desktop ($450 Canadian):
HP Pavilion Desktop Computer,
AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 7750 2.7 GHz
4 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
500 GB SATA 7200 RPM
So nothing spectacular here, something pretty low-endish/average, but I guess that would suffice for playing older games on higher settings, and the newer ones on mid-highish settings?
Video card (100 - 140 Canadian):
So from the little reading I have done around this site and techreport.com, for a budget card I pretty much have these options:
Radeon 5750 - similar in performace to the other two, slightly pricier because of DX11 support
Radeon 4850 - similar performance to 5750 doesn't have the DX11 support, the cheapest
GTS 250 - still pricy (a little less than the 5750), does only marginally better than the 5750 and has no DX11
Now on top of this, I have choice with the size of the onboard memory of the card (512 MB - 1GB), and I have a choice with respect to the manufacturer (MSI, Asus, XFX?).
My guess so far is that for the sake of long term use (3 years at least before next 'upgrade'), the 5750 1GB models are probably my best bet...but here is where I'd like second opinions. As to the manufacturer of the card itself...I am completely as to who I should pick, can I have recommendations here?
LCD ( $130 Canadian):
ASUS VW193DR Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
Based on the reviews I've seen on Newegg, there are almost no complaints regarding dead pixels, or the monitor dying after a few months, colour going all woozy etc., so its seems to be a reliable buy. Also has a DVI port. Now my only question with this is that sometimes I still play older games that don't have widescreen resolutions (eg. Warcraft III), and thus things look distorted when playing it on widescreen mode. My friends' laptop automatically plays WCIII in 4:3 with the tolerable black bands on the side, but mine does not and I'm not sure how to make it display in 4:3. Could I suffer from similar problems with a monitor like this?
So yeah, if you could give me feedback, I'd really appreciate it!
EDIT: Is it possible to get desktop PCs without an OS pre-loaded onto them, as I already own an extra copy of Win7?
I am only somewhat knowledgeable about the hardware side of computers, so I would really appreciate feedback and alternative suggestions regarding the hardware I am putting together here.
Desktop ($450 Canadian):
HP Pavilion Desktop Computer,
AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 7750 2.7 GHz
4 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
500 GB SATA 7200 RPM
So nothing spectacular here, something pretty low-endish/average, but I guess that would suffice for playing older games on higher settings, and the newer ones on mid-highish settings?
Video card (100 - 140 Canadian):
So from the little reading I have done around this site and techreport.com, for a budget card I pretty much have these options:
Radeon 5750 - similar in performace to the other two, slightly pricier because of DX11 support
Radeon 4850 - similar performance to 5750 doesn't have the DX11 support, the cheapest
GTS 250 - still pricy (a little less than the 5750), does only marginally better than the 5750 and has no DX11
Now on top of this, I have choice with the size of the onboard memory of the card (512 MB - 1GB), and I have a choice with respect to the manufacturer (MSI, Asus, XFX?).
My guess so far is that for the sake of long term use (3 years at least before next 'upgrade'), the 5750 1GB models are probably my best bet...but here is where I'd like second opinions. As to the manufacturer of the card itself...I am completely as to who I should pick, can I have recommendations here?
LCD ( $130 Canadian):
ASUS VW193DR Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
Based on the reviews I've seen on Newegg, there are almost no complaints regarding dead pixels, or the monitor dying after a few months, colour going all woozy etc., so its seems to be a reliable buy. Also has a DVI port. Now my only question with this is that sometimes I still play older games that don't have widescreen resolutions (eg. Warcraft III), and thus things look distorted when playing it on widescreen mode. My friends' laptop automatically plays WCIII in 4:3 with the tolerable black bands on the side, but mine does not and I'm not sure how to make it display in 4:3. Could I suffer from similar problems with a monitor like this?
So yeah, if you could give me feedback, I'd really appreciate it!
EDIT: Is it possible to get desktop PCs without an OS pre-loaded onto them, as I already own an extra copy of Win7?
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