Suggestion for a desktop...

[SirStev0]

What it says... I need a suggestion for a decent desktop. I know with bf coming up at the end of the week, there has to be something somewher...

I would love something under $350 ... looking for it to be decent enough to do some gaming... any suggestions would be appreciated...

I know 350 is a little low, however, if I remember correctly best buy had a pretty decent sale last year for around that price on a machine that could handle some gaming. When I say decent, I am not expecting it to play the newest of the new, however, a game a year or two back would be sweet. This is for a present for xmas and any help would be awesome.


EDIT: http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage.js...58317794220&skuId=8103535&type=product

or

http://www.bestbuy.com/site//olspage.js...000&skuId=999963800050000&type=product

 

[pkme2]

eMachines
http://www.circuitcity.com//rpsm/N/4000...DVERTISING.COM&cm_pla=CATEGORY%20-%20P*S*T-%3ECLASS%20-%20COMPUTERS&cm_ite=72871%20PURCHASED%20KEYWORD-EMACHINES&cm_keycode=209555

You might find a HP on Black Friday at your budget price.

 

[Atheus]

I don't know much about American prices, but I would guess that there's no way you will get decent gaming performance for $350 - you could easily spend that on a graphics card alone. These 'black friday' sales must be something pretty special if you can get something with more than integrated shared-memory graphics.

I recently built a nice desktop machine for about £300 (~$550) and it has a 7300GT for the occasional round of Civ 4... still not really a gaming machine though.

Originally posted by: pkme2
http://www.circuitcity.com//rpsm/N/4000...DVERTISING.COM&cm_pla=CATEGORY%20-%20P*S*T-%3ECLASS%20-%20COMPUTERS&cm_ite=72871%20PURCHASED%20KEYWORD-EMACHINES&cm_keycode=209555

That has integrated shared-memory graphics and will not play games.

 

[brikis98]

yeah, any machine < $350 will probably have on board video, or at best an ati x1300, neither of which are suitable for gaming. you could get one and try to add a decent video card, but that is often tough as they don't always have PCI-E x16 slots, the cases might be too small, the PSU might suck, etc.

 

[SirStev0]

Hokay, I should throw this out there, I am not looking for something to play Halflife 2 or Neverwinter 2.
I want something to handle something like wow (If i remember correctly the needs for that were really low)
Maybe guild wars, some other things. I really am not looking for anything crazy. Decent.

 

[mshan]

http://bfads.net/features/desktop/price/all/0/500?

Might be better off searching the various bargain websites for a good Dell coupon on a Dell AMD E521 system without monitor (seen them for $299 + tax). Then add a video card of your choice when budget allows.

(just note that all internal connections are SATA, so if you have an IDE optical drive, you will need to get an IDE to SATA bridge).

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: SirStev0
Hokay, I should throw this out there, I am not looking for something to play Halflife 2 or Neverwinter 2.
I want something to handle something like wow (If i remember correctly the needs for that were really low)
Maybe guild wars, some other things. I really am not looking for anything crazy. Decent.

well, many onboard video solutions (whch is what you're likely to get in a < $350 PC) don't support shaders, hardware T&L, etc... so 3d games might not run at all or if they do, look like absolute junk. you might want to try to dig up some benchmarks for whatever onboard solution comes with the computer (they seem to be tough to find).

if you get really lucky, the compute rmight come with a low end external video card, such as an x1300 or 7300gs... according to this WoW should run at 1024x768, but don't expect any AA or all the eye candy...

 

[adammthompson]

Originally posted by: SirStev0
something like wow (If i remember correctly the needs for that were really low)

You're right about that. My wife plays WoW on a POS Dell w/ Intel integrated graphics. It works just fine at 1280 x 1024. The requirements are even less than Blizzard says they are. I think pretty much any new computer would be OK for WoW.

Maybe guild wars, some other things. I really am not looking for anything crazy. Decent.

I think Guild Wars worked fine too.