Question:
Hi. I'm wanting to spend £600 on a games PC for my 14 year old son. Dell have an extremely tempting offer on at the moment for a Dimension 9150 but I am worried that the graphics card might let the PC down as a games machine. Its a 128MB ATI Radeon® X300 SE HyperMemory graphics card.
Can anyone tell me how that compares with the GE Force 6000 series (which is what my son thought he needed for his games). The reason I am interested in this offer is because its right on budget and the rest of the spec looks fantastic for £599:
Intel® Pentium® 4 630 (3.0GHz, 800FSB, 2MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
2048MB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz (2x1024)
160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
16x DVD-ROM & 48x/32x/48x CD-RW
Internal 13-in-1 Media Card Reader
128MB ATI Radeon® X300 SE HyperMemory graphics card
Dell E196FP 19" Midnight Grey (TCO99) Flat Panel Monitor
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audi
Dell A215 speakers
Dell Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard
Dell USB 2 Button Wheel Mouse
Microsoft® Works 7.0
Answers:
I'd say that graphics card is abit old these days and wont runt he latest demanding titles at their highest resolution. It retails for about £32.
You could always go for that machine and upgrade the graphics card when you can afford. The 6600 range is around £90 at the moment?
I have heard that the AMD processors are a better choice if you want it for gaming though i expect that pentium will aslo do a decent job.
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I'd agree, the X300 is an entry level card and won't cut it in the gaming world. There is a reasonable guide to graphics cards here: which might set you in the right direction.
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Thanks guys...
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Just a further thought if you want to future proof this machine a little bit i would consider getting a dual core machine (maybe a AMD x2 3800) and a motherboard that supports a second pci express graphics card (eg ASUS A8N-SLi SE Motherboard). I think gaming willl evolve over the next 12 months to take full advantage of the dual core architecture and by having a 2nd graphics card you could boost performance substantially without having to always buy a new high end card e.g. by having two mid range cards).
These are just my thoughts mind you - i am no expert.
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MUST go SLi nowadays if you are buying a new machine. The beauty is you can add another graphics card (in the future) to boost games performance at a relatively low cost.
If you want to compare graphics cards take a look at this:
more specifically this page:
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MUST go SLi nowadays if you are buying a new machine. The beauty is you can add another graphics card (in the future) to boost games performance at a relatively low cost.
If you want to compare graphics cards take a look at this:
more specifically this page:
I still don't think this is worth it for such a machine, or most machines in fact. You just have to look at the examples you've given. You could get a second GeForce 6600GT (2 will cost you around £200), but still be outperformed by a single GeForce 6800GT (which will cost you under £200). In fact you could get a 7800GT for around £200.
The performance increase isn't worth the cost, especially when you can upgrade to a single card for less that will give the same if not better performance. It really is only the hardcore gamer that must have the highest fps that will benefit from SLi at the moment.
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I still don't think this is worth it for such a machine, or most machines in fact. You just have to look at the examples you've given. You could get a second GeForce 6600GT (2 will cost you around £200), but still be outperformed by a single GeForce 6800GT (which will cost you under £200). In fact you could get a 7800GT for around £200.
The performance increase isn't worth the cost, especially when you can upgrade to a single card for less that will give the same if not better performance. It really is only the hardcore gamer that must have the highest fps that will benefit from SLi at the moment.
Wolfman.. please... I said "in the future" i.e. buy your system now with one card.. in the future... add another.....
I am not going to even guess how cheap a 6600gt 128mb card will cost.. in the future.. but right now you can get 2 for the price of one 6800 (not a 7800) so it will be even cheaper ... in the future.
I will look at the example I have given:
2x 6600gt 128m - 3d 2005 score - 6245
1x 6800gt 256mb - 3d 2005 score - 4962
So.. that's a 26% games performance increase for the same money.. or in fact cheaper if you put the second card in at a later date.
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Firstly that's a 3D 2005 score. That never translates into the gaming world. Just look at the FEAR and Quake scores and you'll see what I mean.
I know it'd be cheaper in the future, but so would a GeForce 6800GT. You'd be better off selling the 6600GT and buying a 6800GT (instead of getting a second 6600GT). Or even jumping to a 7800GT, or 7800GTX.
Also two cards can be harder to sell on than one.
And if you check about you can pickup a 6600GT for about £90 (a reasonable one) and a 7800GT for £200, which'll out perform 2x 6600GT's in SLi by quite a way. Personally I'd go for a £200 7800GT instead of 2x £180 6600GT's.
6800GT's do certainly not cost £200. In fact I bought my Leadtek about 6 months ago for £165 from overclockers.
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Who said 2 heads are better than 1!
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I know it'd be cheaper in the future, but so would a GeForce 6800GT. You'd be better off selling the 6600GT and buying a 6800GT (instead of getting a second 6600GT). Or even jumping to a 7800GT, or 7800GTX.
Also two cards can be harder to sell on than one.
As mentioned above. SLi will one day be worth it (I'd imagine, although we'll probably just go to some form of multi-core graphics) but with any current cards available, you're generally better off selling what you already have and upgrading.
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The x300se is an entry level card not really suitable for gaming at playable resolutions. I saw this on the mesh website and thought it might suit your needs
ok its 50 over your budget but its AMD based which for the most part is better for gamers it has plenty of storage and a cracking 19" viewsonic monitor paired with the new 7300gs card which is perfect for playing games as standard resolutions. SLI and crossfire systems are great for gamers but can be expensive to put together The technology is advancing that quickly that with every new update to the graphics card architecture. The previous generation of cards becomes obsolete but doesnt always drop in price to a level where buying a second card is a must.
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Yep, go for an AMD Athlon64 system. AMD's outperform Intel chips on most if not all games.
Also a GeForce 6600GT is a reasonable card that performs very well for its price.
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Hi so how does that 7300gs card on the Mesh compare with the GeForce 6800 series?
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Hi - but what about the Mesh machine? It looks great but how does that 7300gs card on the Mesh compare with the GeForce 6800 series?
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Hi - but what about the Mesh machine? It looks great but how does that 7300gs card on the Mesh compare with the GeForce 6800 series?
Sorry went off topic. Okish, it's a budget card. I think they cost around £60. You'll be able to run most modern games (BF2, Quake 4), but in low (if very low) settings only. If it's for gaming I'd try and up the spec on the graphics card.
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Wolfman.. again.. "IN THE FUTURE".... I simply linked vga charts so the buyer can make up their own decision on which card they wish to go for. I was pointing out that IN THE FUTURE with SLi they can slap another card in to get extra performance at a cheap cost.
I used the 6600 as an example as some one previously had suggested it.. I do not care if they go for a 6600.. 6800.. 7800.. x1800... ganglechuff 900000...
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Ok - one more question. My son seems to want 1 gig of RAM but obviously if we went for 512meg that would save us a few pennies. How important is that extra half a meg when the PC is a gaming machine??
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Ok - one more question. My son seems to want 1 gig of RAM but obviously if we went for 512meg that would save us a few pennies. How important is that extra half a meg when the PC is a gaming machine??
I just upgraded my RAM and an extra 512mb makes a big difference for me especially in gaming.