[AaronDude]

Hi, I'm shopping for a new computer to play movies on, possibly blu-ray, maybe not though because blu ray drives are still so expensive, I might get a usb one when they're cheaper and available. Mostly, I want something that can run them psx and snes emulators well. I want to go the desktop route because they're more powerful. I'm sorry I ever gave away my HP desktop to my mom :lol: . Right now I have a gateway laptop and it would run epsxe better then the other psx emulators but it still sucks at it. I used the fastest graphics software component(forget what it's called, I'm not very literate) with epsex and it would run at about maybe 10-25 frames a second at best. here's the specs of my current computer:

Vista 32 bit
intel pentium dual core 1.60 ghz mobile processor
2 gb SDRAM(I think)
and some crappy intel integrated graphics
crappy optiarc dvd burner (think it's probably worth about $20 and made by NEC or something)

I got this machine about three years ago for about 450-500 bucks refurbished. It runs alright but I just can't play them old games on here becuase I'm pretty sure this machine just isn't powerful enough. Can't really watch movies on it either because the optiarc dvd drive eats dvds. I would prefer to watch dvds on a computer monitor and using a computer as the player. I just don't like watching them on the TV for several reasons.

I really don't plan on playing any or very few modern games on my new machine. I plan on maybe spending about 800 bucks on a computer and monitor.

Anywho I've been eying HP, Dell, Cyberpowerpc, Cybertronpc and Systemax. I'm kind of scared to go with HP and Dell and because they supposedly tend to have a lot of defects in them anymore, die fast and are probably not tested before shipping. Cyberpowerpc seems to have a lot of defective products as well but they claim they test them. I don't know very much about cybertronpc and systemax other than they test them and have good BBB and resellerratings.com ratings. I was kind of thinking a gaming computer because they kind of look cool but looking cool is really not necessary for me. Also, I should point out I wouldn't be doing any upgrading or repairing of the hardware if something happens, I just don't know what I'm doing :eyemove: . If my new machine doesn't work out of the box I'm SOL and would probably have to send it back and suck up the shipping costs, that's what I'm scared of. I've never bought a machine though that never worked out of the box and they always lasted for years as well. I guess I've been lucky I've never had a hardware failure other than a fan that was about to burn out and a bad modem. Anybody have suggestions for me?

What would I need to run those emulators well? I was thinking maybe something along the lines of:

Windows 7 64 bit
4 gigs of ddr2 ram, whatever brand the manufacturer uses
2.3 ghz or above dual core processor, amd or intel
Asus or Foxconn motherboard or whatever the manufacturer uses.
500gb hard drive.
ATI Radeon HD4350 512MB or ATI Radeon HD4650 1GB graphics

Thanks guys, sorry I asked some questions that have probably been asked before and I'm sorry I don't write very well. :heh:

 

[StriderVM]

Simple tips :

- Don't buy from Dell, HP, or any company that sells premade PC's. Why? Because most of then don't have overclocking options in their mobos, which makes their performance sub-par compared to PC which are self made.

- Laptops are generally made NOT for gaming. Unless you spent at least $2000 on those. Chances are they're gonna suck for emulation.

Absolute minimum. This is the slowest I can suggest, but definitely you won't get perfect speed with these.

- Windows 7 Standard Premium
- 4 GB DDR2
- Pentium Dual Core E5300 or Phenom II X2.
- ATI Radeon HD3850 or 4650 gDDR3 version.

 

[masta.g.86]

For ePSXe, you're fine so long as you have a 650MHz Pentium III.

If you want hardware accelerated graphics (OpenGL2 preferred) any modern GPU that isn't from Intel is fine.

 

[tuanming]

For $800 don't expect to do any decent pc gaming or emulation on a laptop... With $800 you can do a lot more if you build your pc, but you probably want to save up to $1000 or higher for better gaming experience.

 

[bkwegoharder]

Don't compare Dell or HP to CyberpowerPC. If there is anyone you don't want to buy from it is ibuypower or cyberpoweroc

 

[Lasnap]

hey bkwegoharder i got my current computer from cyberpowerinc and it has run just fine for the past 3 and a half years

 

[AaronDude]

Thanks for the reply guys! I honestly wasn't expecting any.:lol:

 

[-StrikE-]

For ePSXe, you're fine so long as you have a 650MHz Pentium III.

If you want hardware accelerated graphics (OpenGL2 preferred) any modern GPU that isn't from Intel is fine.

Actually for opengl2 on ePSXe plugin you will need a gpu starting from 3600/4600 series and up if you want to fully use it.

 

[gamefreak94]

For $800 don't expect to do any decent pc gaming or emulation on a laptop... With $800 you can do a lot more if you build your pc, but you probably want to save up to $1000 or higher for better gaming experience.

If you sniff around the net and look for the cheapest prices for components and take full advantage of discounts and rebates, a $800 rig will run every modern game (save a few particularly resource hungry ones) at maximum setting provided the resolution isn't insanely high.

 

[koko]

1000$ USD is great for complete gaming PC.

 

[-StrikE-]

If you sniff around the net and look for the cheapest prices for components and take full advantage of discounts and rebates, a $800 rig will run every modern game (save a few particularly resource hungry ones) at maximum setting provided the resolution isn't insanely high.

He was talking about a laptop not about a desktop PC.

 

[Fadingz]

gaming laptop = $2000 at least + short lifespan + power hog.
and a gaming laptop has similar spec with mid or mid-low range gaming PC.

 

[koko]

Laptops?.....yuck.

 

[AaronDude]

Here's a build(below) I'm kind of taking a look at from Systemax. It sounds good but I'm not sure how reliable the parts are or even what most of the part brands are. They just don't tell you too much about what they're using. What I'm mostly worried about is it won't work out of the box, or it will overheat, or compatibility problems,or power supply issues or something like that. I'm not a hardware guy as I've said, so I would be in trouble if it didn't work. I would like to add an external USB blu ray disc reader somewhere along the line so I could watch some blu ray movies. I'd imagine it would work if I had the right playback software and a monitor with an HDMI connection?


From what I can tell I could get a better PC spec wise from HP for about the same price. I'm worried about those HP Pavilion Elite constant lock ups and freezes I'm hearing about however. If it wasn't for that I would go with HP in a heartbeat. Most people seem to think it has something to do with the motherboards but HP continues to use them and their montherboard manufacturer hasn't done anything about it. Appearently it's been like that for about three generations of those HP Elites and it might even effect the regular pavilions. I wouldn't know though, my last HP was a cheap refurbished pavilion years ago that I gave to my mom, it still works great though for basic stuff. Dell seems to be way more expensive and I really would have to go over a thousand to get a decent machine from them spec wise. I haven't heard anything about Dells majorly messing up except on some product reviews at certain places and at resellerratings.com. I mean they must be pretty reliable though for only having a few thousand complaints for the amount of PCs they manufacture.

How about product testing? Do any of the major manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Acer actually do a burn in test or anything of the sort before they ship their machines? All the small ones such as pcsforeveryone.com (which I think has great prices) and cyberpowerpc, velocitymicro, cybertronpc and systemax claim they do all sorts of testing. Like I said though I'm scared of these guys, no name, don't know how long they'll stay in business and I have very little idea on what sort of quality product they make other than what they say, of course. Obviously they're not gonna say they manufacture non function junk.

I'd like thoughts on how well these would work for what I talked about. I plan on getting a Windows 7 64 bit computer because I don't like Vista and XP is old. This is what I'm looking at now a Gateway Newegg.com - Gateway DX4822-03 Core 2 Quad Q8400(2.66GHz) 8GB DDR2 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - Desktop PCs and the systemax below.:


PRICE:
$943.99



If all these amazing features aren't enough to leave you drooling, then strap yourself in and prepare to customize this system to your liking.


Systemax Ascent A790 Build-to-Order Desktop PC - genuine Windows® 7 operating system, 780G chipset, micro or mid tower case, choice of options and upgrades

Speakers: No Speakers Selected
Hard Drive: No second hard drive selected
Accessories: 1 Year Parts & Labor Warranty
Components: Integrated Firewire
Power Protection: No Power Protection
Hard Drive: 500GB 7200RPM 3G SATA II Hard Drive
Software: Microsoft Office Ready Pro 2007/60-Day Free Trial
Keyboards / Mice / Input: Logitech Deluxe 250 Keyboard USB
Removable Data Storage: No 3.5" Drive Device Selected
Motherboards: Asus M3A78-EM Motherboard with HD Audio
CD/DVD Drives: 22X DVDRW SATA Drive
Networking: Wireless N PCI Network Adapter
Video / Graphics Cards: ATI Radeon HD4650 1GB PCIe (1DVI / 1VGA / 1HDMI)
Monitors: 25" Black Widescreen LCD Monitor (VGA/HDMI)
Keyboards / Mice / Input: Logitech Black USB Optical Mouse
Software: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Memory: 4GB DDR2 PC6400 800MHz Memory (2GB x 2)
Accessories: SYX Ascent A790
Processors: AMD Athlon II X4 620 2.6GHz Quad Core Processor
Power Supplies: 500 Watt Power Supply
Computer Cases: SYX Mid-Tower ATX Chassis
Software: CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2010 30-day Trial

Simple tips :

- Don't buy from Dell, HP, or any company that sells premade PC's. Why? Because most of then don't have overclocking options in their mobos, which makes their performance sub-par compared to PC which are self made.

- Laptops are generally made NOT for gaming. Unless you spent at least $2000 on those. Chances are they're gonna suck for emulation.

Absolute minimum. This is the slowest I can suggest, but definitely you won't get perfect speed with these.

- Windows 7 Standard Premium
- 4 GB DDR2
- Pentium Dual Core E5300 or Phenom II X2.
- ATI Radeon HD3850 or 4650 gDDR3 version.

Would Windows 7 64 bit be ok? So I guess it sounds like Top of the line two years ago wasn't even good enough? I could live with slighly lower frame rates I suppose. Heck I was getting pretty good framerates with epsxe considering I use a crappy laptop with intel integrated graphics. I mean something that can get me 25-30 frames per second I'd be thrilled with. I don't know what I was getting on here but I doubt more than ten.

 

[nanaya]

tl;dr
From what I see though both are pretty mediocre if not low end (based on cpu and vga) there's plenty better option, can't you build it yourself?

 

[Princess Garnet]

Yeah, the CPU could be better, and the VGA is a letdown. They give you alot of RAM and a quad core CPU making you think it's high end when it's not. Honestly, I wouldn't justify spending $900 and getting about a 9500GT.

 

[Phil]

Same here. $900 can a least get you a 9800gtx or 4850

 

[Fadingz]

$943.99 is 120 bucks more than a build I made for my friend with a desktop :O

-GPU - ASUS EN9800GT/HTDP/512MD3 GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
-CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
-HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
-PSU - Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
-CASE - Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
-MOBO - GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
-RAM - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK
-BURNER/READER - LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner
-INTERNET CARD - ASUS WL-138g V2 IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Adapter Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-bit WEP WPA2 (including 802.1x, TKIP, AES)
-CPU FAN - ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler

which means that you can swap that GPU to a 260 GTX
He has an expensive case, so you can swap that case with a cheaper case and a monitor

 

[Lasnap]

remove the monitor and then spend that extra on a better cpu and a better graphics card ide say

 

[gamefreak94]

If you don't have enough know-how to assemble the components yourself, try finding a friend or relative who'd be willing to or just hire someone to do the job (which will cost more, but still be more economical then a pre-built system)