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.