PC to play STALKER: how much?

[vanpeebles]

Akasa Zen is a superb budget case. Really good for the price. Under £30. I got one for my Dads PC and its been spot on.

[Red or Alive]

http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/pp/Computers_%26_Laptops/Computer_Systems/RL_Modula_4550-OC_Factory_Overclocked_Gaming_System.html

I got my last PC from these guys. ?700 for a real gaming rig. Not that you quite need its grunt to just play STALKER.

[Soundwave]

Scan have everything you need to build a serious gaming rig in their Today Only sale this weekend...

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/

Neil

[NW2013]

Akasa Zen is a superb budget case. Really good for the price. Under ?30. I got one for my Dads PC and its been spot on.

That's what I've got at the moment, the plastic bit at the front is slightly naff but it's overall very nice and plenty of room for components. It's rude to say no at ?30!

[Matt]

http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/pp/Compu...ng_System.html

I got my last PC from these guys. ?700 for a real gaming rig. Not that you quite need its grunt to just play STALKER.

Comes with everything including monitor, but I'd not pay that much for that rig. It's only running a nVidia 9600 Also while the dual core CPU is clocked high at 3.6, I'd still go for a Quad and clock that to 3.2. Sure, right now games may run faster on a dual at 3.6, but within a year, the quad cores will be better utilised and will more than compensate for the lower clock.

[MattyD]

Any opinions on this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=200247843741&Category=179

After a little research on what's current I think this looks like a bargain. I may be completely wrong of course. It's pretty much a good spec for current games and DX10 compatible, yes?

I've also asked if they'd be willing to use a different case as this one's awfully PIMPIN.

[NemesiS]

£300 max, if you shop around for second hand. Its not that intensive a game on your PC.
I had the old Stalker running perfectly on high settings on an old shuttle i gave to my dad and the new one doesnt require that much more grunt.

(My old Shuttle)
Athlon 64 3.4
1GB Ram
850XT AGP

Personally if your only going to buy a rig for games like that at least go for a Quad core go processor as they are dirt cheap, can be overclocked till the cows come home, and still give plenty of bang for buck against a lot of the newer stuff. Also make sure it has a decent GFX card, (9800 at least as they are cheap now), and 2GB RAM (or 4GB if your on Vista).

Also don't buy one for stalker, its pap IMO

[MattyD]

Are you saying £300 for a Stalker-playing PC or for the one in the link? I figure since I'm buying one I might as well get a half-decent one and get my moneys-worth out of it since as you say it's not worth buying a PC for just the two Stalker games. As long as the one above will play most current titles at 1366 x 768 (native res of my LCD) I'll be happy.

[NemesiS]

I'm not overwhelmed by the one in the link, i have to be honest. I think you can get better than that for the money.

I'm looking for a lappy for my sister so i will have a look at desktops also and post back here in a bit for you

I'm assuming that you only need the base unit?

Whats you max budget btw?

[MattyD]

Same as that really, £400-ish maybe a little bit more and yes it's just a base unit I need.

Thanks in advance

[NemesiS]

Same as that really, ?400-ish maybe a little bit more and yes it's just a base unit I need.

Thanks in advance

Try some of these. I did notice that with most sellers they obviously scimp with parts, usually on the GFX front. But if you are prepared to pay cheaper for a decent system with a crap card to replace it, you can find some bargains. TBH tho it is much of a muchness, and unless you are prepared to build you own, you are always gonna get shafted when buying pre-built on a budget.


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QUAD-CORE-Q6600-500GB-4-GB-DDR2667-256MB-GFX_W0QQitemZ250309787443QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 50309787443&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A2|66%3A4|65%3 A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QUAD-CORE-Q6600-500GB-8-GB-DDR2-NVIDIA-9500GT-1GB_W0QQitemZ250309788513QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 50309788513&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A2|66%3A4|65%3 A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Quad-Core-9-6GHZ-Q6600-Desktop-PC-Computer-4GB-8500GT_W0QQitemZ180298747493QQcmdZViewItem?hash=it em180298747493&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A2|66%3A4|6 5%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/QUAD-CORE-9-6Ghz-Q6600-4GB-500GB-9500GT-1GB-SLI-GFX_W0QQitemZ120316703801QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 20316703801&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A2|66%3A4|65%3 A12|240%3A1308&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Quad-Core-9-6GHz-4GB-DDR2-500GB-20xDVDRW-1GB-VGA_W0QQitemZ110298356512QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item1 10298356512&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A2|66%3A4|65%3 A12|240%3A1308&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[Hohum]

Hmm... '9.6GHz'. Preying on the gullible with that.

Personally I think overall the systems aren't bad value, but: the case is pretty ugly, included PSU is cheap garbage which prolly has horrible voltage stability/ripple (will cause instability/damage the hardware over time), and you don't know what the quality of the PC build will be like with some of these traders.

[Kit]

Hmm... '9.6GHz'.

Think he’s running that on air?

[MattyD]

Hmm... '9.6GHz'. Preying on the gullible with that.

Personally I think overall the systems aren't bad value, but: the case is pretty ugly, included PSU is cheap garbage which prolly has horrible voltage stability/ripple (will cause instability/damage the hardware over time), and you don't know what the quality of the PC build will be like with some of these traders.

Totally agree with you. They did say they'd swap the case if I wanted though and gave me a couple to choose from.

One thing that is a rip-off though is they charge ?60-?70 extra if you want an OS installed. Now, I used to work in a PC factory so I know they pay less than half that for the OEM software licenses / disc pack and all they do is ghost your HDD with a duplicator, which takes all of a few seconds. Cheeky monkeys.

[Brim]

Built this myself a few weeks ago, plays pretty much everything at 1680x1050. Came to £286 delivered in total.

Akasa Zen Case
Asus P5QL Pro Motherboard
2GB Corsair XMS2 800mhz
Intel E5200 Processor
Freezer 7 Pro Cooler
XFX 9600GSO XXX O/C edition
Samsung DVDRW
Hitachi 400gb Sata HDD
FSP Sparkle 700w PSU


I overclocked the processor to 3ghz (simply by changing the FSB to 240), bought different parts from the cheapest suppliers to keep the overall costs down but avoided no name and poor reputation manufacturers.

It'd take the Pepsi challenge against any budget Ebay systems with their cheap motherboards and 10quid PSU's.