- May 5, 2009
- 8
- 0
- 18,510
Hey folks. My birthday is coming up in August, and as part of a deal me and my father have made (because of my excellent grades), he has agreed to pay 3/4ths of the cost of any computer of my choice. I'm a huge gamer, however I mainly stick to racing sims such as Nascar Racing 2003 and Rfactor. With that said, I'm probably looking at a high end video card. I've decided to buy a custom-built gaming computer from CyberPower, and since I'm planning to put in around $300-$375, I have a bit of wiggle-room to work with.
However, the sad truth is, I've been stuck with CRAP for over 6 years, and by that I'm talking a ancient HP Pavillion DV1000 with a 1.6ghz Pentium M running 2GB of ram on a Intel GMA 915 Chipset. My parents bought this new for me when I was in the 5th grade, and although it is far from sufficient for my sim-racing needs, I have never once complained about having such a sad and pitiful computer. I'm the kind of person who is just thankful to have one in the first place. The laptop simply can barely muster 20 frames with the bare minimum graphics settings and to add insult to injury, I'm driving on the keyboard whilst connected to a wireless router. Needless to say, I am far from competitive in my online league in which I've been a member of since I've had the laptop. These guys are my best friends; we've known each other for so long and have had great battles on the track, but they never cease to give up on thrashing me on my horrendous setup. I honestly have grown to love my Pavillion simply because it is so very meager and has never once refused to commit such "suicidal" tasks :lol: Yes, it is god awful slow and some wonder why I even bother, but the fact of the matter is, I've gotten used to the terrible performance regarding games. The funny thing is; even though these guys have such awesome computers and racing wheels, I've managed to hang in there and not back down. Barely, but just barely, I've stood my ground and can hang in there with those who are truly awful yet are graced with having the best computer and driving wheel.
The time has come to put this *racehorse* out to pasture and for me to crawl out of the massive hold that I've lived in for all this time. I never thought the day would come, but I'm finally upgrading! And I'm not talking about going to Wal-Mart and buying a budget system, I'm actually moving up to the big leagues! It seems that all my work in school has paid off (not only am I a bit of a gaming nerd, but I kick tail at school too. 3.45 GPA going into my senior year at high school!) and my parents appreciate my hard work towards getting a job!
So with all of that said, I'm planning to buy a taylor-made CyberPower gaming PC. My range is around $1200 to $1300 so I can go a little fancy on things. I've got a bit of a bias towards ATI/AMD because it seems everyone in their mother has a Intel CPU or Nvidia GPU so I want to be different. Now, I'm fairly computer proficient so I'm definitely no slouch when it comes to knowing my stuff. In fact, I would have built my own computer but I'm afraid that I may get a DOA and I'm a bit clumsy after all. Now I said all of the stuff about my old computer to tell you this: even though I have money to burn, I DON'T want some quad-monitor gigapiece. Of course, I'm getting the Phenom X6 1090T and 8GB of RAM but what route can I go with graphics? I'm looking at a 19'' screen and even though I guess 1280X1024 would be what I would be running in-game for that, I am a major gamer and sim-racer after all and I do need some muscle.
I'm aiming at running 1280X1024 in game with the works, everything turned up to high so with that said, what ATI card would you recommend and do I really need a big huge screen to game with? I was thinking the Radeon 6850 would be just fine but for only $189 more, I can get a 6970 instead. Is it THAT big of a difference to buy a say 19'' screen running 1280 res compared to a 23'' screen running 1680 res? I've got the money, but is it really worth it? After all, I can save quite a few bucks and I could use the spare change for a racing wheel. I hope someone can help me out because I'm super confused. I hope I didn't write or ask too much but I just wanted to better clarify my position. Thank you guys for the awesome community!
However, the sad truth is, I've been stuck with CRAP for over 6 years, and by that I'm talking a ancient HP Pavillion DV1000 with a 1.6ghz Pentium M running 2GB of ram on a Intel GMA 915 Chipset. My parents bought this new for me when I was in the 5th grade, and although it is far from sufficient for my sim-racing needs, I have never once complained about having such a sad and pitiful computer. I'm the kind of person who is just thankful to have one in the first place. The laptop simply can barely muster 20 frames with the bare minimum graphics settings and to add insult to injury, I'm driving on the keyboard whilst connected to a wireless router. Needless to say, I am far from competitive in my online league in which I've been a member of since I've had the laptop. These guys are my best friends; we've known each other for so long and have had great battles on the track, but they never cease to give up on thrashing me on my horrendous setup. I honestly have grown to love my Pavillion simply because it is so very meager and has never once refused to commit such "suicidal" tasks :lol: Yes, it is god awful slow and some wonder why I even bother, but the fact of the matter is, I've gotten used to the terrible performance regarding games. The funny thing is; even though these guys have such awesome computers and racing wheels, I've managed to hang in there and not back down. Barely, but just barely, I've stood my ground and can hang in there with those who are truly awful yet are graced with having the best computer and driving wheel.
The time has come to put this *racehorse* out to pasture and for me to crawl out of the massive hold that I've lived in for all this time. I never thought the day would come, but I'm finally upgrading! And I'm not talking about going to Wal-Mart and buying a budget system, I'm actually moving up to the big leagues! It seems that all my work in school has paid off (not only am I a bit of a gaming nerd, but I kick tail at school too. 3.45 GPA going into my senior year at high school!) and my parents appreciate my hard work towards getting a job!
So with all of that said, I'm planning to buy a taylor-made CyberPower gaming PC. My range is around $1200 to $1300 so I can go a little fancy on things. I've got a bit of a bias towards ATI/AMD because it seems everyone in their mother has a Intel CPU or Nvidia GPU so I want to be different. Now, I'm fairly computer proficient so I'm definitely no slouch when it comes to knowing my stuff. In fact, I would have built my own computer but I'm afraid that I may get a DOA and I'm a bit clumsy after all. Now I said all of the stuff about my old computer to tell you this: even though I have money to burn, I DON'T want some quad-monitor gigapiece. Of course, I'm getting the Phenom X6 1090T and 8GB of RAM but what route can I go with graphics? I'm looking at a 19'' screen and even though I guess 1280X1024 would be what I would be running in-game for that, I am a major gamer and sim-racer after all and I do need some muscle.
I'm aiming at running 1280X1024 in game with the works, everything turned up to high so with that said, what ATI card would you recommend and do I really need a big huge screen to game with? I was thinking the Radeon 6850 would be just fine but for only $189 more, I can get a 6970 instead. Is it THAT big of a difference to buy a say 19'' screen running 1280 res compared to a 23'' screen running 1680 res? I've got the money, but is it really worth it? After all, I can save quite a few bucks and I could use the spare change for a racing wheel. I hope someone can help me out because I'm super confused. I hope I didn't write or ask too much but I just wanted to better clarify my position. Thank you guys for the awesome community!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram