catbarf on 16/4/2008 at 21:15

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I'm not looking for anything really special, since I'm not big on graphics. I just want to be able to have something that can, say, play STALKER fine on medium settings- really I'd like to be able to play Half-Life 2 without getting 20FPS at best like what my current POS does. My budget is $750. I can salvage a case, monitor, speakers, mouse, DVD drive, XP and keyboard from my current computer, but that's probably all that's useful in it- and I'm fairly new to PC hardware, so I really don't know where to look for everything else, or what I need. All help would be appreciated.

catbarf on 17/4/2008 at 00:59

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I've got a friend who builds custom computers all the time, and he can help me. I'll check on the model.

Edit: The computer is a Compaq Presario SR1936X. It's never been modified in any way. You can probably find everything you need through Google.

Jetsetlemming on 17/4/2008 at 03:23

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I can't find specific info, though I suspect the case will PROBABLY work. If not, a new case will only run you around $50 unless you're wanting a giant megalith covered in flashing LEDs and jet engines.
$750 is a pretty big budget for what are fairly modest requirements.

Firstly, you're going to want to replace the motherboard to get a processor socket for a modern processor; Core2Duos are made for LGA 775s. I recommend this one:
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059)
$90, good quality hardware statistics, good overall reviews.

For the processor, A Core2Duo is cheap and fast, and more than powerful enough for STALKER and HL2. I recommend the E6570.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115030)
$184.

The motherboard takes DDR-2 RAM; For STALKER on Medium you only need 2 GB, though if you want to max it out (which the rest of the hardware here can do), you'll want 4 GB- STALKER will fully maxed out graphics options and high resolutions will crash because Windows takes some of your ram and dedicates it to the OS kernal, preventing programs from touching it.
G.Skill 2 GB DDR-2 ram:
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121)
$43 for one set, $86 for two.

Since Ladron De La Noche covered ATI's biggest and best, I'll cover Nvidia. If you want to go cheap, the 8600 GT will handle both HL2 and STALKER just fine. You can find a 512 MB model for $90;
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150247)

For a little more muscle (you've got plenty of room in the budget, after all), you've got a couple more options:
The 8800 GT: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=8800GT&x=0&y=0)
Price: $190 to $210 for a good model
The 8800 GTX: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&Description=8800GTX&name=Desktop+Graphics)
Price: $340 to $410 for a good model
The 9800 GTX: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106792522+1067938081&name=GeForce+9800+GTX)
Price: $300 to $380 for a good model
The 9800 GX2: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106792522+1067937879&name=GeForce+9800+GX2)
Price: $540 to $620 for a good model

The 8800 is slightly better on paper than the 9800, though the 9800 a has a few technical innovations to improve texture streaming and power consumption, not to mention a smaller price tag. The ATI HD3870 is about equal in power and performance to the 8800 GT, and with most games such as Stalker the Nvidia is a better choice because the game has a Nvidia "The Way It's Meant To Be Played" logo, which means its optimizations are Nvidia focused over ATI. HL2 is the other way around, ATI focused instead of Nvidia, but the Source engine is quite easy on pretty much everything. No matter what you buy, as long as it's at least somewhat recent, it should handle anything Source without the slightest problem.
The 9800 GX2 is essentially two 9800 GTX's built into one video card; two GPUs, 1 GB total Vram, lots of heat and power requirements. Probably not a smart investment at this time. :D
The 8600 GT will handle both HL2 and STALKER with just fine. For what you're playing, the difference between the cards will mean future proofing, and how much antialiasing you can apply to the game before it gets absurd. :p

I believe after that the power supply is all that's left?
This will do for the 8600 GT: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023)
Price: $40.
For the higher end cards you'll want something with more muscle, such as this:
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002)
Price: $129.


Also, I suggest, if you feel up to it, investing in a 64 bit copy of XP or Vista. It'll be worth the investment.

catbarf on 17/4/2008 at 10:39

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Sorry for double post, but how does (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339) this look to you?

Zerker on 17/4/2008 at 21:45

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Hmm, I though I'd read about some "Way it's meant to be played" games actually optimised for ATI instead, with the branding as just marketing decision. Of course, everything my recent double-check google search came up with contradicts this, so who knows.


Not quite right. Windows actually reserves the Address space for other I/O devices; The RAM > ~3 Gb/3.5 Gb is actually not used at all. Of course, this all changes if you go to a 64-bit version of Windows (Or other 64-bit OS). Is 64-bit Windows well-enough supported to be a worthy choice yet?