23 réponses à ce sujet

[vp1940]

I apologize ahead of time if this has been covered in the past, I saw no articles with direct reference.

Basically, I love the first Mass Effect, and though I've played through the 360 version numerous times, I always wanted to play the PC version for obvious reasons. Trouble is my PC is as barebones as it gets. So basically I was hoping someone here could point me to a rig that would be up to the task with the highest ME settings. Preferably something under a grand. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Gorath Alpha]

For less than maybe $1400 in a readymade, you have to accept some compromises of what amounts to "the best", PLUS everyone's own personal sensorium differs at least somewhat from one another on what looks and seems "best" (the word is just far too subjective of a choice).  On the other hand, you can build from scratch for $1000 and have very few compromises.  In previous years,  I've often named the parent brand that the Newegg company's owners started up first, but they have made that a high dollar premium line now. 

I will look up a FAST PC, that's the offer I'll make.  (When I return, I'll insert the link here with an Edit). 

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx  (Gamer Ultra 2050LQ Phenom II X6 1090T (3.2GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity ATI Radeon HD 5770 )

I started reading downward from what Newegg had for $999, and everything was too slow graphically, until I got to this one from Cyberpower.  That HD 5770 was the very first video graphics card worth considering.  I'm not a huge fan of the brand, though, and still recommend building your own.  (I've been doing just that for about twenty years now.)

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 18 décembre 2010 - 08:43 .

[Fredvdp]

That's a good PC but I'd definitely include a sound card with EAX support. Not just for surround sound support, but also because the environmental sound on integrated audio hardware is pretty poor.

This cheap one should be good enough (I have the same). Windows Vista and 7 doesn't support the older EAX cards but there is a workaround here. You should also download Creative Alchemy if you choose this card.

Modifié par Fredvdp, 17 décembre 2010 - 05:39 .

[Kloreep]

It would indeed help to clarify if you're interested in assembling a PC yourself, or just want to buy one ready made like the one Gorath linked to.



If you are building yourself, might help to post what you already have, unless you're absolutely certain nothing would be fit for re-use.

[Bogsnot1]

Do not, under any cirumstances, get Win7/64 bit if you want to play ME1. Lots of people have issues trying to get it to work under Win7/64.

If you really, erally, do want that version of Win7, then also get a seperate partition with WinXP so you can dual-boot.

[Ryzaki]

Uh...no? I'm using Win 7 64-bit and ME1 works perfectly.

[Kloreep]

Yes, I think you're being a bit too drastic about Win7/64-bit. Certainly there have been a few people recently who have been having trouble with ME1 who happen to have Win7 64-bit, but there have been plenty of reports from people who run it just fine.



I'm reminded of when posters on the old ME1 forums who were having audio cutouts were trying to find a common piece of hardware or software. Someone pointed out that most of the people having problems had an integrated Realtek sound chip. However, someone else then pointed out that most ME1 players, period, would be using a Realtek chip, as Realtek have pretty much cornered the market on integrated sound and a lot of people don't have discrete sound cards any more.



So I don't think it's any surprise that we're seeing more Win7 64-bit users coming in here. Win7 is what people will be installing on any new computer, on which they will also be installing their games. I don't know how popular 64-bit is, but I'm not aware of many reasons to go with 32-bit.

[Harley_Dude]

Start with this and add what ever you need. Should be able to build a good rig under a grand. An EVGA GTS 450 or GTX 460 is a good choice for graphics cards for this kit. Or 6850 if you are an AMD fan.

http://secure.newegg...Number=12469011

The power supply is rated at 300 but is 80 plus and will power either of these cards. I have a GTS 250 and it works fine.

Modifié par The Harley Dude, 18 décembre 2010 - 02:50 .

[vp1940]

Thank everyone for your insight. I appreciate the help, but I'm afraid much of it fell on deaf ears as I'm very ignorant of the intricucies of PC brands and parts. I'm not too worried about surround sound, and I'm not particularly looking to run Crysis at 60 frames, my sole endgame is to run Mass Effect on the highest settings smoothly, not necessarily flawlessly.


I'm basically looking at this model with plans to upgrade the graphics card. Any particular objections?

http://www.bestbuy.c...43009&cp=1&lp=1

Modifié par vp1940, 18 décembre 2010 - 07:19 .

[Zombie Chow]

Looks quite ok to me. All I was going to mention was the other things to go with it:



- go for an nVidia graphics card (I bought an ATI one, thinking ATI should be good now, I was wrong)

- definitely get Crysis, remember the patches...it's really really good

[Homey C-Dawg]

vp1940 wrote...

Thank everyone for your insight. I appreciate the help, but I'm afraid much of it fell on deaf ears as I'm very ignorant of the intricucies of PC brands and parts. I'm not too worried about surround sound, and I'm not particularly looking to run Crysis at 60 frames, my sole endgame is to run Mass Effect on the highest settings smoothly, not necessarily flawlessly.


I'm basically looking at this model with plans to upgrade the graphics card. Any particular objections?

http://www.bestbuy.c...43009&cp=1&lp=1

That looks like a decent enough system. Throw a nvidia graphics card in there and it would run ME1, ME2, and ME3 just fine (or any XBox360 ported game for that matter).

[Gorath Alpha]

Whatever anyone does, make it a golden habit to never waste time looking at video graphics cards sold by "Best Buy", or almost *ANY* storefront type operator. They are ripping everyone off pricewise.

[vp1940]

Thanks again guys. This is the card I was looking at. I know the review mention some overheating/fan issues, but I can sort those out. The only thing I dunno is if the card is compatible with the model I have picked out. If it is I think I'm good to go.

http://www.bestbuy.c...=9#BVRRWidgetID

Modifié par vp1940, 18 décembre 2010 - 09:25 .

[vp1940]

Gorath Alpha wrote...

Whatever anyone does, make it a golden habit to never waste time looking at video graphics cards sold by "Best Buy", or almost *ANY* storefront type operator. They are ripping everyone off pricewise.

If I had the cash up front I'd be more than happy to agree, unfortunately I'm dependant on my Best Buy card's financing plan. I don't mind paying some overhead overtime though...lol

[Fredvdp]

Bogsnot1 wrote...

Do not, under any cirumstances, get Win7/64 bit if you want to play ME1. Lots of people have issues trying to get it to work under Win7/64.

Yes, but Dragon Age II doesn't support Windows 7 32-bit so if you want to play both ME and DA2 you're stuck with Vista.

The link to the PC leads to a system with a Pentium processor and integrated video by Intel. What is everyone else seeing?

Modifié par Fredvdp, 18 décembre 2010 - 05:02 .

[Homey C-Dawg]

vp1940 wrote...

Thanks again guys. This is the card I was looking at. I know the review mention some overheating/fan issues, but I can sort those out. The only thing I dunno is if the card is compatible with the model I have picked out. If it is I think I'm good to go.

http://www.bestbuy.c...=9#BVRRWidgetID

That card would do the trick, though it's kind of a dated card now. A GTX card of some kind would be better.

If you can drop an extra $60, this card would be a better option and make the computer a decent budget gaming machine by any standard and last you a long time.

www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+-+GeForce+GTX+460GC+768MB+DDR5+PCI+Express+2.0+Graphics+Card/1222501.p

Modifié par Homey C-Dawg, 18 décembre 2010 - 10:24 .

[vp1940]

Homey C-Dawg wrote...


That card would do the trick, though it's kind of a dated card now. A GTX card of some kind would be better.

If you can drop an extra $60, this card would be a better option and make the computer a decent budget gaming machine by any standard.

www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+-+GeForce+GTX+460GC+768MB+DDR5+PCI+Express+2.0+Graphics+Card/1222501.p

Looks good, but is it compatible with that pc? The card reviews mention that it needs 2 connection points.

[Homey C-Dawg]

yeah it needs two six pin power plugs which is pretty normal for PCI-E cards. The computer you picked out has an available PCI-E/16 slot so I imagine it should be able to run PCI-E cards fine.



You could always e-mail best buy and ask if that card will work in that tower if you want to verify first. I think you'd be much happier with it than the 9800.

[Kloreep]

That processor should be fine for the ME games.



That 9800 GT would be good enough for the MEs, but Gorath is right, Best Buy is charging you quite a premium. Even with the "sale" on that 9800, you could save $30 and still get an equivalent card like this Radeon 5670 from someplace that's more in touch with market price. (Don't listen to someone telling you to stick with only ATI or NVidia. They can each have their quirks, and no one is immune to shipping defects now and then, so there are horror stories for both if you go looking; either should be fine for you.)



Alternately, spending the kind of money Best Buy wants for the 9800 GT elsewhere, you could get a better card than either of those two. This GeForce 450 would be be a good buy, or you could look at a Radeon 5750 which will give you around the same performance level.



If BB has you on the hook for their credit for now, it seems to me waiting is the best course of action if you can stand it.

[Kloreep]

Hmm, that GTX 460 does appear to be a bit more in line with what you'd pay someplace like Newegg, now that they've put it on "sale." And it's certainly a nice card.



However, a couple things you need to make sure of for any card you buy for this computer: first, check what sort of power supply that computer has. Usually, a ready-made computer is going to have the cheapest power supply that will still work for it stuck in it. How much extra juice it actually has to give is an important consideration, unless you want to upgrade the power supply as well. Second, it seems that case is a very slim design, with only 4 inches of width. Some video cards are going to be simply too big to fit in it. You'll need to be sure about the dimensions of any video card you buy for it, it may be a tight fit.

[Gorath Alpha]

Kloreep wrote...

(snip) Second, it seems that case is a very slim design, with only 4 inches of width. Some video cards are going to be simply too big to fit in it. You'll need to be sure about the dimensions of any video card you buy for it, it may be a tight fit.

For the most part, only the Business Grade of graphics cards are offered in a "Low Profile" size, so don't try matching that skinny case to High End, or even upper Mainline class, graphics cards, since they aren't offered in Slim Line versions.  The machine I already linked to is in a normal case, as any game machine should be.  Nothing less should be considered for a variety of reasons, and graphics card physical size is only the first reason. 

Poor cooling is in there, and limits on how much of, and how many, add-ons such as graphics and audio, can be used in such cheap boxes.  That budget should have been much smaller to compare to anything at Best Buy, with their automatic price inflation policy. 

Slimline cases typically do not use a standard sized power supply, so you have to buy the upgrade from the producer, not the normal aftermarket, if one with enough juice is even offered. 

Overall, very bad idea! 

Gorath

[Zombie Chow]

Kloreep wrote...

Second, it seems that case is a very slim design, with only 4 inches of width. Some video cards are going to be simply too big to fit in it. You'll need to be sure about the dimensions of any video card you buy for it, it may be a tight fit.

When I replied earlier, I hadn't considered this point about the case size.  It's a very valid issue.  I'm sorry I didn't notice that before.

For example, my ATI graphics card isn't a card at all, it's more like a brick.  It's so bulky it actually takes up the space of 2 slots (it only uses 1, but I can't fit anything underneath it).  Please keep this in mind, OP!

[Gorath Alpha]

I have been suggesting that everyone who prefers any kind of Mobile computing should wait before buying anything new, to see what the New Year brings from that segment of the industry (Mobile), that is based on AMD's new Fusion APUs, because of the promise of good graphics at low cost and at low thermal penalty.  It should absolutely blow anything from Intel totally away, even without the Premium Option.

Behind the Mobile APU releases, there are going to be desktop APUs featuring similar graphics options (the equivalant of AMD's Business Grade HD 5450) at a cost that matches what Intel offers, but only with poor quality IGP-style video, that even that (the lowest of the discrete Radeon cards) has been beating badly, or for a relatively small premium compared to adding a discrete graphics card, a step up to an HD 5570 equivalent. 

That second level sounds just like what our Best Buy victim here is looking for, instead of a truly good graphics card, but it's still six weeks to maybe two months away. 

Gorath

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 19 décembre 2010 - 03:38 .

[Homey C-Dawg]

OP mentioned that he's buying through Best Buy because he has a financing plan, so Newegg, though better, I figured wasn't an option.

The above posts are correct. I forgot to look at the tower dimensions. You might need to pick a different tower that can accommodate a graphics card (since any onboard video is crap). The site is down right now so I can't check, but the 9800 card might have the same dimension problems (my old 8800 looked smaller because it wasn't enclosed like my GTX, but it was just as long and wide).

I'd recommend finding a full size tower in a similar price range to go with that GTX 460 card I recommended.

I'll take another look at this thread later tonight and maybe I can recommend a good tower if they have one and your still undecided.