im a noob

hey everyone im just starting to get into pc gaming and i was wondering if these specs would be able to play the top games such as crysis, cod4, bf2, orangebox, etc and it what graphic settings. thanks alot if you respond. if they cant what would you reccomend i change. im looking to get a pc that wll last at least 2 -3 years

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium

MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs

HARD DRIVE 500GB - Seagate 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

VIDEO CARD nVidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB

Your memory is VERY good. Try to get the 2.4GHz to 3.0GHz. Card is very good, but if you want a comp to last maximum time, get a better card.

Overall, max settings for all the games, except Crysis of course.

thanks alot do you personally reccomend any cards?

Kickass PC, though 4GB aren't neccessary now, it might be future proof, now the best card is the 8800 GT, you ight wan to wait for the other cards, but I heard they don't really top the 8 series.

The q6600 is pretty fast, but if you want you can go for a better CPU, though I don't know about one maybe other people can help you.

Looks like a solid system. You should have no trouble running any current games. I built a machine for a friend with an 8800 GT and was very impressed with the performance/price.

One thing to consider is if you really want a quad core CPU. Games today don't lend themselves to multiple threads and don't benefit from additional cpu cores. A dual core is a huge performance boost over a single core, but that's because the OS and other crap is segregated and the game gets a CPU to itself. Adding more cores generally doesn't help game performance. If you're gonna spend X dollars on a CPU and gaming is your main objective you are better off with a higher clock speed dual core than a slower speed quad core. If money's no object go for the faster CPU with the most cores.

Here's an article with some benchmarks. The only place quad cores do particularly well are in artificial benchmarks. Real game situations the dual cores do just as well (sometimes better).

That system is fine, great for playing all current games.

If I was you I would not change the CPU as the Q6600 is the exact same chip as the much more expesnsive models just running
at a lower clock speed.

As for the ram as someone has already said 4gb of ram is still overkill and may actually decrease performace especailly in vista,
as to get the OS to see all 4 sticks you need to apply a beta hotfix which i believe is still currently unsupported by MS.

Finally, The 8800gt is a great card however it is the part that has the LARGEST effect on gamming performance you may wish to wait untill the new flagship 900 series are realsed (shouldn't be more than a month or two) this would grant you the longest time needed between upgrades. For In the world of hardware there is no such thing as future proofing.

I can't freaking believe that some people on this forum actually suggest you should get "better this or that". That's an awesome rig for a reasonable amount of cash. If you need a new component in the future, get a new component in the future. Let others flush their money down the drain, just so they can "future-proof" their rigs.

Just update that Home Premium to 64 bit, you know, with 4 gigs of RAM and all.

Definitely a good rig. On quad-core, even if not immediately relevant, i think it's a useful step to some kind of general 'future-proofing' (which i agree is ultimately impossible) as there's not much price difference in my experience

I do think the graphics card is maybe the one area where you might want to see if there's a higher spec 8800 that's not too much more expensive. But i agree there's no point in going crazy - it's true with PCs there'll be something significantly better in a few months, but there always is isn't there, and you can pay a big premium for cutting-edge.

Lastly on OS, if you're building on a budget why not use your current copy of XP and save a few hundred dollars?

That system is fine, great for playing all current games.

If I was you I would not change the CPU as the Q6600 is the exact same chip as the much more expesnsive models just running
at a lower clock speed.

As for the ram as someone has already said 4gb of ram is still overkill and may actually decrease performace especailly in vista,
as to get the OS to see all 4 sticks you need to apply a beta hotfix which i believe is still currently unsupported by MS.

Finally, The 8800gt is a great card however it is the part that has the LARGEST effect on gamming performance you may wish to wait untill the new flagship 900 series are realsed (shouldn't be more than a month or two) this would grant you the longest time needed between upgrades. For In the world of hardware there is no such thing as future proofing.

pat_the_rat

Vista loves 4gb of ram, its noticable over 2gb

That system is fine, great for playing all current games.

If I was you I would not change the CPU as the Q6600 is the exact same chip as the much more expesnsive models just running
at a lower clock speed.

As for the ram as someone has already said 4gb of ram is still overkill and may actually decrease performace especailly in vista,
as to get the OS to see all 4 sticks you need to apply a beta hotfix which i believe is still currently unsupported by MS.

Finally, The 8800gt is a great card however it is the part that has the LARGEST effect on gamming performance you may wish to wait untill the new flagship 900 series are realsed (shouldn't be more than a month or two) this would grant you the longest time needed between upgrades. For In the world of hardware there is no such thing as future proofing.

pat_the_rat

Even if it is the same chip at a lower clock speed having one at a higher clock speed will increase performance ;P

That's rollox about the RAM. I'm running 4GB and it offers a huge performance increase in programs like Cubase, doesn't offer much benifit in games though I guess. Mind you... I haven't had a prob' with these "huge load times" in The Witcher people moan about.

I think if this rig is mainly for games you're better off with a top end duel core.

First of all, I have the exact same specs, except I have an 8800 GT Superclocked.

Although you do not mention what your motherboard is, this could be the make or break of your computer.

I myself am running all of that on a ABIT IP35 Pro, and I am still running stock 2.4Ghz on my CPU, and I can play Crysis & Bioshock at MAXIMUM settings with AA on, with a screen resolution of 1280x1024, not a single flicker or flaw.

I went with this motherboard because it will accept the new intel 45nm CPU's when they come out, and while it is not a true SLI or Crossfire Board, it will manage both (although I understand it runs Crossfire better than SLI).

IF your motherboard is a SLI board, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT your graphics card!!! You can always add a second one in SLI mode, and you will be good for another couple of years.

I myself can't wait to try Alan Wake on my system.

Oh ya, if your CPU is of the G0 stepping flavor, you can easily overclock that bad boy to 3.2 to even 3.6, though I wouldn't recommend the latter unless you have liquid cooling. But it runs very stable at 3.2Ghz by all counts I have read.

The only thing you need to watch out for is this:

Make sure you have plenty of case fans and ventilation, and ALL of your wiring is bundled and tucked to improve air flow.

(I am using 4 GB of (2x2) OCZ memory too, which has heatspreaders on them, if yours does not, then a strategically placed case fan, or the now available memory cooling systems will also benefit you)

I do, and I feel nothing but cool air coming out of the case all the time.

The 8800 GT is one of those cards that is meant to be overclocked, Google it, you'll see, just make sure again your system stays cool, as the 8800 GT does have a rather crappy cooling solution built in (unless it's the new AKIMBO), but like I said, I keep my case cool, and have NOT had problem one yet, and my rig is going on it's third month now.

Oh, and one more thing, if your card is an EVGA, it has a lifetime warranty, which even allows for overclocking in the warranty, so don't be too afraid, of hurting the card, but make sure your power supply and motherboard can handle it (my power supply is a ABS Tagan BZ800 (800 Watts), this is where research will keep you from doing something you will regret.

Have fun gaming on your new system!

No, no all wrong. You should've gone for the tomorrow's tech Pentium 3 proccessor, a GeForce 1880GTX, and 18MB RAM. This machine I just mentioned can rip anything apart.

Looks like a solid system. You should have no trouble running any current games. I built a machine for a friend with an 8800 GT and was very impressed with the performance/price.

One thing to consider is if you really want a quad core CPU. Games today don't lend themselves to multiple threads and don't benefit from additional cpu cores. A dual core is a huge performance boost over a single core, but that's because the OS and other crap is segregated and the game gets a CPU to itself. Adding more cores generally doesn't help game performance. If you're gonna spend X dollars on a CPU and gaming is your main objective you are better off with a higher clock speed dual core than a slower speed quad core. If money's no object go for the faster CPU with the most cores.

Here's an article with some benchmarks. The only place quad cores do particularly well are in artificial benchmarks. Real game situations the dual cores do just as well (sometimes better).

giantraddish

umm, I'll send you my laptop for your desktop...:D

But yeah that'll play most games today, you make me jealous.

It seems your main concern is gaming and your list looks fine. But I would change that q6600 to the new E8400 3.0ghz dual core unless you plan to over-clock that quad 2.4ghz, then again you would need a good after market heat sink fan.

And if you do get brave in the future and want to over clock the dual core runs a lot cooler and can be pushed further. Good luck wiht your decision, either way you'll love the new rig.