Looking for a good PC for Gaming

[Gamree]

Well, it's the usual story, my old computer isn't enough to play the up-to-date games out today, and now I'm looking for a new inexpensive computer mainly for computer gaming purposes. I've been looking around and I've found some good candidates, but I just want to make sure that they would be enough for my specifications before I went out to attempt to buy one. I've posted the specs for each computer below, and would appreciate it if anyone would tell me whether these computers would be good enough for a gaming computer.

If it helps any, the largest game I'm planning to put on the new computer probably would be Oblivion, so I'm mainly looking for a computer on which that game would run well on. I'm pretty sure I'm safe in the memory and hard drive areas on each computer, since I understand those areas well on a computer, but my main concerns are the sound and graphics cards and especially the processor, since I don't understand those areas that much. Again, any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.


Comp #1 HP Pavilion a1510y
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Basic
Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) D 356 (3.33GHz, 533MHz FSB)
Memory 1GB DDR-533MHz SDRAM (1x1024)
Hard Drive 250GB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive 16x max. DVD-ROM
Front Productivity Ports 2 USB, front audio ports
Graphics Card Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
Sound Card Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ front audio ports


Comp #2 HP Pavilion Slimline s3000e
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Basic
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3800+ (2.4GHz / 512KB L2 cache)
Memory 1GB DDR2-533MHz SDRAM (2x512)
Hard Drive 250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, USB
Graphics Card Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports


Comp #3 HP Pavilion Slimline s3000y
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Basic
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 641 w/ HT Technology, 3.2GHz
Memory 1GB DDR2-533MHz SDRAM (2x512)
Hard Drive 250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, USB
Graphics Card Integrated Intel(R) 950
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports

 

[nickslick74]

All of the above mentioned systems use integrated grahpics. They may be able to play Oblivion (I'm not familiar with that games requirements) but you won't be able to turn on all of the 'eye candy' for sure.

Of the 3 systems you list above, #2 would be the best mainly because of the CPU. #1 is crap because of the Celly processor and #3 will get beaten by #2 processor wise.

Also, if you can, upgrade Vista to at least Home Premium.

 

[Ollie30001]

I wouldnt go for any of them if u want to play the latest games well.

the best way to go is to build your own, it really isnt that hard, i built this computer im using now for games, was my 1st build ever and only cost me 721 quid

specs x1900xtx 512mb
2gig ocz 667 ram
150gig 10,000 rpm hdd
5000+ 2.60ghz dual core athlon x2
k9a platinum crossfire ready mobo

runs fear maxed out nicely (being the most graphics intensive game out at the moment)

and i built this almost 6 months ago, so im sure for around the same price now you can build something a little better too

 

[Condor]

cheap and nice pc u got there ollie =]
10,000 rpm hdd wooo

 

[Gamree]

Okay, thanks. More opinions would be appreciated, too. I think I'll consider building my own computer. Just curious, would it make much of a difference if I changed comp #2's graphics card to a NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE?

 

[nickslick74]

It would make it somewhat better, but be careful some 7300's use 'TurboCache' which is a fancy way of saying that it uses some of your system ram.

Are you willing to try a build on your own? If so, what would your budget be and what country do you live in so we can recommend parts?

 

[Gamree]

Live in the U.S. As for budget, it's not as much as I would hope, being only around $500-$700 USD max.

 

[Gamree]

Sorry for the double post, but just in case you want to know, here are the system requirements for Oblivion.

Operating System: Windows XP
Processor: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card; Keyboard, Mouse
2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Video Card: 128 MB Direct3d compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver.
Disk Space: 4.6 GB free disc space
CD Speed: 8X DVD-ROM drive
RAM: 512 MB System Ram
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (included)

 

[topps999]

personally would custom build if i was u....

Operating System Genuine Windows xp sp2(TM) Home Basic
Processor amd anthlon 64 2x 4200+ (or anything higher ect 4400+ 4600+ 4800+ 5200+)
Memory atleast 1.5 gb (maybe 2.5)
Hard Drive anything above 100gb
Primary CD/DVD Drive 16x
Front Productivity Ports 2 usb + headphone jacks ect
Graphics Card geforce (as i luv geforce - and there very good + reliable for me) umm i wud personally use anything from 7600gt or higher or maybe try dual??
Sound Card soundblaster live! (good + verycheap)
mobo a m2n series

 

[Noobedup]

Further more about intergrated graphics... its useless.
Say you short your motherboard, that blows both you graphics and sound to.
Always get seperate, only costs afew extra hundred

Processor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3600+ AM2 DUAL CORE 64BIT 2000MHZ HYPER TRANSPO
MotherBoard: Asus M2N4-SLI Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 CPU ATX nForce4 S
DVD/CD: Samsung 52x32x52x CDRW+16DVD Combo
Memory: 1GB DDR2 667 PC5300 SDRAM Memory
Case: Thermaltake SOPRANO
Graphics: GeForce 7600 GS 512MB PCI-Express
Hard-Disk: Seagate 250GB 7200rpm SATA
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate

I got all that for $1060NZD. Always customize your pc, unless you want the junk companies put on the computer to slow it down. Just need your own monitor, keyboard and mouse.

 

[nickslick74]

Check out here for a decent build: https://www.techspot.com/article/25-affordable-am2-gaming-system/