Dude should I get a Dell??

[James D]

I am needing to upgrade to a better gaming PC, I deciede to go with Dell or HP. I am not skilled enough to build my own, I was looking at the Dell:
Dimension 8400
Cutting Edge Technology
Pentium® 4 Processor 540 with HT Technology (3.20GHz, 800 FSB)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

FREE 17" Flat Panel Monitor Upgrade - Online only!
FREE Shipping - Online Only!
FREE Memory Upgrade to 1GB!
50 FREE Music Downloads - Online Only!

Featured at
$1,099
$899
After $200 Mail-in Rebate!
or $ 33 a month

What do you think??? Please any suggestion is a good suggestion!! Is athlon and Pentum 4 the best proccesers right now? Should I even bother with this PC. Anything is better than the PC I got now. Emachines T1842 ew! All that free Jazzs ends today so is it worth it? I like the 33 a month deal, no intrest till 2006!! yea baby!
James D

[Friend_Bear]

It really depends what you are going to use your P.C for, that system will be great for burning cds/dvds, watching movies and stuff like that but without a decent graphics card its not going to be great for gaming.

[James D]

It really depends what you are going to use your P.C for, that system will be great for burning cds/dvds, watching movies and stuff like that but without a decent graphics card its not going to be great for gaming.

K I forgot to say its is coming with a 1 g of ram and a 128 mb Radeon x300 SE. How good of quality is that card. Thanks
James D

[Aku]

You're getting it so cheap, just put your $200 rebate toward a good video card, and you're set. Your rig is already loaded with a Radeon and ATI drivers, so just get a better Radeon card.

[Friend_Bear]

K I forgot to say its is coming with a 1 g of ram and a 128 mb Radeon x300 SE. How good of quality is that card. Thanks
James D

I checked up on the Rad x300 SE, its not that great a card but its bundled with the computer so can't really complain at least its better than rad 9600 S.E hehe, it'll play most games that are currently out there but don't expect awesome frame rates or great detail, the best bet would still be a radeon 9800 pro for around $200, I brought one with my AMD64 3400 and so far the card is awesome, plays half-life 2 and doom 3 at highest detail settings with no lag or frame skips, its very sweet.

[Mochan]

Is that really cheap? It doesn't look cheap. I tried building the system and threw in some good components for the stuff that isn't mentioned (like 450W PSU, Centurion aluminum case, I used Samsung brand for the DDR400 1GB RAM although I doubt Dell would use a good brand, and an ECS848 board which should be able to support all those components) and I ended up with a price tag of about $820. And I'm using Philippine prices, which are more expensive for electronics.

But yeah, get that rig and hook it up with a Radeon 9800 class card, and you'll be cruising.

[Mochan]

OH wait, I forgot to factor in Windows in the price. ;)

[James D]

WOW thanks guys, see I am use to hear awful things about my old PC, ha emachines...I don't know what I was thinking......celeron....OK what is my max of video games then till I upgrade...I have been wanting to play Rome Total war forever....will this new PC bring me my dream? or do I have to upgrade video card this early!!
Thanks again that has helped me heaps.
James D
Real fast, I have a Gforce MX 4000 64mb PCI, I know its an old school card but wich Card is better.....Thanks

[James D]

HA real fast this is what someone said about my last PC " The PC will last, its just not very good. You have a slow CPU, slow and mismatched Front Side Bus between the memory and CPU, a low end video card, cheap sound chip, slow hard drive, and plenty of ram (1 gig). If it came down to upgrading you'd have to replace everything." - that one got me thinking!!
James D

[Aku]

Real fast, I have a Gforce MX 4000 64mb PCI, I know its an old school card but wich Card is better.....Thanks

Ditch the MX 4000.

[James D]

Thanks a heap you lot! You guys saved me from having to take one out, put one in, then test it, then take it out, put the other in and test that! This thread is now complete!!
James D

[Mochan]

That new PC will run Rome Total War at 2480x1249 or whatever res at 16x Aniso and 6xAA (that's with the Radeon 98oo Pro mind you)