Don't chuckle toooooo hard at this post, but I am a 56 yr. old mom who loves to play PC games and my 16 yr. old son and I just got into WOW-oh my! We have to upgrade and I can't build myself (can get someone but couldn't fix myself and need support). I need to spend bare minimum on a new tower. (500-700) I have a Dell 15"LCD screen which is ok. I found an ACER for around $600 with 1GB and decent video card plus Vista 1 step up from basic. I'd love to get something B _ _ _ _ _ _ , but can't afford it. If I was to put more RAM and a decent video card upgrade into what I have now, I might as well buy a new tower for the extra bucks. Also, is it best to wait a couple of mos for these new Core 2 chips? or in my case will it matter? I prob. will never play anything more demanding than WOW, but need wiggle room to upgrade later on. TA

Check out Dell's C521 desktop. In the customize options, subtract the monitor (-$160) and upgrade to the X1300 card ($60) for a decent $600 machine. This has an Athlon64 X2 3800+ which will run WOW just fine.

Does the Acer you found use a P4 chip? If so I would avoid it. While the Core2Duo's are nice, Athlon X2's are just fine, while Pentiums (all of them) are obsolete.

Jo

If you feel like you can put in a video card yourself. I would get that dell without upgrading the videocard to the x1300, then go buy a videocard from newegg and throw it in there. Maybe a 7600gt for $90. I think you'd be a lot more happy with that. I think the 7600gt will give you about twice the performance of the x1300.

Please dont mention "old" 'cause im not far behind ya! and ya I am a gamer also! age is just a number?

Yeah I agree with featherstone that the 7600 GT would be better. Just check 2 things 1st:

1) That the computer with integrated graphics actually has a PCI-E x16 slot for a video card.

2) That adding a video card yourself does not void your service agreement with the manufacturer.

Jo

Could always go my route and get a Gateway GT5408 from Bestbuy. Will end up just out of your price range after taxes, but I can say first hand that it's upgradeable in a great way. Just out of the box you can get a free upgrade in the sense that the 533 mhz DDR2 RAM can be changed to 667 mhz.

If you do decide to get that computer and do that to the RAM, just be sure to change the CAS latency to 5 from the 4 it's on. Logically it would hurt things, but it makes things very smooth and zippy.

Honestly though, you could spend >$400 for a bargain basement computer, throw in a $50 video card, and it would probably perform World of Warcraft like a charm.


http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/ [...] ponents.do

Change the video card to the other one and that should do fine for most things. Might want to up the RAM, too, I hear 512 with Vista isn't too good.

What is your current computer? I don't know what other games you play, but if you want to play WOW mainly, even an old GF4 ti4200 would get you great gameplay with that 15" display, for the price of $30 on ebay. If your current computer isn't too terribly old, it may be the best route.

If you are just playing WOW and are willing to spend 600-700 I would just get a cheap system that runs Vista at Wal-Mart or Bestbuy. Get one for about $400 without a monitor and then spend about $250 to get a 21" wide screen LCD monitor. You will enjoy the monitor and it will make more of a game impact then spending money on Processing and Graphics power you will not use to play WOW.

Try to get a HP or Compaq. These are the best bang for the Buck and have excellent service with them.

Enjoy.

This reminds me of my own story my 5 yr old son on my lap playing diablo in early 90's.

Then when he was 8 we played diable 2 for about 5 years - I was ranked in the top 50 players in the useast diablo hardcore ladder for 2 years.

Then universal bought blizzard and ruined it! All the warcraft diablo creators left - Hellgate London starts this summer - I have high expectations. Most diablo palyers went to WOW a few went to Guild wars.

O - I miss the old days! 200 baal runs per day!


Contact me i be glad to help you! I have alot of old parts and some used systems that are a great deal.

you need a good psu and graphics card -- you need the psu to power your graphics card. there are some great deals on ebay - if you email me i tell if its a good deal!

http://www.warpedsystems.net/contactus.html

I got a used gaming system I warranty for you for a year.

Its got a 2.4c in a hp case with lights and fans its a trade in -- its agp with a 6200LE - you need a better card

asus p4r800 - upgraded hp mobo
intel p4 2.4c
512 memory
6200le
windows home
80 gig drive
dvd and cd - 2 drives
fan controll
uv lights
window in a hp door - this is customized hp i did for someone

this is trade in on $2500 gaming system.


i will install fresh windows, spysweeper and avg - coa and cd

$200 you probably get twice that for the parts on ebay - only for nice older wow-gamer - its going on ebay in 1-2 days

if your not allowed to sell stuff here - email me and i will deleate this


I upgrade the psu for free - just the cost of the psu - so you can add a new video card.

this is the old agp - new agp cards are more money then pci-x. But you can get great cards on ebay really cheap and many nvidia cards have lifetime warranties - while the gpu is still being made. so you can get a good system for $400.

the new psu and a new used video card would cost about $200

well good luck!!!

thats awesome you and your son play wow. i wish my mom did that. but she dont lol. maybe one day i will get lucky and she will. if your son is good at computers you would go to newegg.com and build your self a nice little computer that would run wow just fine. because its really not hard to build a computer. and no i am no i am not trying to sound like a mr know it all or anything i am just trying to help her out. because i am only a kid still 21

I'll toss in another company to think about, Cyberpower. I've bought a couple HPs through the years and I really couldn't recommend one. Too many cheap parts of unknown manufacture. You can get a Cyberpower with Vista premium and an AM2 X2 3800+ on your budget. Then you can upgrade later as you want and can afford.

I've had a Cyberpower for over a year now and the only parts that went bad were upgrade parts, not the original hardware, so from my experience, I think the company is ok.

I added the Vista Premium in case that was desired. Getting XP would be a bit cheaper and allow money for more ram or something else.

Consider the value of a project with your son to build your own. If you are computer literate enough to find this site and post, then you can do it. The hardest part is doing the research and making certain that the parts fit . There are several threads you can research on budget builds, and there are some sites that show you in pictures step by step how. There are many here who can help. Having done this, you will not need support in the future, and the value of having your son participate---priceless!

Ok. I was thinking of an entire new computer, not a rebuild using her P4. The Cyberpower I mentioned would support Vista and give her an AM2 3800+ cpu which should suit her needs and budget with ease, or use XP if seh wanted to stick with that.