Help needed for a computer noob :P

Noir_Proxy · 3 Aug 2010 at 13:01

Hi everyone. I am currently looking to buy a computer from here for under £700. Sadly, I am not very good at understanding the system specs of the machines and I was wondering if someone could help me.

I am wanting to purchase a unit that can play Dawn of War 2 and Starcraft 2 on max settings as it's all I ever play :-)

I am currently on a laptop with a GT 8600 and I can only achieve medium graphics and some on high if I want some framerate lag at times.

I was looking at the Titan Xenomorph and it seemed like the best choice? But you guys will obviously know better than me. Is there a better one or did I pick the right one?

Thanks!

mp260767 · 3 Aug 2010 at 13:21

the predator would be okay for the games you've shown, from what i can see of the required system specs, with the 5770 graphics card.

DavidUK84 · 3 Aug 2010 at 13:35

Noir_Proxy said:
I am wanting to purchase a unit that can play Dawn of War 2 and Starcraft 2 on max settings as it's all I ever play

Sorry I can't help you with your specs as I'm a noob too. (Though there is a sticky at the top of the page that might help) but if you like strategy games then I definitely recommend Supreme Commander, or any of the Total War series. RUSE which is coming up soon looks great as well. :-)

mp260767 · 3 Aug 2010 at 15:32

DavidUK84 said:
....then I definitely recommend Supreme Commander...

If your interested in looking at something like this Noir, then i'd advise going with a quad core processor, as i've read it will help.

R088ieS86 · 3 Aug 2010 at 15:57

Noir_Proxy said:
I am wanting to purchase a unit that can play Dawn of War 2 and Starcraft 2 on max settings as it's all I ever play

All you ever play? SC2 only came out last week!!

It runs perfectly on Ultra with an i7 920 / 5870. the stress comes from 2v2 games.
But the game seems to be more intensive on the processor so i agree with mp260767 and get a quadcore!

honosuseri · 3 Aug 2010 at 16:16

It can get quite complicated but a general rule of thumb is to make sure the numbers on the spec are as high as poss whilst keeping in budget. All graphics cards follow this rule i.e 5770 is lower spec to 5870 and so on.

Few games at the mo fully utilise quadcores (only use 2 cores) but this is bound to change in the future as developers embrace the tech. However a better graphics card is preferable to a more powerful CPU. The 5770 is a good budget card but a 5850/5870 would be better.

Hope this helps you in making a decision

Noir_Proxy · 3 Aug 2010 at 17:56

I was planning on getting the Geforce GTX 470 1028MB, so is a 5770 better than that? Between the Predator which is on sale and the Xenomorph, which one would you guys choose? If you wanted to play those games on ultra? I do have £700 to spend on it after all

Noir_Proxy · 3 Aug 2010 at 18:27

Also can the motherboard fit two cards for in the future?

R088ieS86 · 3 Aug 2010 at 19:59

The GTX 470 is closer to the 5850 speeds. but if you add an OS you'll be hitting closer to £800.

2nd piece of bad news is that the motherboards 2nd PCI-E 16x slot when running in crossfire / Sli mode will only run at 4x speed. So you won't get the best out of your 2nd card.

The upside, Getting the Titan Preditor with GTX 460 768MB / Windows 7 Home Premium will cost you £703.24.

If you have a look at these you'll see that SC2 is a rather CPU limiting game:

GPU Performance
CPU/Multi Core Performance

SO with the Titans i3 @ 4.2Ghz you should be able to max(Ultra) it out and have a good time.