Buying New computer. Techies only please!

basilmarket.com forums : Maple Story Tech Help & Patches | 15 posts archived

thread starter aznfr3ak Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

So one of my best friends is buying a new computer and he asks me for help. Even though I don't really know that much about computers, so I came here on basil where I knew I'd find some answers. :] Anyways he got it down to two computers that are priced the same and wants to know which is a better buy. HP Computer or this: Asus Computer He also doesn't know which monitor he wants. He said something about contrast ratio. Well I've noticed that the Asus monitor has a higher ratio than the HP one and the HP says "HD" in its name. I don't know if that means that he'll be able to watch youtube videos in HD or anything. O.o Here are the links: HP: HP Monitor Asus: Asus Monitor Thanks! Your answers are very much appreciated! Edit: Fixed links.(Hopefully)

OniOnbOii Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

How to url = [url=((link))][/url] or just paste the link without the url tags. Remove the parentheses. Checking links now :D. HP Desktop has turboboost, Asus does not. HP Desktop has GTS 250 (Worse, older gfx card), Asus has GTX 260. Technically everything else is the same o_O.. Though the Asus doesn't say the RAM speed. Asus has worse build quality though I believe. Customizing for 1200$ would be much better though if he can learn how to build a computer. I can spend.. 200$ more, making a total of 1000$, and it'll already beat those two computers. And I basically have life time warranty on everything. Only three things aren't lifetime warrantied. My case (3 years, for some reason), my processor, E7400 (3 years), and my HDD by Seagate, Barracuda Series (3 years). RAM would cost me around.. 70$ more for the 6 gig tri-channel I want. Making a total of $1070 and that's not including sales since I usually buy things on sale / free shipping. Core i7 920's go for about 200$ on sale at microcenter at my place btw so.. thats why so little to upgrade :D. And pick the Asus monitor. Bigger screens are better to me IMO, and the HD resolution is just.. win/win for me pretty much. With those computers I'm guessing he's going to be playing games like Crysis, and the 1920 x 1080 resolution is pretty much considered the gamers resolution. Also, I believe all 1920 x 1080+ monitors are HD. At least from what I've seen. Don't know as much about monitors. Edit: Btw, more up-to-date graphic cards are the NVIDIA GTX series (the GTX 260, 260 Core 216, 275, 280, 285, and the 295). and the Radeon 4800 Series (the 4850, 4870, and 4890, also the 4850 x2 and the 4870 x2 if you consider those. Budget cards are two 4770's in Crossfire, which is said capable of beating one of the single cards. Forgot really. 4890 = said to be better than the GTX 285 / 275 if overclocked since the 4890 has great overclocking capabilities, but personally, I hate the Radeon series after my Radeon 4850 burnt within 4 months). I believe the Radeon 5000 series is coming out soon, and the GTS / X 300 Series in 2010. So prices of video cards are going to drop soon, so if your friend can wait, he can probably get a better deal, especially if custom built. Note. The GTS / X 300 series and the 5000 series are going to be in the few hundreds. AKA 500$+ probably so I don't know how much they would drop. But then again, they could create lower end cards because those two series are DX11 supportive, and also including the fact that not many games will automatically switch to DX11 as not many people would buy it, and would rather wait and see reviews / wait for prices to drop. Edit for the who knows how manyith time: Also, I'd recommend putting some text inbetween the links so people don't get confused. Like.. [url=((link))]((text))[/url] Kinda hard to see but yeah. lol.

PuppyKevin Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I'd choose the HP computer and the Asus Monitor. Although, if your friend does have the option, look into other brands. I wouldn't buy from neither of them :/

LowWillpower 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

The Asus desktop is better then the HP desktop. It has a better GPU. It's a pretty good computer, I think it's worth it as far as pre-builts from best buy go. I don't know about monitors though.

aznfr3ak 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Ooh thx! And sorry for the fail links. >.< Anyone know anything about the monitors? :D And @ LowWillpower, what's GPU? XD

LowWillpower 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

aznfr3ak : Ooh thx! And sorry for the fail links. >.< Anyone know anything about the monitors? :D And @ LowWillpower, what's GPU? XD Graphics processing unit, AKA graphics card.

aznfr3ak 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Oh I see. Thanks for explaining and thx OniOnbOii for posting. Any other opinions are welcome as well.

poolplayer Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

the hp would be my choice the computers are almost the same but the hp has a built in wireless internet reciever it also has a blue ray player which is good for HD movies which you can watch on the asus screenwhich is better. they are both basically the same but the asus screen is larger and has a higher contrast ratio so my choices are the hp computer with the asus screen edit 720 is also hd but 1080 is the best hd out right now both monitors are 1080 it doesn't say if its interlaced or progressive(progressive is better) but i am going to assume that they are progressive so the asus monitor is better

gameripper 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

where the links?

LowWillpower 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

poolplayer : the hp would be my choice the computers are almost the same but the hp has a built in wireless internet reciever it also has a blue ray player which is good for HD movies which you can watch on the asus screenwhich is better. they are both basically the same but the asus screen is larger and has a higher contrast ratio so my choices are the hp computer with the asus screen edit 720 is also hd but 1080 is the best hd out right now both monitors are 1080 it doesn't say if its interlaced or progressive(progressive is better) but i am going to assume that they are progressive so the asus monitor is better The Asus also has a GTX 260 compared to a GTS 250.

OniOnbOii 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

I have no idea why I posted all of that.. Bored I guess. 8:25 AM :D. You're welcome lol.

poolplayer Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

i know but the gts 250 comes with about 100MB more memory so im not sure how they compare but i'm sure the gtx 260 is better but i said almost the same and these guys dont know computers so im assuming they are not* hardcore gamers/computer nerds that would notice the difference between the 2 cards *edit

aznfr3ak Aug 18 2009 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

Well here's a 23" HP Monitor. Don't know if it's any better than the 21.5" though. 23'' HP Monitor

LowWillpower 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

poolplayer : i know but the gts 250 comes with about 100MB more memory so im not sure how they compare but i'm sure the gtx 260 is better but i said almost the same and these guys dont know computers so im assuming they are not* hardcore gamers/computer nerds that would notice the difference between the 2 cards *edit I think the difference might be noticeable. The 250 isn't as good as the 260, but it's also a GTX compared to GTS (or are all 250's GTS?) and the difference would be there. The difference in VRAM is basically nothing and wont really make a difference.

poolplayer 08/18/09 + PM | QUOTE | PERMALINK | REPORT

the 23" monitor is $40 more and the asus still has a beastlier contrast ratio