[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Well, I've almost got the savings squared away for a new PC. I'm looking at a $800 budget and would prefer to use it for things besides gaming, but would also like it FFXIV-ready if that's even possible, so I kinda need to know what I'm in for and if $800 is even enough to cut it.

I would also be using it for making flash programs, audio and picture editing mainly, as that's stuff I would like to get deeper into that I have at present. While I do currently work at Dell, having worked with the product first had to do very simple tasks, I'm not confident in anything they have but the HD monitors and that's something I can worry about down the road closer to FFXIV's release. Standard monitors will do fine for now.

They said the PC specs for FFXIV would be pretty high, so I guess I'm looking for a game to use as a point of reference for what is "pretty high" now. I can hold back for a bit and save a little more if I need to, but I really need a new computer within two months. The one I am on is beyond decrepit and needs to be put out of its misery.

[Kailea]

keep saving, your going to need around 1,000

for all you want to do, and to make sure FFXIV will run like butter.

3 main things you need to make sure you have

Quad-core CPU
Video card with atleast 512mb-1gb of RAM
4gb RAM (32-bit) 6-8gb (64-bit)

[cidbahamut]

Are you looking to build it yourself or buy a pre-built machine?

[Malacite]

BBQ, if it were me I would just wait until SE releases the required specs for the game and then pick up the PC maybe a week or so before launch.

Reason being the longer you wait the less expensive older tech gets, so if you can hold off on buying that PC you can probably score something even better than what you're pricing now or better at a lower rate when the time comes. That's what I did. I put off buying a new PC for years (which is a little extreme I suppose but I didn't need anything major) until I couldn't stand sharing with my brother and father anymore. My machine ran me about $2400 with all the extra crap and the warranty but it's at least 10x better than what I would have gotten for the same price all those years my dad was nagging me to get my own.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I'd prefer to built it myself or through a local store that builds them, which I'm about to leave to go check out today.

I prefer the option to expand and in my experience, pre-built machines aren't very good for that. They'll promise customer support and then back off the promise within a few years. Plus it seems the only way to get XP on anything from a big company is to buy their big gaming rigs. Dell won't even give my a discount as a temp, so fuck 'em.

And unfortunately this is not something that can wait til next year months before FFXIV comes out - I have projects that I need to get moving on and the current PC is not up to snuff for them. If I can find the current standard build for now, then I should be good for when FFXIV gets out.

[Pwnagraphic]

I'd just build one if I were you BBQ. If you got the money, you could get the best parts so that in a couple years it won't be out of date and you don't have to worry about buying new parts every year. Unless all you wanna do is play FFXIV for the rest of your life you could build it to it's requirements.

[IfritnoItazura]

Is this a desktop? If need a computer soon, why not just get something reasonable strong CPU and RAM wise, with a cheapo+whatever graphics card for now since FFXIV won't be out for while?

Aion is looking to be the next contender to be a big MMORPG, and its recommended setup is:

Pentium Dual Core, AMD Athlon 64 X2; 2 GB RAM; GeForce 7600, Radeon HD 2600; Hard Drive 15GB; DirectX 9.0c(2008,6)

GPU aside, if you can hit those marks or above (esp. more RAM), I'd think you would be OK. Since Aion is a 2008 release (with localization still on-going, I guess), its recommended CPU shouldn't be too far off for a 2010 MMO release's minimum.

* * *

Start with this:
Ars Technica System Guide: April 2009 Edition - Ars Technica
$686 (as of April), before shipping, tax, and OS. (Yes, you'll have to add OS.)

Stick in an even cheaper graphics card for now (since it's not for gaming yet), reuse a LCD monitor if you already have one, recycle old speakers, etc., and and you should be able to cut down on the prices a bit more.

Probably can manage something under $800 including OS, shipping, and tax with a bit of trimming.

[cidbahamut]

Just make sure you grab a motherboard with room to grow and a good processor. RAM is cheap and a "for the time being" video card will only set you back a few bucks until you know which souped up card you want to invest in.

I built a new machine last summer and I went with the MSI K9A2 Platinum and while it's not top of the line, I don't expect to need to put together another machine for a good five years. Just poke around on NewEgg, or better yet your local computer store. Preferably one with employees who know what they're talking about and have no qualms about losing the company money to get you better deals(God I love Microcenter).

[Feba]

Yep, get a fairly cheap computer, but with a motherboard that will leave you with plenty of room for upgrading. Something that works ok for your short term needs, and then when FFXIV is out you can meet it's system requirements much cheaper, and you'll actually know what to aim for. You don't want to be the guy that spends $400 on the graphics card that is 'low end' for the game you want to play, when the mid-range is $100 before the game is out.

I've been there, and it sucks, very very hard.

I do have to recommend Newegg though; I ran out of patience long before their customer service did. Wonderful company if you're building your own box.

[TheGrandMom]

Kitten, 800 (without buying am monitor) is plenty for a good computer. Are you going to cannibalize your current PC for any parts like case/dvd drive/cd drive/etc?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

There's nothing in this PC worth cannibalizing unfortunately. I doubt I'll even reuse the monitor, even the DVD-ROM drive is slow by today's standards.

[Queen Uma]

I don't know what prices are like in the US but if you're looking into something that you can get cheaply now and then upgrade easily next year when Squenix release the reqs for FF14, look into AMD AM3 chips. They're backwards compatible with AM2/AM2+. So you can grab a decent tri/quad core CPU, stick it in a cheap AM2 Mobo with a chunk of cheap DDR2. Then next year, when prices have dropped and performace has improved, you can grab an AM3 board and some DDR3.

[InuTrunks]

You do not *NEED* a quad core CPU, hell, you don't even need a Dual core, but it's the standards today.

Quadcores are a waste of money, nothing but heavy computer users, and multi taskers use them (I only use my dual core support for running two instances of wow at the same time, one on each core).