I would still go with the system that Callistra recommended. It's only about $75 more than the system that you were looking at locally, it has an actual (quite nice, especially for the price) graphics card, a very solid motherboard which will be upgradeable for you in future, sufficient wattage on the power supply to handle the card... You don't know what the power supply you'll be getting in that local computer is, do you? You don't want to end up in the same situation as you are now in future, looking to upgrade to a real graphics card and having to spend an extra $100-ish on a new power supply in addition to the price of the card.

I am not familiar with US prices but as specs goes, it is a fine PC. Better than mine except I have a graphics card.



The onboard graphics will be a problem for games and will need to be upgraded. Two things to check are it has an PCI-e16 slot for a graphics card. The second item is the PSU, if it has a low wattage PSU then that too needs to upgraded, adding more expense. I would argue with them if they charge to downgrade to XP. I personally would just opt for Vista if they do charge you for it.

Is this machine build internally by the store? If so then it should not be a problem to ask for certain components changes, such as the PSU. If it comes in a box, ie the shop is just selling the computer from another manufacturer, then it will be more difficult.

You may also check some online stores. Some might offer better prices and choices.

Yeah, she was talking about the graphics.

HP, I wrote down the name and specs of the graphics card callistra recommended, and I'm going to see if she can order it. I will definitely enquire about the PSU. I seen a power supply there yesterday, it was 300 watts, which is what she put in my PC when I had to replace mine.

But I'm going to try and buy a new PC. I can just take out a loan somewhere, and $500 really isn't that much. I didn't expect a PC as good as this one, or the one callistra recommended, to be so cheap. I browsed the Alienware website once, and their gaming PC's were between $1500 and $4,000.

Oh, and this PC is an HP.

I have a HP laptop and i find its generally good....WAY better than acer...because if you said acer...well dont touch them with a 10ft bargepole...

I know callistra doesnt like HP's...haha

Though i would go for a 400w psu. that 300w wouldnt power that card and all of that..but as always ask the pc expert.

Although make sure you can pay this loan...we wouldnt want you in debt just for sims...BTW alienware is extortionate!

Also i have that processorand i find i can run games like bioshock and COD4 on max...at a playable level...

Also that graphics card is the same i have and you can see of the picture quality i get in the sims 2 here-

http://forums.sims2community.com/sh...6&postcount=276

The sales person either doesn't know what they're talking about or they don't care and they're just trying to push you into a sale. You need a good dedicated card. Don't buy a computer with integrated graphics. You will end up having to buy a card to put in yourself, in the hopeful case there is an expansion slot to do so (I know for a fact that HP make some low speced low price systems without an expansion slot for graphics cards), and upgrade the psu because the stock psu they use in low spec systems like that won't cut it.

If you build yourself, spec for spec it will always be cheaper than buying prebuilt. That's one of the benefits

TingTong, I don't if that screenshot was from your game or what, but that bedroom is beautiful, and I don't just mean the graphics, but the furnishings.

I will ask if I can insert a graphics cards into this PC. It hadn't crossed my mind that there may not be a slot for it. I told the technician that I'd rather just order one, but she remained insistant that I may not need one.

Also, is there a way to transfer, or copy, data from one HD to another? So I won't lose all my data, and not everything can be burned to disk, you know.

Cassandra_M...I know we haven't spoke before but Callistra is correct! When she said that the sales person might be pushing you for a sale...if you do not know what you are getting yourself into...I would really reccommend that you don't buy it...How much is your price range...if you don't mind restating it . If you want to spend somewhere between §600.00 - §900.00, then I would also suggest that you look at this machine...since Duo Processors are in these days but I am looking at this one for myself...as soon as hubby starts driving them 18 wheels ....

Edit: Cass, If you order the machine that I mentioned, I think that you might have to add more RAM but other than that, I think it's a good machine for the price. I'm only going for mine mainly because of the lights plus it's a Quad Core, the graphics card, and mainly because of the price.

Happy Computer Hunting....


LaTasha

Those screenshots were from my game. Its a good card. That mnachine with that card will probably even play TS3!

I think if its the same one I have then you will blow anyone out of the water, I have the one called ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 PRO with 1gigabyte of video memory, it seems to be the same name as the one you have but without PRO.

IT WILL WORK!!! Extremely well.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonh...0pro/index.html

on http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest
my graphics card gives it the top marks.

Yes but with the other components its still not a great computer...definately not future proof....

I've been looking over Callistra's recommendation, and it seems nice, but it's out of the question. The "Bill me later" was intrigueing, at first, untill I read "subject to credit approval" I have no credit, so I probably wouldn't pass.

Is there any other way? Maybe a credit I could apply for online that's for people with no credit?

This forum is being very helpful so I guess this is the best place to ask.

Nevermind then.

My advice is be wary of places like that. Places that offer credit to people who has little or no chance of obtaining elsewhere tends to have very very high interest rates and very very strict terms. They can afford to do that because they know their customers are desperate and have no other places to turn to.

Is there a reason why you think you will not be approve at the more respectable places? Not every one has a credit history to begin with. There is no harm in trying. The worse they can do is say no so you are no worse than you are now.

One final thing, it is just a computer. It is an not essential purchase. Don't get yourself in a financial burden over this. If you really cannot afford it, then don't buy it.

Why not try debit card? You can use it like a credit card only its like a savings/transaction account. You can get one that can have either mastercard/visa verification. From where am from, its very easy to get one, you don't need any approval as long as your over 18yrs. Its very handy to have as you can make online purchases or use it overseas. Im assuming your from the US. If you were from australia, i would have recommend a few shops.

Well, kinneer, PC's are very important to me, and The Sims 2 is even more important. I really love that game. I have everything solved now, and I shoud be getting my PC next week sometime. Titlemax is very resourceful, lol, and they offer offordable monthly payments, and credit isn't required.

I want to thank you all for your help and input, you probably saved me alot of trouble too, and if wasn't for the encouragment I recieved I wouldn't have found the PC I listed above, because I wouldn't have been looking, lol. I never thought I could find such a nice PC so cheap. And, Callistra, if you read this thread again don't feel that you wasted your time by posting those recommendations, because it wasn't, I'm ordering that graphic cards you listed. And newegg seems like a nice site, and I will probably shop there in the future.

fftamfan, I do have a debit card, I just didn't have enough in the bank to get that PC.

Please know that you will have to upgrade the psu on the computer as well. Please do not install the new gpu without the psu, otherwise you could fry your entire machine. The supplied psu is not strong enough to run the new card. I hope that a standard atx will fit and that the graphics card will too. There is no guarantee that the computer you purchased will be able to support either. In the event that it will support both upgrades, the 300w psu you talked about earlier is not enough either. You need a MINIMUM (never recommended to go with a minimum though) of 350w psu but it also has a requirement of 22amps on the +12v rail , so not just any cheapo psu will work. Many cheaper psus will not fit that. I recommend sticking to PC Power & Cooling, Corsair, OCZ, Seasonic, a few Thermaltake and Enermax are also ok. Good luck.

Also curious, add in the price of the graphics card and the new psu to the computer you bought and it now costs considerably more than the one I priced up..I hope you realized this.

I talked with the technician some, she's going to build me a PC with the same same specs only without some of the other fancy features. But I'm not so sure I want one now.

I've been doing some reading and I found BV and Freetime come packaged with something called securom, and Neverwinter Nights 2 does as well. Those were the three games I wanted the most but I want nothing to do with securom from what I've read.

seasons also ahs securom so does hm stuff and the other stuff packs

Ditto! I was told that you can remove it and I've even heard some say that it will not run at all if you do it but I really don't know for sure :question

SecuROM is perfectly safe. The people running around waving their arms crying about it, frankly, don't know what they're talking about. I had it for months with H&M and didn't even know it. My computer's perfectly fine.

You CAN remove SecuROM separately from the games it requires but then they will not run - there are SecuROM removal instructions on the official site but it says quite clearly you have to uninstall the EPs/SPs that need it first - it's to remove it after uninstalling, not to be able to use those EPs/SPs without it.

I also have SecuROM in my PC as well, no problems at all. It's better than Starforce, at least.

Ok, my new PC arrived a few days ago and I got to play the Sims 2 again.

With the graphics all the way up, with neighbors on, the view distance at large, and a very nice sound card, it opens an entirely new dimension for the Sims 2. There's so many little things I've noticed with high graphics that I didn't see with low graphics, and it just adds to the game. And so many little sound effects that my old PC couldn't render.

Now when I go to a community lot more sims turn up untill there's about 8 or more sims, and it makes it more believably too. Nightclubs/bars/restaurants are usually packed in the real world.

And I have no lag, some hiccups but that's nothing. The game plays perfectly with everything on and at high...and I've not had a single crash!