I'm thinking about the kind of computer I should be looking for assuming that I have an under $500 budget give or take a little of course.

I want to be able to play RS without lag (as realistically as possible, I do have a high speed connection and I normally play on HD small screen). I also want to be able to play other games without much lag (namely games like Halo 1 and Civ4+ expansions), but mainly RS.

Other than that I use my computer to watch videos and I want to be able to have several screens open at the same time online (I use Firefox 3), which I do now without much trouble.

I know that XP works but I don't know if it's the best choice anymore though I'm used to it. My dad has a ton of problems with Vista on his computer but I'd be willing to try it, and I've heard that it can be easy to use (as shown by the Mojave Project). I'm also open to trying a Mac if that's what it comes to, but I'd prefer to stick to Windows.

Any ideas?

For $500, a Mac is out of your price range.

Anyways--are you comfortable building? You can get a pretty fast system for $500, so long as you want the tower only, and no keyboard, mouse, speakers, or monitor.

Yeah, I have all the other stuff, I just need a new tower.

And I would be comfortable building one as long as I knew what I was getting into =p

I have considered building my own PC, but my lack of understanding on the issue (as computer savvy as I am =p) leads me to the conclusion that if I have trouble than I won't be able to fix it myself and it will end up costing more to get someone to help me than If I'd just bought a run of the mill PC.

It's not too hard. You need to be able to use a screw driver, that's about it. There's plenty of walkthroughs online that are useful.

You just want to be sure you're not staticky, or else you'll shock the stuff.

EDIT: Update. I have found the following that match or exceed your needs or expectations... price is $506 and there's $30 more shipping, bringing the total to $536. However, $30 in mail-in rebates are included.

Intel E5200
Foxconn G43MX-K
Transcend 2x2GB DDR2 800
Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 320GB
FSP Group FSP400-GLN(80)
Linkwood MicroATX tower
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Nice, I hope something like that will be available when I actually have $500 lol =p

Thanks

Well, when you're about to order, I'd come back and double check, that way you'll be able to get the most up to date stuff.

I'd compare it with what a pre-built one with those parts is worth; I'm no hardware techie, but I've seen a few instances where the pre-built one is cheaper. I assume this is because they buy their parts in bulk, and get a much better deal on them than you would.

I've never seen a prebuilt that has a 3850 and 4gb of RAM for $500.

Hell you rarely see a prebuilt with 4 gigs of ram that isn't priced outrageously.

Actually Fry's recently has had very reasonably priced towers, I've seen 5 GB of RAM in a $650 tower, with preety good other stuff. They might actually have been built by Fry's so that's why... Dunno


Actually, if he really wanted a mac, here's one for $550 with mail-in-rebate.

If you want to use RS without lag, I would go with a Linux build. They're small, fast, and easy to use.

Why not?

~iE

It wont do gaming though

It has 2 limitations

The fact that its a MAC
and that its probably using a intel integrated gpu

Last I checked, both ATI and nVidia cards suffered really bad 3D performance compared to the optimized Windows drivers. That, and the OP wants to play other games as well--Civ4, Halo, and probably others as they come out (Fallout 3 is fun, even if it's not really in the same lineage as Fallout 1 & 2).

Ah...Hello...?

You don't need 4gb ram and 3k+ ghz to play runescape... If your playing runescape just make sure you clear cookies regularly, you have a fair speed internet connection, firefox with noscript + adblock, a decent antivirus program (I like trendmicro pro 2009, but if you only have 500$ for a whole computer probably a bit expensive..) and the latest java/flash/shockwave programs with the latest drivers for your video card. If your wanting a pc,don't underestimate a laptop. Bit more expensive but very convenient.

Though if you need a new one, I'd agree with anyone else. Custom-build is the best way to go, unless you have insane money for something like this:http://global.acer.com/products/desktop/asg7710.htm That's a monster though..

If you have a decent computer currently, why not just upgrade the motherboard, ram and graphics card? up to you.

The good thing with the ram and processor is that it will last him a good couple of years before he'd need to make any substantial upgrades.