I need some suggestions for a new PC. My old one is being passed on to another person. I'd like to keep it around the $1000 range or less and I know they are offering some good deals around the holidays.

I currently have a Dell XPS 420 with a 512 Nvidia 8800 GT video card. It has a 500GB NCQ Sata HD(7200RPM) W/Databurst. It has Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz.

What is the latest and greatest at Dell? Can somone also let me know about the latest video card.I love the graphics on the current Nvidia.

I don't play any RPG games just the usual point and click adventure games. I do use it for making DVD's and iTunes. I also use the Office Apps quite a lot.

Thanks for any help in advance

Hi: I got a new computer approx. 5 months ago. It's an HP. What I did was bring in a manual from a game I wanted to play, which my old computer would not let me play. That way I showed the sales person the specs I needed. Just a suggestion. I do like my new computer! Good luck with your choice.

Is there a problem with your current computer?
Its specs are way better than any adventure games require.

Since you want an Nvidia video card, and want to keep the price around $1000,
check Dell's ***XPS 8100***. You can get it with an Nvidia Geforce GTS 240 with 1024 MB of video RAM. It's not the latest Nvidia series, but it's the latest that Dell sells in your price range.

If you want a more recent Nvidia video card which supports DirectX 11, you'll have to go over to their Alienware section, where they have an ***Alienware Aurora*** with the option for an Nvidia Geforce GTX460 or GTX480. The GTX 4xx series supports DirectX 11. The GTX 2xx series series only supports DirectX 10. Your 8800 GT is also a DirectX 10 card and is ***actually faster*** than the GTX 240, which seems to be the best Nvidia card Dell is offering in their XPS line of computers. It probably won't make any difference for new adventure games, which are still using DirectX 9.0c and aren't likely to change in the near future.

ATI is ahead of Nvidia as regards supporting DirectX 11, which is probably why most of the cards offered with Dell computers are Radeons. ATI cards are a much better buy if you're looking for a DirectX 11 video card.

Thanks for the great advice Jenny and Laurette. What do you think if I keep my old video card and swap it out with the new one? Sounds like that may be a solution except for the Direct X issue

I wouldn't bother swapping the 8800 GT for the GTX 240. For adventure games you probably wouldn't see any difference. It might also be necessary to reinstall the drivers, even if you're replacing an Nvidia with an Nvidia.

If you're thinking of getting one of the slightly less expensive Dell models that has a Radeon and swapping that out because you like Nvidia, you'd have to do a complete removal of the old Radeon drivers before installing the 8800 drivers to prevent driver conflicts. And you'd have to remove the Nvidia drivers before installing the Radeon drivers on the other computer. Radeon drivers often seem to need special software that you download from ATI in order to remove completely. Remnants of old drivers can prevent games from working properly. I don't think it would be worth the bother and potential problems of sorting out drivers.

You might check to see if any of the coupons at
http://www.techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm
will work on the model you're interested in.
I'm assuming you're going to order the computer from Dell. If you're getting one at Best Buy you won't have much choice of video card.

Laurette,

What HP computer did you get? I am looking at this one and wonder if it would be a good choice:

HP - Pavilion Desktop / AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Processor / 6GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive


Is this the same one that you purchased? I looked at the graphics card and it is ATI Radeon HD 4200 but it doesn't say if it is an integrated card or a dedicated one and I couldn't find out any info on the power supply.

Is it this one, gatsbygirl? HP Computer

Advgamer is looking at this computer in another thread. If it's the same one, the ATI 4200 is integrated and the power supply is 250 watts. I don't know enough about graphics to be able to answer advgamer's question about whether that integrated graphics would play new games.

Just wanted to add a bit about HP computers now. If you notice on the ad it says restore discs are no longer included but that you can make your own. Well I tried that on my grandsons W7 HP laptop and none of the blank DVD's I tried would work to make the restore discs. So, I called HP tech support, they walked me through the whole testing of other things and then said that I could buy the special HP DVD media (costly) or just order the restore discs from them for about $27, which I did just to be done with it. Not a lot of money but I personally would rather pay that extra for the discs and have them from the get go. My granddaughters Dell netbook did come with the Windows 7 starter edition restore discs.

That particular computer sounds like it is more of a "media" type than to game with to me, I also don't know about the integrated graphics, I have always had a separate card. Since there is the slot to upgrade the card, I would say allow for the extra $ to upgrade the power supply also and make sure the one you want will fit the alloted space, remember yours Draclvr?

ATI 4200 is not terribly good. It might work for some games, but you'd get "sticky cursor" with others and would have to be reducing graphics settings on games that allowed it.

Thanks for the input. What is a "sticky computer? One thing I have noticed is that a lot of the newer computers don't have Microsoft Office included. Although I don't had to have fancy programs I do want Microsoft Word. Is this common in the newer computers?

"Sticky cursor" is when your mouse pointer (cursor) seems to stick or jump around instead of moving smoothly. People often blame their mouse, but unless you have a wireless mouse that is low on batteries, the stickiness is probably due to an inadequate video card for what the game is trying to display.



Strangely enough, Amazon is selling ***MS Word*** for $124.99
while ***Office Home and Student***, which includes MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote, is only $99.99.

The Dell computer I checked came with "Office Starter," although you could upgrade it to a "real" version of Office. It looks to me like Office Starter is a form of adware though. It's described as

So not only is it a crippled version of Word, it annoys you with ads.

You'd be better off using Open Office than Office Starter. Or get yourself Office Home and Student.

I have been using the Open Office suite for quite awhile now, it opens everything and it is free!

Is Open Office suite a Microsoft product and how do I get it? I have Microsoft Office on my XP. I don't suppose that I would be lucky enough to be able to use it with Windows 7 if I get a new computer?

Open Office is free and can be downloaded from
http://www.openoffice.org/

It works with every version of Windows from Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

You can read about what's included with it here
http://www.openoffice.org/product/

The Open Office replacement for MS Word is called Writer.

I don't know if your version of Microsoft Office is transferrable or not. If you didn't buy the retail version of Office with discs, and Office came with the computer, it's probably not transferrable.

Draclvr,

I think this is the same PC. The one I saw advertissed is from Best Buy and it is on sale tomorrow for $300.00 off the price. I have tried to look other places for this same computer to compare prices but there are several similar ones from HP so it is a bit confusing. This particilar one comes with a monitor and other things that I don't need but if the computer is good, that is okay. I was hoping that it might work for gaming because it would be a good deal. A friend warned me against HP computers saying that she didn't think that they are supposed to be that good, anymore.

Jenny, thanks for the info about Microsoft Office. I believe that I have the disk that came with my computer when I ordered it from Dell. Don't know if it will work with Windows 7 but I will look into the free office software that several of you mentioned.

Update!

I am very close to buying this computer but would like input on whether or not it should work for gaming. The reviews were good but don't know if I have configured the options in the best way.[/b]

Sorry for all of the bold typeface. I have tried to remove it but can't.

Dell Studio XPS 7100
[b]It has ATI Radeon HD 5450 1 GB
Windows 7 Premium 64 Bit
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRam
1TB-7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 16x DVD-RW Drive

I did the wireless card but do I need it if I have a router and if I don't have dial-up, do I need a modem?

I don't know what kind of a power source it has but think that because the video card is better, the power source is okay?

I already have a Logitech wirekess keyboard and mouse. Is there any reason why they won't work with a newer computer with Windows 7

Thank you for your help with this.


[/b][/b]

HP computers are probably as good as any of the others. The thing you want to be concerned about is that ATI 4200 integrated graphics. As Jenny said, it's definitely not the best for gaming.

The Dell version of Office is only meant to be used on the Dell computer you bought it with. I don't know if it would work on a newer Dell computer or not.

Jenny,

That is not necessarly true. I own a Dell computer and all of the Microsoft products I have bought through Dell over the years have been just that "Microsoft" products. Recently when my old computer finally gave up the ghost and I had to buy a new one. Since I had the original Microsoft Office disk that Dell sent me with my old computer all I had to do was reinstall it on my new computer and it worked just fine when I activated it.

That may be, but the version of Office you get with a Dell is only supposed to be for that computer. In other words, you may or may not be able to do it, but it isn't strictly legal. If you have a version of MS Word that does not require activation, you may be able to get it to work on a new computer though.

This is some great info. I had one other question. I thought at one time, a long time ago, that Radeon cards were not supported as much as they are today. It sounds as if this is now pretty much a standard along with the Nvidia. True?

Radeon and Nvidia both make cards for gaming.
As long as you get a model that is meant for games and not just office work or email, it should be fine no matter which brand you get.

Hi Jenny,

We may be talking apples and oranges here. I have been doing business with Dell since back around the time they bought out Alienware and have bought 3 of their XPS computers during that time. Bought the first one when I was still working in civil service and installed the commercial version of Office 2000 Professional on it; which was perfectly legal as I was using it to do some of my work at home. When I retired in 2007 and bought my wife her new computer I bought Office Home and Student 2007 edition from Dell (since I no longer needed MS Access) at the same time. If you read the licensing agreement it clearly states that it is good for use on 3 PCs (at the same time) so long as the product is not being used for commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating business activities.

All I was saying that if she had a disk with a Microsoft licensed version of Office on it that was bought through Dell she could legally install it on a new computer even if it was not a Dell since it was no longer being used on the old computer. Office is licensed by Microsoft not Dell; Dell is simply a re-seller.

Sorry did not mean to ramble on so. Just hate to see someone loose a perfectly good piece of software that they obviously like and use just because their old computer crashed or had to be replaced. Oh, and by the way my Office 2007 (originally bought to run on XP Pro) runs just fine on my new computer (which is only 2 months old) running Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

OlMan44,

That is good to know about MS Office. I am very close to buying a new Dell XPS 7100 but want to make sure that I configured it correctly, if I am going to spend this much money.

I posted the specs on another thread. I was wondering if MS Office would run on Windows 7. I am not sure which version came with my current Dell. I think that I still have the disc to load it. I put MS Offic Home and Student in my conf because they offerd it for $79.00 Maybe I don't need it?

OldMan44,
Thank you for the information. Very interesting to know that the MS Office from a Dell computer can be installed on a newer Dell. Not all manufacturers are that generous.

What version of Office do you have, Gatsbygirl?
Is it Office 2007, like OldMan44 has, or is it an older version?

I have Office 2007 Home and Student on my Windows 7 computer and it works perfectly. My old Works 2004 also works perfectly on Windows 7.