I preordered the special edition of FF14.

But as some of you know, my current setup can't handle the game.

I know I need a new video card. But do I need a new computer?
I have:
HP Pavilion
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual
Core Processor 4200+
1.79 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM
Physical Address Extension
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002

*also worth noting, my computer sometimes won't restart for days after I turn it off

So...
1) Can I just get a new vid card or do I need a new computer?
2) Is it possible to spend $1000 or less on a computer that can handle FF14?

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

i'm by no means a computer expert, so definitely wait for some more opinions, but i think you'd need to upgrade more than the video card. with the rest of your comp's specs i think the performance of the game would suffer.

but for your second question, yes you can get a computer that should be able to run the game fine for around $1,000.

maybe this http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factor ... Id=1177091

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Here is the info your asking.

Minimum System Requierments

This game may not run acceptably on PCs that fail to meet the following minimum requirements. Evenif your PC meets these requirements, compatibility issues with certain hardware, software, and driver combinations may prevent the game from running acceptably.



OS - Windows XP SP3 *1,
Windows Vista 32bit / 64bit SP2 *2,
Windows 7 32bit / 64bit *2

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo (2.0Ghz),
AMD Athlon X2 (2.0Ghz)

Memory - Windows XP: 1.6GB,
Windows Vista / Windows 7: 2GB

Storage - Install: 15GB
Download: 6GB

Video - NVIDIA GeForce 9600 Series with 512MB VRAM or equivalent
ATI Radeon HD 2900 series with 512MB VRAM or equivalent

Sound - DirectSound compatible sound card (DirectX 9.0c)

Internet - Broadband Internet connection

Resolution - 1280 x 720; 32bit

DirectX - DirectX 9.0c

Controls - Mouse, Keyboard

*1 If using Windows XP, the executable files, installation, and verson updates should be set to Adminisrtator Settings.

*2 64bit OS will run in WOW64 (Windows on Windows 64) mode.

link http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/#/about/game_info

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PS3 Friend list name: Pantherxx Wii code 1629-0463-4657-0263 (revised 9/28/07) Steam ID - Pantherxx010 62BLU 75PLD Reactived 7/5/10 I dare you Click this!

Do you want something prebuilt? It would be cheaper to build it yourself...
Also since you are buying a computer to play ff14, what resolution are you using or would like to use?

This is a pretty good rig for just under $1000:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227275

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If you're going pre-built, I would go for this one.

If you're comfortable putting one together, I'm sure we could come up with parts from Newegg at a reasonable price.

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[In Yarr we trust.]

There are some good desktops and laptops out there Whisp that are under 1k easily. I believe you could do a little research based on the minimum requirements Panther $ PIMP mentioned and find something that would run ffxiv rather well and fall within a comfortable price range for you. Money is an issue for everyone right now, so you possibly haggle for a better deal depending on where you plan to purchase one. The system warrior and dmitry flagged seems like a decent deal with its system specs though I have never purchased a refurbished system before.

The advice from the guys above is great because I'm also thinking it is probably just time for you to upgrade. The couple of hundred dollars that you would blow to spend on a video card to run all the new stuff is meaningless to the opportunity cost of just upgrading to a new system entirely.

However...I'm also thinking now is a bad transition for a pre-built computer unless you are building one. Yet some may see it as a great time to buy one.

SSD will eventually become the norm...so regular hard drives are cheaper
DDR2 vs DDR3
SATA II vs. SATA III 6GB
If you haven't noticed...BluRay is increasingly becoming popular....
USB 3.0 (shouldn't have any affect on your gaming here...)

So kind of a Catch-22 in some areas but maybe not since the price on certain models and systems are actually in an affordable range to run this game.

Congrats on your pre-order.

well my setup that I have right now can run on 720p that scored 2800 so I may just bump a video card on way for now until I upgrade MB, Ram, and Cpu. That is all I need.

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PS3 Friend list name: Pantherxx Wii code 1629-0463-4657-0263 (revised 9/28/07) Steam ID - Pantherxx010 62BLU 75PLD Reactived 7/5/10 I dare you Click this!

wow i really appreciate the computer advice. i'll look over these and probably have some more questions. i'm moving at the end of the month..i wonder if the computer would ship here by then. anyway im off to a baseball game.

ps - i deactivated my ff11 account, gonna use the free time to get irl sh*t together before playing ff14 {All right!}

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

How does this CPU1 compare to this CPU2? x2 versus x6 processor? is that a lot better?

_________________
RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

I'm not sure where you live Whisp but check craiglist, you can find some good deals every once in awhile.

I just picked up a decent system for Ash(Toka) for $320 and picked up a HD 5770 from newegg for 149.00 so total of only $470.00

Benchmarked around 2700 in high res. so it should be pretty decent.

If budget is your main concern and you can be patient i'm sure you can find a newer quad core with 4gb of ram and a decent card running Win7 for around $500-$600.

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The first computer has a more powerful video card, and I've heard but am not familiar with unlocking more cores on those AMD processors. Maybe Kioto can help

I looked through some of the pre-built ones on Newegg and for a little less you can get a pretty powerful machine, just with less HDD capacity here. I believe this one would be on par with the CPU2 you linked to above, with the exception of having less cores on the processor, which you honestly will not notice if you'll be mainly gaming on the computer

_________________
[In Yarr we trust.]

one thing I am worry about is "How many core will be used when game is played?" will be just 2 or 4?

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PS3 Friend list name: Pantherxx Wii code 1629-0463-4657-0263 (revised 9/28/07) Steam ID - Pantherxx010 62BLU 75PLD Reactived 7/5/10 I dare you Click this!

Hmm, better processor or better video card? I would go better processor. My pick is the AMD Phenom II x 6 based on just a little bit of research I did. Too bad they are not listing exactly which Nvidia make (EVGA, msi, PNY, Sparkle?) it is. As some of those video cards have limited lifetime warranties or a free starcraft II trial thrown in, or some other special offer included when bought separate. I see why you asked for assistance. Someone else may know more than me on this one man.

Personally - I kind of like this one specs/reviews/price-wise though graphic are a bit lackluster in comparison to the NVIDIA cards you chose. (Can always upgrade for cheaper later and sell the other card?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227258

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883227179

Decent rig specs but bad reviews below...hmmm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883229177

Research Notes:

http://techgage.com/article/phenom_ii_x ... ore_arena/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2927

http://computershopper.com/components/r ... -ii-x2-555

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... eview.html

It looks like the first computer Supa linked would be the best bang-for-your-buck going the prebuilt route.

I think the only real downside is the 500GB drive but you can always add one later (real easy to do), and filling up 500GB can be quite a challenge too.

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[In Yarr we trust.]

cool yea i like that first one that supa listed. i think i'll order it

one last thing though--
does this one look like it would be worth the extra $200?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227268

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

I wouldn't bother. I wish they would list the manufacturer of the cards so we could compare the model that is in the tower, but with that one you will probably see very small increase in performance over the one in Supa's post. The big difference in that one would be the hard drive being twice the amount of storage.

_________________
[In Yarr we trust.]

it has 6 processors instead of 4 and the vid card is more updated

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

Well 4 cores of multitasking power is sufficient. I also noted the processor speed 3.4 versus 2.8 into your choice (overclocking can solve this problem if you're into that.)

Reviews on just about all these desktop products seem to be newegg shipping can be a bit shoddy as some of these rigs (just about all of them) have some minor issue out the box. It is a bit expected though.

What I usually do Whisp is I breakdown the price of the system by its parts and components. The ATI Radeon 5830 1GB cards are in the ballpark of about $200; 5850's are $300; and the 5870's average to about $400 unless you go high class...I'm sure like all graphics card all will get cheaper over time anyway. If I had a true choice I would go 5850HD.

dream overkill
ASUS ROG MATRIX 5870 P/2DIS/2GD5 Radeon HD 5870 Platinum 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$519


high dream overkill:
XFX HD-597A-CNB9 Radeon HD 5970 Black Edition 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$694

or

PowerColor AX5970 2GBD5-MD Radeon HD 5970 (Hemlock) 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Dual GPU Onboard CrossFire Video Card w/ Eyefinity
$679

but the price of those are for rich people ;p

...This card is pretty interesting (Fermi):

GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$229

- 92 reviews on that card so as far as I am concerned it is pretty good. I don't like being the hamster when it comes to buying new stuff that isn't validated.

I don't really take hard drive into price consideration (most rigs now are well over 160GB. In fact, I really wish they included the read/write speeds of the hard drives as that can come into play in performance. 5400 rpm, 7200 rpm etc. Only time to really consider price on a hard drive is when it is solid state...since if you need memory you can always go to Wal-Mart and flip storage over onto an external or buy another hard drive for a reasonable price.

The only other real note is the LAN WARRIOR has 2 onboard USB 3.0 ports so now the motherboard is a price point. For USB 3.0 they are running about $75 - $100 mobo unless again you go high end. USB 3.0 is still in infancy as I can't really name anything that I would commonly really use it for yet. Both chipsets allow this upgrade but the LAN Warrior already seems to have it.

All in all, both systems have their positives and negatives...but all systems do unless you are building your own. Bang for buck wise, both seem sufficient. What I would really suggest you do is calculate how much you are truly willing to spend and then add $200 in case of any hiccups/problems you could get with your purchase. Then shop only within that range.

Now it also comes down to personal aesthetics. Being from Atlanta, nothing screams "Steal Me!" more than a computer with an alienware logo or or handle like the LAN WARRIOR has on it lol. Again, that's personal preference but I like my own stuff unnoticeable, quiet, and sleek versus flashy.

Long story short -
Consider what you are willing to spend, processor speed, price point, and parts as well as the customer reviews. Also consider upgradability for the future. I read the rig I chose also can run hot, which is never a good thing as it means you may have to buy more cooling when gaming.

Also take into consideration what the other guys in the forum are saying about no need to really bust your bank when Craigslist, Amazon, and other places have some good deals of their own.

Buying a computer is a pain in the ass, hopefully I don't leave you with more decisional questions than answers. I'm still kind of waiting myself so looking around for you is kind of like looking for myself as well which is why I'm writing so much. I may just end up eventually building my own but time just isn't a factor for me in that dept. at the moment.

If anything else let us know. Also let us know what you decide and update how it works out for ya!

Well even though it has 6 cores instead of 4, it runs a little slower, although it's all relative. The video card is also barely an upgrade from the other one (all the 5000 series cards are pretty recent I believe).

In the end though it's your choice, and get what's best for you.

_________________
[In Yarr we trust.]

i went ahead with the first one supafly listed. it should arrive in a few days!

thanks for all the advice.

someone at my work said 4G RAM isn't enough

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

Honestly four gigs is plenty since its quite rare for any game to use more than 3 gigs of RAM and most use under 2. You might lose some performance due to memory if you run FFXIV with a bunch of other shit open. But honestly you're more likely to run into CPU bottlenecks before memory ones. And if it was a problem you could just you know stop watching CSI miami and browsing for porn on bittorrent while playing FFXIV.

I would say if you were getting triple channel memory and the choice was between 3 and 6, definitely go for 6, but between 4 and 8 you're probably not gonna be able to tell much difference under normal usage.

If I was making the same choice as you Whisp, I would have done the same. I just hope newegg sends you the quality system they advertise. Keep us posted as to how it works out.

I remember a looooonnng time ago Yarr made an extremely long post on his HDTV and the service and hoops (as well as his tricks) he went through with Best Buy. It was probably one of the more consumer concious posts on the forums. It also changed my personal opinion on Best Buy, product plans, and Monster Cable but I can't remember if Yarr wrote about that then or not.

Shortly after I got a PRP plan on an XBox 360 from them. Best Buy has now solidly updated that PRP for like $35 and personally replaced 5 XBox 360's for me. It beats the hoops of shipping my box to Microsoft. Then when the price dropped on my last box I actually got like $100 back. I'm waiting on this one to RROD so I can get myself one of those new ones with the larger hard drives and embedded wireless. I already have most of my saves transferred to a larger card just in case.

I also remember (was it you Whisp?) that got a great deal from some clueless clerk from Gamestop on trade-ins in which they pretty much gave someone a PSP (or was it a DS?) for free as well as a giftcard of credit and so forth. Classic.

Shit, I completely forgot to post what I wanted to about cores earlier (also please excuse me, I have been up since 1AM and am working OT atm)

I don't think it's been officially announced how many cores FFXIV will be using, but I think the minimum requirement was a dual core processor, so at the very least two will most likely be in use, but if they're smart they should write the program to make use of quad-core processors at minimum since that seems to be the shift in the market at the moment, with hex-cores making their debut.

Also something about Best Buy my coworker told me about this morning was that they set up an intranet site identical to their internet site, so when people would price match products online the employees would use the intranet site to show the same price as the store. Have not researched this though.

And for the gamestop thing I want to say Kyuss? It's funny the things we remember, but I can't remember who posted that.

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[In Yarr we trust.]

do u guys think an extended warranty for $100 is a good investment (it would extend the warranty from 1 year to 3 years)?

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya