LCGeek said:
So while your arguing that xp won't see that many gigs the consoles you seem to be defending can't even do half. Memory in the pc world hasn't matter that much since xp most things won't get to 768MB of total usage outside of a few ram hungry games your spewing a bs myth. Only people who need memory in the pc world are content developers not even gamers need a lot, makes things smoothers but I still have gig machines that run great.
BTW person said pc not things that plug into it so this posts fails in everyway. Not as if it matters mice only matters to most gamers who league which is a niche amount. A pc user does not need to upgrade their display unless old, whoops that what console gamers do with hdtv and they still can't match pc monitors but hey size and overbright crap is so worth the couple grand amirite. OS license isn't necessary if he's just using one machine that and it's not like he can't get 2k or xp dirt cheap in a variety of ways. Speakers like other things can be transplanted. For most pc gamers yeah something like this is easily doable hell I'm thinking of telling my lans buddies about a build like this as we can get off these old machines and ride the tide till the new stuff comes in.
OP nice way to way to stick it to some but make it PS3 debut price and get some better parts something is gonna give if you go that cheap I say ram, psu, or HDD
Wow, I never defended a console in my post. Learn to read. And write.
I wasn't
argung about XP. As a degree wielding computer scientist, and someone who has built and repaired tons of pcs, I was putting out some useful information, in an attempt to clear up shit in this thread like "XP can't see more than 2 GB" "XP can see only 3.5 GB" "your applications can still use it even if XP can't see it".
Plenty of games will use over 768 MB of RAM. Any sort of server application will need tons of ram, and if you work with photo editing or video editing, you'll need all the ram you can get. RAM is one of the most important parts of ANY PC.
I never criticized the amount of RAM in this system. 2 GB is generally considered the sweet spot for 32 bit XP. I merely questioned if there was a rebate involved in that price.
"Not as if it matters mice only matters to most gamers who league which is a niche amount. " What? I'd argue that most people like to use mice with their PCs.
Yes, things can be used over. My point, if you would read my post, is that most people don't have modern pc parts laying around. If I build a new PC, and I use my old monitor and peripherals, what am I going to do with my old pc? Most people replace everything at once when they buy a pc. There is a cost associated with using old parts.
My comment about the HDD is perfectly valid. Most people would not wipe their HDD and start fresh for a new pc. This would render their old system useless. Spare HDDs people have lying around? Sure, the nerds have them, but even then they're likely to be older, and smaller, drives, which wouldn't exactly be a good choice for a system you're trying to game on. "Everyone has one, right?" No, most people don't. I do, but most don't.
My comment about the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers is perfectly valid. Not very many people are going to use a KVM. Most people, especially those who need to build a budget "gaming" system, like to hang on to their existing computers for as long as possible.
My comment about the OS (XP) license is perfectly valid. Unless you're including piracy or WINE under Linux, this is an unavoidable cost.
Don't forget to add in tax and shipping.
There's no way around it. PC gaming is expensive. You can be dumb about and pay $5000 for something from Alienware, or you could build something that will last for 2-3 years for about $1500 (all inclusive, after tax and shipping). If you did it right, you'll be able to squeeze 1-2 more years out of it with $200 - 400 in upgrades later on.
But this "$399 Crysis PC" shit is a joke.
The point of these arguments is that the high cost of PC gaming is a barrier to entry to many people. When you're trying to argue against this, you might want to design your arguments to apply to those people who AREN'T computer nerds.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that even the average idiot can build a PC (or find someone to help, for free). It's not that hard, and if we were to carry out these "$xxx Game PC" arguments out, we could easily whip up a good guide for people.
Hell, I'll even let you ignore the monitor. I don't get a TV with my 360 or PS3.
Sure, almost everyone has a TV, but almost everyone reading this has a PC monitor. Switching inputs is the same as on a TV for most modern monitors now (most have at least 2 inputs).
There are real costs that are almost universally ignored in these threads.
If you're doing this to prove a point, make sure you're your build requirements don't represent a barrier to entry.
Edit:
The info about PAE is misleading.
Your motherboard, CPU, and OS all have to support PAE.
It will make your memory access slower.
On Windows XP, enabling PAE is generally a bad idea. Any driver that references memory in a specific (sloppy) way will crash your system. Sadly, a lot of drivers do this.
ONLY enable PAE on XP if you're using actually using all of your RAM and the added latency doesn't reduce performance. Then hope that all your drivers behave.
