[Revok]

So my old system has just died on me, which has an upside because I was pretty limited game-wise. Time's come to buy a new one, but I'm no ubergeek and haven't kept up much with advancing technology over the past 3 years, so I'm seeking input from all quarters.

What should I look for in a mid-range PC to be primarily used for gaming (Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, NWN2, Civ4, etc.)? When I bought my old PC in 2003 I was screwed over with crappy graphics and PCI card slot that was already obsolete. I don't want to find I've once more bought a system that precludes me using the next wave of technological developments.

[maxthesilent]

What price range? And definitely go a la carte.

[Revok]

I'm thinking up to £800-900. Lucky my old system chose to die right the start of the January sales.

All my peripherals are decent quality, 19" monitor, DVD burners, good speakers, etc. It's just the motherboard or CPU on the old system has blown. I wouldn't feel too confident building my own system from components, unless it's much quicker and easier than I think.

[DridenGX]

Originally Posted by Revok

So my old system has just died on me, which has an upside because I was pretty limited game-wise. Time's come to buy a new one, but I'm no ubergeek and haven't kept up much with advancing technology over the past 3 years, so I'm seeking input from all quarters.

What should I look for in a mid-range PC to be primarily used for gaming (Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, NWN2, Civ4, etc.)? When I bought my old PC in 2003 I was screwed over with crappy graphics and PCI card slot that was already obsolete. I don't want to find I've once more bought a system that precludes me using the next wave of technological developments.

Thing is gaming is what makes the expensive high end PCs. And you listed top quality games.

mid level PC atm would be a 3.2GHZ, nVidia 7900GTX or 7950, 2gbs ram, ASUS PCI-E mobo, 550+ Watt PSU that should get you to run today's games at a affordable price. This might last you ... oh I don't know 1-3 years maybe? well perhaps not, your cpu will fail on the new splintercell I believe.

But considering new tech you are going to want an 8800GTX or X1950, either 2.66ghz dual core or 3ghz quad core cpu, and 4gbs of ram (2gbs is becoming reccommended now). Games this year like the new Splinter Cell, Crysis, Elveon, Two Worlds, Bioshock, and Stalker will need high end PCs to run at a high frame rate at high resolutions. Since budget is an issue you'll definitely need to look for deals, lower quality and inferior models.

[Revok]

Right, thanks. I'm not overly concerned with absolute top graphics quality - using the old piece of crap I was sold in 2003 w/768 ram and a geforce 5 series card I've comfortably played through stuff like Morrowind and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. Really heavy games like FPS and 3rd person action have never appealed to me and I don't mind turning the graphics sliders down a bit.

The models I'm looking at all run at least 2gb ram with graphics cards that look like Roswell technology next to my old setup. I reckon I could get by on something like this (just £630 sans-peripherals)...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/825057

[DridenGX]

if you don't want top graphics than that'll work out for you perfectly. I'd personally go for atleasta 1900 card. 1600 is a getting a bit dated so to speak. 1 more gb of ram and a bit faster cpu wouldn't hurt either but that pc should be enough to get you to play what you want for awhile regardless