Just starting out in pc games

[clendoncooks]

Hi guys...I will start out admitting that I am a total noob when it comes to PC games so be gentle. I just bought a new PC ( Dell, 6 G RAM, ATI radeon 3450 video card) and I would like to play some basic games on it , preferably FPS. What games can I play with this card and I have an Xbox360 control pad that I would like to use. I also own conflict vietnam. Can I use the control pad to play this game? Thanks .

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

Well first off, I don't want to come off as condescending, but whatever you payed for that computer I am sure you could've chosen something with custom parts that you yourself can assemble for the same price with MUCH better parts... a 3450 is a rather weak card... but that's okay, it's still game worthy.. but look maybe to a cheap upgrade to an 9800GT or an HD4850 down the line (or whatever medium-high end budget card is available)..

and another thing, if you're going to get into PC gaming, at least with first-person shooters, I would definitely get used to a mouse and keyboard with the WASD layout, because you will get destroyed online with a controller... use the controller for other games, maybe racing or someting

anywhoo... with that in mind, I wouldn't recommend any graphic-intense stuff.. Firstly, get Steam (Welcome to Steam), maybe start off by getting Orange Box.. you get all the Half-Life 2 episodes as well as Team Fortress 2 and Portal.. the great thing about Valve games is that they are very scalable.. I'm sure you computer will come close to maxing it out comfortably..

Get CoD4 or World at War, choose your pick, they're the same game practically with different themes, I prefer cod4 though..

Get Fallout 3, as its not too demanding either, it's mainly an RPG, but it has a decent first-person shooter element.

I'd highly suggest getting into some RTS, mainly Company of Heroes or maybe World in Conflict, or look for Starcraft II which should come out soon

And just avoid Crysis.. while it's a great game, your computer will be eaten alive

oh and do not be tempted by MMOs like World of Warcraft, there are enough ways as it is to have your life sucked into a vortex

 

[saltynay]

Ewww dell we love value for money here and sadly dell put low end parts in there pcs and get you the customer to pay over premium prices.

I second the steam point theyre games are generally fps orientated and scale very well so that your hardware isn't running at 2fps.

 

[lukas]

if you can get your cash back off dell, or maybe sell that computer, i suggest you do that and build a new pc with better peices, its easy and rewarding, and youll have more fun in the long run.

 

[Trotter]

You don't list your CPU. If you can give us the model (dimension xxx or whatever) and the CPU, we can tell you what you could do to play higher-end games. Dells aren't sexy, but they do work, and the newer ones are actually of decent quality (as compared to the crap they were pushing out the doors few years ago). Dell has also gone to using off-the-shelf parts, as their customers wanted to be able to upgrade thier own stuff.

The main limitation will be your power supply (PSU), as most pre-builts use the lowest wattage they can. If you could replace the graphics card with something a bit beefier, you will get a lot more gaming mileage out of your rig.

 

[Whirlwind]

get steam.....and even if you video card is not all that great....there are tons of old classic pc games that are just great.....I would start out with the original half-life....which steam sold for 98cents a couple weeks ago....or maybe deus ex....then you will be hooked for life

 

[Oreo]

You don't list your CPU. If you can give us the model (dimension xxx or whatever) and the CPU, we can tell you what you could do to play higher-end games. Dells aren't sexy, but they do work, and the newer ones are actually of decent quality (as compared to the crap they were pushing out the doors few years ago). Dell has also gone to using off-the-shelf parts, as their customers wanted to be able to upgrade thier own stuff.

The main limitation will be your power supply (PSU), as most pre-builts use the lowest wattage they can. If you could replace the graphics card with something a bit beefier, you will get a lot more gaming mileage out of your rig.

True. But thankfully many PC noobs judge a PC purely on it's processor, which is why on all the adverts they advertise processing power and rarely anything else except ram. Dell are aware of this, and usually seem to use good CPU's in comparison to the rest of the spec. It's almost certainly going to be a Core 2 Duo, and even the slowest ones are still pretty adequate for quite a few games

My grandparents recently bought a rig off dell, really cheep, onboard graphics, 2gb of slow ram, 160gb HD, rubbish mobo - and then out of no where a Core 2 Duo E8600

Anyway, back to the point. Definitely get steam. Clendencooks i am actually in the same position of you, trying to find a few good games for my new low powered laptop. So far ive got Half Life 1, CS 1.6 - but your PC is better than this, as others have said. Get the Orange Box, Deus Ex, Company of Heroes (Probably won't play on high settings, though)

 

[Druid]

After asking someone how good their computer is, I have gotten the reply of: "Well, It has like a 320 GB hard drive, so yeah, I'd say it is pretty good."

People who know a little bit more than that always seem to list off the ram first when they are saying what the pc they are buying has in it. A lot times that is all they say too. Well, then they list off the hard drive space of course.

Some of them know the processor is important, but nobody ever says anything about the graphics card. They usually have no clue and end up with some garbage integrated graphics.

All that, and they generally go for the overpriced, bag of **** laptops.

 

[clendoncooks]

Thanks for all the advice guys... Just so you know trotter my specs are:
Dell Studio MT
Intel 2 Quad Processor Q8200
2.33GHz, 6GB DDR2 SDRAM, 750 GB Hard Drive
ATI RADEON 3450 (256 MB)

I am perfectly fine playing the older FPS games. I paid $899 for this set up along with a 22" monitor. I think that is a reasonably good deal.

 

[dhgunit]

Return the Dell, go out this Saturday and do a handyman job, rake some leaves or something for $100 and build a beast that will eat that Dell for breakfast.