COMPUTER GAMERS HELP!!!!!!!PLEASE!!!!!?

[moopato]

Okay so i need to know which one of these 2 computers has the best gaming performance. I also want to know which graphics cards will work with them. My choices for graphics cards are ; ati radeon 4870, nvidia 9800gt/gtx, nvidia 220gt, etc.
I MIGHT have to get the cheaper computer because of my parents, so please take this into consideration when you give your advice =) . I WOULD LIKE to play newer games like css, cod4, cod mw2, age of empires.

HERE ARE THE 2 COMPUTERS:

-INSPIRON 545( 669$, no graphics card)

COLOR Piano Black edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E8400 (6MB L2, 3GHz, 1333FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9, English edit

Dell Recommends
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007! Popular Software Offering: Word, Excel®, Powerpoint® and more.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $99 or $2/month1]
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial edit

MONITOR No Monitor edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® GMA 3100 Graphics edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) edit
SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit
MEDIA CARD READER No Floppy Drive or Media Card Reader Included edit


-INSPIRON 546 ( 549$, no graphics card)

COLOR Piano Black edit
PROCESSOR AMD Phenom™ II X4 820 (2.8GHz, 6MB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9 edit

Dell Recommends
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007! Popular Software Offering: Word, Excel®, Powerpoint® and more.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $99 or $3/month1]
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial edit

MONITOR No Monitor edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
GRAPHICS CARD Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD /-RW Drive edit
SOUND CARD Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio edit
MEDIA CARD READER No Floppy Drive or Media Card Reader Included edit

 

[jyjjy]

The quadcore is better. Make sure you don't get a slimline case and if at all possible spend extra to get a better PSU. Also don't get them to add a video card. Buy and install it yourself. It's easy and will be much cheaper.

 

[capt_taco]

Definitely the second one, no contest at all. I have no idea why they'd charge $150 more for the first system.

And avoid the slimline case at all costs. All that does is severely limit your options for upgrading the video card or PSU.

+1 to doing the video card yourself. And if you're going to keep this machine for a few years (with a quad core, it'll be good for that long), get a 5xxx series card, 58xx series if you can afford it. You'll probably need to replace the power supply to run any worthwhile graphics card, but that's also relatively easy.

 

[jitpublisher]

You have more than 1 problem as capt_taco has pointed out.
For all of you suggesting those big high end cards, better look again!
The PSU in the Dell is not powerful enough to run the cards you are looking at.
The case is Micro ATX, which means you will be very lucky if any of the cards you are looking at will even fit into the case. So measure before you buy!!!!
I have heard of people running 9500 and 9600GT's, as well as some 4600 series cards in these, with the original PSU with good success. While those cards are not exactly top of line gamers, they will run most games on medium settings pretty well.
If you really want a gaming PC, there are better equipped systems to start with.
You are trying to start off with a basic machine, powerful, but basic, and trying to turn it into something it was not designed for.
You may be better off to shovel some snow, mow a few yards, or whatever, do something to earn a little cash besides sitting on your butt, put it in with your parents and get what you really want in the first place.

 

[moopato]

Publisher i am extremely appreciative of your advice, very nice of u to take the time to analyse my choices. I Can also get this processor on the insipiron 545 - (Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q8200 (4MB L2, 2.33GHz, 1333FSB)), if this changes ur opinion, it is the same price as the core2duo. With the inspiron 545 dell offers to install an Nvidia gt 220 with it, and people have told me most nvidia cards will work just fine unless they're one of the extremely expensive powerfull new ones. My budget for a graphics card is 180$, and im thinking i will Get it from tigerdirect. Btw im almost 17, and im an avid athlete with a good summer job, and christmas break part-time job. I have 3000$ of my own money, just my parents are helpin me out by paying for half of it as a christmas gift. I'm not spending more than 800$ on computer because i need the rest of the money for university, so im just trying to get the best bang for my buck!

 

[moopato]

wow thanks so much man thats awesome. I was wondering specifaically if a nvidia 9800 gtx or the gts 250 will fit in the insiron 546??
thanks!~

 

[moopato]

Will this power supply work with the inspiron 546?

-OEM White Box 450-Watt ATX Power Supply
$15.97

Im not sure what mean by mini tower, because the 546 that i posted is the bigger version, not the 546S, but maybe im just having a brain fart.

 

[moopato]

Okay so if i add a power supply how do i install it or whatever? Also do you think i could see if dell can upgrade my power supply?

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey