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Good store-bought PC for FFXIV $500 rangeFollow

#1 Oct 22 2013 at 7:23 PM Rating: Good
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I've been looking and looking for a PC in the ~$500 range for my brother that will also run FFXIV. Unfortunately, the options seem very sparse. Here is the best I found:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-essentio-desktop-6gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/1306374703.p?id=mp1306374703&skuId=1306374703#tab=overview


What do you think? Is there anything better out there? Please give me any advice! Thank you. I'm specifically looking for store-already-made computers.
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#2 Oct 22 2013 at 8:52 PM Rating: Good
If it is store bought, are you or him willing to put in the upgrades later?
It should play the game fine. I'd want more RAM.

Edit: If you are willing to build, you could maybe get something a bit better. Building isn't all that hard.



Edited, Oct 22nd 2013 10:01pm by Sandinmygum
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#3 Oct 22 2013 at 9:07 PM Rating: Good
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I am willing to build, it's just makes it more complicated doing it that way. This is easier, and I'll give him my old parts as I upgrade my own.

Thanks for confirming it's okay to use - was afraid I may have missed something.
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#4 Oct 22 2013 at 9:19 PM Rating: Good
I don't think there has been a huge graphic change in ARR to v1? So in a way, the game is 3 years old.
The laptop I play on now, I bought 3 years ago for v1 and then never bought the game after learning more about it. I play ARR on custom high setting, and everything is smooth...and I totally need a new gaming laptop/pc :p

But yea, as a "starting point" I wouldn't see why it would not work. Check out this part of ZAM. Could be useful.

Edited, Oct 22nd 2013 10:20pm by Sandinmygum
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#5 Oct 22 2013 at 9:29 PM Rating: Good
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Well, I was basing my question off this. I was aiming for the recommended settings. This set, as far as I can tell, only falls behind with the graphics card. Just wasn't sure if it was TOO far behind.


Edited, Oct 22nd 2013 11:30pm by Stilivan
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#6 Oct 22 2013 at 10:58 PM Rating: Decent
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For $500 you could very well build a better running upgradeable computer. Check out Tiger Direct and Newegg. Both run a lot of Motherboard & CPU, Motherboard & Graphic Card, and Motherboard & Case bundles at affordable prices.
#7 Oct 22 2013 at 11:23 PM Rating: Good
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He doesn't want to build.

The PC you have listed should run XIV at medium low settings. If you want it to me smooth, you're going to have to scale back your settings a bit from standard is my best guess.
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#8 Oct 22 2013 at 11:45 PM Rating: Good
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FilthMcNasty wrote:
He doesn't want to build.

The PC you have listed should run XIV at medium low settings. If you want it to me smooth, you're going to have to scale back your settings a bit from standard is my best guess.


I agree.

This should run the game ok at low-medium settings.

The bottleneck is going to be the graphics card. and the problem with that is it seems to have a 350w power supply, so the upgrade options will be limited.

For a budget pre-built, though, it doesn't look too bad.
#9 Oct 23 2013 at 1:45 AM Rating: Decent
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the PC is pretty oddly spec'd. It certainly isnt a gaming machine by any means.

I5 3xxx is a generation old so you would be paying for old tech (new CPU based on haswell are the same price)

6GB of RAM is a silly amount to have as the CPU supports dual channel DDR configuration and they have 3x2GB modules ???
to get the best performance you would need to remove 1x 2GB stick or add another to get 8GB. Its running in single channel mode if it ships like that.

The 7470 is woefully underpowered for gaming on decent settings.

doesnt mentioned the PSU so ill assume its cheapo and probaly low wattage with limited connectivity for a better grpahics card.

you can do a whole lot better for a gaming rig than that


Edited, Oct 23rd 2013 3:46am by BlackstarrStrife

Edited, Oct 23rd 2013 3:47am by BlackstarrStrife
#10REDACTED, Posted: Oct 23 2013 at 3:37 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) newegg.com and time for you to get a laptop. $300 and can run this game smooth Aspire.
#11 Oct 23 2013 at 5:27 AM Rating: Good
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Queen EmmanuellaLima wrote:
Stilivan wrote:
I've been looking and looking for a PC in the ~$500 range for my brother that will also run FFXIV. Unfortunately, the options seem very sparse. Here is the best I found:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-essentio-desktop-6gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive/1306374703.p?id=mp1306374703&skuId=1306374703#tab=overview


What do you think? Is there anything better out there? Please give me any advice! Thank you. I'm specifically looking for store-already-made computers.


newegg.com and time for you to get a laptop. $300 and can run this game smooth Aspire.

Please dont get a Laptop.

At any point in time, a "gaming" laptop is going to give you less performance than a Desktop of the same price. There are some good ones out there, but certainly not in the price range you mentioned. You're just going to end up with a lot of regret if you get one.

A "gaming" laptop that would allow you to run this game smoothly is going to be expensive, a desktop that can push out top of the line specs that beats that is going to cost you 500-600 at most. Not to mention that they're probably big and cumbersome if you're looking for a "decent" portable gaming laptop, which wont be half as portable. Not to mention it's not that good for it to move them around too much.

I know people who have a gaming laptop, here on the forums too, but while they will certainly mention they're good enough machines to play the game on higher settings, they will or will not mention that it probably cost them $1500 or more to do so.

Get a desktop. Dont care which or where, just get a desktop.
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#12 Oct 23 2013 at 6:18 AM Rating: Excellent
KojiroSoma wrote:


I know people who have a gaming laptop, here on the forums too, but while they will certainly mention they're good enough machines to play the game on higher settings, they will or will not mention that it probably cost them $1500 or more to do so.

Get a desktop. Dont care which or where, just get a desktop.


I have no problem saying what I paid. I paid about 2,500$ 3 years ago. I knew I could have got a beast of a machine if I built a PC, but I wanted this laptop. Now I want to upgrade, and I will probably put a PC together to have a better gaming system and let this laptop be my media center (like my really old PC is at).
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#13 Oct 23 2013 at 6:50 AM Rating: Excellent
Sandinmygum the Stupendous wrote:
I don't think there has been a huge graphic change in ARR to v1? So in a way, the game is 3 years old.
The laptop I play on now, I bought 3 years ago for v1 and then never bought the game after learning more about it. I play ARR on custom high setting, and everything is smooth...and I totally need a new gaming laptop/pc :p

But yea, as a "starting point" I wouldn't see why it would not work. Check out this part of ZAM. Could be useful.


Actually, there was a huge graphic change.... downward. XIV is running on a different engine. The new engine handles lighting and textures differently. The old engine was capable of better textures and handled light blooms better, but the new engine is much more optimized and can run on lower end PCs relative to what the original game could. I think the loss of high resolution textures was a minor trade off, personally, but it bothered some folks. (Biggest change was art direction. Character models are roughly the same but the environments are 99% different, just echos of what they were in 1.0 really. Much improved.)
#14 Oct 23 2013 at 7:52 AM Rating: Good
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Keep in mind when buying prebuilt PCs that they can have their own stupid workarounds to cut costs. I bought a prebuilt years ago and when I upgraded the graphics card, the PSU wasn't powerful enough. When I upgraded the PSU I had to throw the PC speakers I got with the PC into the bin as they were plugged directly into the previous PSU from the outside by it's own proprietary plug. Everytime I wanted to upgrade something I had to replace something else.

I would recommend going to stores that builds the computer for you with components you desire.

#15 Oct 23 2013 at 6:01 PM Rating: Excellent
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Pretty sure Newegg has pre-builts nowadays and the stuff they have there might equal or surpass whatever Best Buy is offering. I'd check Newegg and see what systems they have available.

For example, this system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229362

is $100 cheaper and has a better PSU and more RAM. OTOH, the graphics card and processor are no better and the hard drive is smaller.

Edited, Oct 23rd 2013 8:09pm by Prandiol
#16 Oct 24 2013 at 7:07 AM Rating: Decent
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Id find a used older pc with a lesser processor. Add some cheap ram and spend the bulk of your money on a graphics card and PSU. The most bang for your buck is the graphics card. If you are going to cut corners, it should be everywhere else (although you need enough juice (psu) to supply the graphics card.)
#17 Oct 24 2013 at 8:11 AM Rating: Good
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Mithsavvy wrote:
Id find a used older pc with a lesser processor. Add some cheap ram and spend the bulk of your money on a graphics card and PSU. The most bang for your buck is the graphics card. If you are going to cut corners, it should be everywhere else (although you need enough juice (psu) to supply the graphics card.)


Everyone says this. It's mostly false and started with the FPS crowd.

CPU > Ram > Video card weighted in that order, though there is a balance to consider.

It's easy to upgrade a video card, upgrading a CPU usually means a new motherboard, possibly new ram, complete rebuild.

Get a video card that is "good enough" and spend what you can on a good MB & CPU combo. You can upgrade the GPU later when you have a few more dollars to spend. If you end up bottle-necking at your CPU it's not an easy fix.

Honestly though if you need to go that cheap it might be worth just buying a PS3.
#18 Oct 24 2013 at 10:14 AM Rating: Excellent
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Yodabunny wrote:
Mithsavvy wrote:
Id find a used older pc with a lesser processor. Add some cheap ram and spend the bulk of your money on a graphics card and PSU. The most bang for your buck is the graphics card. If you are going to cut corners, it should be everywhere else (although you need enough juice (psu) to supply the graphics card.)


Everyone says this. It's mostly false and started with the FPS crowd.

CPU > Ram > Video card weighted in that order, though there is a balance to consider.

It's easy to upgrade a video card, upgrading a CPU usually means a new motherboard, possibly new ram, complete rebuild.

Get a video card that is "good enough" and spend what you can on a good MB & CPU combo. You can upgrade the GPU later when you have a few more dollars to spend. If you end up bottle-necking at your CPU it's not an easy fix.

Honestly though if you need to go that cheap it might be worth just buying a PS3.


Especially for XVI. It's very CPU intensive. An old board and CPU is not likely to cut it. On my old PC, a substantial video card upgrade made absolutely zero difference because the bottleneck is the CPU.

On a side note, I find it interesting that this thread isn't filled with links to good 500$ computers, given how fast people usually are to point out that planning to play on PS3/PS4 isn't a good idea because you could get a decent PC for that price.

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#19 Oct 24 2013 at 10:21 AM Rating: Excellent
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PhoenixOmbre wrote:

Especially for XVI. It's very CPU intensive. An old board and CPU is not likely to cut it. On my old PC, a substantial video card upgrade made absolutely zero difference because the bottleneck is the CPU.


I can attest to this.

I updated my PC's GPU from an HD6850 to an HD7950, and put the old card in my HTPC for some couch gaming.

With an overclocked i5 4670k, I was able to run the HD6850 at medium to high settings with a minimum of 45 FPS almost everywhere. The HTPC has a Core2Duo E7200 @ 2.53 GHz, and barely gets above 30FPS in the best case scenario (with the load on the 6850 hovering around 50%).

This game does require a fairly modern processor.


Quote:

On a side note, I find it interesting that this thread isn't filled with links to good 500$ computers, given how fast people usually are to point out that planning to play on PS3/PS4 isn't a good idea because you could get a decent PC for that price.


I think the real problem is that there really aren't many decent gaming PCs for sale at the $500 price point. In that range, most are suited for basic tasks e.g. web browsing, word processing, youtube, facebook.

The addition of a decent graphics card (and the upgrade to the power supply that it necessitates), bumps the price into a higher bracket.

Edited, Oct 24th 2013 12:40pm by Pickins
#20 Oct 24 2013 at 10:26 AM Rating: Decent
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i7 3.82 with 16 mg DDR3 and an evga gtx 670 for my home play with 850 PSU.

This was a dream rig that I finally put together a little while back and I will never look back as it was well worth the price.
#21 Oct 24 2013 at 12:25 PM Rating: Decent
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Yodabunny wrote:
Mithsavvy wrote:
Id find a used older pc with a lesser processor. Add some cheap ram and spend the bulk of your money on a graphics card and PSU. The most bang for your buck is the graphics card. If you are going to cut corners, it should be everywhere else (although you need enough juice (psu) to supply the graphics card.)


Everyone says this. It's mostly false and started with the FPS crowd.

CPU > Ram > Video card weighted in that order, though there is a balance to consider.

It's easy to upgrade a video card, upgrading a CPU usually means a new motherboard, possibly new ram, complete rebuild.

Get a video card that is "good enough" and spend what you can on a good MB & CPU combo. You can upgrade the GPU later when you have a few more dollars to spend. If you end up bottle-necking at your CPU it's not an easy fix.

Honestly though if you need to go that cheap it might be worth just buying a PS3.


You are arguing for the sake of arguing. There have been tests done by Toms and Anandtech on upgrading old machines on value. The best performance by a large factor was an upgrade to the video card. Obviously, these discussions are based on "all other things being equal". Someone trys to throw in an example using a Core2Duo. Well of course it wont produce good results. I'm surprised the game even loaded at all.

My point was that instead of making sure you are running a high end i7, shift your money more towards the graphics adapter and settle for a bit lesser of a processor. The game may be "processor intensive" but it is also "gpu intensive". The cpu is asked to do a lot more when your grpahics adapter is crap.

So yea, I'm not talkin about adding a $500 graphics card to a commodore 64. I was merely pointing out that the focus should by on the graphics adapter at the expense of the other components if forced to cut somewhere.

And the only FPS I have ever played, literally, was Call of Duty 2 on xbox 360.


Edited, Oct 24th 2013 1:27pm by Mithsavvy
#22 Oct 24 2013 at 1:37 PM Rating: Excellent
Yeah, the motherboard and processor I upgraded to last month cost over $500 by themselves. Decent gaming rigs don't come cheap.

I personally prefer getting a kit from NewEgg rather than a fully assembled PC. I get individual warranties on the components, and they give a kit discount.

So something like this and add on a video card like this, and you've got a much better rig than anything a store would sell you for a comparable price. (Any beefier a card and you'd need another PSU, though.)

Edited, Oct 24th 2013 3:46pm by Catwho
#23 Oct 24 2013 at 2:21 PM Rating: Good
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Mithsavvy wrote:


You are arguing for the sake of arguing. There have been tests done by Toms and Anandtech on upgrading old machines on value. The best performance by a large factor was an upgrade to the video card. Obviously, these discussions are based on "all other things being equal". Someone trys to throw in an example using a Core2Duo. Well of course it wont produce good results. I'm surprised the game even loaded at all.

My point was that instead of making sure you are running a high end i7, shift your money more towards the graphics adapter and settle for a bit lesser of a processor. The game may be "processor intensive" but it is also "gpu intensive". The cpu is asked to do a lot more when your grpahics adapter is crap.

So yea, I'm not talkin about adding a $500 graphics card to a commodore 64. I was merely pointing out that the focus should by on the graphics adapter at the expense of the other components if forced to cut somewhere.

And the only FPS I have ever played, literally, was Call of Duty 2 on xbox 360.


You said:

Mithsavvy wrote:
Id find a used older pc with a lesser processor.


That could refer to a huge range of CPUs, including a Core2Duo (which a ton of people are still using).

I'd argue that for MMOs, the CPU is just as important as the video card. One can always scale down the graphics quality, the same can't be said for the load the game puts on the CPU. The OC'ed 4670k I referenced only gets 30-35 FPS in heavily populated areas, and that's near top of the line for CPUs. There is nothing I can do about that bottleneck.

Also, you have to take in to account how much easier it is to upgrade the video card later as opposed to the CPU (and quite possibly motherboard).

Bottom line, my advice is: for single player games focus on GPU. For multiplayer games/MMOs you should worry about both CPU and GPU.

Really, as they say "sh*t is situational". A lot depends on which games you'll be playing as well as the resolution you run at.

Edit: I just noticed this line:
Quote:
The cpu is asked to do a lot more when your grpahics adapter is crap.


This doesn't make any sense. If the GPU is the bottleneck the CPU will be doing less work. In fact this is exactly how I check to see which component is holding me back. If the task manager shows 60% CPU usage and I'm only getting 30 FPS, it's likely the video card that is the bottleneck (you can check this by looking at the GPU usage. It will likely be at 100%).


@Catwho: That build is similar to what I would recommend as well (for someone who doesn't want to spec/build the thing from scratch).

Edited, Oct 24th 2013 4:27pm by Pickins
#24 Oct 24 2013 at 2:25 PM Rating: Excellent
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Mithsavvy wrote:
You are arguing for the sake of arguing. There have been tests done by Toms and Anandtech on upgrading old machines on value. The best performance by a large factor was an upgrade to the video card. Obviously, these discussions are based on "all other things being equal". Someone trys to throw in an example using a Core2Duo. Well of course it wont produce good results. I'm surprised the game even loaded at all.


I've been building PCs for a very long time, I'm not arguing at all I'm suggesting something that works on a tight budget. He's not upgrading an old machine, he's buying a new one. On a $500 budget with a mid/low range video card he's already sacrificing on the CPU, CPU is the bottleneck at that price point.

On older hardware a video card is better bang for your buck because the alternative is swapping out a CPU/MB and likely Ram. If you have to buy those things anyway that is no longer the case.

There's a balancing act but at low budgets performance is mostly about the CPU not the Video card. He's not building/buying a gaming rig, he's building a budget PC that will run a game.
#25 Oct 24 2013 at 2:59 PM Rating: Excellent
Also keep in mind that this year's mid range video card was the top end video card of two or three years ago. Video card upgrades move faster, much faster than CPU upgrades do (Moore's law not withstanding) because the cost associated with the latest and greatest plummets on a regular basis, pretty much halving each year. (For example, the video card my husband snagged me for $140 last Christmas has dropped as low as $85 in the last month. I guarantee it'll drop down to $70 or so by Black Friday.)

For a big up front investment of a new rig, it's better to get a higher end CPU and motherboard and a cheaper mid range video card. Then in a year or two, you can invest in big video card upgrade and get a much better ROI.

Since I've been dealing with this crap for the last few weeks as I study for my CAPM, let's get more technical. The net present value of a video card is always negative, because it'll cost you less in the future than it'd cost you today. The net present value of a current gen CPU and motherboard combo is negative over the long term (all hardware depreciates), but it's neutral for a year or so - unlike the GPUs which will plummet in half in a year.

Edited, Oct 24th 2013 5:00pm by Catwho
#26 Oct 24 2013 at 3:56 PM Rating: Excellent
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Yodabunny wrote:
CPU > Ram > Video card weighted in that order, though there is a balance to consider.


RAM is unimportant beyond just having enough. Almost any PC you buy nowadays comes with 4GB which is ample. Beyond that, there is no discernible difference unless you happen to be running RAM intensive programs alongside XIV.

The correct hierarchy has always been the same even since the days of 1.0

CPU(OC) = PSU(mostly based on protecting your investment) >= GPU > everything else

RAM falls off the list entirely once you have enough of it. The importance of GPU relies slightly on CPU just due to how one can bottleneck the other.

Intel Sandy Bridge was introduced almost 4 years ago. Out of the box, a 2500-k is still a better processor than the 3350 he'd get in the PC he listed. He could get a new barebones 2500k system and have almost twice as much money left over as what the 7470 costs. As if that wasn't enough to reconsider, the 2500-k is unlocked allowing overclock to get even more performance from CPU intensive games; not to mention that the overclock will lessen any bottleneck that might exist.

'Bang for your buck' assumes that you can actually stress a GPU to it's potential. Unless you have an unlocked CPU, you're not going to be able to do that with any GPU released recently(read: anything viable for running this game at moderate settings).

What Mithsavvy says is true, but assumes that the user is willing and able to make the necessary adjustments. It isn't wrong in this instance, but it doesn't really apply since the OP states they want something ready-made. To me that just implies that they don't want to go any further than plugging it in and installing the game.

tl;dr

PS4 still looking to be the best option unless the utility of having a PC is a necessary.
____________________________
Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
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