PC to bring a friend back to EQ

[mokfarg]

Hi guys, I figured this would be a good place to start. I have a friend that I am trying to talk into playing EQ once again. I am looking for a cheap PC or PC parts to provide him with an EQ box.

I don't think it should take much these days to give EQ what it needs to run. What would you guys recommend? This will be the PCs only function. I want the hardware that would give him the best experience, single core processor, etc etc. I have Windows XP Pro that will be installed on the box.

Any websites/ideas? Suggestions will be welcomed. Thank you!

[Itchybottom]

Athlon II x2 210e should be sufficient CPU-wise and bang-for-buck
Some random cheap AM3 motherboard (I prefer 770 and 880 based chipsets, I also usually stick with Asus because they have ECC support on the budget boards -- but this won't be applicable to you)
2 gigs of budget Corsair or Kingston RAM (since you only have Windows XP, which is 32-bit)
Some nVidia GTS450 video card (Sparkle, is pretty cheap on NewEgg for example)
Whatever hard drive (I use Hitachi in production, but have some Samsung Spinpoints floating around too -- avoid Seagate)
Corsair power supply (any of the HX series will be fine), or maybe Antec True line.
Whatever case
Whatever monitor

It'll be overkill, but then again you're not throwing money completely away at yesterdays technology either. Used (or old stock hardware) vs this type of build, would be neck and neck price wise. Single core processor isn't a good idea building from scratch.

[rachel]

ebay.

2.0ghz proc.
1gb ram.

maybe 80 bucks ? with shipping.

I run p1999 on integrated graphics card and it runs perfect. on a 5 year old dell 3000. 2.9ghz 2gb ram.

[Bizarostormy]

Do you have any experience putting together a PC?
If you don't its pretty easy and you can find guides online.
A good place to buy parts is newegg.com
However it is often cheaper to buy a computer from a manufacturer when you want a super low-end computer because that is where they make the least profit and it is more of a commodity business for them.

[Spewys]

Yeah I found that it runs better on my older AMD machine with a 2 Ghz CPU and 2Gig ram than on my newer machine. I am inline with Rachel said...Would not go overboard at all just for this.

[azeth]

Originally Posted by Bizarostormy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Do you have any experience putting together a PC?

if you think you can do this, then you likely can. i'd imagine you could put together an EQ-worthy PC for under $100. newegg.com has some nice holiday deals.

things you'll need:

static guard
small screwdriver
end.

[y2sky2003]

Second the Newegg recommendations. Haven't tried building ultra-cheap, so I'm not sure how low you can really go, but my current rig was built with a quad-core processor, 4GB RAM, and a 1GB Radeon for around $600. I also ran through the Cyber Monday list for S&G and rigged up a similar box (dual-core and 512 MB GeForce) for $450.

[Engraverwilliam]

netbook with to 2gigs of ram. It's what I play on mostly because I have the GF on my main gaming machine. I just kick it on the couch or at the dining room table. Plays it perfectly. On the weekends I will bust out my 20" monitor and plug it in for extended viewing its much better on the eyes.

netbooks are dirt cheap nowadays.

[TJHooker]

Originally Posted by rachel [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

ebay.

2.0ghz proc.
1gb ram.

maybe 80 bucks ? with shipping.

I run p1999 on integrated graphics card and it runs perfect. on a 5 year old dell 3000. 2.9ghz 2gb ram.

I am on a 5 year old Dell too, 3.0 p4, 2 gig ram, and recently got an ati 4650 agp card after my old one died.

I am running it at 1600x900 with all the card features set to max, 8x AA and all the filtering and mip mapping stuff on high. EQ actually looks prettty smooth and decent and I have plenty high frame rates.

[guineapig]

More or less any computer that currently in operational order should be able to run EQ classic just fine. In other words, anything made within the past 5-6 years.