Desktop PC Purchase Questions (looking for opinions)

[NitrusReigns]

I recently found a desktop that I am considering purchasing, but I am looking for the help and opinions of some of you people who are much more tech-savvy than I. I will include the specs of the pc I am looking at below (in spoiler) so that you can see what I'm currently looking at and offer suggestions. I am specifically looking for suggestions as they relate to gaming. I am not at all a hardcore pc gamer (I do most of my gaming on my xbox 360), but I am probably going to buy Skyrim for pc and if I have a good enough rig, will possibly do more pc gaming in the future. For now, thought, I'm mostly concerned with being able to run Skyrim when it comes out.

Additionally, I am wondering how video memory works. This particular pc says that it has 1 gb of dedicated video memory, but others I've seen have said that they have different amounts of memory which are allocated by Windows 7. What are the advantages and disadvantages either way?

Spoiler:

Processor - AMD Phenom™ II
Processor Speed - 2.7GHz
System Bus - 4000MHz
Cache Memory - 3MB on die Level 2 + 6MB on die Level 3
System Memory (RAM) - 8GB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To - 16GB
Type of Memory (RAM) - DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Drive Type - SATA (7200 rpm)
Hard Drive Size - 1TB
Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 5570
Video Memory - 1GB DDR3 (dedicated)
Audio - High-definition with 7.1 surround sound capabilities
Network Card - Built-in 10/100Base-T network
Wireless Networking - Built-in 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN
Recordable DVD Drive - Yes, double-layer DVD±RW/Blu-ray Disc/CD-RW
Recordable DVD Drive Speeds - 4x DVD+R DL; 4x DVD-R DL; 16x8x16 DVD+RW; 16x6x16 DVD-RW; 8x BD-ROM; 5x DVD-RAM; 40x24x40 CD-RW
Available Expansion Bays - External: 1 (3.5"), 1 (5.25"); Internal: 1 (3.5")
Available Expansion Slots - 3 PCI Express x1
USB 2.0 Ports - 7 (3 front, 4 rear)
Operating System Platform - Windows
Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
HDMI Output - Yes
Blu-ray Player - Yes
Processor Platform - VISION Ultimate
Drive Capacity - 1TB

I'm not at all set on buying the pc that these specs came from, but it is a good price and I wondered what other people thought about it. I just need some suggestions so that I don't end up spending the money to buy a computer and then end up not being able to play Skyrim (& other future games) or end up having to pour a bunch more money into it to be able to. Thanks in advance for your help.

[jaxawier]

it wasn´t specified but I would assume it is an am3 motherboard,so in theory you can put in faster cpu´s in the phenom family in there,to futureproof it a little be 965/970 would suffice I think,quad = 4 cores is ok for the time being and some time ahead.
For skyrim it is uncertain how it will support a number of cores,oblivion take pretty much 2,and morrowind one,mention it since amd also have thuban 6 cores for am3,not necessarily much use for those 6 cores for skyrim,definetely not for oblivion.
Personally I hope for it since I got one thuban already but I fold,so I somewhat make use of all 6 cores anyway

to sum it it up: amd quad ( 4 cores) is good enough for the foresable future,and as fast per core as you can afford it,so be 970 is iirc the fastest,and those thuban 6 cores is slower per core than that,1090T like I have is at 3.2 per core for example.

Ram and amd-systems it is beneficial to get lower latency ram,so if you have a choise that is ok to have in mind when purchasing ram for amd systems.

The rest,out of date with ati/amd graphicscard, but their xx70 and xx90-versions is their top of the line cards generally,haven´t used them since my 4850 days,

[NitrusReigns]

Thanks for your input about the specs. Definitely still looking for some more opinions, however, if anyone would like to weigh in and offer advice.

[jaxawier]

how to put it, you have listed a long list with general specifications with absolutely no meaning when it comes to vital details.
things like motherboard,brand and chipset version-there is different types you know.
the same with ram,brand and version = equals speed and specifications of said ram.
gpu is pretty much standard but still various labels have their way in doing things.
hard-drive, 1 tb sounds good,still there is differences between drives too,so if it is good depends.
cpu, 2.7 ghz says nothing,besides it is a phenom so one could guess,exact label would be nice.

still putting it as gentle I can, go back and do your homework before you asking others doing the work for you

[Andere]

If you're planning on Skyrim, and don't have any necessary need I'd say: wait. As far as we know Skyrim will be released on 11/11/11, and by that time you'll get quite a different system, compared with today.

"Hold your horses", and you'll get a real stallion!

[NitrusReigns]

go back and do your homework before you asking others doing the work for you

Honestly, I think your most recent reply is arrogant, narrow-minded, and offensive. You seem to think that just because you know about all this computer crap, other people do as well. This is simply not the case. It may be advantageous for you to realize that not everyone in the world is just like you.

It's not an issue of doing my homework, but of me asking for help and advice regarding a topic about which I know very little. I gave all the information I have on the computer I was looking at and asked if people could help me out since I am quite uninformed on the subject of computer hardware. You telling me to go back an do my own homework is the same as if I told you to go back and do your homework after you asked a question about lasers. The simple fact that you have no knowledge of classical and quantum models for double ionization of atoms does not mean that you're an idiot and should be ridiculed, it simply means that you don't know as much as me on a particular topic. If I were to attempt to help you by answering your question, I would need to find ways to answer the essence of what you were trying to ask without getting into all the details. But that's just how I would handle it and clearly it is necessarily true that not everyone in the world thinks the way I do.

"Hold your horses", and you'll get a real stallion!

Thanks for your input Andere. I am not planning on buying anytime real soon, but I am trying to get a little better educated on the topic so that I know what to look for as time progresses. As jaxawier so tactfully pointed out, I clearly don't know much about this stuff so I'm simply trying to figure out what types of things I need to be looking for as I continue to look for a new PC.

[Moeboid]

I agree with Andre here. If you can wait, you should. PC components become outdated incredibly quickly. The PC that I bought around 8 months ago could probably be bought today for around 30% less than what I paid for it then.

In regards to your video memory question, a PC has either integrated graphics or a dedicated graphics card. A graphics card will have its own memory, while an integrated GPU will use some of the memory for the rest of the system. Integrated graphics cards are FAR less powerful than dedicated graphics cards and should not be considered for running a game like Skyrim.

[Andere]

And one thing our true Forum Expert, H8Ball made clear: besides the video card everyone talks about, a dedicated sound card will give a lot more power to your system. In fact, and that's my own experience too, most gaming problems come from sound problems, not video --- I'm not an expert here, technically, but I'm bound to believe it. I mean, everybody talk about video, but they just ignore audio... wouldn't be the first time mankind goes astray, would it?

But anyway, NitrusReigns, I hope you get yourself a descent machine.

[Dark Spark]

The specs up there read like a machine built around the AMD 1045 hexacore processor. I have a gut feeling it'll handle Skyrim in some semblence of pwnage.

If I'm reading the tea leaves properly, Skyrim will be made with quad-cores in mind for optimal performance and dual-cores for minimum specs. In the five-odd years between Oblivion and Skyrim, you'd better hope Bethesda learned a thing or two about cache sharing.

[Zmery]

Idnt expect almost NOTHING from a 5570 GPU... GTX460/550Ti on nVidea side or 5850/6870 on the AMD side... for more or like future prrof gaming, those are the basis...

Having no idea how much that would cost you, your level of demanding when comes to graphics ans such, and being me from a far far away place where prizeing is completely different, to be "safe" to be able to play Skyrim in 1080p in max settings with some filters on and no breaks (even though I have no idea what the rec specs will be), I'd go and buy:

Asus P8P67 PRO board or equivalent (Gigabyte P67A-UD4, MSI P67A-GD65, or any of another brand with SLI/CF and OC'ing capability using P67 as nothbridge chipset) coming from a B3 revision

Intel Core i5 2500K

Asus GTX570 DirectCU II (or equivalent, like MSI's TwinFrozrII, Gigabyte SOC, eVGA, Zotac AMP!...)

4 GB (for gaming is more than enough) (2x2) RAM DDR3 1.5v that's rated @ 1600 like G.Skill RipjawX series

a 1TB or 2 500GB Raid0 hard drive configuration (no Green ones tho, WD Caviar Black or Samsung F3 are my better recomendations)

a solid 650w/750w PSU from a good brand (Corsair, Antec, Silverstone, Cougar, XFX, PC Power and Cooling, Enermax, Seasonic, Kingwin~, NZXT Hale...)

a good case like Thermaltake V3 or above (I'd consider CoolerMaster RC 690 II but they are more expensive and that doesn't really reflect on performance, maybe on temperatures but not THAT much)

a cooler (Noctua, Zalman, Thermaltake... many great options on that department)

A DVD-RW drive (anything but Lite-On or Samsung will do)

a GOOD monitor (120hz would be better, but they are expensive too so I'd say maybe a Samsung BX2331?)

A mouse and a keyboard

A set of speakers.

And you're good to GO.