Basic gaming pc - requirements

[dc9-32]

Hello to the world of PC's !!

My son has a PC game and we are struggling to ascertain the requirements to make the thing work properly.

The HALO game minimum specs are:

Halo - Combat Evolved (by Microsoft), which has a sytem requirement of

Windows XP
Processor 733Mhz
Hard drive 1.2gb
Video card 32mb/3D T&L capable.

Can someone shed some light on what the PC specs should be and if possible, where I can buy a relatively cheap PC that meets these specs.

Thanks

[Gonzo]

Hi DC9...

Do you have a PC at the moment? Does it run on that?

Games publishers' minimum specs are notoriously unrealistic. I'd 'double' what it says, or at least go for the 'recommended specs' if MS mention that on the box as well as the 'minimum specs'.

[MacBoero]

You would have to try very hard indeed to buy a new PC that doesn't meet those requirements. The cheapest Dell Desktop machine for instance has a 1.6GHz Celeron, a 160GB hard drive, and a G31 Intel Chipset that has Intel 3100 graphics built in, which supports up to 256MB of graphics memory.

So the answer to your question is pretty much going to be that any new machine you buy will meet the specification given.

However, as with all these things, the more powerful the machine you choose, the better things (especially games) run, and Microsoft of one of the worst for understating requirements.

It is generally reckoned that when deciding to buy a new computer you should simply decide on a budget, and choose the best machine you can get for that budget. The trick is not to get carried away, and also just accept that the moment you open the box it'll be obsolete but should provide a good few years of service.

I have stopped many a friend from buying a £2000 Dell XPS machine for web browsing, emails, playing music and sucking pictures of a digital camera. They have in all cases been very happy with the £300 Inspiron desktop I have pointed them too instead.

If you're happy to tinker and keep one going a self built machine can provide more "bang for your bucks". If you want to safety of a warranty and support, then a good brand name is the way to go.

[hellsbrink]

For something like Halo, realistically you will need a 128Mb graphics card, 1Gb Ram and something like an Athlon XP2800 as the minimum. Even with that, you will have to turn graphics settings down a bit (I ran Halo on this PC, which is these specs)

As far as "cheap" goes, you'll need to give us your definintion of "cheap"! This http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Systems/AriaNet/Esys+440VHP+Intel+Core2+Duo+with+Vista+Premium+?productId=30 032 doesn't seem too bad and will be fairly "futureproof" (you will need a monitor, but I guess you have one), but I have no idea if that is within your budget or not.

Oh, I've bought stuff from these guys before, they are reliable

[Saab Dastard]

Check that you can install and run DirectX 9.0b

Check that your graphics card is NOT on the list of cards (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829479) that MS have explicitly stated will NOT work with Halo.

But the quoted min. spec would run like an absolute dog!

The faster the PC - and especially the graphics card - the better the performance.

SD

[spannersatcx]

For halo 3 get an xbox 360:eek:

[dc9-32]

Thanks for the tips and hints, keep them coming please.

:rolleyes:

[Gonzo]

Yes, that was helpful, wasn't it :}

DC9, I've just had a look on Amazon for the PC version of Halo....you might want to read some of the user reviews there to see if they mention specs...

I've just found this quote: "It's a hardware eater this game, no question about it, but with my Athlon 3.2GHz and [pretty mediocre] ATI Radeon 9500, I was able to conjure up a very acceptable frame rate."

I imagine (s)he means an Athlon XP 3200, or Athlon64 3200. From what I remember the Radeon 9500 graphics card came out in 2002, and was either 64MB or 128MB.

[hellsbrink]

wouldn't be the 64, and I reckon you won't find an Athlon XP3200 system in a hurry nowadays unless you go to EBay.

You can get Intel celeron systems cheaply which will play Halo, but one can hardly give any sensible advice without knowing what "cheap" is. After all, you can get refurbished PC's for £150, but would you buy one? and why would you buy a PC just to suit that game when chances are you'll end up getting another game at some point which will need a PC more advanced than the one you bought to use Halo on! That's why the old adage of "get the biggest, fastest machine you can afford" stands true, because in reality you will end up with something that will have a longer "lifetime" than the el cheapo 5 year old system you bought for £100 from the guy beside the fireplace in the pub.

[Gonzo]

Sorry, I should have been more clear, I wasn't saying that's what DC9 should get, I was just trying to give an illustration of what kind of specs Halo needed to run well.

The lowest-end Pentium D (2140?) and an Nvidia 6600 will be more than enough I'd have thought.