I'll take the Tech Talk berating, but I haven't used a computer heavily for a few years and I miss playing Red Alert 2 and UT2004. I got a raise and the wife got a credit card so I decided it's about time to get rid of the Compaq I've been using to listen to mp3s and watch Chinese HBO.

Dimension 3000
P4 @ 2.8Ghz, 533 FSB w/ onboard Intel Extreme 2 graphics
265 Meg RAM which I'll upgrade later
80 Gig HDD (+80 from the current one)
DVD/CDRW combo drive
17" LCD (a deal breaker)
Spkrs & USB Key/Mouse (They don't have PS2 oulets anymore?)

So it's pretty stripped down, $735 with free shipping. Will the onboard graphics hurt too bad? This is not going to be a gaming PC, but I do want to play some UT04 again. Suggestions?

9/7/2005 2:02:35 PM

i'm no expert but i don't think you'll be playing ut2k4 at any high settings or framerates with onboard graphics

9/7/2005 2:08:56 PM

check this from small biz dell: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=517528

9/7/2005 3:38:39 PM

Damn, $100 less and upgraded to 512 Megs RAM + a wireless router I was putting off buying! Thanks!

If I save up for a real video card can you just put it in there like any thing else?

9/7/2005 4:24:03 PM

it doesn't look like that mobo has an AGP or PCI-Express slot from what I saw on the detailed view, so probably not.

9/7/2005 4:36:07 PM

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3000/en/SM/specs.htm#wp1075776

according to the docs it does not have any agp slots. So you wouldn't be able to put a good gfx card in it later.

I would suggest waiting for a better deal on one with more features.

9/7/2005 4:39:13 PM

thats the worst deal ive ever seen from dell

dude, i paid 700 (shipped) last month and got;

Dell Dimension 9100
Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology (3GHz, 800FSB) - 2MB L2*
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
17 inch E173FP LCD
256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) nVidia GeForce 6800
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive




[Edited on September 7, 2005 at 5:35 PM. Reason : -]

9/7/2005 5:32:47 PM

yeah, hold out

3 months ago i got a 4700 with:

ultrasharp 17" FP
radeon 128MB dvi/vga/s-video
512 ddr2 dual channel ram
2.8GHz P4 HT
basic HD and CD-ROM

for 599

^thats a nice fuckin deal, im jealous

ps, always check small business, they have the best deals but you have to pay tax

[Edited on September 7, 2005 at 5:38 PM. Reason : d]

9/7/2005 5:37:47 PM

yeah, hold out a few more weeks and the end of the quarter deals will come around

9/7/2005 5:41:10 PM