I'm trying to put together a good gaming computer, to play games such as warhammer and warcraft well, together and not have it cost too much. I was looking on ebay to find a cheap desktop that has good processor speed, 2g ram or 1g of ram (i'll just buy another gig), and I don't really care about the hard drive space. I was planning to buy that and buy the PNY GeForce 8800GT. However, I read that it requires PCI-express 2.0. I don't know a lot about computer hardware as I am a software guy. Here is a link to a desktop i was looking at, I didnt know if i need to look for a computer that has PCI-Express or not, or if a computer that has that would be too expensive and I need to look for a different graphics card. Any help would be great, Thanks.
Buying a prebuilt PC with the intention of putting a graphics card in it will not work as they require good power supplies which prebuilt PCs never have. You don't need PCIe2 for an 8800GT but you need at least a strong 300W PSU. I would recommend building a PC instead, see the building thread for help, it's easier than you think.
By building it yourself you'll get a far better machine for the same (or less) money and you will enjoy using it alot more. You'll never buy prebuilt ever again after you see how easy it is. My old 8800GT 512 stated it needed a minimum recommended 400W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 26A). PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatible.
You really should buy it in components, just tell us how much you are willing to spend, and we will choose what you should buy. btw HD4850 or HD4870 is better choise than 8800GT
The 400W rating is in there for safety purposes, so the not quite so good "400W" PSUs that actually only deliver 300W will still power the card. At full load a complete gaming PC with an overclocked dual core processor and an 8800GT will use around 180-200W off a PSU. I would also echo Yottabyte's comment that an HD4850 would be a better card on the whole, but it's more expensive, and neither Warhammer Online or World of Warcraft are very demanding, so if they're all you play, an 8800GT would suffice and you may as well save the 60 dollars.
Yeah I know, I thought I'd drop that in there to justify why we recommend it despite the price increase...
Btw thanks for all the replies, I didnt know if I would get any becuase of my noob question. Anyways I spent around 2 or 3 hours reading through the some of the guides in the building your own computer forum, and I definately am convinced to build it. I've installed all the parts except a motherboard I just always thought there was more parts to a computer than that. As for the price i am willing to spend I am not sure, as adding $50 here or there greatly improves the performance. When I was going to buy a premade, I wanted to buy a computer and buy a graphics card for around $300. So if it is even possible to get a good one around $300 i'd be interested, but i'd also be interested in whats available for $400. I'll be reading through the forums more and try to get as much info as i can. Thanks.
I don't think i'll play any games with better graphics than Warhammer. So I think the 8800gt will be good, I'm even looking at the 8600gt and comparing.
The Radeon HD series is better at HD video, so if you're into your Bluray on a PC, I'd recommend those over a geforce 8 card.
