dell dimension E520 for gaming

[Mr. T]

So my brother wants to get a new dell, he wants a 2007fp, and he wants to be able to play games like Civilization IV at the highest settings. He's looking at dell's XPS systems but I think a customized Dimension would be good enough plus they are %20 off right now.

So I have a couple of questions.

Is this video card good enough? They offer a ATI Radeon X1300 Pro for $41 more. Or should he buy a different card and install it himself, if so is there one you guys recommend?

Which is better for gaming(he does not play poker) the 2007FP or the 2007FPW?

Thanks in advance here are the specs:

Dimension E520 Intel ® Core™2 Duo Processor E6400 (2.13GHz, 1066 FSB)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
Monitor 20 inch Ultrasharp™ 2007FP Digital Flat Panel
Video Cards 256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache
Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
Mouse Mouse included in Wireless, Laser or Bluetooth Package
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
CD or DVD Drive 16x DVD+/-RW Drive
Sound Cards Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Bundle No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Anti-Virus/Security Suite No Security Subscription
Warranty and Service 2Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Future Operating Systems Windows Vista™ Capable
TV Tuners & Remote Controls Single TV Tuner with Remote Control
Dell Digital Entertainment No preinstalled software

TOTAL:$1,193.60


Here are the requirments for Civilization IV that I found if that helps:

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System:
Windows® 2000/XP
Processor:
1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent
Memory:
256 MB RAM (Windows 2000) / 512 MB RAM (Windows XP)

Hard Disk Space:
1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive :
4X Speed

Video:
DirectX 9.0c-compatible 64 MB video card with Hardware T&L support ( GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)

Sound:
DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®:
DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher



Recommended System Requirements

Operating System:
Windows® 2000/XP
Processor:
1.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory:
512 MB RAM

Hard Disk Space:
1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive :
4X Speed

Video:
128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel & vertex shaders)

Sound:
DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®:
DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher



Supported Operating Systems

Windows 2000
Service Pack 1 or higher WITH Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
Windows XP
Home or Professional w/ Service Pack 1 or higher



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[Freakin]

That system should be more than enough, but I would go with a different video card (not through dell). They don't have the best prices.

Also, a 10k RPM drive if they have them from dell would be nice.

I think the 2007FP is probably better all around. Not all games have widescreen resolution settings (though most newer games do now. I think Civ4 does). Either monitor should be fine.

I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] civ4

[lastchance]

Gaming = GPU. Don't pay for the crap that is the 7300 LE, go with 7600 GT or something.

Otherwise, it looks fine, I'd probably rather buy from cyberpower/velocity micro instead of dell for gaming.

[Mr. T]

Freakin, lastchance:

They only offer a nVidia 7300 LE or a ATI Radeon X1300 Pro for $41 more. Should he get the ATI or buy the cheaper nVidia and save the $41 bucks add use that towards a better video card? You have to get one or the other.

[lastchance]

Save the $41, I suppose and use it. GPU's are that important.

And yeah, I wouldn't buy a desktop from Dell either.

[Mr. T]

I just got off the phone with my brother and he spent $2600 on an XPS 410, so nevermind.

[jjshabado]

Please, please, PLEASE don't buy a desktop from Dell. They're overpriced and their customer service sucks. Go to tigerdirect.com or newegg.com to look at good deals. I would still get the Dell monitor, because they're really good, and you don't need customer support with them.