PC Gaming expert help needed

[Meetbalips]

Good afternoon,

I am new to PC gaming and need some help. I want to play FFXIV but my pc doesn't meet min. specs. I'm trying to buy this one on Craigslist but dunno what I'm getting myself into. It's a workstation which looks like it was built for an office. Is there anything I should consider when trying to use it to play FFXIV? He wants $350, I'm trying to get it for $250. Thanks for your help!


Great HP xw8400 workstation.

Specs:

CPU: (2)Intel Dual Core Xeon 5060 clocked @ 3.2Mhz each
RAM: 8Gb of DDR2 Fully Buffered with matched latency, buffered ram is extremely stable, helps eliminate errors and increases performance
GPU: ATI FirePro 3D V4800 card @ 1Gb DDR5 memory and supports fully supports Eyefinity, only 6 months old.
HDD: 1Tb WD Black 7200rpm drive (see options below)
Optical: HP DVD-RW drive
O/S: Windows 7 Pro

[Zenaku]

If your own computer have a pci express you could really just buy a 450gts for 120$ or even a 460gts and play the game on high setting without issue even if your pc only have dual core lol.

[Khalus]

Honestly, don't buy that PC...its not very good for the price even you want to pay. Also you don't know its condition, or how well it was treated...etc etc etc.

Check Newegg and Tigerdirect for PC kits or a new pe-built PC thats affordable to you.

[Zenaku]

Yep you could really just build a good pc under 400$ if you really want too. But getting a 450gts for around 120$ can play the game without issue.

I just build my gf a new pc and use Ram,HDD,Dvd rom from her old pc and pretty much cost me about 290$ to build a new one and can play ffxiv on high setting without issue.

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

If you're new to PC gaming and do not feel comfortable with opening computers (or have a trusted friend who can perform this), I would stick with a pre-built, operating system already installed system.

Operating system should be 64-bit if you're getting more than 4 GB of memory.

Memory should still run decent with 4 GB. Get at least 6 GB to be safe.

Never tried to play the game with a processor slower than 2.8 GHz, whether dual or quad, couldn't advise you there.

When looking at specs, the graphic card / GPU that could handle the game with a decent framerate and decent graphics would be the following:

GeForce GTX 450 or better.
GeForce GTX 550 or better.
ATI Radeon HD 5450 or better.
ATI Radeon HD 6450 or better.
I know nothing of professional graphic cards versus gaming graphic cards like the one in the computer you're looking at on Craigslist.

If you're using a lower end gaming computer such as one with an ATI Radeon HD 5450 for your graphics, 4 GB of memory, and processor with 4 CPUs at 2.80 GHz, you'll end up running the game at fairly low settings (it still looks good to me) and maintaining a framerate comparable to most Xbox360 and PS3 games these days.

Side note: on the cards like NVidia, a higher number isn't automatically better. The hundred digit, i.e. 200, 400, 500 indicate the generation of the card. The next two digits: 20, 40, 60, 80 generally indicate the power level of that generation. So a 460 could easily outperform a 520.

Similar deal on the HD Radeon's follow a different numbering scheme so it may be initially difficult to compare these items. The thousand digit indicates generation here, the remaining numbers indicate the power level of that given generation.

I'm not like an expert or anything and others feel free to correct any terminology that I've butchered.