....Buying a New Computer

[Cory]

and I was wondering, what would I need to run a top end emulator?

Would it be RAM? If so how much

Im lookin at PS2 emulators.

Loved the PS2, before I sold it for my 360.

[chunkylover]

High RAM, At least a Couple Gig, maybe 4. My PC with 1 gig Ram couldn't even run a DS emulator.

Also a good graphics card I think would most likely be important, and NVidia or ATI.

To be fair though, a new computer with 4 gig RAM and a good graphics card will set you back more than the cost of a PS2 and a few games.

[JohnS.]

Depends on the kind of RAM you go with, actually. DDR3 is going to run much more expensive, but you will need less...Honestly, to upgrade the RAM you have now to 4 gigs would probably only cost about $75. DDR and DDR2 prices have declined extremely since the release of DDR3 ram. You might want to see about upgrading what you already have before buying something new. Like I said, 75 bucks to upgrade to 4 gigs of DDR or DDR2 isn't bad. Throw in a nice NVidia card and you could be set.

[TheNthDegree]

PS2 emulators ... I was investigating this this morning (on a FF kick and no place around here rents em out) and even with a decent machine, running a lot of games full speed is not gonna happen. To be able to run all games full speed with no slowdown/graphical hookups, they say you need at minimum, a PC running at 4-5 GHz, a 128MB Graphics card, 2G of RAM and preferably XP. AKA They hate Vista.

Sooo. Yeah.

[Cory]

Well, I'm buying a new computer, so buying RAM for the one I have would be poor investing.

I currently have a Cicero, Pentium 4 Processer, 256mb of RAM, 30gigs of Memory.

Please, stop laughing.

I'm looking at a computer with 6 gigs of RAM, 750gig Harddrive, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600,2.5ghz, 256MB DDR3,Intel G33 Chipset With Intel ICH9R.

I totally copy and pasted it, but check out the specs. Good?

[JohnS.]

6 gigs of RAM is more than sufficient.

750 gig drive is sweet, thought it doesn't really have any bearing on the emulation issue.

Core 2 Quad running at 2.5 will be sufficient.

And I'm assuming the 256 DDR3 is the memory for the video card?

Sounds like a sweet little rig, I'd go for it.

[Cory]

It's an Acer, and it's $999.99 at Best Buy.

I have custom 300-watt Subwoofers (I Love my Rap Music) in too, so in total it'll be around $1,500.

Is Acer a good brand? I've heard......'things'

[TheNthDegree]

Just make sure that you get the 64bit version of whatever processor you're gonna be running - either Vista OR XP. The 32 bit version of Vista can't see more than 3 GB of RAM and the 32 of XP can only see 4GB. Cause if you end up with the 32 bit version, you're gonna be wasting 2/3 Gig of RAM cause your system won't be able to utilize it.

[Cory]

Just make sure that you get the 64bit version of whatever processor you're gonna be running - either Vista OR XP. The 32 bit version of Vista can't see more than 3 GB of RAM and the 32 of XP can only see 4GB. Cause if you end up with the 32 bit version, you're gonna be wasting 2/3 Gig of RAM cause your system won't be able to utilize it.

Noted.

[The Murph]

Sounds great but just to make you aware Acer PC's are not the upmost liked in the world lol. I have an Acer and the amount of problems I've had are insane. And quite a few other people I know have had issues as well. Though to be honest what your looking at getting is pretty sweet for $999 and would cost a fair bit more if you went somewhere outside of Acer. Just check the reviews for it first. I know some Acer computers work perfect with no issues and other systems by them were pure lemons.

[Judge]

All Intel Core 2 are (now) 64 bit processors.

[Brandon]

Acer is a decent brand. They have problems, but they're relatively new. Give em' time, and I think they'll get their stuff together.