computer for ONLY stepmania

[PhunnyJesta]

what would be really good computer specs for a sole purpose of running stepmania 100% speed very smoothly. i was thinking 1-2GHz CPU with 256 RAM and a graphics card with s-video output (for putting it on a tv screen) also i know computers look HORRIBLE on TVs but would i be able make stepmania look at least a little clear on a uhhh i think 28 inch tv screen? i believe taking the resolution down to 320 in the graphics option would help cuz i think thats what most TVs are set to. projectors are out of the question since they have a pretty big delay.

[Phynx]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

Just a new, discontinued series of like dell or gateway or something. www.newegg.com FTW!

[PhunnyJesta]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

what about this barebones kit?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167010

slap on the cpu 2.2ghz AMD Athlon 64, Nvidia GeForce FX5200 video card, and 512mb Kingston RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103199

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130295

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134115

for a total of $164.96

btw i have an extra 40gb IDE hard drive and a cd driver, does this all sound good? or is it too much for just stepmania?

ill also be using windows 98 just for the fact it doesnt use as much cpu as xp and i want the computer to focus on stepmania as much as possible for better smoother gameplay

the cheapest computer i was finding on newegg was like 200-300 bucks and they were worse then this (ewww celeron)

[meno_rocks123]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

lol celeron

[PhunnyJesta]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

hm well it looks like the computer is good and all, but what about the whole hooking it up to a TV? i used to watch movies from my computer with my tv? would it look clear enough to be able to read the words?

[eVILPeeR]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

PhunnyJesta, I've done quite a bit with computers in regards to running SM on a TV. I'm doing that actually right now, on a 32" LCD HDTV.

First off, S-Video sucks. Text is unreadable. For playing stepmania though, it's great. Stepmania will look just fine on S-Video and you shouldnt have any problems (in fact, SM ran even better on a TV for me when I hooked it up via S-Video).

As for the system itself, a GeForce FX5200 with 256mb (not 128) will be just fine. Also, get a pentium 4. Not a celeron. Celeron's are slow and won't run the game optimally (well, most). Ram, you need like.. 256 only. But, if you want SM to load at a decent rate, I'd say get 512 in total (and ram is dirt cheap, especially the kind you need).

The motherboard, get a cheap third-party one for like $30-40. Look around your town/city, see if you can find any computer shops around. There's bound to be a used one, and you could get everything you need really cheap.

One thing though, get a motherboard with onboard goodies like sound, ethernet, video, etc.

I paid $250 for the system I'm currently on.. which is this:
ATi Radeon X1650 PRO AGP
Pentium IV 2.66ghz
1gb of PC3200 ram
Creative Soundblaster Audigy soundcard

I found it by looking at classifieds. You can find stuff easily if you look.

[DigitalS3r4ph]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

this thread makes me cry. You don't build a computer to play stepmania. You build a computer to play Crysis and play stepmania on it anyways.

[PhunnyJesta]

Re: computer for ONLY stepmania

i wasnt planning on going with a celeron, im not even planning on going with intel. i was looking more toward AMD since its cheaper. just got an s-video cord today and hooked it up to my main comp and stepmania looks just fine with very little unreadable text. o and digitalS3r4ph this isnt gonna be for me. i go to this thing called TNT and its a hangout place and i talked the staff into getting 2 metal pads and a computer for stepmania.

*edit* o yea, evilpeer. why would i get a 256mb video card, 128 should be fine. you dont even need a video card to play stepmania, all i want it is for s-video output