Question About PC Performance For Football Manager

Hi guys. I've noticed that there are a number of members on the forum who are very knowledgable technically regarding computers and I'd appreciate it if you could help me out. I'm really poor with computers so I apologize if these are really basic questions. First of all I currently play Football Manager on my laptop, it is a really basic laptop but I had a limited budget when purchasing it. Now, since getting rid of my Xbox 360 I'd like to buy a PC that can run Football Manager smoothly, I'd like to be able to run the 3D Match Engine at the highlest level without any problems and would like to run several top leagues from around the world (not too many). I was just curious as to what kind of PC should I purchase? What are the key things I should be looking for in a new PC? RAM? graphics gards? I have no idea about graphics cards by the way. My final question is how long would a decent gaming PC last? Would it be outdated in 6 months or a year or so?

Thanks you in advance.

If your starting from the basics (Montior, Keyboard Mouse etc) then your looking at around £400 (everything included) for a semi decent FM machine, and with terms of "out of date" as soon as you buy it/make it, its 6months out of date. Ive spent £1500 on my PC, bought 2x Nvidia 470GTX's, the 5xx series is launched... (this was about 9months ago thou for me)

PC technology will always be out of date as soon as you buy it pretty much due to the advances.

Depends if you buy a laptop or desktop really.

Desktop is cheaper and easily upgraded (to a point). You can buy a barebones pc (no keyboard, monitor, mouse) with quadcore for around £300 then add bits to it when you have the cash. A decent graphics card will be at least £60. Keyboard +mouse - £10 and monitors can come cheap if you shop around. I reckon you could get a decent setup for about £500.

Realistically - a machine you buy today from the high street will last you 2-3 years for FM gaming.

You'll want at least 4GB of RAM.

You might find that an in-built graphics card might not work very well with FM, in which case you'd have to look out for a machine with a dedicated graphics card (or just purchase and install your own - very easy to do).

No need to scare the lad with immediate obsolescence, any decent PC/Laptop that you buy new today should be fine for the next 2 or 3 releases of FM.

Have a look at the PC Spec's thread or do a quick search for the numerous 'what PC?' threads as there are a number of links to various PC's & laptops at a variety of price points.

Edit: Do not under any circumstances step foot inside PC World. If you have an independent PC centre where you live it might be worth popping in to chat to them, explain exactly what you'll be using the system for & ask if they can offer a pre/bespoke build for you.

Find an online store that has navigation tools on the left for selecting different components

Like

http://www.pixmania.ie/laptop/ieuk9_2179_pm.html

http://www.elara.ie/products/Laptops-Notebooks-Netbooks.aspx?available=checked&ECatId10=10160300&Desc10=Notebook

http://www.dabs.ie/category/computing,laptops-and-netbooks/11012

Start by ticking the box within your budget.

Select +4gb (as it's within your budget anyway)

If not available - then select 4gb (no lower)

Then if it's available - select i7

if not available then select i5

Report back with the number after the i7, e.g., i7 2639QM

or i5 2520M

The links I provided above are for Laptops you can use the navigation on the website to bring you to Desktop computers.

If you find computers you like post a link to them and we can tell you which ones are decent and not decent.

If not, post a link to the website you're using and your budget and we'll see what can be done.

Realistically - a machine you buy today from the high street will last you 2-3 years for FM gaming.

You'll want at least 4GB of RAM.

I bought my laptop in 2006 - and it's still as good as the day I bought it and plays FM11 immensely well. I reckon it would do great for FM12. But I have ordered a new computer anyway, as I need it for work too, so it won't go to waste on a single game.

I spent €750 on my computer in 2006.

I've spent €850 on this computer I bought and being delivered monday:)

Thanks lads. My budget is £850-900 tops. Obviously if I'm going to go to the higher end of my budget I want to know what I'm paying for and whether it is worth it. I'll have a look on those websites you listed Eugene, thank you.

Thanks lads. My budget is £850-900 tops. Obviously if I'm going to go to the higher end of my budget I want to know what I'm paying for and whether it is worth it. I'll have a look on those websites you listed Eugene, thank you.

If your from the UK, overlockers.co.uk are the best for price. I use them all the time, i spent £1500 with them, including Monitor though..

Well those are Irish, not sure where you are. I don't know if there are uk versions of them, there is defo for dabs and dell.

If your from the UK, overlockers.co.uk are the best for price. I use them all the time, i spent £1500 with them, including Monitor though..

Overclockers I'm guessing that would be lol?

That Overclockers site looks really good. Eugene or Reccy, would it be better to put together my own system?

Putting together your own system can shave off a lot from your price - for a high-end PC, it can be up to £300-£400 from specialist dealers who sell bundles, and £2,000 from Dell (perhaps an exaggeration).

Overclockers is good. Scan (scan.co.uk) and eBuyer (ebuyer.com) are other good ones. You can also get decent deals on high-street shops at times as well, but you have to really look and most are rip-offs.

And of course, only put together a machine if you know what you are doing... There's no point in putting together a system if you break your graphics card and need to buy another one because you lacked a little... gentleness when putting it together.

I spent a month or so looking for my new laptop. I finally found one at €850 and checking other sites for the exact same specs it was 1.5 to 2 times the price.

Key is not to rush into it. Take your time. And visit or sites and look up similar specs and compare prices. You may not get the exact specs, but if it's something you can live without, say if the laptop you saw was a 17.1 inch screen and this one is a 16.3 inch screen. Well you can live with that - that's not a deal breaker. Or it could be one had 8gb RAM and the other has 6gb RAM, again you can live with that. Difference could be £100 - £200.

Well worth shopping around.