We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
New Laptop and Playing Games
Comments
-
Just a few more tips for choosing a gaming desktop PC, sorry if you know all this anyway, but here goes.
Processor:
Dont bother with an i7 for games, or the new Ivy Bridge Processors (all Ivy Bridge really benefits from is faster on chip graphics, but youll be getting a dedicated graphics card anyway), get a SandyBridge i5 (I wouldnt even bother with the k variant unless overclocking is desired). i7's include hyperthreading effectively giving you 8 cores, but no games to this day support that many cores so anyone buying an i7 for games is throwing money away.
Graphics:
Around a NVIDIA (PLEASE DONT GO THE ATI ROUTE) GTX4/570 will be more than sufficient, the GTX6 series are nice, but as most games are optimised for the xbox these days unless gaming at really high resolutions and or 3D gaming is desired then I wouldnt bother with anything above a GTX570.
Ram: Anything above 4GB would be a waste at the moment, although Id recommend getting the fastest low latency ram you can afford, a higher ram fsb means it can communicate with the processor at a faster rate.
Motherboard:
Dont skrimp on the motherboard, its an integral, often overlooked component and buying a cheap lower spec'd one is like pairing a v8 engine up with the chassis of a robin reliant.
Monitor:
One of the best advances in technology I have experienced in recent years when it comes to gaming is 120Hz screens, ASUS do a great 120Hz monitor that I have and the display and smoothness is amazing.
PSU:
Around a 700watt should be sufficient
HD:
SSD drives are still expensive, but hybrid drives are a good trade off, hybrids are traditional hard drives that include a small SSD built into it that the HD uses to cache frequently used files. Think you can pick a 750GB one up for about £80 and speeds "can" in most cases be on par with SSD's.
Anything else please ask, ive been gaming on PCs for 15 years now and have allways built my own PCs.0 -
Just a few more tips for choosing a gaming desktop PC, sorry if you know all this anyway, but here goes.
Processor:
Dont bother with an i7 for games, or the new Ivy Bridge Processors (all Ivy Bridge really benefits from is faster on chip graphics, but youll be getting a dedicated graphics card anyway), get a SandyBridge i5 (I wouldnt even bother with the k variant unless overclocking is desired). i7's include hyperthreading effectively giving you 8 cores, but no games to this day support that many cores so anyone buying an i7 for games is throwing money away.
Graphics:
Around a NVIDIA (PLEASE DONT GO THE ATI ROUTE) GTX4/570 will be more than sufficient, the GTX6 series are nice, but as most games are optimised for the xbox these days unless gaming at really high resolutions and or 3D gaming is desired then I wouldnt bother with anything above a GTX570.
Ram: Anything above 4GB would be a waste at the moment, although Id recommend getting the fastest low latency ram you can afford, a higher ram fsb means it can communicate with the processor at a faster rate.
Motherboard:
Dont skrimp on the motherboard, its an integral, often overlooked component and buying a cheap lower spec'd one is like pairing a v8 engine up with the chassis of a robin reliant.
Monitor:
One of the best advances in technology I have experienced in recent years when it comes to gaming is 120Hz screens, ASUS do a great 120Hz monitor that I have and the display and smoothness is amazing.
PSU:
Around a 700watt should be sufficient
HD:
SSD drives are still expensive, but hybrid drives are a good trade off, hybrids are traditional hard drives that include a small SSD built into it that the HD uses to cache frequently used files. Think you can pick a 750GB one up for about £80 and speeds "can" in most cases be on par with SSD's.
Anything else please ask, ive been gaming on PCs for 15 years now and have allways built my own PCs.
Well, my mind is blown away now! I'm not likely to build my own pc - my son is 12 and he won't be able to build one. Can't I just go to the shop and buy him a desktop with a decent enough spec to play the games he wants - ie minecraft and the others I mentioned? I can't recall the names now.0 -
well i have had a quick play around with this system with a few different configerations - LONG POST as i will try to reason my choices
http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=1369
the i5 3450 will be more than ok for games
keep the basic cooler - the CPU above is not overclockable so no need for a better cooler
windows home premium - no need for the extra features i would expect
Asus P8B75-M LE motherboard - this is a upgrade from the basic one mainly to get a SATA III port which gives much higher data transfer rate to your hard drive also includes USB 3 ports for future extras
8hb of ram - the difference between 4gb and 8gb isnt much you will be ok with 4gb but 8gb will keep it future proof for a bit longer however this is a very cheap and easy upgrade in future if you want to save money now
corsair 120gb force 3 SSD - this will be for windows and games install and will speed things up a lot, tried putting on a 180gb SSD but to get that i would have to drop the graphics card, so felt this would be good enough to cover what he needs with enough space for a reasonable amount games installed alongside windows, of course this depends on the games as they are all different sizes
2nd hard drive a 1tb hard drive - this can be used to store his music photos etc on, looked at a 500gb one as i doubt he would need more than 500gb but the price differenc e between 500gb and 1tb seemed to small to justify halving the storage capacity (£14)
no extrenal storage - although it would be worth while looking into backing up solutions for his important data - DVDs and hotmail online storage wqould be ok
dvdrw - keep the basic one, although if he wanted blu ray this is an option but would need to drop tone of the other options
graphics card gtx 560ti - this is a good graphics and should cover his needs for quite some time
keep onbaord sound
no extra software - all the bits offered, other than power dvd if he wants blu ray, can be gotten for free however you will need powerdvd if he wants the blu ray player
no wireless connector - i expect he will want a wired connection to get the best speed for online gaming
keyboard mouse and speakers set - does he need the speakers? if not get the basic logitec keyboard and mouse, as he advances he can buy his own gaming gear by doing some chores around the house to earn some extra money
the only other change is the PSU upto a 600w one
overall this comes to £744 (plus delivery - which last time i looked was £25) so it is a little over budget but gives a very quick gaming system which will last him quite some time, there are some changes you can make to drop the price,
such as droping to the 550ti, gtx 560 or ati 7770 graphics card (i do not agree with the previous poster about keeping away from ati graphics cards, both makes have ups and downs and you will find a lot of gamers use ATI) this will give enough power to play the games he wants to play now, but might require him to drop detail levels on future games he wants, fyi the 7770 is more powerful than the 550ti but less powerful than the gtx 560
dropping to 500gb hard drive will still give him more than enough space for most needs, the 1tb hard drive just seems like a cheap upgrade for double the space
droping to 4gb ram as 4gb of ram is more than enough at the moment, and would be a cheap upgrade in future but the 8gb option seemed reasonable enough once again for double the working memoryDrop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0 -
Processor:
Dont bother with an i7 for games, or the new Ivy Bridge Processors (all Ivy Bridge really benefits from is faster on chip graphics, but youll be getting a dedicated graphics card anyway), get a SandyBridge i5 (I wouldnt even bother with the k variant unless overclocking is desired). i7's include hyperthreading effectively giving you 8 cores, but no games to this day support that many cores so anyone buying an i7 for games is throwing money away.
Graphics:
Around a NVIDIA (PLEASE DONT GO THE ATI ROUTE) GTX4/570 will be more than sufficient, the GTX6 series are nice, but as most games are optimised for the xbox these days unless gaming at really high resolutions and or 3D gaming is desired then I wouldnt bother with anything above a GTX570.
PSU:
Around a 700watt should be sufficient
What is wrong with AMD/ATI? other than having a price/performance edge at the lower end of the market which is where a £700 build will be looking.
Forget a SSD in a £700 not worth the cost at this level, won't need anywhere near a 700W power supply for a entry level/mid level gaming system.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/
Is not a bad site, with limited customization options.
He may be limited gaming now, but that may change what you need to remember is that RTS (real time strategy) games depend heavily on the CPU.
Nearly all modern games will be looking at the GPU more and the GPU is where the difference for those games will be made.
If your buying pre-built your limited on finding the perfect setup, those AMD machines on that link are pretty good
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Fusion-650-gaming-pc/
Personally i would change the CPU in that one down to the FX 4170
Change the PSU to one of the branded options the lowest seems to be the Corsair 650W.
I would also change the RAM to the Kingston Hyper X, should you later come to upgrade to 8GB you'll find the Kingston Hyper X eaiser to get hold of.
The Intel side is a little more tricky as their processors cost more.
http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Vortex-500-gaming-pc/
Fits your budget with the following changes.
Change the I3 dual core processor into the I5 3470.
Again change the PSU to the branded model.
You cant alter the ram in this machine (odd)
on the GPU front your looking at the HD 7770, 550,5600 -
Terrysdelight wrote: »Well, my mind is blown away now! I'm not likely to build my own pc - my son is 12 and he won't be able to build one. Can't I just go to the shop and buy him a desktop with a decent enough spec to play the games he wants - ie minecraft and the others I mentioned? I can't recall the names now.
Sorry, I got carried away. :beer:
You can go into a shop a buy a decent gaming machine, and most likely within your budget.0 -
Hello Terry,
The games you stated above are not resource intensive and you could get away with buying a desktop from the lower end of the market. If your son is planning on buying new games in the future which are more resource intensive them I suggest you go for the middle range of desktops to future proof your investment. I suggest you visit a bricks & mortar and review the desktops they have but complete the final purchase online. The salesmen on the high street are well known for using pushy tactics to get you to complete a sale but you will get a much better deal online.0 -
Terrysdelight wrote: »I've managed to answer my own question - none of the above, but I've found the following which comes quite highly recommended for everyday gaming (not the extreme stuff)
Acer Aspire Timeline UM3 - 581TG
It has a dedicated graphics card GE Force GT 640M and the processor is i7.
I've found it for £750.
If anyone can recommend anything better for around the same price, I'd be happy to know.
Many thanks
Drop me an email I can try a custom build option for him.
littlebigsociety@gmail.com0 -
Hello Terry,
The games you stated above are not resource intensive and you could get away with buying a desktop from the lower end of the market. If your son is planning on buying new games in the future which are more resource intensive them I suggest you go for the middle range of desktops to future proof your investment. I suggest you visit a bricks & mortar and review the desktops they have but complete the final purchase online. The salesmen on the high street are well known for using pushy tactics to get you to complete a sale but you will get a much better deal online.
Thanks. I really don't want to go down the custom build at the moment because I wouldn't have a clue what I would be talking about and, as said, we are at entry level to mid level gaming and he's only 12 so I don't want to be spending too much.
I've had a look at Comets but all of the packages seem to have enough GB and the I5 processors, but none have dedicated graphics (they are all shared (and I don't know what that means)) - I haven't seen nVadia Gt force etc anywhere other than in the laptops. It must have the right graphics as this is a major stumbling block with his current laptop.
Can anyone recommend a precise model?
Many thanks
Terri0 -
as above, i have suggest a system and specified all the modifacations and reasoning behind them, which would give a very good gaming system, also including other options if you want to drop the price a bit
oh and shared graphics are bad so very very bad (for gaming)!!!!!! basically it means a intergrated graphics chipset on the processor which is generally good enough for running office applications and the internet and which shares its memory with the system ramDrop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0 -
OK gonzo - I will have a look.
Many thanks0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454K Spending & Discounts
- 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.3K Life & Family
- 258.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards