getting new computer Mac or PC
By
Airhammer,
Posted on: 2009-12-04 19:58 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
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This isn't always the case. Macs can sometime be cheaper than identically specced systems from other vendors, but the difference is that Apple tends not to drop the price at all as the components become plentiful, while the other vendors will float the price of the system as the components drop.|
Originally Posted by je_saist
For starters, Apple computers tend to be a bit pricier than identically specced systems from Dell loaded with a Windows or Ubuntu.
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This means that the best "deal" for getting a Mac is usually when they introduce a new system, like the 27" iMac. The screen alone is quite a bargain when compared to other vendors, but in 6 months when the competition has worked its way across and their price drops, the 27" iMac will be at the same price point (+/-), and in a year that 27" iMac may be comparatively expensive.
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Originally Posted by je_saist
So on paper, yes, if you bought one of the 27" Imacs, it seems like you could use it as a monitor for another computer.
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linky.
One of the issues I am concerned about is noise. My current PC is rather noisy when running. What features should i be looking for to make sure it runs quietly?
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
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Large, variable speed fans. The Macs all have them, including the laptops - the fans will only run full speed when necessary, most of the time they'll idle quietly. This has led to some complaints about the Macbooks and Macbook Pros running hot, but you can't have it both ways: you either have more heat or quieter ventilation.|
Originally Posted by Airhammer
One of the issues I am concerned about is noise. My current PC is rather noisy when running. What features should i be looking for to make sure it runs quietly?
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With PC's you can get large variable speed fans, but since most brand-name Windows PC's don't advertise them you have to do a lot or research to figure out which ones do.
Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination
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It's fairly easy to replace a fan in a PC. If you're concerned about noise and are willing to spend the money to quieten a noisy PC, you can get Noiseblocker Multiframe fans or Scythe Slipstreams for around $25 and $13 apiece. They're expensive for what they are, but do the job they are designed for.|
Originally Posted by Airhammer
One of the issues I am concerned about is noise. My current PC is rather noisy when running. What features should i be looking for to make sure it runs quietly?
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In terms of graphics cards, you're not going to find a quiet Nvidia card with stock cooler much above an GTS 250, or perhaps GTX 260. Beyond that, you would have to get an aftermarket cooler that tends to vent the heated air into your case rather than channel it out the back. The ATI 4xxx cards are supposed to have a similar noise/performance profile to the current Nvidia cards, but the newer 5xxxs are supposed to be somewhat quieter. Sapphire also offers their Vapor-X cooler series of cards. Oh, and on the low end stay away from these little rat-scream coolers.
If you're really serious about keeping things quiet, you can cut down on HD noise with a well-build, quiet-drive HD in one of these to eliminate transfer of read/write noise.
Other than that, make sure you've got clear air paths, tie down all cabling, and remove dust from your machine regularly.
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In which case you've just overpaid for a PC of inferior system specs (not talking build quality) comparable to other PCs in the price range. So you got an OS you'd never use.
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Originally Posted by Psyte
One could always install Windows and never boot into OSX
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Slight overkill Human. 
My PC (I do have one) is housed in an aluminum case with two 120mm variable speed fans, and it has a larger CPU fan. Simple engineering - a large fan movies more air at a lower speed than a smaller fan, and is therefore quieter. Also, more fans move air at an even lower speed.
That's why Apple's Macbook Pro has two fans that are very large for the size of the case. They can idle at very low speed that way, and provide adequate cooling without much noise. The Mac Pro has a similar strategy with large fans. All I did for the PC was look at the way Apple did it and rip off some of their engineering ideas.
Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination
I would lean towards a Windows PC, OP. You'll never run into a situation where you tear your hair out because a great game came out but only on Mac. Also, PCs are generally cheaper given similar hardware, and Windows is a nice OS. However if you do get a PC with Windows you won't be able to be smugly condescending about your OS and the hoops you jump through to run Windows-based software on your non-Windows computer. So there's that. On the other hand if you were never going to play a game ever, I would tell you to get a Mac hands down. They are just so nice to look at and they work really well. It's just that PCs work as well 99% of the time and when that other 1% rears its ugly head you can look at the money you saved and think "oh, well."
If you're comfortable assembling your own PC then take a gander at Newegg for some cheap pricing on parts. They also have a Canadian site, if you are one of us. PM me if I can help you out!
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A lot of the pre-built systems that I've come across from Dell in the last year or two have nice variable speed fans. They start up sounding like a blow dryer, then once the POST is done, they throttle back to something just barely audible unless you're in a truly silent room.|
Originally Posted by Airhammer
One of the issues I am concerned about is noise. My current PC is rather noisy when running. What features should i be looking for to make sure it runs quietly?
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Seeing lots of Compaq/HP the same way, as well as Lenovo.
The trick of keeping it quiet it moving to larger fans. They can rotate more slowly, yet still more the same amount of air without the turbulence which is what generates the noise.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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I presume you're not referring to the Graphics card or HD sections above. Noiseblocker makes Multiframes in 140 mm too. Yet their 120 mms will move the equivalent CFM of a generic 140 mm for the same noise level. Also, they claim a Mean Time Between Failure for their bearings of 20 years of constant operation. So it's $25 for a fan...that you could pass down to your grandkids =P (and in the meantime will operate silently via manufacturer warranty).|
Originally Posted by CuppaManga
Slight overkill Human.
My PC (I do have one) is housed in an aluminum case with two 120mm variable speed fans, and it has a larger CPU fan. Simple engineering - a large fan movies more air at a lower speed than a smaller fan, and is therefore quieter. Also, more fans move air at an even lower speed. |
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That's why Apple's Macbook Pro has two fans that are very large for the size of the case. They can idle at very low speed that way, and provide adequate cooling without much noise. The Mac Pro has a similar strategy with large fans. All I did for the PC was look at the way Apple did it and rip off some of their engineering ideas.
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There was a Macbook Pro fan issue back in 2005, but the models since have had no problems (replacement fans were covered under warranty). Presumably Apple had a supplier issue with the fans back then.|
Originally Posted by Human_Being
Weren't the Macbooks kind of noisey recently? Anyway, the Mac Pro's fans are 120 mm. That's the standard for most tower-style PCs. Also, Macintosh certainly isn't the only company to think of ducting air through specific paths in a case.
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And I know Apple isn't the only company to use large ducted and variable speed fans, but they're the only ones I can go to one particular store and look at how they did it. And I'm much too lazy to research myself which ones have it and list every single one.
Manga @ Triumph
"Meanwhile In The Halls Of Titan"...Titan Network Working To Save City Of Heroes
Save Paragon City! Efforts Coordination
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Well, I think its a bit more up to the user than anything else. I've often compared PC ownership to having a pet - you must take care of your pet!|
Originally Posted by Emberly
. It's just that PCs work as well 99% of the time and when that other 1% rears its ugly head you can look at the money you saved and think "oh, well."
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The folks I know who never have trouble (and aren't super techies) are the ones who do the basic maintenance, don't do high risk stuff, and don't install stuff indiscriminately. I usually see a lot of Windows problems being PEBCAK or from the OEM itself (overloaded with crapware, skimping out on RAM, using Intel integrated graphics, etc).
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=16678
But, yeah, making your own can be a fun way to go, and anything that encourages folks to know more about their computers (regardless of their OS) is a good thing in general.
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Dont buy a name brand pc, you'll overspend. You can get something way better than a name brand for 1600 - 1800$. Also go with a pc, you'll run into more compatibility issues and needs to emulate with a mac when it comes to gaming.
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Originally Posted by Airhammer
Im probably looking to spend between 1600-1800. I have been looking at iMac's, Dell, Alienware, Gateway and Cyberpower ( only because thats what I have now )
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Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.
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Well, its possibly to underspend too (even at that price range). Just because it looks like a good deal doesn't mean it will be (bad customer service, bad workmanship, is actually a lesser CPU that's been overclocked, etc).|
Originally Posted by Noyjitat
Dont buy a name brand pc, you'll overspend. You can get something way better than a name brand for 1600 - 1800$. Also go with a pc, you'll run into more compatibility issues and needs to emulate with a mac when it comes to gaming.
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Caveat emptor and all that.
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Note: This is really NOT the point of buy-vs-build anymore. On a pricing front, the OEMs will win every time because they have volume deals that you simply CANNOT match. They can deliver a PC with identical base specs AND software for cheaper than you can put a system together. The days of getting a "cheaper" PC by building your own are basically over.|
Originally Posted by Noyjitat
Dont buy a name brand pc, you'll overspend.
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The point of building your own is about CONTROL of the platform.
- You can choose components that are known stable with your software and each other.
- You can make trade-offs in one aspect of the PC to deliver a machine that's more tightly bound to YOUR desired specs than you can easily buy from a PC vendor (say going with a lower amount of memory up front and/or slightly smaller drives as a trade-off to budget for a faster CPU and/or vidcard).
- You can choose components that aren't necessarily offered by an OEM of choice at the moment.
- Etc.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
And you can give yourself a better upgrade path than many OEM's might decide to let you have. Power supplies are one example of this, for instance. Your case is another.
Ive also been looking at Cyberpower makers of my current PC but Ill admit I hare their cases. They all seem to feature these goofy lighted side panels which simply dont appeal to me at all.
Again i want to thank everyone for the tons of good advice.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
I wouldn't say that the Macs are more expensive even on a component by component basis, the major issue with Macs are that they lack the variety that the PC vendors can give you.
If you don't want to get a Xeon based tower, Apple doesn't give you the choice for that, you must spend the money to get a professional grade tower. When you do a direct comparison of the the parts that Apple uses, frequently the costing is very similar if not superior (initially).
However, if you wanted a mid range tower with a Core i5 or i7 quad core, Apple makes no such beast, and thus you'd have to compare a $1500 tower from a PC vendor to a $2500 Mac Pro.
As far as PCs go, I've tried the Antec 900 Gamer case and it cools well but I can hear the fans beside me whirring away. The Coolermaster HAF932 has some gigantic cooling fans and is barely audible when compared to the Antec. The 2008 Mac Pro I have beside that is virtually silent.
I would recommend the HAF932, it was even cheaper than the Antec if you are going PC. The only thing I don't like is the Blue LEDs being too bright but I just put some electrical tape over them with a pinpricks to dim the light.
I've seen some vendors offer this case for their Full size towers so it looks to be a popular option. A stilted video review is here.
If you or someone you know is up for it, building your own PC is probably the most cost effective way to go.
Being a complete tech n00b, my mate helped me order the parts, then kindly built the entire thing.
I can crunch DoW2 on highest settings (a very high end set of graphics, for thos whoe don't know it) so I'm fairly confident it can cope with Ultra mode =]
Its a very quiet PC, although the DvD drive is a tad noisy since it was fairly basic, and it topped out at around £700. Much lower than a store-bought, and higher quality, I would wager.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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This. My long-standing process recommendation runs something like this:|
Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
The computer, at the end of the day, is a tool. Pick whichever will get done what you want to get done in the best way possible, for as long as possible.
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1) Figure out what you need to do
2) Figure out what environment you need to do it in (high reliability, mission critical, industrial, portable, etc.)
2) Figure out what software will best do the job
3) Figure out what OS will best run the software
4) Figure out what type of hardware will best run the OS
5) Figure out what hardware will give you the best overall price / performance within the selected type
Performance can either be requirements, in which case it's part of step 1; e.g. if your goal is to run Ultra Mode, that eliminates a lot of choices right off. It can also be part of the final step 5 optimization; how many dollars are you willing to spend for a few more FPS?
Most hardware is priced in a very non-linear way; at the low end, spending even a few more dollars can get a far better result, whereas at the high end, spending a lot of dollars extra may only get you a very small increase in performance. When you add in Moore's Law-like effects, you'll usually be better off getting something less than top of the line, and using the money saved to start saving up to replace sooner. For similar reasons, if you're largely concerned with running software that's not out yet (Going Rogue), you'll probably do better buying the hardware closer to release.
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Last September I bought a new pre-configured computer from Digital Storm. The build quality and component choices are top-notch. I got an overclocked i7 920 (3.2 gHz), 6gb Mushkin RAM, EVGA GTX 285, liquid CPU cooling, CoolerMaster HAF 932 case, PC Power and Cooling 750w Silencer power supply, a damn fine wiring job AND a 3 year warranty for $1800 and change.
Check them out, seriously. Their customer service reputation is stellar, although I haven't had any cause to avail myself of it as my computer has been glitch-free. I am very happy with my experience with them.
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