New Computer Suggestions
By
Back_Blast,
Posted on: 2010-05-10 15:16 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
If you're wanting Ultra mode, for that money, you're best going desktop. Laptops with the latest graphics that can run Ultra are gonna be very expensive, generally.
I'd suggest looking at the builds in Father Xmas's signature and building up from there.
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Oh, I don't know about that laptop thing... With a budget of $2000 this can be had, and still have money in the bank:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114804
I daresay it would probably do pretty well in Ultra mode.
/I'd put the top 2K one I found... but it's a Sony, and they are verboten in my book.
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I wouldn't be so sure. It's got a 360M graphics card. As far as I can tell, that's slightly inferior to a 9800GT, which is described as the minimum for activating all Ultra Mode features. |
Originally Posted by houtex
Oh, I don't know about that laptop thing... With a budget of $2000 this can be had, and still have money in the bank:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114804 I daresay it would probably do pretty well in Ultra mode. |
A more direct comparison would be the GT 240, but I don't know how that does with Ultra Mode.
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Which is the problem with laptops. What's only a $100 mail order video card for a desktop is very high end for a laptop.|
Originally Posted by Katie V
I wouldn't be so sure. It's got a 360M graphics card. As far as I can tell, that's slightly inferior to a 9800GT, which is described as the minimum for activating all Ultra Mode features.
A more direct comparison would be the GT 240, but I don't know how that does with Ultra Mode. |
I've only found 4 laptops somewhat suitable at NewEgg. All are part of Asus's G for gamer line of laptops. All use the 1.6GHz (Turbo Boost to 2.8GHz) i7-720QM quad with HT CPU, 7200RPM hard drive and 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium. One uses the GTX 260M (about the same as a desktop 9800GT) coupled to a lower rez 1366x768 screen while the other three use the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (somewhere between the desktop HD 5750 and 5770) coupled to a 1920x1080 display.
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My Asus laptop has a 120M graphics card - I can play with UM on medium settings. Unless there is a severe disconnect in the nvidia gpu numbering system for laptops, it would seem like the 360M gpu should be significantly better than my 120M, and should be able to play with UM a bit higher... I can't be 100% sure of that, not knowing how nvidia has gone about numbering their gpu models ... |
Originally Posted by Katie V
I wouldn't be so sure. It's got a 360M graphics card. As far as I can tell, that's slightly inferior to a 9800GT, which is described as the minimum for activating all Ultra Mode features.
A more direct comparison would be the GT 240, but I don't know how that does with Ultra Mode. |
Of course, I don't freak out until my fps gets below 15, so YMMV ...
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Thanks everyone so far for the input.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Which is the problem with laptops. What's only a $100 mail order video card for a desktop is very high end for a laptop.
I've only found 4 laptops somewhat suitable at NewEgg. All are part of Asus's G for gamer line of laptops. All use the 1.6GHz (Turbo Boost to 2.8GHz) i7-720QM quad with HT CPU, 7200RPM hard drive and 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium. One uses the GTX 260M (about the same as a desktop 9800GT) coupled to a lower rez 1366x768 screen while the other three use the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (somewhere between the desktop HD 5750 and 5770) coupled to a 1920x1080 display. |
Should I assume that since you say "somewhat suitable" that you wouldn't recommend them? Like I said in my OP, I wouldn't rule out getting a desktop, and if that's just flat out a better option, I'll go that way. I looked the the rigs in your signature, but I don't want to build it myself. So, I suppose at this point, I'd be looking for desktop suggestions.
Well laptops aren't my expertise. I'm basing my recommendations on purely technical details about the laptop GPUs (video) and how they compare to desktop ones.
Looking about I've found a few reviews for the 3 G73JH models built around the mobile version of the HD 5870. The differences are the two more expensive models (that are currently out of stock) come with two 500GB hard drives and swag (backpack, matching mouse) Vs one 500GB hard drive.
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,...9305357,00.htm
http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...asus+g73+g73jh
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3662/a...sized-gaming/1
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Thanks. I came across the G73JH in a quick search yesterday. Seemed decent to me, but I'm hardly an expert in the technical department. I'm just looking for some opinions more informed than my own. If I'm going to spend the money, I'd like to be sure it's going to be worth it.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Well laptops aren't my expertise. I'm basing my recommendations on purely technical details about the laptop GPUs (video) and how they compare to desktop ones.
Looking about I've found a few reviews for the 3 G73JH models built around the mobile version of the HD 5870. The differences are the two more expensive models (that are currently out of stock) come with two 500GB hard drives Vs one and swag (backpack, matching mouse). http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,...9305357,00.htm http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...asus+g73+g73jh http://www.anandtech.com/show/3662/a...sized-gaming/1 |
If you want to game, a desktop is the way to go. You can get a lot more power and performance from them than a laptop when it comes to gaming and they're considerably easier to upgrade down the road.
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To complete my though, the swagless one is $1500 and for that amount of money you could get a prebuilt desktop system from somewhere like iBuyPowerPC that's similar to my $1375 system which has a considerably more powerful CPU and video card.|
Originally Posted by Tremblar
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What the laptop buys you is a compact all-in-one design that you can easily pack up and take with you. The downside is that a powerful laptop like this one doesn't have a lot of life on battery power, less than two hours, so where ever you take it you are going to need to plug it in.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I'm checking out iBuyPower now. I have to admit, my eyes start to gloss over when I see all of the options.
What's the discernable difference between the Intel Core i7 860 and 870? Is there that much of a noticeable difference to warrant spending an extra $290?
And what about video cards? Which ones should I be looking at?
I apologize for all of the questions, and appreciate any and all input.
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Between the i7-860 and i7-870?. Note that at NewEgg, the cost of a i7-860 is $290 while the i7-870 is twice that at $580. We're talking somewhere around a 4-9% improvement so no. Same reason nobody in their right mind and limited budget would buy a i7-950 over the i7-920/930. The tail end of Intel's CPU line is always ridiculously priced for the actual performance gain they provide.|
Originally Posted by Tremblar
What's the discernable difference between the Intel Core i7 860 and 870? Is there that much of a noticeable difference to warrant spending an extra $290?
And what about video cards? Which ones should I be looking at? I apologize for all of the questions, and appreciate any and all input. |
For video cards the nVidia GTX 2xx and 4xx series, for ATI the HD 5770 and 58xx series should provide mid to high level UM support. You should be only looking at a single video card solution since SLi and Crossfire multi-card setups are iffy supported by CoH/V.
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$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
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Thank you very much, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I appreciate all of the info you, and everyone else who has posted, have given me. It's been a great help.
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From my experience trying to keep my kids' laptops running a huge advantage of a desktop is that you're much more likely to be able to fix things that are wrong and upgrade if you need to.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
What the laptop buys you is a compact all-in-one design that you can easily pack up and take with you. The downside is that a powerful laptop like this one doesn't have a lot of life on battery power, less than two hours, so where ever you take it you are going to need to plug it in.
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Unless your laptop is under warranty, the options for repairing a malfunction are very limited, and the options for upgrading pretty much non-existent except for the memory and hard drive. With a desktop, most of the time you can just replace a broken component; a pain, sure, but at least you don't have to buy a whole new computer.
(I know you know all this, Father X, but I just wanted to put my vote in for a desktop unless there's a compelling reason to get a laptop.)
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And that's another downside about laptops Vs desktops. With a laptop if something breaks, other than memory or the hard drive, the whole thing needs to go into the shop. On a desktop if something breaks, there is a good chance you can simply swap out the bad part.
The corollary to that is laptops aren't that upgradeable, usually. You could add more memory or swap out the hard drive for one faster and bigger but that's it. So if you buy an inexpensive laptop today, that just means it'll be obsolete faster tomorrow so you should buy as much power as you can afford.
With a desktop, take my $750 build, you can go inexpensive today but upgrade the CPU and video card to something faster and contemporary every year or two and still have a reasonably up to date PC platform.
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$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
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Seeing as I'm running a machine from the previous generation of that line in ultra mode (not maxed out or anything, but shadows are mapped and reflections are high quality at 20 fps outside and 55+ inside), I'd suspect that the higher ram, faster processor and updated graphics card would probably run ultra mode without any trouble at all.
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Originally Posted by houtex
Oh, I don't know about that laptop thing... With a budget of $2000 this can be had, and still have money in the bank:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834114804 I daresay it would probably do pretty well in Ultra mode. /I'd put the top 2K one I found... but it's a Sony, and they are verboten in my book. |
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See, that's one of the things that kind of bug me when folks start going "I've got an older xxx yyy zzz and I'm running with full ultra-mode". They almost never say that while they may have turned on UM, they are running at something like 10-12 fps by doing so.|
Originally Posted by PerfectStorm
My Asus laptop has a 120M graphics card - I can play with UM on medium settings. Unless there is a severe disconnect in the nvidia gpu numbering system for laptops, it would seem like the 360M gpu should be significantly better than my 120M, and should be able to play with UM a bit higher... I can't be 100% sure of that, not knowing how nvidia has gone about numbering their gpu models ...
Of course, I don't freak out until my fps gets below 15, so YMMV ... Storm |
Obviously tolerances vary from person to person on what is acceptable performance.
Me? I can't play with anything below 30 fps. Any lower than that and I can see the screen flicker/jittering and it makes me nauseous. Even at 30 fps it's slightly noticable and causes an occasional "cross-eyed" moment for me while playing.
So, as far as I'm concerned at least, if I can't get 30+ (preferably 40+) fps consistently then it's not "playable". With my current rig (couple of years old), I can turn on some of UM (reflections and water effects mostly) and stay with the stencil shadows while still maintaining 55-60 (vsynch locked) fps. So that's my ultra-mode.
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That agrees with my experience. As long as the motherboard can support the newer hardware, upgrading is a very efficient way to go in the long run.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
And that's another downside about laptops Vs desktops. With a laptop if something breaks, other than memory or the hard drive, the whole thing needs to go into the shop. On a desktop if something breaks, there is a good chance you can simply swap out the bad part.
The corollary to that is laptops aren't that upgradeable, usually. You could add more memory or swap out the hard drive for one faster and bigger but that's it. So if you buy an inexpensive laptop today, that just means it'll be obsolete faster tomorrow so you should buy as much power as you can afford. With a desktop, take my $750 build, you can go inexpensive today but upgrade the CPU and video card to something faster and contemporary every year or two and still have a reasonably up to date PC platform. |
But I like my luggable laptop, so once I could afford one (and my student debt was all paid off), I bought in at about the $1500.00 range and am still using it 2 years later. By the end of next year, I expect I'll be shopping for a replacement, but I'm inclined to buy an updated version similar to what I have.
So, my computer pretty much bought the farm today. It must've overheard me talking to a guy at work today about thinking about getting a new one.
I'm looking for suggestions for a new one. Since CoH is the only game I really play, I figured here would be a good place to start. I don't want to build it myself. I'm looking for something that will be able to run Ultra Mode. I'm leaning towards a laptop, but wouldn't completely rule out a desktop. As far as budget goes, I'd like to stay under $2000. I'm open to pretty much any and all suggestions.