Could use some advice on new computer.
By
Black_Light,
Posted on: 2011-04-21 04:59 in The European Lounge
Windows 7 http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en...dows/Windows-7 Clicking the compare button will give you a rough breakdown.
Have you put any thought into getting a portable gaming machine?
I've had one of these for almost a year now, well this is the upgraded model but still. It's a fantastic machine http://rog.asus.com/products/nb/G73jw.htm
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Thats kinda intresting. I do travel a lot in my new job so i'd definatly be intrested.
But i dunno how much less performing a laptop is compared to a stationary.
Definatly something to consider 
Much more useful comparison chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows...mparison_chart - 64-bit is the only sensible choice these days unless there's a very good reason you need to stick with 32-bit. Professional is good enough for most people.
The Inet Taurus one looks pretty good - similar to the bits I'm about to buy myself actually, though not being able to read Swedish does make it a bit trickier to comment on the upgradability
Watercooling & Blueray burner are overkill unless you really want them; SLI can be good, but a lot of games either don't support it (Like CoH 
) or don't implement it very well meaning that you're usually better off with a more powerful single card.
As for monitors, 99% of gaming graphics cards have dual outputs so that's not a problem, but you probably won't want to run them as a single display because very few things will support that kind of horizontal resolution (plus it looks really weird having stuff stretched across two 16:9 or 16:10 monitors like that ), I always find it better to run them as two connected displays so that applications behave properly and don't sit across the join all the time.
On a tangent, I wish Komplett still operated a UK shop, they were far and away the best place to buy parts from 
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Hey Sapph?|
Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
Well, i asked around last year, but then i ran into some unforseen expenses which crushed my plans for a new computer, so now i'm trying once more.
I'm not looking for some cheap budget computer, i want something good and proper to play games with and now having to fiddle with settings. That said, i don't wanna overpay for something which aren't too useful or good. Also, no ATI/AMD please, i've had bad experience with those in the past, they might be better now but i rather go with nvidia since i know those work. These are some examples i found, but i'm unsure on whats good or not. Sites are in swedish unfortunatly. Inet Taurus You might get a popup, click the bottom option. Seems pretty good to me, but from what i can see it kind of lacks upgrade possibilities. Komplett Gamer This one seems to have lots of stuff, watercooling, blueray burner. But is much more expensive, tho i can opt out of the speakers, keyboard mouse, etc and get the price down by around 2k sek. Dustin. You might need to click the tab that says "specifikationer" to see what it contains. This one seems to have a slower CPU and less RAM than the other two, but on the other hand has two graphics cards. I don't know how SLI works or what it does for performance for me. Dustin Build it yourself This computer comes in parts, no trouble for me to build it. I'm just unsure on whats good or not. Cheapest of them all, but has no Operating system with it, so would need that. Which brings me to a question, whats the diffrence in the diffrent windows 7 versions, home premium, professional, ultimate. I will also get a new monitor, found a nice 27" one i liked which i will probably buy. If anyone have good tips on monitors i welcome that too. Also, if i get two monitors and get some superwide thing by putting em next to each other, how does that work? I spose i'd need SLI to pull that off. Thanks in advance for any input |
I can, at least give you some suggestions for the hardware (though not locations to buy, since I'm on the wrong side of the pond and haven't the faintest notion where to buy from in your area).
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
posted ^^
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Pretty much this. |
Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU
Much more useful comparison chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows...mparison_chart - 64-bit is the only sensible choice these days unless there's a very good reason you need to stick with 32-bit. Professional is good enough for most people.
The Inet Taurus one looks pretty good - similar to the bits I'm about to buy myself actually, though not being able to read Swedish does make it a bit trickier to comment on the upgradability Watercooling & Blueray burner are overkill unless you really want them; SLI can be good, but a lot of games either don't support it (Like CoH ) or don't implement it very well meaning that you're usually better off with a more powerful single card.As for monitors, 99% of gaming graphics cards have dual outputs so that's not a problem, but you probably won't want to run them as a single display because very few things will support that kind of horizontal resolution (plus it looks really weird having stuff stretched across two 16:9 or 16:10 monitors like that ), I always find it better to run them as two connected displays so that applications behave properly and don't sit across the join all the time. |
Water cooling and SLi are unnecessary complications unless you are in to it. Which you have never struck me as.
The Inet Taurus is definitely the best of the options presented.
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Normally I mean post it into your own thread. But I'll export my answer over here.|
Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
posted ^^
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Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
1) What will you primarily be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
*** Gaming. |
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2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? *** Prob max 25000sek, which is about 4000 usd. |
Okay, that's pretty much top-shelf all the way. Anything in that price range should SCREAM.
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3) Where do you live? This is important as it affects what vendors you may buy from and how much shipping costs might be. *** sweden |
4) Are you planning to buy or build?
***
Can do either, whichever ends up cheapest
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5) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. If you're unsure what exactly you need, say so. *** Dunno, i want good stuff, but don't wanna pay overprice for small performance gain. |
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6) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. *** Keyboard
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7) Will you be overclocking? *** Maybe? |
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8) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? *** 22" atm, will get a new 27". |
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9) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? *** Soon(tm) |
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10) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. *** Not overly intrested in raid. Other stuff might be nice to have tho. |
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11) Any specific must-have features? Must be able to max out Ultra-Mode? Must have 6+GB of RAM? Must have an SSD? etc. *** Not really, want a proper quick computer. |
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12) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to use? *** Nvidia. 13) Are there any vendors/brands you'd specifically prefer to avoid? *** ATI/AMD. |
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14) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? (Note: If your current OS came with your computer, odds are that it is NOT transferable.) *** Will get new OS. |
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Okay, here's a preliminary stab. Lemme know what you think. You still have LOTS of room for changes and upgrades.
Case: Case is COMPLETELY negotiable on your budget. I just have a preference for this case. They're relatively inexpensive, VERY spacious and lots of room to grow.
Power Supply: While I didn't spec you for SLI I spec'ed you for an SLI-ready PSU just in case. You won't really gain a hell of a lot from SLI in CoH, but other games you play will see a boost.
Motherboard: Decent motherboard. Haven't had problems with any of these thus far. Also, it's set up for true x16x16 SLI if you go the SLI route.
Processor: You may be overclocking. Got you the best of the OC chips available right now.
Memory: Decent, low-latency memory. 16GB. If you're going to go for outrageous overclocks we can discuss higher-clocked memory if necessary.
Video Card: GTX 580. Best nVidia card for your money. The 590 is actually a step down for your purposes. If you want to go SLI, you've got the cash for it. Light factory overclock. If you decide you want to go water cooling though, let me know. EVGA actually makes a factory waterblocked version of this card clocked at 850Mhz.
OS Drive: 128GB SSD. Depending on how MUCH gaming you're going to be doing, a single drive should be fine. If you need more space, we can tack on a second SSD specifically for gaming installs.
Storage Drive: SSDs are great for software installs, but for storage, you still want a nice humongous hard drive. I figure 2TB should do you up nicely. If you're looking to rip your DVD collection to disk though, let me know so we can get you more drives for space.
OS: Win7 Home Premium 64-bit. Need 64-bit for 4+GB memory. Win7 works just fine.
Monitor: 27" as you requested. I've had good luck with Viewsonic monitors. This is a very nice 1920x1080 monitor with 1ms response time (basically almost no monitor lag). Just ignore the on-board speakers. You're not buying it for them. The stand looks like it's delicate and undersized. It's fine.
Optical Drive: Got you a nice Blu-Ray burner with a monster cache on it. If you want to step back to just a Blu-Ray player with DVD burning functions, let me know.
Keyboard: I know you said you were keeping your keyboard. But allow me to suggest one just in case.
Mouse: NOT a big fan of "gaming mice". Too delicate and many of them seem to cause too many problems with USB due to high polling rate of the LED/Laser. Just quoted for a nice simple MS Optical mouse.
All I'd suggest doing is getting yourself another couple 140mm fans for decent air movement in the case, and calling it done.
Price in USD: $2,806.91 (about 17,140.26 SEK) before shipping and before mail-in rebates.
I'd tack 10-15% on as a price buffer if you're buying locally.
Things I didn't tackle:
- SLI (Though you're more than set for it if you wish to do so)
- Water Cooling (The case quoted is built for optional water cooling setups)
- Overclocking (You're more or less already set for it. You''ve got an OC-ready board and an OC-ready CPU. About all you'd really want to do is toss on a slightly more powerful CPU cooler than the stock version (see water cooling).
As you've noticed, I didn't even come CLOSE to your maximum budget. I PROBABLY could have, but it wouldn't have gained you all that much performance-wise, and I also wanted to leave you room for tweaking the build.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Thanks, something to think about at least
Have to say i'm starting to warm up to the idea of the gaming laptop too. That asus looks yummy, and i could take it on my travels, bit heavy tho, but only one kilo more than my work laptop. Tho it all depends on if my company would allow me to use the gaming laptop for a work laptop as well, i ain't hauling two around It would be nice with a nice laptop for my usa trips in summer, but then i probably will be out sightseeing and not sitting in hotel gaming
Could buy laptop now and then desktop next year, or vice versa. Oh well in no rush, just need to ponder this for a bit
Also, did a quick look-over on the Taurus and it's actually fairly close to the system I pieced-and-parted together for you. If you're really not that into building, the Taurus would be the system to look at.
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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One other thing. If you're making trips to the US DO NOT take a nice laptop with you if you're depending on it for work. When entering and leaving the country, your laptop is subject to search and seizure by those drooling mouth-breathers at Homeland. |
Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
Thanks, something to think about at least
Have to say i'm starting to warm up to the idea of the gaming laptop too. That asus looks yummy, and i could take it on my travels, bit heavy tho, but only one kilo more than my work laptop. Tho it all depends on if my company would allow me to use the gaming laptop for a work laptop as well, i ain't hauling two around It would be nice with a nice laptop for my usa trips in summer, but then i probably will be out sightseeing and not sitting in hotel gaming Could buy laptop now and then desktop next year, or vice versa. Oh well in no rush, just need to ponder this for a bit |
Does it happen OFTEN? No.
Would I put it past one of them if you show up with a spiffy gaming machine? HELL NO!
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Order placed
This is what i ended up with
Bit more expensive than i intended but i feel really content with the choises.
Cheers for help!
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And now we sit back and watch as the raw performance blows Neko's face off... |
Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
Order placed
This is what i ended up with Bit more expensive than i intended but i feel really content with the choises. Cheers for help! |
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
noticed that was the old one, i've updated it with a diffrent processor, well same, just a K after it, was only like 10 more so figure wth.
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The K-class processor will allow you to fiddle around with overclocking with minimal risk to other components on your machine. |
Originally Posted by Sapphic_Neko
noticed that was the old one, i've updated it with a diffrent processor, well same, just a K after it, was only like 10 more so figure wth.
|
It's got an unlocked multiplier (FrontSideBus x Multiplier = CPU speed) so you don't have to fiddle with FSB (bumping FSB also bumps the speed of other components on your system (like RAM) which may or may not handle the overclock as well).
You can slowly bump up the multiplier and check stability and temperature.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
I was previously warned that the NVIDIA 4xx and 5xx was loud, but I don't really know, which might or might not be an issue for you.
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With stock coolers on maybe, saph's doesn't have a stock cooler. Plus that very nice case is sound dampened, so should be pretty much mousey quiet after start up.
Good choices Saph, should go like a rocket.
Well, i asked around last year, but then i ran into some unforseen expenses which crushed my plans for a new computer, so now i'm trying once more.
I'm not looking for some cheap budget computer, i want something good and proper to play games with and now having to fiddle with settings. That said, i don't wanna overpay for something which aren't too useful or good. Also, no ATI/AMD please, i've had bad experience with those in the past, they might be better now but i rather go with nvidia since i know those work.
These are some examples i found, but i'm unsure on whats good or not.
Sites are in swedish unfortunatly.
Inet Taurus You might get a popup, click the bottom option.
Seems pretty good to me, but from what i can see it kind of lacks upgrade possibilities.
Komplett Gamer
This one seems to have lots of stuff, watercooling, blueray burner. But is much more expensive, tho i can opt out of the speakers, keyboard mouse, etc and get the price down by around 2k sek.
Dustin. You might need to click the tab that says "specifikationer" to see what it contains.
This one seems to have a slower CPU and less RAM than the other two, but on the other hand has two graphics cards. I don't know how SLI works or what it does for performance for me.
Dustin Build it yourself
This computer comes in parts, no trouble for me to build it.
I'm just unsure on whats good or not. Cheapest of them all, but has no Operating system with it, so would need that.
Which brings me to a question, whats the diffrence in the diffrent windows 7 versions, home premium, professional, ultimate.
I will also get a new monitor, found a nice 27" one i liked which i will probably buy. If anyone have good tips on monitors i welcome that too. Also, if i get two monitors and get some superwide thing by putting em next to each other, how does that work? I spose i'd need SLI to pull that off.
Thanks in advance for any input