Like you said, why get a laptop instead of a PC for gaming

[Madmaxx]

I've been looking at getting a new laptop for gaming and entertainment purposes recently (some would know since you've helped with some info), since the one I have is serverly out-dated. But that's because I've only ever had second hand/old laptops from my family. And that's what has been stopping me from looking at Pc's. The lack of knowledge of suitable parts etc and getting best value for money.

I've never had a desktop PC so if I was to buy one I wouldn't know what to look for. Even though I'm three floors above the wireless router, I see you can get wireless network cards for that anyway. So I've been thinking as long as I can connect to the wireless network there's no reason for me to not get a PC instead for better performance. What I'm asking is if anyone can recommend some website's that sell decent PC's for gaming/entertainment purposes. Or even just decent parts to use, since I don't know anything about good power supplies or cases/fans and things like that. Same budget of near £1000.

I used PC Specialist.com (see below) since I saw it in a PC gaming magazine, and it offers complete custom PC's. But even then I could be getting myself too much and I could end up saving money but toning it down a bit possibly.

Spoiler

Here is your chosen specification...

Case COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE

Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM II X4 945 (3.00GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3)

Motherboard ASUS® M4A87TD/USB3: DUAL DDR3,SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0

Memory (RAM) 8GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 2GB KIT)

Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk 60GB OCZ VERTEX 2 SATA II 2.5" SSD (upto 285MB/sR | 275MB/sW)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£36)

Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Power Supply & Case Cooling 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)

Processor Cooling SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)

Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities Bigfoot Killer 2100 PCI-E Gigabit LAN Card - Max Performance Online Gaming (£69)

USB Options 4 PORT USB 2.0 INTERNAL PCI CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS

Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)


=====================
Price for this PC System:

£886.81 ex VAT.

£1042 inc VAT and Delivery.

 

[inactionman]

What are you playing?

It's a shame you've never built a PC before, as buying components and assembling it yourself means you tend to get better value.

You could save money not buying an SSD if you want, they don't boost performance that much.

The PSU seems underpowered, I'd suggest at least 550W.

The bigfoot NIC is a waste of cash.

Do you not get a monitor/keyboard/mouse in that? If you already have them, what are you using? Assume you already have speakers?

 

[ST^]

That is really expensive.

Power supply probably isn't good enough.

8Gb of RAM is twice as much as you'll ever need.

Drop the SSD drive.

Don't buy a £69 ethernet card when a) you already have onboard ethernet on the motherboard, and b) you said you don't even want to use ethernet!

 

[Madmaxx]

ah see now that's what I'm talking about; I was just using that so I could google whatever the options it gave and pick a different if it didnt seem very good. And with the power unit it said to pick up a 450W instead of a 750W I picked, as it wouldn't be needed and it could save me money. I'm just looking about and trying to find a decent review site.

 

[caLLous]

I did the same thing, was looking at a "desktop replacement" laptop but then thought I might as well spend the same amount (or less, as it turned out) and get a very very speedy desktop.

You will need more than 450W for that GTX460 I would imagine. I bought a Radeon 5870 not so long ago and the power consumption charts I looked at weren't too favourable towards the nvidia cards.

 

[caLLous]

Oh, scratch that, actually. You might be ok with 450W, it was the 470 and 480 that needed the power.

 

[inactionman]

Sounds like we need to sort out some basic questions before we start speccing. What's your budget, what do you want to do with it and what do you have that you will re-use?

 

[Madmaxx]

Starting from scratch I would like a Gaming/entertainment system basically, HD screen and Blu Ray for dvd's etc. Up to £1000 maybe a bit more depending, or less if I don't to go that high as that is what I was looking at with a laptop. I have just been trying to see/tally up what decent PC's have as they would generally have near the same things I would've thought; since most decent laptop's have the pretty similar spec's.

 

[Ch3tan]

They have similarish specs. In reality the gfx cards are far weaker, and your options for upgrade are usually limited to memory. A PC costing the same as the laptop you linked in OT ( a $1400 laptop from amazon.com) would be pretty much top of the range all bells and whistles.

 

[inactionman]

As Ch3t says, once you have a desktop it's easy to keep upgrading it, although you don't want to do it too often!

Ok, what size screen do you want?

 

[Ch3tan]

inaction; this is the laptop he was considering buying. The thread was in general, not OT, doh!

Amazon.com: MSI GX740-079 17-Inch Laptop: Computer & Accessories

 

[Madmaxx]

Yeah that laptop seemed really popular, for value for money and what you get. And got really good reviews.

They have similarish specs. In reality the gfx cards are far weaker, and your options for upgrade are usually limited to memory. A PC costing the same as the laptop you linked in OT ( a $1400 laptop from amazon.com) would be pretty much top of the range all bells and whistles.

Ah well that’s good to know since I wanted to keep to a budget, but play all the recent games on high settings; if it’s top of the line it would just be a bonus.

As Ch3t says, once you have a desktop it's easy to keep upgrading it, although you don't want to do it too often!
Ok, what size screen do you want?

Screen size doesn’t really matter since I’m used to a small laptop one; but 22inches seems like the normal size on screens when selecting them. I’ll take what I can get really.


This site was In a PC magazine:

Spoiler

Full Specification ===== And there's options to upgrade it if needed.

Base Price: £749.00 inc 17.5% VAT
(£637.45 ex VAT)

• Intel® Core™ i5 760 Quad Core Processor (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) - LGA1156
• Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium pre-installed
• Midi-Tower ATX Chassis - Black
• 450W Desktop Power Supply
• ASUS P7P55 LX Mainboard - Intel Core™ i5 / i7 - LGA 1156 / ATX
• 4GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - (2x2GB)
• 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
• Blu-Ray Combo Optical Drive (Blu-ray ROM, DVD/CD RW)
• 1GB ATI Radeon HD5450 Graphics Accelerator GDDR3
• 22" Widescreen TFT Monitor - Full HD 1920x1080 5ms D-Sub, DVI
• 7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
• Cherry Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse (Corded) - Black
• Free 3 Years Gold Warranty - inc 3 Months Free Collect & Return

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Defaul...NTENT=MESH_DEALS_DB&UTM_CAMPAIGN=desktop_box1

 

[inactionman]

If you play around with this, you should get a good machine in your budget.

3xs Systems

These are the changes I made:

* dropped the case to an Antec 300 (still a damn good case)
* strangely the higher the spec processor on that model the cheaper it was (weird)
* put a 1Gb Nvidia 460 instead of the default graphics
* upped the PSU
* changed to a 1Tb hard drive (you can make it smaller if you want)
* put a blu-ray drive in there
* added a PCI wireless card
* windows 7 pro
* 22" iiyama monitor (cheapest 1080p there)
* added the Logitech X-140 speakers (not a bad deal)

Comes to £973.22 delivered. You'll need a keyboard and mouse, but they shouldn't be too expensive.

 

[inactionman]

One thing to keep an eye on with scan is the today only deals for things like keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor can be really good. You may get a better deal on that if you are lucky and keep an eye out! Nothing useful for you on there today though.

 

[inactionman]

Mesh are ok, had a friend who used them. They can piss you around for delivery though!

 

[Tom]

I'm still using the desktop system that I bought for TF2, when that came out.

Desktops last for years before they need upgrading. It runs things like Bioshock just fine, and I played MW2 without any problems. Mass Effect 2 also looks great (Nvidia 8800GTS).

 

[Embattle]

The basic specs can look very much alike but the reality is that most laptop hardware is often more of a cut down version of the desktop version, thus the PC versions are often more powerful.

The system inaction gave is more sound than the original.

 

[Zenith.UK]

I got a laptop for gaming instead of a desktop because of two words...

LAN.
Parties.

 

[Madmaxx]

Thanks for pointing me to that Inactionman, it looks decent enough thats for sure has everything I wanted.

The things I'm not sure of are:

Cases: Best one's for cooling and noise

AMD core's: Mainly because all I ever see in magazines are I5 or I7 cores

Sound Cards: Is that mainly for speakers? I'll be using headset mostly anyway

Wireless Cards: Since I'm trying to get the best set for gaming, should I get that gaming network card or is there a minimal gain (I am 3 floors above router; up in a converted loft even then the Xbox360 picks it up nicely with the newer adapter)

Extra cooling fan: Is another one really needed, reviews say Antec 300 is very decent anyway

 

[SheepCow]

I got a laptop for gaming instead of a desktop because of two words...

LAN.
Parties.

You can take a desktop to a LAN party, I used to all the time

 

[dysfunction]

I would go for something like this:
Mega Sales IV

 

[Zenith.UK]

You can take a desktop to a LAN party, I used to all the time

So did I. Then I got a gaming laptop and I've never looked back since.

 

[inactionman]

You can certainly get an intel solution instead, and scan does an equivalent one of those as well. I just went for AMD as that was what you originally specced, and it looked the best bang for buck in your price range. You may want to look at a few reviews, see what's best for you.

The Antec 300 is a good case, but it all depends on what you want from one. Are you looking at seriously getting into overclocking/multiple graphics cards or large numbers of drives? If not, you don't need a big case or extra fans.

Sound cards are mainly about off-loading from the CPU or audio quality. Unless you have a really good headset you should be fine with on-board. Also you can look at getting some speakers later, giving more money for something else now.

If your xbox wireless is fine, then pretty much any wireless card should be fine. I'd recommend PCI/PCI-Express over USB though. If you do have problems, then go to somewhere like maplins and buy a better antenna! The default ones can be a bit bargain basement.

Dys, that system looks nice but goes above budget once you add a 22" monitor in. If you configure the weekly sales 3, you can get a good system for near the budget.

 

[MYstIC G]

Mesh are ok, had a friend who used them. They can piss you around for delivery though!

My box is a Mesh, it's a couple of years old now but it still speeds along nicely. I warn you now though there support website is a waste of time, if you get one and you need anything call them.

My purchase was based around the PC-Pro A-List which I've always found to be a really good guideline for specifying a box. There current high end recommendations are here: A-List Award Winners | PC Pro (The enthusiast stuff they do is about £300 above your price range).

 

[ford prefect]

Yeah, I must admit I only update my desktops every three years or so now. Most games seem to be pretty happy with similar specs these days - a couple of gig of ram and ahalfway decent duel core.

The days where the latest game usually required a £200 upgrade, despite having upgraded eight months before seem to be gone and PC game designers seem to have realised that writing for the lastest greatest hardware was actualy costing them in sales.

 

[Trem]

Inactionman is sexual in these sort of threads.

Meg just smells of aids*

























*bums

 

[Madmaxx]

lol there's just too many options to pick from; I think I need to get a pre-built system or something or I'll never make my mind up hehe. I see something I like, then I see another option below thats even more appealing

 

[Ch3tan]

The option below is always more expensive, and in reality will be obsolete in the same time frame. A mid-range PC will generally last you 2-3 years, as will a top end one.

 

[Madmaxx]

It's funny but I think my budget is the awkward part; If I take say £150-£200 off or add it on it gets easier I think.

Anyway I've gone through 4 PC sites that offer customization, here's what I've come up with. 3 AMD setup ups; 2 Intel i5 setups pretty similar I think, I'm just never sure of how much of a power supply I need and a few things like that.

3xs Systems: AMD

Spoiler

System Overview
Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Mid Tower Case
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Quad Core AM3 3.0GHz 2MB Cache 95W
Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) CAS 9-9-9-24
ATI Graphics: 1Gb XFX HD 5870 850Mhz GPU 1600 SPs 4800MHz GDDR5
Power Supply Unit: 550W Corsair CMPSU-550VXUK
System Drives: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 32MB Cache
Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: LG CH10LS20 - 8x Blu-Ray Reader & DVDRW
Internal External (USB) Wireless Adaptors: Edimax EW-7728In 300Mbps Wireless PCI Adaptor
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - OEM
Software - DVD Blu Ray Decoding: *DVD Blu Ray Decoding Software Not Required*
TFT Monitor: 22" Iiyama PLE2208HDS-B1 Widescreen LCD 1920x1080 5ms
Gaming Keyboard : *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
Gaming Mouse Option: *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
Speakers: *Speakers Not Required*
Total - £1,098.13 inc. VAT

Mesh Computers: AMD

Spoiler

System Overview
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor - (2.8-3.3GHz,6xTurbo Core,9MB Cache)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium pre-installed
Midi-Tower ATX Chassis - Black
550W HEC Desktop Power Supply
ASUS M4A77T/USB3 Mainboard- AMD 770 CrossFireX- AM3 Phenom™ II, DDR3 - ATX
4GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - (2x2GB)
1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
Blu-Ray Combo Optical Drive (Blu-ray ROM, DVD/CD RW)
1GB ATI Radeon HD5850 Graphics Accelerator
22" Widescreen TFT Monitor - Full HD 1920x1080 - DVI
7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
Cherry Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse (Corded) - Black
Free Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter Edition
ASUS PCE-N13 Internal 802.11N WiFi Adapter - 300Mbps
Total - £1,037.97 inc. VAT

Eclipse Computers: Intel i5 , £130 over -- Crossfire

Spoiler

System Overview
Motherboard Asrock P55 Pro LGA1156, Crossfire, 7.1Snd, GBLan, ATX
Processor Intel i5 750 2.66GHz LGA1156 Processor - Retail
Memory Slot 1 4Gb (2X2Gb) Dual Channel DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
Graphics Slot Crossfire 1
Sapphire 1024Mb ATi Radeon HD 5850 PCI-Express VGA Card
Graphics Slot Crossfire 2
Sapphire 1024Mb ATi Radeon HD 5850 PCI-Express VGA Card
Network: Wireless-N PCI Network Card £11.95
Hard Drive 1: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm S-ATAII 32MB Hard Drive
BluRay and HD-DVD Drives: Lite-On IHOS104-37 SATA Blu-Ray, DVD Rom - Black
Case: CoolerMaster Elite RC-335 Mid Tower ATX Case - No PSU
Power Supply Units: EZCool 650W Active PFC PSU, 12cm Fan, SLI Ready
Monitor: Hanns.G HH251H 25 Widescreen 5ms Full HD TFT Monitor
Speakers: Logitech S220 2.1 Channel Speakers -
Accessories: Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse - Black/Silver - Radio F

Total - £1,130.67 inc. VAT

CyberPowerSystems: AMD

Spoiler

System Overview

CASE: Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case Black
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Maximum Case Cooling Fans for your selected case
CPU: AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T Six-Core CPU
Cooling Fan: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
MOTHERBOARD: Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880g Chipset
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz
VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 5850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card
Power Supply Upgrade: 500 Watts Power Supplies
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHOS104-37 4X Blu-Ray Player
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO LCD
Monitor : Viewsonic VX2260WM 22" 5MS 1920x1080 FULL HD DVI/HDMI LCD
NETWORK CARD: Wireless PCI-Express Card
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium(64-bit Edition)
Total - £1,043.40 inc. VAT

CyberPowerSystems: Intel i5

Spoiler

System Overview
CASE: Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case Black
CPU: Intel Core i5 760 2.8GHZ 8MB Cache LGA1156
Cooling Fan: INTEL LGA1156 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
MOTHERBOARD: GigaByte GA-H55M-S2H Intel H55 Chipset
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz
VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 5850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card
Power Supply Upgrade: (CyberPowerPC 500W Quiet Power Supply
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHOS104-37 4X Blu-Ray Player
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO LCD
Monitor: (Viewsonic VX2260WM 22" 5MS 1920x1080 FULL HD DVI/HDMI
Network: Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: PCI Wireless 802.11n 300Mbps
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit )
Total - £1,070.43 inc. VAT

 

[Ch3tan]

<Kryten> Don't buy cheapo unbranded PSU's, they'll never give you the power they state and will cause you problems</Kryten>

Go for a known brand, and you'll need at least 650watts, to ensure future upgradeability is easier.