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About to do a big mistake, buying new gaming computer :D

Vold

Vold

Insider
I built my own desktop 2 years ago, with a CPU & GPU based on a price/performance chart found on this website: https://www.cpubenchmark.net ; AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4ghz, Sapphire HD7770 1gb OC; back in those days that CPU and GPU were in the top ten of performance/value. AMD has worked out surprisingly very well to run most of the games released in the last years; nevertheless, that hardware does not run most of the games on maximum quality (most recently released specially). But, the CPU+GPU were ~200 USD back then, so I can't complain. :p
 
Oona

Oona

Insider
Brendan said:
Yeah don't get SLI, you can't rely on it working at all and an 880M is basically twice as fast as an 860M in raw performance anyway, definitely a much better choice.

As @Pilluminati said the very high end CPU's just aren't worth it in terms of price/performance, you're generally best off getting the lowest clock speed version of the best architecture, which right now means any i7-47xxxx.

Those Pcspecialist laptops are good bang for buck, not a bad choice for sure and seems like the best spec/value for a high end 15" but I'm not sure what the generic chassis will be like in terms of cooling/noise. The 880M will produce a similar amount of heat to Pillumati's M290X, so maybe he could give you an idea!

Seeing as you want a 17" screen anyway another good choice is the Asus G750JZ, it's a similar spec/price with great cooling. Ebuyer have a good price on an ex-display one that you could still get shipped today if you're feeling impatient: http://www.ebuyer.com/665949-exdisplay-asus-g750jz-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i7-4700hq-2-4ghz-16gb-ram-1tb-ebr2-g750jz-t4056h

If you want to go with the Pcspecialist one I'd get the Vortex IV 17 base (http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/vortexIV-17/) and spec it like this:
i7-4710MQ
16GB RAM
GTX 880M
1 or 2TB HD + 250GB Samsung EVO SSD
MX-4 thermal paste
Killer NIC (Bluetooth & Wireless)
No OS ;)
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Ooooo! Thank you!! I want something that can handle all the "next-gen" games really well, so I'm not feeling impatient at all. Think I might go with the Pcspecialist one... hmmmm

Thanks again guys for the help! ^.^
 
Pilluminati

Pilluminati

Insider
Oona said:
Ooooo! Thank you!! I want something that can handle all the "next-gen" games really well, so I'm not feeling impatient at all. Think I might go with the Pcspecialist one... hmmmm

Thanks again guys for the help! ^.^
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Just remember the one with 2x 880m is going to have a massive power supply. Massive. And it's probably very heavy and bulky.
These laptops are from a manufacturer called Clevo and they have very good cooling, you could buy them from elsewhere, but this is the cheapest I've found in the EU.
Since it's two gpus each of them should be under less load and therefore produce less heat, but since you have two heat sources now I don't know what the result would be. This also probably means two fans, one for each gpu. I don't know what the result would be in terms of noise.
I've got the 880m and it doesn't make much noise when doing regular stuff like surfing, watching movies etc. But if you're playing Crysis 3 on everything maxed or something along those lines it can be quite loud. Very happy so far though. I don't think there's any gaming laptop that won't make noise when under heavy load though.

If you're getting the SLI one I would first email them to check whether they made a mistake in the specs, because 2x 880m's for that price sounds almost too good to be true. And if you do order from them be prepared to wait 2-3 weeks (took me roughly 20 days).

The one Brendan linked is actually a very good deal. Should definitely consider it if it's a 17 inch you want.
 
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Brendan

Brendan

Developer
Elric von Rabenfels

Elric von Rabenfels

Insider
I'm somehow relieved that I don't have any budget left for upgrading my rig.
It's all spent on arms & armour. Probably better off that way.

If I had any left, I'd buy that card.
 
turtleman155

turtleman155

Insider
660TI damn i just have the regular 660 :(

Edit: im thinking of getting a new computer can you guys recommend one that doesn't cost too much but can still play games really well :D (or atleast a place that sells cheap parts to Australia because our prices for gpus and pc parts are like 40% higher than the uk for some reason :(
 
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Brendan

Brendan

Developer
turtleman155 said:
660TI damn i just have the regular 660 :(

Edit: im thinking of getting a new computer can you guys recommend one that doesn't cost too much but can still play games really well :D (or atleast a place that sells cheap parts to Australia because our prices for gpus and pc parts are like 40% higher than the uk for some reason :(
Click to expand...
This place looks pretty good for components in AU: http://www.pccasegear.com/

What's your PC like atm? They have a GTX 970 for $419 which is about the same price as the UK and would be a great upgrade if the rest is up to scratch already. If you want a whole new PC on a budget and don't mind building it yourself I'd go for something like this as a base then add PSU/HD/Case as you need/want (if you have a half decent PSU for example it might be fine as the GTX 970 doesn't use that much power):

Intel Core i5 4690K $279.00
ASRock Z97 Anniversary Motherboard $120.00
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X CPU Cooler $45.00
Kingston Hyper X Fury HX316C10FBK2/8 8GB (2x4GB) Black $99.00
Galax GeForce GTX 970 4GB $419.00
 
turtleman155

turtleman155

Insider
my pc right now is an old i7 860 @ 2.9ghz base is 2.8 but 2.9 is the best overclock available :D (pretty sad)
my graphics card is as before mentioned a gtx660 and 8gb of ram so im pretty good on most things i think its just the cpu holding me down right now.
 
Murf

Murf

Moderator
Not sure how accurate it is, but with everything turned all the way up. the combat demo fps meter gives me pretty consistent high 50's. I notice a little texture warming? not sure how to describe it, along edge/connecting lines. but my rig isn't a top of the line one by any means.


Intel i5 Quad 3.1GHZ
16GB Ram
XFX Radeon 7850 2GB

Haven't checked the fps meter with MSI turned on.
 
Brendan

Brendan

Developer
turtleman155 said:
my pc right now is an old i7 860 @ 2.9ghz base is 2.8 but 2.9 is the best overclock available :D (pretty sad)
my graphics card is as before mentioned a gtx660 and 8gb of ram so im pretty good on most things i think its just the cpu holding me down right now.
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Fair enough, actually pretty good then but yeah I guess your CPU is getting a bit old now.. If I were you I'd get a new motherboard/CPU/heatsink first and just keep your RAM and everything else. The 4690K is surprisingly good value if you're up for OCing it, even that heatsink should be good for around 4.2 and if you consider that it's probably ~20% faster than yours clock for clock with much better memory architecture etc. seems like a worthy upgrade :D
 
Gurfan

Gurfan

Supporter
processor is no longer important for games, only a video card is. Modern video cards have their own processors
 
Tony

Tony

Insider
Gurfan said:
processor is no longer important for games, only a video card is. Modern video cards have their own processors
Click to expand...
Hmm... while video cards are becoming more important than previously (more capable), the CPU is still quite relevant, especially in a physics-driven game like Sui Generis. The video card does not run the physics calculations done by the game engine, this is done by the CPU. It is true that some games rely more on the GPU than the CPU but to claim that the CPU is irrelevant to gaming is an overstatement since it can make a significant difference in gaming performance.
 
Brendan

Brendan

Developer
Wow, that Xeon is really good value too! Actually the best out there if you don't want to OC...

At the end of the day though clock speed is king, +25% makes it that much faster for everything, where as even in the best case scenario for HT + the extra cache you'd be lucky to get that much of an increase, and even if you did in some extreme case they'd only be equal. For games HT doesn't really help so an OC'd 4690K would be a lot faster.

That said, you might even be able to overclock that Xeon, the multiplier is locked but the BCLK strap might not be, hard to find out but it definitely wasn't on the earlier Xeon E3s (only on the dual socket E5s and above as they are significantly different chips) so I don't see why it would be, and if it's not you could just change the BCLK strap to 1.25x which in this case would make it a sweet 4.25Ghz :)

That mobo looks good, I only suggested the other as it was the cheapest with a Z97 chipset which is the latest/best for socket 1150 but that one you suggested has a better NIC and audio and still supports OCing so I'd say go for it :D
 
turtleman155

turtleman155

Insider
alright thanks brendan :D im going to go with the msi mobo with the i5 and i might get a new case as well since the one i have now the front is kinda kicked in and the front fan isn't doing much also my gtx 660 is being held up by a cable tie so might want to get one with proper mountings can i get your opinion on this case https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=614051&CategoryID=758
Edit: i dont know much about overclocking but when i get this new cpu i will learn :D also i looked on tigersdirect not sure about the shipping costs but it looks a bit cheaper though its in usd and the exchange rate is pretty shit right now :( and my heatsink is a 160 mm long aftermarket one with one 120mm fan with room for another one so i should be good for a bit of OCing :)
 
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Brendan

Brendan

Developer
turtleman155 said:
alright thanks brendan :D im going to go with the msi mobo with the i5 and i might get a new case as well since the one i have now the front is kinda kicked in and the front fan isn't doing much also my gtx 660 is being held up by a cable tie so might want to get one with proper mountings can i get your opinion on this case https://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=614051&CategoryID=758
Edit: i dont know much about overclocking but when i get this new cpu i will learn :D
Click to expand...
Cool :)

Yeah sure that case looks fine, anything with half decent cooling is fine, after that it's down to personal preference really. That said... it does seem pretty huge and expensive for what it is. I'd probably go for something like the Silverstone RV05 instead which is still big enough, cheaper, and better built with great cooling (positive air pressure is nice as it will get less dusty over time): http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1290_608&products_id=27725
 
turtleman155

turtleman155

Insider
the only reason i would get that one from ple is because the shipping on a pc case is pretty ridiculous and i have a ple store about 2 km from my house so its just more convenient but ill give the case you suggested some consideration and again thanks brendan for the help :D
by the way does that case have room for an optical disc drive?

Edit: just checked the shipping cost its $73 aud holy shit.
 
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