OT: PC Gaming Hardware Thread

[dbdynsty25]

Does anyone make a gaming laptop with upgradable GPU's? I checked Sager/Clevo and Alienware and no mention of upgrading the GPU. I would love to get a gaming laptop but without being able to upgrade the GPU, I view it more as an expensive console.

It's called voiding your warranty. You buy a laptop with the highest end video card you can buy...always.

[Macca00]

I'm in the market for a basic laptop - just for work (doing notes, checking labs) and there are some half decent sales on right now in Canada but they end tomorrow. With Windows 8 coming out next week and a bunch of new devices should I wait a week or two for the older (Windows 7) models or pull the trigger now?

Just a general question.

[dbdynsty25]

I believe that any Windows 7 machine purchased after June 1st, gets a $15 upgrade to Windows 8. So I wouldn't worry about it. However, there's something to be said about buying hardware designed around a particular OS.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/256650/w ... _wait.html

[Pete1210]

After a long absence from PC gaming I decided to jump back in. I picked up a $500 PC from newegg and upgraded that with a better power supply (after buying I read some horror stories about the included 700W power supply) and video card. Nice bonus was that the video card came with some games. Ended up with:

AMD FX-8120 3.1GHz (64 bit, 8 core)
8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
1TB SATAII 7200RPM HD
AMD Radeon 7770 (Sapphire Vapor X)
Corsair 600W Power Supply
Windows 8

[fsquid]

thinking about buying this laptop

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834152388

Anyone have any opinions on docking station or port replicators? Want to have a monitor/keyboard/mouse for the kid to use on some of their school stuff.

[Rodster]

thinking about buying this laptop

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834152388

Anyone have any opinions on docking station or port replicators? Want to have a monitor/keyboard/mouse for the kid to use on some of their school stuff.

I think a much better deal is the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500. It has a Quad i7, 8GB memory, 1TB HDD, Full HD, DVD, Backlit Kybd, GT650m for $779 on Lenovo's site. And you can SLI the Y500 for a few bucks more.

[fsquid]

Hard Drive is faster on the MSI I linked though and I like that it still has Windows 7

[dbdynsty25]

If you're spending almost a grand on a computer, you need to upgrade the HD to SSD...that's just all there is to it. So budget that in. Platter HDs are for the sub 500 dollar laptop crowd these days. Or at least they SHOULD be.

[fsquid]

If you're spending almost a grand on a computer, you need to upgrade the HD to SSD...that's just all there is to it. So budget that in. Platter HDs are for the sub 500 dollar laptop crowd these days. Or at least they SHOULD be.

Haven't seen a SSD laptop for less than $1500, but maybe I'm missing something.

[dbdynsty25]

If you're spending almost a grand on a computer, you need to upgrade the HD to SSD...that's just all there is to it. So budget that in. Platter HDs are for the sub 500 dollar laptop crowd these days. Or at least they SHOULD be.

Haven't seen a SSD laptop for less than $1500, but maybe I'm missing something.

MacBooks, and quite a few ultrabooks in the 12-1300 range have em. I was mostly referring to the fact that if you're buying nice hardware (processor/ram/etc), you should install your own. That way you get to pick the size/speeds/etc. yourself and you don't rely on cheaper SSDs from manufacturers.

Something like this specifically is awesome for the price: http://www.amazon.com/UX31A-DH71-13-3-I ... b_title_ce

And then if you want cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/UX31A-DH51-13-3-I ... B009AEYDZA

[fsquid]

gotcha, so maybe buy something that has a good processor and RAM with the smallest HD possible and then do a swap?

[dbdynsty25]

gotcha, so maybe buy something that has a good processor and RAM with the smallest HD possible and then do a swap?

Precisely.

[fsquid]

Any opinions on port replicators?

[dbdynsty25]

Any opinions on port replicators?

Most computers these days have more than enough ports on board as well as dedicated display ports (either display port, or hdmi) so it's just an added cost that isn't really needed. Just have one cable for video and one usb cable coming from the monitor and then you're good. USB keyboard/mouse into the monitor and you're golden. That's how I do it anyway, at both the office and at home (though I am going through a KVM switch in both locations).

[Rodster]

Have any of you guys spotted a GTX Titan? It's on backorder everywhere I look on the net.

nvm, I found one, expensive little boogers

[Danimal]

Ok I thought I knew something about computer but I am baffled by a response I received. So I bought this capture device to use to capture video off my 360 and PS3 which it work fine with. I decided to try it on my PC, even though I use Xsplit now and I am happy with it.

So the thing is HDMI based so a few cable purchases for my DVI monitors coming out of my GTX580 card and I am good except I am getting no sound. Well duh I need to connect it so I connect the Line in from my SB X-Fi to the device and the sound is muddled. I'm getting to my point I swear....

So I ask technical supports and they said if i switch my audio to HDMI in windows and switch the capture audio back to HDMI from line in it will work. My question is how> How would hdmi coming out of my graphics card give me any sound?

Am I missing something?

[dbdynsty25]

Your video drivers should have a setting to pass audio over HDMI. At least on my ATI card I have to manually switch it when I connect my PC to my receiver to play games with Steam's big picture mode. So yes, to answer your question (and confirm what tech support said), there is audio over hdmi from your video card, you just have to enable it in the graphics properties (NVidia Control Panel). I can't give you the exact steps since I am running ATI and don't have that software installed.

[Danimal]

smh

I had no idea. Looks like its off to get another cable a mini hdmi to hdmi so I can see if this works.

[F308GTB]

I'm contemplating a new PC for combined gaming and work. Believe it or not, some of my coworkers have been buying gaming laptops for work the last decade. Mostly Alienware but I think also some from Origin. They've had issues with both. Several of their Alienware laptops crapped out.

It will mostly be a work computer when I work from home. I do plenty of heavy duty analysis (as do my coworkers) and the gaming PCs actually perform well. In fact, the primary analysis software (NASTRAN, which costs us millions of $ each year to license) I use implements parallel processing if you have an nVidia graphics card. Due to cost and not wanting to fiddle with hardware I'd likely buy direct rather than piece together, and I'm debating laptop vs. desktop. Prefer win7 professional as that will allow me to run some other engineering software (that won't run on win7 home). Any ideas on the best bang for the buck company for some quality hardware?

[Danimal]

I own a Falcon Northwest and frankly its the best machine I have ever owned and the service is top notched. I own a mach V and the thing is gigantic.

If I were buying one today I would get the Tiki

http://www.falcon-nw.com/desktops/tiki

[Rodster]

I'm contemplating a new PC for combined gaming and work. Believe it or not, some of my coworkers have been buying gaming laptops for work the last decade. Mostly Alienware but I think also some from Origin. They've had issues with both. Several of their Alienware laptops crapped out.

It will mostly be a work computer when I work from home. I do plenty of heavy duty analysis (as do my coworkers) and the gaming PCs actually perform well. In fact, the primary analysis software (NASTRAN, which costs us millions of $ each year to license) I use implements parallel processing if you have an nVidia graphics card. Due to cost and not wanting to fiddle with hardware I'd likely buy direct rather than piece together, and I'm debating laptop vs. desktop. Prefer win7 professional as that will allow me to run some other engineering software (that won't run on win7 home). Any ideas on the best bang for the buck company for some quality hardware?

If you can build your own you'd save around 45% off a pre-built system. It's not as difficult to building your own system. The problem you get when going boutique build is that it gets VERY expensive really quick. I looked at ibuypower, Alienware, Falcon NW, Digital Storm PC and decided to build ny own again.

My build minus the GPU cost me $600 with a quad core CPU. I just ordered the GTX 780 and i'm waiting on that to arrive. The whole build totals around $1250. None of the Boutique builders come close.

The Tiki Dan mentioned looks nice but the price can get steep when you start adding stuff to it. I did like the look of the Digital Storm Bolt but that starts to get pricy as well.

Here's the Bolt:

[Danimal]

Falcon NW comes with a 3 year warranty and the best customer service in the biz. Try and find that elsewhere. Yes it cost more than building your own. I use to build all my own machines but now I'd rather get it from someone who is good.

iBuyPower sucks, don't bother with them you might as well build your own. Alienware is an extension of Dell and since that happened they have gone downhill IMO

[Rodster]

So what if it comes with a 3 year warranty? Most of the build parts sold have a 3 year warranty and who calls tech support anymore? If someone doesn't want to build their own rig that's fine but forking over 3-4x the amount to Falcon NW or any other Boutique builder is not for me, especially for the parts you get.

[Danimal]

Man why so defensive Rod? He asked for choices on where to buy not about building his own so I was answering his question.

Due to cost and not wanting to fiddle with hardware I'd likely buy direct rather than piece together

[Rodster]

Sorry Dan didn't mean to come across that way. I had seriously considered every Boutique Falcon NW, ibuypower, Alienware, and Digital Storm and got frustrated on how little they give you at first and when you start adding parts the price either doubles or triples. That's why I built me a new rig.

I just wanted to point out that building a PC these days is pretty easy.