Buying a new PC / Laptop

[Michael Buble]

So I'm looking to buy a new, let's call it a device I guess, to use at home. Don't really care if it's a laptop or desktop. Although I think the laptop gives less ability for upgrades at a lower price later on, but runs quieter.

So I'm mainly playing NWN, making greeting cards on it (19 cents to print beats the 3 bucks in the store!) surfing the web, and MS Office stuff. So it's not really hardcore usage.

So any suggestions out there? I know I'd like Win 7 platform (standard now) Okay truly XP is more stable but I have to move on. And I'd like enough memory not to have to screw with shutting everything off to run another program like NWN.

I know there's issues with some of the newer graphic card manufacturers out there ATI vs NVidia so that decision needs to be clear. What would you guys/gals suggest as a minimum to look for:

Let's say broken out by:

Laptop / Desktop
Memory Min:
HD (Thinking at least 500GB)
Processor Brand:
Processor Speed:
Graphics Company: NVida/ATI/Intel

Fill in the blank.

Thanks so much.
ps. Currently playing on a Dimension E510 old relic, Win 7, 4GB Mem so anything should be an upgrade.

[Crazy]

This is the laptop I just recommended to Zealot a couple weeks ago. He plays in a lazy boy, so laptops a pretty big improvement over PC

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215269
-Easily enough power to run NWN. 600 bucks. Dedicated grpahics, 6g ram, big hard drive.
-Heavy, battery life is probably junk. I have a similar laptop with a 14" screen that does very well. But for most general use, unless you need a long bettery life for some reason, this should do well.

The more powerful version is
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215254
For another 250 bucks, probably not worth it for just NWN.


PC will get you more bang for your buck. I am hesitant to suggest any premade system, as most of them end up being filled with 'helpful' programs that expire after 30 days and harass you to renew. I'm talking about you Norton... I have had a few Acer products over the years, and have always been happy.

The All-In-One PCs are the new rage, you basically just get a big monitor, and the PC components are on the back. Guess its like a big tablet computer. Probably looking at 1200 for one though.

One final thing, you want an independent graphics card. If it says Motherboard graphics, or integrated, or intel graphics, you wont be happy with the performance.

edit- Companies like Dell, HP, ect. just buy their laptops/parts/PCs from the same manufacturers and toss their logo on it. So most laptops are the same manufacturing process, parts, ect. Compal makes Acer/Dell/HP, which are IMO the higher quality of the pre-made computers.

edit2- I looked up my current laptop that runs NWN reasonably well. That first option will have enough power to run NWN on ~med settings at a decent framerate, while running skype in the background. The second would allow you to run NWN on high.

[arek]

Apr 12, 2012 17:33:21 GMT Michael Buble said:

So I'm looking to buy a new, let's call it a device I guess, to use at home. Don't really care if it's a laptop or desktop. Although I think the laptop gives less ability for upgrades at a lower price later on, but runs quieter.

So I'm mainly playing NWN, making greeting cards on it (19 cents to print beats the 3 bucks in the store!) surfing the web, and MS Office stuff. So it's not really hardcore usage.

So any suggestions out there? I know I'd like Win 7 platform (standard now) Okay truly XP is more stable but I have to move on. And I'd like enough memory not to have to screw with shutting everything off to run another program like NWN.

I know there's issues with some of the newer graphic card manufacturers out there ATI vs NVidia so that decision needs to be clear. What would you guys/gals suggest as a minimum to look for:

Let's say broken out by:

Laptop / Desktop
Memory Min:
HD (Thinking at least 500GB)
Processor Brand:
Processor Speed:
Graphics Company: NVida/ATI/Intel

Fill in the blank.

Thanks so much.
ps. Currently playing on a Dimension E510 old relic, Win 7, 4GB Mem so anything should be an upgrade.

For a Desktop, I recommend the following:

• Memory/Ram: At least 8 GB, Preferably 16 GB. If you go for more than 16GB, you'll need Win7 Pro or higher.
  
• Hard Drives: Get 2: A small SSD (128-256GB or so) on which you install windows and all of your programs, and a 2TB HD to hold downloads, media files, and such. If you can't afford this setup, then skip the SSD and make sure your HDD is at least 7200 RPM (you can downsize to 1 TB if needed to get this).
  
• Processor: It really doesn't matter, but an Intel Core i5 would be nice to have, preferably based on "Sandy Bridge" (or whatever replaces it). Speed/GHZ won't be a problem for NWN.
  
• Graphics: If you don't ever plan on playing any games other than NWN, this really doesn't matter. The most important thing to do is to get the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. On the other hand, if you intend to play other games as well, tho, get a decent ATI/AMD board - they give more "bang for the buck" than nVidia. Again, tho, make sure you get the latest drivers.

For a Laptop, Crazy's recommendations are probably spot-on. :-)

--Arek

P.S. If you want a more detailed desktop recommendation, including a price, I'll need to know whether or not you intend to play other games with it and whether or not you'll need a Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers/etc, and what kind of budget you're looking at.

[TJ]

I personally have no input regarding Laptop VS. Desktop, but here are my thoughts on the rest....

Most computers come standard with 4GB now. That should be more than enough. I Have 8GB in mine but I run virtual machines and do photo/video editing so I need the extra. Try to get RAM with a speed at or above 1333Mhz.

500GB for a hard drive should be fine. Mine is 750GB, but I erase it as soon as it gets to 550 to improve computer performance... Most people dont do that. I'm probably one of the few that does.

Definitely an Intel processor. Hyperthreading is your friend (1 physical cores = 2 virtual cores).

Regarding processor speed, I would say anything above 2Ghz if you are getting a quad core, aim for 2.4 if you are getting a dual core. Obviously the higher the better though.

I have an ATI Mobility Radeon, and it handles NWN perfectly fine under windows 7 ultimate x64. I am partial to ATI, but Nvidia seems to be more "cutting edge" usually. Cutting edge is not always good when it comes to old games like NWN.

Thats my 2¢.

TJ

[Crazy]

Apr 12, 2012 18:43:14 GMT arek said:

For a Desktop, I recommend the following:

• Memory/Ram: At least 8 GB, Preferably 16 GB. If you go for more than 16GB, you'll need Win7 Pro or higher.
  
• Hard Drives: Get 2: A small SSD (128-256GB or so) on which you install windows and all of your programs, and a 2TB HD to hold downloads, media files, and such. If you can't afford this setup, then skip the SSD and make sure your HDD is at least 7200 RPM (you can downsize to 1 TB if needed to get this).
  
• Processor: It really doesn't matter, but an Intel Core i5 would be nice to have, preferably based on "Sandy Bridge" (or whatever replaces it). Speed/GHZ won't be a problem for NWN.
  
• Graphics: If you don't ever plan on playing any games other than NWN, this really doesn't matter. The most important thing to do is to get the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. On the other hand, if you intend to play other games as well, tho, get a decent ATI/AMD board - they give more "bang for the buck" than nVidia. Again, tho, make sure you get the latest drivers.

With a setup like that you could play modern first person shooters too, which is nice. Can probably pick up something like that for around 1k without a monitor/keyboard/ect.

SSD is probably overkill for most people, I love mine, but loading a map in 2 seconds or 4, doesn't really make that much of a difference.

I have problems with ATIs newest set of graphics drivers and NWN. My next set of vid cards will hands down be Nvidia. (Crossfire support is garbage). Don't get me started on framerates with ATI in modern games.. 30FPS max in Rift because of software conflicts, ugh.

edit- hard drives over 2TB have very questionable life spans. If you dont need the space, a 1TB or 1.5TB drive is even safer. I personally run 2x 2TB drives and a SSD. One drive for storage, one is a mirror image for backups, and SSD for programs/windows ect.

[arek]

Yes, I agree that nVidia cards tend to have more stable drivers. ATI/AMD cards, however, tend to be faster at the same price points. If you can afford the extra cost, nVidia really is better in most cases, due to the drivers. My recommendation, however, was based on price. :-)

--Arek

[Michael Buble]

Good stuff guys.

Arek,
I have a dual monitor setup now, and all the periphials (keyboard, printer, mouse etc) Price is my major factor trying to keep it low end is a concern for the wallet. Will I eventually play other games, yeah no doubt at some point.

Currently I'm on a Pentium 4, 533mhz 4 gb memory. It's a wonder it can actually run Win 7, Chrome, Skype and NWN all at the same time. Needless to say the PC Fan and the Video Card Fan are as loud as an airplane. My video card is a ATI Radeon HD 5000 series 5550 I think.

[arek]

Ok, I have something for you to look at:

secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=18988425.

Total cost is $872.90 including the OS (which you might be able to skip), and shipping for me was under $10.

Feedback on this would be very welcome. I do know that a bit of money could probably be saved on the Power Supply, Motherboard, and/or case, but I really don't recommend downgrading them. Also, there are less expensive video cards out there, but I think the GF550Ti there is probably the best nVidia board for the money. You could also save some money by going down to an i3 processor, but I don't recommend any of the G-series processors, due to the lack of hyperthreading.

Michael, if you're comfortable building your own system, or know someone who can do it for you, there you go. If not, I'd recommend finding a System Configurator somewhere and trying to configure a similar system to the one listed here. It'll probably cost a bit more, tho.

--Arek

[Crazy]

Using Areks setup, you could save some money by using your current hard drive/windows/DVD drive ect.

Putting a computer together isn't as daunting as it sounds, it's pretty darn easy. That case with 120mm fans will be quieter than most cases. Just make sure the vid card fits in it, because they are very long nowadays

[arek]

Based on his old P4 computer, he might not be able to re-use the HD or DVD drive without an adapter, Crazy. I wonder if his old comp even supports SATA at all. I guarantee the new comp won't support PATA.

After doing a bit of searching, someone mentioned that his video card barely fit, but I'm guessing that it was a 9.5" card. The one I've listed is only 8.25", so it should fit decently.

--Arek

[Crazy]

Didn't see that mobo didnt have a pata slot,

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131711
Is a bit cheaper, has a ribbon slot so you could save dvd/hd.

Performance wise, newer HD will be faster, dvd drives fairly inexpensive. I recommend Arek's wish list.

One exception, if you currently have Windows 7, you can just use it on the new computer and save 100 bucks. CD key should be written on your case somewhere. (Or just pirate it, morally you already have the software key not in use :-p )

If you decide to do this, I don't mind walking you through the assembly process. Its really just screw the motherboard in and plug in the rest .

[arek]

One small issue with re-using the OS: He'll have Win7 32bit (P4 533 == 32bit proc). If he wants to use that 8G of ram fully, he needs Win7 64bit, since Windows doesn't support more than 4G on the 32bit versions. I don't know how or even if MS supports upgrading from 32bit versions of its OS to 64bit versions.

--Arek

[Paradoom]

Yes MS does support this, but not with the same CD-Key unless it has been from a retail version. If you use a OEM (hardware bundeld, often delivered with ready manufactured pcs) version, and it has been a 32 bits one it is only that one.
If you have an OEM go for a new version with 64 bit. That´s what everything that comes out new is based on (drivers, games, applications).
32-bit Apps will run just fine if not highly specialised and old like e.g. older movie cutting software (blame the software producers, even big companies coded them very bad, cause xp allowed em too)

And Laptop or PC.
I suggest as the ones before go for a PC. Easier to maintain and upgrade and more power for the same price as a laptop. Also u might be able to reuse some of your older hardware and save some bucks for the moment. If you can afford it get a SSD Harddrive for your OS. The speedboost is just too good to pass up. 64GB versions (good ones come from OCZ) are enough for Win7 + the major apps you want to use.

Greetz Paradoom