so now I am thinking a laptop - advice?

[Shad]

Did they say why?

Mobo contains parts which fulfill roles
Have to know what it should contain that you will use
Fullatx usually is just more slots
Do you intend to put there Two graphic cards?
Do you intend to put there more then 16 ram?

Gigabyte puts it as gaming, its written there, mean its optimized for games
G3258 only has low power consumption of 53W which means vrm vould not be half loaded that makes heatsink unneeded

Asus has 4 ram slots and better cooling, but is not that cheap http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/B85MGAMER/overview/

Do you use 5.1 or 7.1 sound?

[chad878262]

Just 5.1 sound and 16 gb ram, could do with 8, but want 16. However, I tend to keep my pc for long time. I've only ever had 2, but I upgrade the video card and ram as needed. I'll have to ask about why full atx is preferable because saving an extra $30 or more on the mobo is certainly welcome.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

I have been told that for gaming full ATX is a must, is this a myth?

Myth. High density DIMMs satiate capacity needs, across four seated in an ATX is ~7,600 MBps, your bottleneck on game load time is that SSD bus. Think about gaming laptops as an example (CLEVO).

Thanks AoS, anything you can tell me about what the TI well help with over the standard 750?

Non-reference. Think of it like an aftermarket upgrade if you parallel it to vehicle mechanics.

[Shad]

Gigabyte one only has 3 audio connectors on back panel. Could use HD front panel to connect up to 7.1 audio
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=5174#sp

Go for 16 gb from the start, its cheap enough and you'll not have to upgrade soon

[Thorsson]

All for saving some money, but this Mobo is Micro ATX, I would prefer full ATX. Though $60 is very tempting! I have been told that for gaming full ATX is a must, is this a myth?

Totally. However Micro is more expensive and can have problems fitting in the bigger video cards.

[chad878262]

All for saving some money, but this Mobo is Micro ATX, I would prefer full ATX. Though $60 is very tempting! I have been told that for gaming full ATX is a must, is this a myth?

Totally. However Micro is more expensive and can have problems fitting in the bigger video cards.

Well the video card Shad recommended is about $30-50 cheaper than the one I currently have on the rig, but it's micro ATX and doesn't have RAID, Crossfire or SLI support. However, I am not certain I will need any of those. I basically just need to make sure I am able to play on BG as well as work, which requires using the office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, etc.) along with my wife looking at videos on facebook and other random stuff.

[Steve]

I basically just need to make sure I am able to play on BG as well as work, which requires using the office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, etc.) along with my wife looking at videos on facebook and other random stuff.

Dude...I use a Macbook with an Emulator. NWN2 is such a dated game...I think the fact you use a 9 year old computer to run it, explains everything!

[chad878262]

true Steve, but on my current computer I still play in the mid range settings. Hoping with the new computer I can play high end settings with no lag/issues (outside of stupid jerks that like to attack innocent gamers and kill their fun)...

[Kinkurono]

Well, if you are not playing anything else, it's fine the way it is...if you want to play new games and such, well, i'd change the GPU and CPU and PSU and the rest would be fine. Ah, you can also buy a windows 8 key (There are several cheap original keys around from when microsoft wanted people to move to it, got mine for 5 dollars) and then upgrade it for free, make sure you get the windows 10 pro, so you can disable pesky privacy invading apps.

[chad878262]

Thanks for the advice!

[PJtheFey]

IMO you could save money by not getting a solid state drive if it is a desktop. The whole point of them is to have no moving parts for if the machine is dropped or jostled. Granted I haven't been computer shopping in a few years, but when I bought my laptop they more than doubled the cost of the drive for less than half the space. Unless you are planning on having an earth quake, using it in a boat, or taking it in an RV you might as well get a reguar hard drive and sink the money you save into more ram, more space, or a better video (or sound) card.


Edit:

It looks like you're not paying very much for the solid state device as it, but just keep in mind that for the same price you can get a much larger hard drive.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

IMO you could save money by not getting a solid state drive if it is a desktop. The whole point of them is to have no moving parts for if the machine is dropped or jostled.

This is not sound advice, nor is it the reason for their mass manufacturing and market take-over.

but when I bought my laptop they more than doubled the cost of the drive for less than half the space.

The market is still reeling from R&D, the prices have drastically dropped on a per GB basis in comparison to the magnetic platter versions, and will continue that trend as the platters cannot hold a candle to SSD in performance. Burstable sub 70 MBps transfer rates with high seek latency versus ~550 MBps SSDs with barely noticeable seek time (irregardless of data fragmentation), the cost makes a lot of sense in terms of your overall time, performance, and other available options. This doesn't write off magnetic plate uses. My laptop has two SSDs setup with software stripe RAID for the OS and actively used software, and a single large capacity magnetic platter for cold, barely used storage.

Unless you are planning on having an earth quake, using it in a boat, or taking it in an RV you might as well get a reguar hard drive and sink the money you save into more ram, more space, or a better video (or sound) card.

No.

No.

Just no.

[chad878262]

Hi again...

So I was offered a position with a new employer in December and I start January 18th. All is well, sizable raise, wife will be able to be home more with our son, but I will be traveling more. For this reason I am now thinking I need to buy a laptop so that I can a) video chat with my wife and son while on business travel and b) hopefully find some time to play BGtSCC when on trips sometimes.

While I will have a work laptop I doubt they will be keen on me installing third party video chat software such as skype and am almost certain they wouldn't want me installing video games!

So, I am hoping to spend under $450 (obviously the lower the better) on a laptop and would like any advice/opinions the community can offer... Some of the ones I have seen that caught my eye (mostly due to being a decent amount off the regular price)

Lenovo Thinkpad E550 - This one is on Tiger Direct for $429.97 and is advertised to usually cost $849.99. It has a 15.6" screen, 4GB RAM, a 500 GB HHD, Core i5 Processor...Comes with Windows 8.1, might have to upgrade to Windows 10, but I have never moved off Vista so really anything is an upgrade

Lenovo Ideapad G50 - Amazon for $340.99, Amazon says it's usually $999!
AMD Quad-Core A8-6410 Processor with integrated AMD Radeon R5 graphics
6GB DDR3L memory, Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, 500GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
Bluetooth 4.0 interface, Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n), 1 USB 3.0 port and 2 USB 2.0 ports
15.6" LED-backlit LCD high-definition widescreen display, Built-in 0.3MP webcam with microphone
Windows 8.1, 64-bit, upgradable to Windows 10

Any thoughts? Is Lenovo a reliable product? Should I pay the $80-150 for 2/3 year warranty protection? Any other deals I should consider? The only game I'll play on the laptop is BG, but I would like to make sure I can skype with my wife and son when I travel, work online and I REALLY would like to make sure I don't have a laptop that is going to take 10 minutes to start up or that will have a battery that doesn't last...

Thanks community!!!

[Thorsson]

Lenovo took over IBM Laptops. They make solid machines.

My advice would be:

i5 processor
8Gb RAM
Separate Video Card

That would cost a bit more, but you would notice the difference. TBH you can get away with 4Gb RAM given your requirements, but it will lower the lifespan of your laptop. Same goes for a lesser processor (like the AMD). If you want to play games, other than web-based games, then you really want a separate video card.

You absolutely do not want 4Gb RAM with onboard video - the RAM is shared and that will definitely cause problems.

[chad878262]

Thanks thorsson, so bother there's laptops are no go...back to the drawing board, not sure I can find one with 8gb and separate ram in my price range, but maybe 6...