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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. |
After having a very positive experience building my own computer after visiting this thread, I am going to ask, is it feasible to build your own laptop? I only have a budget of ~$500, and I'd like to have something that could minimally game such as SC2 on low. I've run into this one on newegg I'm considering if I can't build my own
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157545&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL041911&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL041911-_-EMC-041911-Index-_-LaptopsNotebooks-_-34157545-L016A
supposedly people have said in reviews it can run SC2 on low with 200/200 armies (1v1) without any issue.
Current laptop has a broken screen, not worth fixing it as it's a POS anyways. I think I can get Windows 7 64 bit for free. Could I somehow salvage the HD from my existing Toshiba Satellite C655 (or anything else, for that matter?).
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I want to thank SkyR and Myrmidon for helping me with my computer, it arrived today and I finally got to set it up and everything is running perfectly.
Thanks a lot guys, I REALLY appreciate it
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Okay, so I guess my computer doesn't come with an Antivirus lol, are there any good ones that you would recommend that are under 30? or even free? lol
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On April 20 2011 08:46 skyR wrote:@Wolfsburg No, the Phenom II X6 is not the best choice for the sole purpose of gaming. You could do much better by selecting each individual component. This configuration comes to $708 before mail in rebates and promotions: + Show Spoiler +
If we're looking at games like Crysis 2 as was mentioned, I'd step up the GPU to at least the GTX 560 Ti / HD 6950 level. Aside from that, agreed. And maybe this motherboard instead, since it's full ATX and has 4 RAM slots and USB3/SATA3 while being cheaper:
AsRock H61ICAFE LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX @ $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157246
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On April 20 2011 08:52 FabledIntegral wrote:After having a very positive experience building my own computer after visiting this thread, I am going to ask, is it feasible to build your own laptop? I only have a budget of ~$500, and I'd like to have something that could minimally game such as SC2 on low. I've run into this one on newegg I'm considering if I can't build my own http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157545&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL041911&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL041911-_-EMC-041911-Index-_-LaptopsNotebooks-_-34157545-L016Asupposedly people have said in reviews it can run SC2 on low with 200/200 armies (1v1) without any issue. Current laptop has a broken screen, not worth fixing it as it's a POS anyways. I think I can get Windows 7 64 bit for free. Could I somehow salvage the HD from my existing Toshiba Satellite C655 (or anything else, for that matter?).
It's feasible but much more annoying, since parts are less available and tend to be less compatible. I think the savings are less as well. Some people do it, though I've never tried. Is your old laptop HDD PATA or SATA?
A low-clocked AMD dual core with no L3 cache should struggle late game with big armies, though the integrated Radeon HD 4200 or HD 4250 on those is good enough for low at those lower resolutions. If think people are saying that it's playable under those circumstances. If you want to maintain decent fps, you'll probably need better hardware.
If you can manage, there are some laptops around $550 with a Core i3-2310M (with Intel HD Graphics 3000). Maybe a deal will put one around $500. That would be a pretty big upgrade both in the CPU and the integrated GPU, so that should play 1v1 smoothly.
On April 20 2011 10:54 MiXyass wrote:
Okay, so I guess my computer doesn't come with an Antivirus lol, are there any good ones that you would recommend that are under 30? or even free? lol
Are viruses a problem? Unless you do stupid stuff, you're usually fine without one. I'd just get Microsoft Security Essentials, though I'm sure you could probably find stats showing something else is better.
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Microsoft Security Essentials, avast! Antivirus, AVG, Avira, etc. are just a few antivirus programs that come to mind when mentioning the "Free" category. Malwarebytes is always a great complement, too.
On the topic of "building" your own laptop, are there even many sources for obtaining graphics cards, and which laptop motherboard type accommodates graphics card swapping? I can't remember what kind of laptop can do it, specifically.
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Hey guys, so I actually got featured on NCIX's pick of the week and won a 50.00 gift card as well as a shirt.
Here is the video in case anybody is wondering
Thanks a lot SkyR and Myrmidon for helping me out with it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NCIXEsther#p/u/10/MoxN4xA5n0A
I now don't have to worry about waiting for a cheap mouse on ebay to buy !!
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On April 20 2011 03:08 Zorgon wrote:Do you have a hard drive and optical drive that you plan on reusing (note that one must be SATA)?
yes I have an optical drive i can borrow although I will probably never use it except for windows. The hard drive is from a different pc which is older which isn't sata its ide  this laptop has a sata I bet  . if all else I can just buy one or get one from a friend.
Can the power supply handle all the stuff, like the graphic cards online don't say the wattage required or maybe I am not looking correctly? If it doesn't I'll just buy a new one when it blows out lol
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The power supply is an ancient design (3.3V/5V heavy rather than 12V) intended for use with Pentium 3 4 era computers. [edit: whoops I mean P4, not P3...regardless, the point stands] If it could do what its label could say, then you wouldn't be able to run much more than a HD 5670 on that. It claims 16A max output on 12V (192W peak), just like 480W is supposed max while it claims only 330W continuous it looks like?
But on those ATX 1.x designs, putting a modern 12V-heavy load is probably crossloading it dangerously out of spec. That's assuming it's in spec when operated under loads it likes, which is doubtful to begin with. The internals are probably junk that may be prone to failing and frying your computer while doing so.
You'd really need to ditch it and get something else.
Graphics card recommendations for wattage required are all junk anyway, so you don't need to believe what it lists. If you have a modern power supply of decent quality rated at continuous wattage at reasonable temperatures, you can always go well under the recommendation.
edit: and by ditch it, I mean that you should probably go with a different combo or different parts since that doesn't look particularly like a good deal.
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Thanks man I'll probably ditch the power supply everything else in the deal looks pretty good I'll probably sell the printer and the ink on craigslist. I hope I can make a good pc out of this maybe I'll wait a week until a great gpu pops up around 80-100 bucks then I'll grab it.
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On April 20 2011 11:05 Myrmidon wrote:Show nested quote +On April 20 2011 08:46 skyR wrote:@Wolfsburg No, the Phenom II X6 is not the best choice for the sole purpose of gaming. You could do much better by selecting each individual component. This configuration comes to $708 before mail in rebates and promotions: + Show Spoiler + If we're looking at games like Crysis 2 as was mentioned, I'd step up the GPU to at least the GTX 560 Ti / HD 6950 level. Aside from that, agreed. And maybe this motherboard instead, since it's full ATX and has 4 RAM slots and USB3/SATA3 while being cheaper: AsRock H61ICAFE LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX @ $85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157246
Alright thank you very much skyR and Myrmidon for your help.
So I think I am gonna get that setup that skyR made but get the motherboard Myrmidon suggested and then this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610
Let me know if you guys think this will be a decent setup then. Thanks again for everything!
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One more question. Since the dvd burner you suggested is OEM will it come with the cables to connect to the motherboard or will I need to buy those seperately?
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It is plugged into my dads computer with cables so I can just use those, or has the cable format changed over the last 6 years?
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Thanks for this thread, it is extremely useful
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On April 20 2011 13:09 Wolfsburg wrote:
One more question. Since the dvd burner you suggested is OEM will it come with the cables to connect to the motherboard or will I need to buy those seperately?
What you need is two SATA cables, one for the hard drive and one for the DVD drive, to plug into the motherboard. The OEM DVD drive doesn't come with one, but the motherboard should come with two. If not, they cost something like $3.
Oh and btw if you're just using a HD 6850, you can fit that on a 400W power supply with room to spare. This one is currently going for $35 (before $10 MIR), and it's pretty much the same as the 450W linked earlier. Though the other was XFX and this one is Antec, they're both manufactured by Seasonic with mostly the same parts and pretty much based off the same S12II design, so they're mostly equivalent aside from the 50W difference.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029
Note that the above doesn't come with a power cable, though any old one will do.
On April 20 2011 13:13 andynewin wrote:
It is plugged into my dads computer with cables so I can just use those, or has the cable format changed over the last 6 years?
What is "it?"
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On April 20 2011 13:09 Wolfsburg wrote:
One more question. Since the dvd burner you suggested is OEM will it come with the cables to connect to the motherboard or will I need to buy those seperately?
Yes, the motherboard will provide you with the SATA cables to connect both your harddrive and dvd-drive.
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But aside from that the videocard will be compatible with mobo and decent for crysis 2 and sc2? Thanks for all your help guys.
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On April 20 2011 13:33 Wolfsburg wrote:
But aside from that the videocard will be compatible with mobo and decent for crysis 2 and sc2? Thanks for all your help guys.
Yes, any PCI-E x16 (all versions) graphics card will be compatible with any motherboard with PCI-E x16 slot (all versions). The GTX 560 is a very powerful card and Crysis 2 isn't really all that graphics intensive since it was a console port. The card itself should be able to handle the latest releases for at least the next year or two.
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Alright thank you skyR for all your help!
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sweet is there a way to get a ide hdd to work with sata cables like a converter for cheap cause I have a few ide hard drives?
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EPT
