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When using this resource, please read the 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. | ||
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mantequilla
Turkey781 Posts
battery life is not very important because laptop batteries die anyways. first came to mind: - mini pc is a hassle to carry with seperate pc, screen and keyboard. + you can reuse your old hdd and ram lying around with a barebone mini pc (better cost-performance) And because parts are seperate, you can replace the ones that fail. | ||
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Craton
United States17281 Posts
Mini PCs must always be plugged in, which makes them far less mobile. Batteries also function as a de facto UPS, Similarly, carrying around a separate monitor is cumbersome (which is going to involve setting up when you want to use it and putting it away afterwards). You can theoretically get a monitor that powers off usb ports, but you'd have to be plugging in your PC anyway, so it's not worth the added cost. Even a mini PC is going to be very bulky to carry around if it's something big enough to use your old HDD/RAM in. If you actually want a mobile mini PC then you should be looking more at those mini cube cases that are small enough to mount on the back of a monitor (using the VESA holes). That said, I don't know what kind of graphics card you can get into one of those. You can get a portable enclosure for old drives to reuse them, but I'm not sure if you can run a full-size HDD off USB. Seems like worst case you could find one that connects to multiple USB ports for added power draw. If you're just looking for something portable in the sense of visiting a friend or a LAN party, a mini PC might be a better option. For gaming, the mini is probably better. But, if you're looking for something to take to class, take on a trip (e.g. car, train, plane), or take to a coffee shop, a laptop is going to be better. | ||
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XenOmega
Canada2822 Posts
i7 4790k corsair h100i cooler 16 gig of ram 2400hz corsair dominator msi gaming 7 motheboard evga 850watt modular hold power supply 780 ti gpu asus xonar essence stx soundcard 240 gig samsung 840ssd 1 tb mypass external hdd 2 extra corsair fans comes with window 10 professional installed On kijiji, for 1200$ CAD. I estimated about 1525$+++ (lowballing some of the stuffs because they are 1-3 generation behind). Thoughts? | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
The samsung 840 and 840 evo also have a signifiacnt performance/longevity issue that degrades their value - especially the regular 840. There's a fix that clears up most of the symptoms for the 840 evo but not one for the regular 840 | ||
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XenOmega
Canada2822 Posts
On June 17 2016 12:24 Cyro wrote: You may have given too much value to the 780ti (that performance level can be beat for $200 USD now, but it's also 2 generations out of date for technologies like NVENC, 2.5x more power usage/heat etc.) The samsung 840 and 840 evo also have a signifiacnt performance/longevity issue that degrades their value - especially the regular 840. There's a fix that clears up most of the symptoms for the 840 evo but not one for the regular 840 Hey Cyro, ty for the fast reply So all in all, it's not a good deal at that price? | ||
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trifecta
United States6795 Posts
On June 17 2016 22:11 XenOmega wrote: Hey Cyro, ty for the fast reply So all in all, it's not a good deal at that price? imo not really. The soundcard, 850w psu (overkill nowadays) and watercooler don't add much value in my opinion. you could build something better for the same money esp without those | ||
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XenOmega
Canada2822 Posts
I'm also looking for an used laptop for a friend. Some light gaming : How's this one looking? Portable HP Envy 17" HD Blu-Ray, GTX850, 120GB SSD, Intel i7 17-j070ca Asking price is 650$. Maybe I can negotiate it to 500-550$ (CAD) ? | ||
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Craton
United States17281 Posts
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
On June 18 2016 11:25 Craton wrote: Is there actually any difference between the GTX 1070 founders edition of the different manufacturers? I'm looking at NCIX (http://www.ncix.com/article/nvidia_GTX1070.htm) and they all look identical and seem to have the same specs. I don't think so aside from warranties. Even if a warranty says it's the same, dealing with different companies is different | ||
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adaro
9 Posts
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gobbledydook
Australia2605 Posts
What is your budget? Let's say $1000. I don't have a firm budget. What is your monitor's native resolution? 1080p. I'm probably not buying a new monitor. What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? LoL: Highest, though LoL graphics aren't the most demanding so that's probably not the problem. SC2: Ideally, it would run those mass unit arcade games on highest settings. Civ6: I'm probably going to buy Civ6. I read that for this sort of game you need a good CPU too. It needs to resolve turns fast and not lag on highest settings when I scroll the map around. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Chemical engineering coursework, this would include industry specific simulation software. So a good CPU is a must. Do you intend to overclock? No Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? No Do you need an operating system? Windows 10 Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? No monitor needed at this stage. I already have a 5.1 surround sound system. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. I'd prefer to buy parts from quality brands. My last computer died partly because I got dud parts from a computer shop in Melbourne. (I picked a 'gamers package', they built the computer from generic brand parts for me, not making this mistake again) The case should be miniATX or microATX. I intend to carry it as hand luggage on a plane. I do want it to be big enough to fit a good GPU though. What country will you be buying your parts in? Hong Kong. I will probably have it built at a local computer shop there. They will have anything that you can suggest. Don't worry about looking for the lowest price retailer for each part. The budget is a rough ballpark. I just want a setup that works so I can go look it up at the shop. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. See above | ||
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ExPresident
United States215 Posts
$1000 - 1200 USD What is your monitor's native resolution? 1080P and most likely purchase a better one down the road. What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? Civ 5 & Civ 6 - High - Ultimate Rainbow Six - High XCom 2 - High * Most likely future FPS titles. I've currently got a PS4 but feel the need to go to PC gaming so I want better quality visuals than I get from my PS4 on those FPS general titles like Battlefield or RB6 Siege. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Typical video/movie watching via Netflix, Hulu etc. Do you intend to overclock? No unless I could save significantly by doing so. I've never done it and not sure I feel comfortable with it. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? Most likely no Do you need an operating system? Yes Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? No If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. Nvidia? What country will you be buying your parts in? U.S. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Amazon or Newegg is fine. I don't have a real preference as long as dealing with the company is relatively easy. | ||
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XenOmega
Canada2822 Posts
Both are using I7 processor 4xxx. The cheapest of the two has 16 GB ram. The one with a more power GPU has 8 GB ram. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
850m can have ddr3 or gddr5 memory (32GB/s vs 80GB/s bandwidth) 860m can be kepler or maxwell, two entirely different GPU gens with different performance, capabilities and power efficiency Either way, your overall performance per dollar will probably be pretty awful with this kind of hardware | ||
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kornetka
Poland129 Posts
What is your budget? Around 1100$, but I can spend a little bit more if necessary. What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080. What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? Witcher 3, Eu4, HoI4 on maxed settings. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Little bit of matlab and autocadish programs. Do you intend to overclock? Yes, though I have never done it before. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? Not really, no. Do you need an operating system? Yes. Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? No, but I already have a pair of nice stereo speakers. I think I need dedicated sound card for them, right? If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. No specific brands, but I'd like to buy solid/trusted components. What country will you be buying your parts in? Poland. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Not really. So far I came up with something like this: CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K CPU cooler: ? Motherboard: ? + Show Spoiler + Gigabyte GA-Z170-Gaming K3, ASRock Z170 GAMING K4, ASUS Z170a PRO, ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming, Asus Z170-A. Are there any significant differences between them, they all look the same to me. Memory: ? Storage SDD: Already have one Storage HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200 ST2000DM001 Video Card: gtx 970, 980? + Show Spoiler + I didn't notice a dramatic drop of prices since release of 10xx. Should I wait till release of AMD cards or is it futile to wait for better deals? Case: Fractal Design Define S - Black Power Supply: ? Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX Would really appreaciate some insight about this composition. Cheers. | ||
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mantequilla
Turkey781 Posts
Question is, how bad is bad for gaming I don't understand. Bad for gaming when you play cs:go competitively or bad for gaming that you have trouble playing witcher 3, or stalkers lag when blinking, what degree is bad for gaming? When you hook up the tv to computer and don't turn on the gaming mode, it lags so bad that even with regular windows usage it's noticable. Is it that bad? | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
From what I read on the net VA panels have the worst input lag and not good for gaming, although these monitors say its 5ms gray to gray. You're talking about input lag but quoting response time, input lag and response time are not the same thing and only loosely related. "Response time" refers to the time that it takes for pixels to change color after recieving the signal to change (so from black to white for example, they'll spend a much longer time transitioning through shades of grey before reaching the final color). The biggest thing that this affects is making the image a bit more blurry and smeared across the screen in motion. Grey to grey is one of the fastest transitions so with 5ms g2g, some of the harder transitions might take much longer (~20-50ms). One frame @60hz is 16.67ms. Look at this vid from 0:27 - 0:37 (rest of video is unrelated) for slowmotion camera of what this can look like with a regular screen. You can still see the previous frame fading away for a period of time after the refresh. Some screens are faster and slower. This is a bit of a worst case test, you're not usually flashing between black and white 60 times per second so the effects are usually noticed with moving objects having visible trails behind them. + Show Spoiler + When you hook up the tv to computer and don't turn on the gaming mode, it lags so bad that even with regular windows usage it's noticable. Is it that bad? That's straight up input lag from processing time in the screen and it varies a lot screen-to-screen. Good PC monitors of any type will have almost no or no notable latency added here AFAIK | ||
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mantequilla
Turkey781 Posts
So if that isn't the case what makes monitors bad for gaming? That blur in fast paced games? | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Input lag from other sources will be delay before the pixels even start to change color while "response time" is the time that they take to switch from A to B after that | ||
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Ethelis
United States2397 Posts
About $1300 USD What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080 What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? Most taxing game atm would be Overwatch on max settings I guess. Looking to move possibly to move to a 144hz monitor sometime later. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Nothing else worth listing Do you intend to overclock? No Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? No Do you need an operating system? Yes, prefer Windows 7 Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? No If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. What country will you be buying your parts in? U.S If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. | ||
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