Ordered a laptop...

[bhunted 887]

Here is a click look at my sys stats. Click it...

 

 

[Recon Racoon 49]

$500? I just bought a GTX660 TI for my wife's computer, that alone was $299+tax and shipping. I would have bought the 690 except that I've just spent a vast sum of money adding on to my house. You should get at least a GTX560 and build around that.

 

Those 8 core processors don't exactly shine unless you're running multiple applications designed to be multi-threaded. Most games don't take advantage of this yet that's why a dual core has been enough. 1 core runs the OS 1 core runs the game. You will see a big benefit in video transcoding on an 8 core, if you use something like Adobe's media encoder. It can and will use all that CPU.

Total price for cheapest I could build is 540.50 without shipping.

Asus Mobo: $55

Intel i3 2100: $127

Kingston 1333Mhz RAM 4Gb: 30.50

Samsung 1.5Tb HDD: 75.00

Cool Power PSU 1080 Watt: $52.00 (I could probably get a more expensive one and get better quality)

NVIDIA GeForce GT530: $60.00

Various peripherals: about $150.

 

Like I said, not that great. But for the games I play, it'll do the job well enough. Again, I could buff up the RAM and get 8 Gb to run everything more smoothly.

 

I hardly ever use Adobe because it bogs my systems down something fierce. I'd go 8 core just so I could run Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks and a browser comfortably.

[RubberBullets 65]

Alienware was way overpriced long before dell bought them. You pay 25-30% more just for their name, sleek bezel, and theme. I dropped 2200 last year for a laptop and got an i7 2720, 12 gb ram, a 128ssd and a 750gb secondary. Gpu was an AMD 6970m. The same setup wasnt offered by them at the time and the closest price match for alienware was close to 3k.. dont buy into the glitz and glamor.

 

Sent from tapatalk deep within a bunker, lathered in hoppes and wrapped in tinfoil

[Malsua 1,422]

Total price for cheapest I could build is 540.50 without shipping.

Asus Mobo: $55

Intel i3 2100: $127

Kingston 1333Mhz RAM 4Gb: 30.50

Samsung 1.5Tb HDD: 75.00

Cool Power PSU 1080 Watt: $52.00 (I could probably get a more expensive one and get better quality)

NVIDIA GeForce GT530: $60.00

Various peripherals: about $150.

 

Like I said, not that great. But for the games I play, it'll do the job well enough. Again, I could buff up the RAM and get 8 Gb to run everything more smoothly.

 

I hardly ever use Adobe because it bogs my systems down something fierce. I'd go 8 core just so I could run Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks and a browser comfortably.

 

You would be better served in this instance to buy a budget machine like this HP http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/HP-Pavilion/B3F79AV?HP-Pavilion-p6-2220t-Desktop-PC

and put a $200 video card in it.

[Recon Racoon 49]

You would be better served in this instance to buy a budget machine like this HP http://www.shopping....220t-Desktop-PC

and put a $200 video card in it.

 

The question is though, is the PSU beefy enough to handle the video card?

 

Cause if it isn't, then on top of the $200 card, you're most likely getting a $100 PSU to handle it.

[Malsua 1,422]

The question is though, is the PSU beefy enough to handle the video card?

 

Cause if it isn't, then on top of the $200 card, you're most likely getting a $100 PSU to handle it.

 

Well, figure out a level of performance and go from there, but you can upgrade to a 500w PSU for $50 without much trouble. Those low end machines usually only have a 300-400watt psu.

 

The 560TI is a 170watt gpu whereas an equivalent Radeon, like a 6850 is about 150watts.

 

I bought a Thermaltake Toughpower 850 4 years ago and cried once. It died once too, but it has a 5 year warranty so I'm still good to go.

 

I also wasn't suggesting that the HP be the one, mostly in that you can get a case, cpu, 4gb ram, dvd, kb, mouse and windows bundled for cheap ($350 or less) then just upgrade the GPU. If you have to upgrade the PSU, so it goes. In the end, the GPU is where your biggest performance gains will be assuming you're decent on the cpu and decent on the ram.

[One_crazy_dude 1]

Another good note that has helped out some coustermers that dident have a lot of cash was I keep an eye on Craigslist at the end of the month( Times are tough and some times people need to pay things like rent and bills ).

 

I have gotten some good deals on power supply's and video cards and nice cases and in return it has helped the person that needed the cash, helped the coustermer that dident have enough cash to fix the computer, and helped me buy more ammo.

 

Just make sure items are of can me connected to make sure they work. I have even put a crap pc together( got parts all over my closet ) just to test items. If there is no problem I have never had anyone jive me a hard time making sure items worked.

[tony357 386]

The laptop arrived today..

[Qel Hoth 33]

You would be better served in this instance to buy a budget machine like this HP http://www.shopping....220t-Desktop-PC

and put a $200 video card in it.

 

Warning, giant wall of text ahead that you will find boring if not interested in PC/electronics.

 

There are a number of caveats with buying HP/Dell/etc computers and then upgrading them however.

 

One is that the cases are almost always mid-towers, which in and of itself is not a problem, but can make it difficult or impossible to install many of the larger graphics cards. For example, my current computer was once a Dell Inspiron 530, which is a mid tower. I had to do quite a bit of maneuvering to get my ATI/AMD 4850 to fit, as it was too long to drop straight in.

 

Also, many cases not specifically designed for gaming or high end workstations can have cooling problems depending upon the combination of parts in the computer. Most OEM cases lack the ability to mount intake fans as well as side exhaust fans which can be important for high end graphics cards that do not exhaust to the rear. A number of OEM cases (I'm looking at you black Dell Dimension cases from 2003-2006) have spectacularly bad cooling in which the ONLY fan in the system is a rear exhaust fan with a hood to force air over the heatsink of the notoriously hot P4. Also, the modern mid-range and above GPUs will generally partially or completely cover the heatsink for the southbridge. While there is usually sufficient clearance, restricted airflow could potentially cause problems if the ambient temperature in the case is already high. Lastly on heat, OEM cases almost always lack any kind of cable management, which while not as much of a problem since the death of PATA/IDE interfaces, excessive or untidy cables can restrict airflow and exacerbate any heat related problems.

 

Another problem will likely be power. OEM machines invariably ship with 250-350W PSUs, a 250W PSU will not run a modern mid-range GPU, a 350W PSU might depending on the rest of the system's power demands. Also OEM PSUs will likely lack 6+2 or 8 pin PCIE connectors, though many may have 6 pins. If you intend to turn an off the shelf PC into a gaming PC, you will likely need to replace the power supply. While PSUs are not necessarily expensive (500W PSUs are plenty for a mid-range gaming system in most cases), efficient PSUs can be significantly more expensive. PSUs can be either unrated or rated with the 80 PLUS system. An unrated PSU has no requirements on how efficiently it transforms AC to DC, an 80 PLUS rated PSU can vary from 80% minimum (80 PLUS) to about 90% (80 PLUS Gold). Because of the way PSUs work, they are most efficient between 50 and 80% of their maximum load, which means a bigger PSU isn't necessarily better. A 1000W PSU providing 100W (slightly more than typical idle, somewhat near typical web surfing/MS Office) may waste 30-40% of its energy, regardless of certification as PSUs are not tested below 20%, meaning 130-140W is used, with 30-40W being dissipated as heat. a 300W 80 PLUS will dissipate a maximum of 20W as heat, and draw a maximum of 120W.

 

The last major caveat with OEM cases is not nearly as significant as it was 6-10 years ago, but is still occasionally a problem. Some OEM cases use proprietary parts, particularly PSUs and motherboards. While almost all PSUs are now standard ATX form factor, a number of manufacturers use BTX motherboards as opposed to ATX. Although BTX is an industry standard, it is considerably more difficult to find BTX motherboards than it is to find ATX/MiniATX. Also, a number of budget PCs, of which the HP P2 series comes to mind, now use mini-ITX boards which offer minimal or no expansion capability as well as use DC power input and a laptop-like brick adapter as opposed to a traditional PSU.

 

I promise I'll start speaking English again now.

 

 

I'll take AMD any day. They run cooler and use less wattage and over clock easy. My kids use the crap out of our quad core for gaming and I use it for music/video editing with 6 gigs of ram. But that's my choice they also have intell barebones there to choose from for the same price.

 

While AMD does tend to run slightly cooler, and Intel processor will often times get the job done significantly faster. This is especially noticeable with video transcoding and AES encryption on Sandy and Ivy Bridge. The price point is very correct though. A comparable Intel processor is often $25-100 more expensive than its AMD counterpart, excluding the LGA 2011 chips which have no AMD counterpart and are stupidly expensive for insignificant (for most applications) performance gain. I really do wish AMD would come out with something to beat Intel like they did back when Intel was on the P4 architectures, but sadly they haven't.

 

Even the new A series aren't true dual/quad/six/eight core processors...

[Urban Grunt 44]

We just got a new desktop.

I7 processor

2TB HD + 3TB external drives

16GB ram

I'm not a gamer

[Daedalus 19]

It sounds like you guys know what you are talking about, so I have a question for the experts:

 

Is it really worth the twenty bucks to change out my 8008 for a V20? I read in BYTE Magazine that they really run much faster.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

I have been having good luck with some reconditioned business laptops and and am picking up another 5 to 7 of them over the next few weeks. Not into having a great sound system in them, but for the price I get them for they are a great bargain. I get them from a person whos complany lets their reps do this as they updgrade their laptops.

 

I use the IBM, Lenovo T60's, and am really starting to like the pre loaded OS and Software, Window7 Ultimate and Office 10 Professional Plus and I run either Avast or AVG, but looks like Avast is edging out AVG lately.. Heck for 300 buck I can't beat it.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

I have been having good luck with some reconditioned business laptops and and am picking up another 5 to 7 of them over the next few weeks. Not into having a great sound system in them, but for the price I get them for they are a great bargain. I get them from a person whos complany lets their reps do this as they updgrade their laptops.

 

I use the IBM, Lenovo T60's, and am really starting to like the pre loaded OS and Software, Window7 Ultimate and Office 10 Professional Plus and I run either Avast or AVG, but looks like Avast is edging out AVG lately.. Heck for 300 buck I can't beat it.

 

Yup - I bought an off-lease reconditioned Dell Latitude E4300 13.3" laptop - with an extended battery and the upgraded screen. Came with Windows Vista but I wiped it and put on Win7. The hard drive died on me after maybe 9 months so I put in a SSD instead. This thing is pretty darn fast now! Laptop cost? $275 + the $80 SSD I put in.

[Medic3166 0]

 

Yup - I bought an off-lease reconditioned Dell Latitude E4300 13.3" laptop - with an extended battery and the upgraded screen. Came with Windows Vista but I wiped it and put on Win7. The hard drive died on me after maybe 9 months so I put in a SSD instead. This thing is pretty darn fast now! Laptop cost? $275 + the $80 SSD I put in.

 

Same here, I got a factory reconditioned Dell latitude for pretty cheap. It does what I need it to.

 

Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk 2

[hd2000fxdl 422]

Yup - I bought an off-lease reconditioned Dell Latitude E4300 13.3" laptop - with an extended battery and the upgraded screen. Came with Windows Vista but I wiped it and put on Win7. The hard drive died on me after maybe 9 months so I put in a SSD instead. This thing is pretty darn fast now! Laptop cost? $275 + the $80 SSD I put in.

 

I do like the SSD's and will be putting one in one of my laptops the next time I have a HD go south on me. I wast to dedicate one laptop to tuning my bike. I have a program and connector that I can collect data as I ride and build my own maps to update the ECM for when I change things. It's damn cool, about as close to having my own Dyno on the garage and I'd like to have a HD that isn't susceptible to vibrations on the road, not to mention the increased speed you mentioned.

[RubberBullets 65]

It sounds like you guys know what you are talking about, so I have a question for the experts:

 

Is it really worth the twenty bucks to change out my 8008 for a V20? I read in BYTE Magazine that they really run much faster.

 

Well if youre running a 9600 baud modem i dont think youll need anything faster than the 8008. Then again when dialing into your local sysop network you may experience longer loading times : )

 

Sent from tapatalk deep within a bunker, lathered in hoppes and wrapped in tinfoil

[XDJohnTact 49]

Well i will remember that for the next time.. It was 699. with one year free kaspersky internet security..

 

What do you know about Kapersky is it good or stick to norton?

 

Kapersky is good. I have a new Pavilion dv6-6c35dx and it works well. Bright screen, fast processing. It is my second Pavilion and I have had several Dell's, Gateways & IBMs (IT people swap out laptops all the time). HP gives good bang for your buck, I paid around $500.00 for this HP at Best Buy. I hate buying there (but Staples was out of this model) because they really try to bully you into buying unnecessary "insurance plans".

[dave545 15]

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11763014&whse=BC&topnav=&cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PopularProductsInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PopularProductsInCategory

that one isnt too shabby

this is the one that i bought below

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11762149&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|84|56671&N=4047242&Mo=38&No=12&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=78518&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1〈=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

it is a beast so much power its crazy

[Daedalus 19]

Well if youre running a 9600 baud modem i dont think youll need anything faster than the 8008. Then again when dialing into your local sysop network you may experience longer loading times : )

 

Thanks, RB. I wasn't sure it was worth the investment. Since my modem to Compuserve runs at 1200 baud I will probably save the bucks (and few others have any idea what the h%!! I'm babbling on about) !