Gaming PC

OK i know this gets asked a lot but i've been out of touch with the latest hardware for some time now, i usually build the PC myself and have a budget of around £1000 - i need to limit myself or ill blow 3000 on the mutts nuts system lol :drool

I've always had a desktop due to me previously always being at home but now in the past 12 months in my new job i travel all over the country and even some parts of the world so a laptop option has to be considered.

My question is how far have the gaming laptops come along vs the desktop? i know laptops usually demand a premium for top specs but last time i looked they still lacked decent performance. Have they caught up? and do they still cost alot to run the latest games? i know some may say just look around but with all the new cards ect im clueless as to what performance they give so a little help would be awesome!

thanks in advance guys

 

Oops I double posted

 

Your typical laptop can't do squat when it comes to gaming. But gaming laptops on the otherhand can rival desktops. The downside is paying 3 times more for the same performance, with limited or no options for upgradibility. http://www.alienware.com/products/notebook-computers.aspx

With 1000 pounds to work with- you get build yourself a kickass desktop, buy a great monitor, and still money leftover for a decent laptop that could be used for lite gaming.

 

Well I would still stick with the desktop for gaming laptops are still far behind IMHO.

I would get a Quad core CPU from Intel . as far as video I would get a nvidia . though ATI is really good as well I still like SLI . but ATI's 4870's can really rock your games for sure ( thinking on them for my next game setup ) .

 

thanks for the replys guys, i guess a laptop would be too good if it were to keep up with desktops

ill look about for both like you say gimp as i think thats the best idea and ill take a look at those cards CRASH i did buy a mag with a feature of the HD 4850 on the front so i have somewhere to start

 

when you decide what route your going, let us know- then we can recomend parts

 

well i thought stuff it, i may as well buy both.

Laptop: Around 600 quid, it will be used for T'internet mail and office crud plus a few DVDs when im bored in a hotel room and of course i would like it to run well, not sluggish.

Desktop: 900 quid i'm budgeting, my current setup is

Asus A8N SLi Premium
Gainward Bliss 7800GT PCX - Golden Sample
1 GB of Corsair TwinX Matched 500mb sticks 3200
Tagan TG480-U22 480W Supply
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
AMD 3800 X2 S939 1mb Dualcore
250GB Maxtor ML3 SATA2 7V250F0

i can build it myself, im looking for a gaming rig as everything else will be done on the laptop.

any recommendations would be great! im currently looking at parts too so ill make a list and see what you guys come up with

thanks muchly!

 

UUMMM what is a Quid ?

 

lol an english term for Pounds (£) :-D sorry i do forget its global sometimes as i spend alot of time on UK forums

 

Yeah that is ok so UUMM what is a pound ? I know I weight 280 of them LOL !

 

i'd say u could do with another 1GB of ram. if its gaming u want that would def help yur cause and it wouldn't cost too much more either

 

:banghead

i was looking at buying a whole new PC those are my current specs above, i think i confused things a little as it looks like my shopping list.

any recommendations for parts would be good

 

Sell/ebay this combo:

Asus A8N SLi Premium
1 GB of Corsair TwinX Matched 500mb sticks 3200
AMD 3800 X2 S939 1mb Dualcore

Reuse these parts. You can sell/ebay the gpu as it's nowhere near as good as today's gpus.

Gainward Bliss 7800GT PCX - Golden Sample
Tagan TG480-U22 480W Supply
Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
250GB Maxtor ML3 SATA2 7V250F0

900 quids + money from the sale/ebay of the combo should push the total budget to 1000+ quids.

Do you overclock? Do you crossfire/sli? What software do you run? For starters:

E8400
GA-EP45-DS3L
2X2GB DDR2-800MHZ
HD4850

HD4870

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonhd4800/requirements.html

I believe your 480W can power the HD4870 since it's a brand name in Europe. My PC at stock uses up to 250W in games.

Revise the recommended specs to your liking and post back.

 

thanks for the list! looking good from what i can see but ill take a more in depth look later as i aint got the time now.

As for the questions, i havent overclocked yet but im looking into to doing so with a new system.. carefully i might add lol

i wont be crossfire/SLi-ing... nice idea but the performance gain from the second card is poor for the price of two cards or am i wrong?

im planning the software on this PC to be minimal, ie games and game related software only to keep performance up. All the other junk will be done on a new laptop!

other comments on the parts listed so far? not that i dont trust you akhilles i like a few opinions

 

it all looks good void that should get you a nice gamer going the 4870's are supposed to be real monsters

 

yeah i just been reading about them in a mag i bought, and the E8400 CPUs, they are in all the best performing test PCs :-D

any idea on what brand to go for on the GPU? also same for the memory?

im still reading up on these bits... i love system building, good job i dont have silly amounts of money... lord knows what i would end up creating or spending for that matter lol

 

Sapphire for me has worked flawless since the very 1st ATI card I bought. Or VisionTek which is said to have lifetime warranty.

OCZ REAPER for ram.

Please post a revised list of the parts you picked out so that we can critique.