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Old 2013.06.15, 09:13 PM   #511
Glathannus
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Originally Posted by TurtleFu View Post
do I really want to spend $800 on something just to play more video games?
I asked myself that very same question, dozens of times. In the end, I decided to spend around $1000, with data storage as my primary focus, and with gaming as an afterthought I could neglect at the time (with the option of putting more money into that later). That was 3 years ago, and I've still got 7 TB of network storage with some redundancy, and everyone in my household uses that a lot more often than any of us play games. Today, I could spend $300 on a video card and play the latest games, without buying a whole new computer.

Originally Posted by TurtleFu View Post
I rarely take my laptop out of my house, simply due to its weight (it's almost 7 pounds). But I think having a laptop is still good, so when this one dies I would want another one.
My laptop weighs almost 10 pounds, and then the power brick is another 2 pounds. I wouldn't want to carry such a laptop by hand, even if there were a handbag large enough for the damn thing. So I found a backpack with good weight distribution and enough room for any laptop, and I've had no problems going on long walks with my equipment.

I almost can't imagine living without a laptop at least as good as the one I have already. It has significantly improved my quality of life, even when I'm not playing games with it. So yeah, if something happened to mine, I would absolutely replace it, even if my desktop has more gaming potential.
Originally Posted by TurtleFu View Post
The value sweet spot is clearly in the $800 range.
Yeah, that's been true for many years. You go above or below that, and you're getting less bang for your buck.

However, if we disregard the core components for a moment, you could spend a lot of money on a nice monitor or a nice case, and they could outlive everything you might have inside your case. I'm still using a 32" LED HDTV I bought 3 years ago for $500 at the time, as my 'monitor'. I'm still using active studio monitors (self-amplified speakers) I bought 8 years ago for $1100. If I sit really close to all that while watching a blu-ray, it's almost as good as being in a movie theater.

As the audible and visual quality of videogames improves, the in-game experience is catching up to the production values of big budget films from 5-10 years ago, and then it isn't overkill anymore to have your gaming PC hooked into anything like a home theater. My brother has been hooking his laptop into my peripherals when I'm not using them, and he pretty much takes the home theater-esque gaming for granted now. I don't want to know what his withdrawal symptoms are gonna be like when one of us moves out.
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Old 2013.06.15, 09:59 PM   #512
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Oh absolutely. The thing that got me started on this whole journey was an intense desire to play my Wii games in gorgeous HD, especially Okami. If you go to deadendthrills, they have tons of screenshots from Okami in Ultra HD quality. It's so beautiful.

Ultimately, I have to be realistic of my needs. For a laptop, which would ideally be used mostly for academic or productivity, I would be fine with any small, light laptop that is comfortable to type on and to view for long periods of time. In fact, I could probably do well with a tablet (I like using an iPad to annotate PDFs with a stylus). I'm assuming you are some kind of IT professional, Glath? I can basically read articles and write papers on anything, so...

It may be because I am just a weakling, but carrying laptop + all my other textbooks with me in my backpack is really annoying. Next time I definitely need a lighter laptop. Actually, I was considering getting a Bay Trail tablet when they come out (but again: expensive), replacing my laptop for school work and my paper notebooks for school as well. My laptop is 2 years old, but it's an HP which I am NEVER buying again. Started out with nearly 5 hours on ful charge, now can barely last 2 hours even with internet turned off.

I think 1080p is even a little overkill for me now. I have a 1080p HDTV, and I have a WXGA Monitor. Some people are getting 4K Tvs or Ultra HD Monitors, and I see no use for them right now. (Though I've noticed some really good Ultra HD monitors on sale for like $600, so maybe in the future that will become normal)

My dream is to one day have a piece of equipment that acts as a streaming box (Roku) game console, Blu-ray player, audio receiver, etc. The new Xbox is interesting because it is plenty of those things but is far more limited than a computer.

Ack! I have expensive dreams but a student budget. What shall I spend money on? The cool toys that I want or the equipment that would be replacing something that is essential but starting to fail.
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Old 2013.06.15, 10:27 PM   #513
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I just have a good enough computer. Good enough to play roms and play music well. It's all I need. New games I just stick to console, I've always liked the idea of plug and play. Though, looks less and less easy to do this. WHY???!!!!!

(This year for me its the year to upgrade my audio equipment. New receiver/amp here we come. Research time. Oh man, where to start. All I know is I need a phono input, needs 24 bit output and I'm willing to fork out (up to) $5000. Any suggestions? I know its wrong thread but yeah, perhaps reply over on the audio thread.)
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Old 2013.06.15, 11:25 PM   #514
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Originally Posted by TurtleFu View Post
I have a 1080p HDTV.
Well, you're ahead of me there. I still have my Samsung 40" 720p from 2007.

I could get a 50" 1080p for $750 but that seems like overkill with the 720p still working fine.
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Old 2013.06.16, 01:56 PM   #515
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The HDTV is probably the only really "nice" thing I have, though if I had unlimited money I would get a Philips Plasma (it's a Vizio LED). "Overkill because what I have still works fine" is exactly how I feel about the whole situation regarding a gaming PC.

Consoles still work in terms of plug and play. Every game released for Xbox 360 will work for Xbox 360 and continue to work for Xbox 360 until end of time. But a computer built when the Xbox 360 came out might struggle to play today's games...

One of the problems with long-term use of a desktop is that the upgrade path has been cloudy simply because new technology is adapting so quickly.
Intel's new processors (Haswell) use a new chipset (LGA 1150) incompatible with their previous motherboards (LGA 1155).
Which means, theoretically, I could just get the latest and greatest processor while skimping on the graphics card, because as long as PCIe 3.0 is here to stay for Nvidia/AMD, it's easier to upgrade a graphics card than to replace a motherboard to upgrade a processor.
Computers suck in that as soon as you get one they are pretty much already obsolete I'd like something that lasts a while or has a defined/easy upgrade path.

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Old 2013.06.16, 02:54 PM   #516
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Originally Posted by TurtleFu View Post
Intel's new processors (Haswell) use a new chipset (LGA 1150) incompatible with their previous motherboards (LGA 1155).
That's kind of why I want a new laptop. When consumers do barely any research on what Haswell is about, the most obvious takeaway is the energy savings - except I don't really care so much about that.

What does interest me, is the optimizations Intel introduced for dealing with transparency in 3D. When new games (such as Total War Rome 2) are built with Haswell in mind, transparency-related processing won't drop our frame rate as much as it used to. What is transparency? Situations involving fire, smoke, fog, water, glass, energy-fields, holograms, etc. You can't solve that kind of problem just by replacing the CPU and/or the GPU, because no matter how powerful those are, they will always perform less-than-their-best in transparency situations if the motherboard doesn't know how those components could or should be cutting some corners together.

Haswell isn't just a new kind of CPU. It's a new way of thinking about the relationship between CPUs and GPUs. It's almost a whole new system architecture, except we're not abandoning x86, or PCIe.
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Old 2013.06.19, 04:14 PM   #517
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Interesting that you say that Glath, since many tech websites seem very underwhelmed with Haswell, claiming that there aren't any big performance games over Ivy Bridge in benchmarks. Of course, maybe benchmarks aren't enough.
On the Dolphin side of things, Haswell 4670K is the first processor that can play all games currently at full speed with enhancements, and performs better at the same clock rates as older Ivy Bridge cards.
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Old 2013.06.27, 03:41 PM   #518
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Here is what I am "eyeing" as my gaming PC build (cross-posted from Tom's Hardware!)
I would like something that could last at least until the next generation after Skymont (when the switch to graphene is expected to happen). I would prefer to carry over as many parts as I can (meaning the case and PSU, as by that time DDR4 will be out). That means the build should last about 5-7 years, hopefully. I don't need to play game son Ultra: I don't expect to go above 1080p with this build. I would like something that can preferably meet recommended requirements for it's lifetime and at least meet minimum requirements.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/turtlefu/saved/1Mml

Last edited by TurtleFu : 2013.06.29 at 04:36 AM.
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Old 2013.09.18, 04:39 PM   #519
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GTAV: Everything it promised and more. Very funny and somewhat disturbing, moreso than the series has gone before. Really makes leaps and bounds forwards in the way we look at open world games and the team dynamic really makes for some intense gameplay. Have not checked the online yet but it sounds just as good as the single player. Get on it.
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Old 2013.09.18, 08:47 PM   #520
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I hope GTAV goes to PC. No reason why it shouldn't, just a longer wait.

Meanwhile the news coverage on the game is basically 1) it's making a ton of money, and 2) it's violent.
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