Buying a new desktop + laptop.

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone!

Thanks to some very generous people in my life, I'm going to be purchasing a new desktop and laptop for gaming. Here is what I'm tossing around thus far.

I will have approximately $2500 - $3000 to spend, and here's how I am currently leaning.

$2000 for

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790K 4.0 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1150 (All Venom OC Certified) [+54]
HDD: 128GB SanDisk SATA III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 490 MB/s Read & 350 MB/s Write (Single Drive)
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory [+100] (ADATA XPG V3)
MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Z97 Pro4 ATX w/ Intel GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 2 PCI, 1 x M.2, 6x SATA 6Gb/s (All Venom OC Certified)
SOUND: Creative Sound Blaster ZX 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCIe Sound Card w/Multi-channel surround, SBX Pro Studio, Sound Core3D Processor & Audio Control Module [+118]
VIDEO: EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card (Maxwell) [+475] (Single Card)
OS: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit

Plus little things like a 1000w power supply, 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD, extreme factory overclocking and sound-proofing.

And then the rest of the budget on a laptop that can stream Steam games at 1080p 60 FPS, so preferably something with a decent enough GPU in it and a 17" full HD screen.

Thoughts on this approach? Ideally, I'd like to have the desktop for most of my gaming, but also the laptop for streaming to, browsing the web, etc.

Oh, and are there are restrictions for playing older games with Windows 8? I want to be able to run all those classic RPGs from yesteryear, so I'm thinking maybe I should go with Windows 7 instead. Thoughts on this?

Ideas/suggestions/comments welcome. Let me know what you guys think of the desktop build and possible suggestions for a good laptop. Thanks!

 

[CelticFrost]

As for your system I can't really offer much as I love my gaming laptop. Though that would be most of your budget for something less powerful.

As for windows 8, I hated when I first got it and don't us any of the windows 8 options.

But it has ran any game I have wanted to with zero real issues. The odd time you have to a slight mod to graphic settings like with gothic.

 

[JDR13]

Been using Windows 8.1 for a couple of months now, and I've had zero issues with.

If you want quality components, I'd stay away from ASRock. Get a mobo from MSI, Asus, or Gigabyte instead.

A 128GB SSD is a waste of money. That's too small to be of much use now. Get a 512GB if you can afford it.

There's no such thing as sound proofing for a PC. Just have quality fans and you won't need to worry about sound. Also, forget about factory overclocking, that's just another waste of money.

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm probably going to save some money by getting a smaller SSD. It will only be used for my operating system as well as a few older games. No 50 GB massive games will be on this drive. And don't forget I'm getting a 2 TB 7200 RPM for most of my storage needs.

Would you still suggest a larger SSD? I'd like to stay under $2000 and this is an area I felt I could/should cut back on.

The extreme overclocking is like $50 I think, so maybe I can skip that to save a little. It is a supposed 20% boost to factory base performance, so maybe it's worth it? I could probably figure out how to do the tweaks myself and save the money, but I dunno, it's less hassle and more performance, which for me is a great thing.

The soundproofing I want to go in on, it's got a few little upgrades that add to the soundproofing, such as anti-vibration mounts for the fans, and a little soundproofing foam on the inside of the case. I'm sure it won't be soundproof, but these little things should help a bit.

I'll probably get an ASUS motherboard. Thanks for the tip.

I may go with Windows 8, but I'll probably just upgrade to Windows 10 when it releases anyway. Windows 7 has been great for me, though, and I really enjoy it. I've also been able to get every game I ever wanted to play working on it fine, and I play lots of old games as you know, so that's important to me. We'll see, I'm still thinking about this one.

Thanks again for the replies. Decisions, decisions...

 

[JDR13]

I'm probably going to save some money by getting a smaller SSD. It will only be used for my operating system as well as a few older games. No 50 GB massive games will be on this drive. And don't forget I'm getting a 2 TB 7200 RPM for most of my storage needs.

It's up to you, but I'd go with a larger drive. I know some people just like to have their OS and a few essential things on their SSD, but that defeats the purpose imo. I want all my games to benefit from having a SSD.

The extreme overclocking is like $50 I think, so maybe I can skip that to save a little. It is a supposed 20% boost to factory base performance, so maybe it's worth it? I could probably figure out how to do the tweaks myself and save the money, but I dunno, it's less hassle and more performance, which for me is a great thing.

It's highly unlikely that you'll get a 20% speed increase out of whatever overclocking they could do. Unless they're going to install water cooling, but there's no way it would only be $50 if that were the case.

Thing is, that EVGA video card is already overclocked, and it's very easy to overclock that i7 4790k yourself. I have the same CPU. It's already very fast at stock speed.

The soundproofing I want to go in on, it's got a few little upgrades that add to the soundproofing, such as anti-vibration mounts for the fans, and a little soundproofing foam on the inside of the case. I'm sure it won't be soundproof, but these little things should help a bit.

As long as you're not paying much extra for that. There's nothing special about anti-vibe mounts for fans. A lot of the better fans you can purchase from Newegg, etc., already come with those. I've never used sound-proofing foam in a PC, but I'd be wary of anything that can potentially restrict air-flow inside your case.

 

[pibbur who]

Been using Windows 8.1 for a couple of months now, and I've had zero issues with.

If you want quality components, I'd stay away from ASRock. Get a mobo from MSI, Asus, or Gigabyte instead.

A 128GB SSD is a waste of money. That's too small to be of much use now. Get a 512GB if you can afford it.

Agreed. As a crompromise: a 256 GB is ok, methinks.

There's no such thing as sound proofing for a PC. Just have quality fans and you won't need to worry about sound. Also, forget about factory overclocking, that's just another waste of money.

Agreed again. The PC I bought is as close to silent as they come. 3 huge fans (and watercooling) makes it more silent than the NAS I have closeby.

pibbur who

 

[joxer]

It's up to you, but I'd go…

Liar.

You'd buy a decent and not utterly expensive laptop now, and for desktop you'd wait DDR4 finally gets on the market then dive into a mortgage.

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the advice all.

I'm going to get a 512 GB SSD, and that brings the price up a few hundred, but should still be manageable. The rest of the configuration should remain the same, so I'm hoping I have enough to swing for this PC as well as a laptop that can Steam stream at 1080p 60 FPS.

Any suggestions for the type of laptop I should buy? Looking for something with a 17" screen, 1080p, capable of accelerating video to 60 FPS so I can stream games from my desktop.

 

[JDR13]

You'd buy a decent and not utterly expensive laptop now, and for desktop you'd wait DDR4 finally gets on the market then dive into a mortgage.

Nope. I don't believe the words "laptop" and "gaming" belong in the same sentence.

 

[pibbur who]

Nope. I don't believe the words "laptop" and "gaming" belong in the same sentence.

Disagree. My Asus Republic of Gamers laptop is well suited for gaming. Faster than my previous desktop. However, it's perhaps not an not-utterly-expensive thing.

pibbur who may have said things like this before.

 

[CelticFrost]

Nope. I don't believe the words "laptop" and "gaming" belong in the same sentence.

I would be lost without my gaming laptop. Never mind when I am on the road but like this week I have been sick in bed for the last two days. I have zero problems for the last 3 plus years playing anything I want in it.

Will buy a new on just before may 19th...

 

[Deleted User]

Well, in order to buy this gaming PC, I have to sell my gaming laptop. It's an Alienware that has served me well, but it's time to move on. I really enjoyed it, though, never had any heating issues or anything with it. I figured that I could spend the money I get from that sale on better hardware for a desktop PC, though. Hope I can swing a nice PC out of the mix here and I'll be very happy.

 

[Toff]

Moderate overclocking isn't particularly hard. You will learn alot by doing it yourself so I would suggest skipping the factory overclock. Now, extreme overclocking is hard and totally a waste imo except for bragging rights.

 

[joxer]

I'm not extreme like JDR about this, but I do believe if you'll play games on laptop, those games should be only casuals and MMOs like League of Legends, Solitaire and Zynga cow clickers. Oh and Skyrim.

But playing storydriven singleplayer RPGs on a laptop? It's like reading jump off the seat thriller book in a disco.

 

[Ripper]

I'm not sure what the game streaming solutions are like nowadays, but I would investigate that aspect quite thoroughly - it could involve some proprietary solution tied to Nvidia, which might influence laptop choice. Not sure, but I remember that it was not straightforward when i looked into it a couple of years back.

 

[pibbur who]

I'm not extreme like JDR about this, but I do believe if you'll play games on laptop, those games should be only casuals and MMOs like League of Legends, Solitaire and Zynga cow clickers. Oh and Skyrim.

But playing storydriven singleplayer RPGs on a laptop? It's like reading jump off the seat thriller book in a disco.

Joxer, I quite often find what you write a bit weird, but still interesting. I read most of what you write. Quite often it makes sense to me, but not always.. And this is one of those cases.

Why would I limit myself to only play those types of games just because I'm on a laptop?

Pibbur who prefers his pad or his phone for casual gaming.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure what the game streaming solutions are like nowadays, but I would investigate that aspect quite thoroughly - it could involve some proprietary solution tied to Nvidia, which might influence laptop choice. Not sure, but I remember that it was not straightforward when i looked into it a couple of years back.

The only thing I'm interested in currently is Steam In-Home Streaming. All you need for that is a laptop capable of handling the 1080p video stream, preferably at 60 FPS, and a good internet connection (which I have). Also, a laptop that supports hardware acceleration of video using the GPU is highly recommended. Unfortunately, my Dell XPS from '06, whilst having a nice screen and all that, doesn't support hardware acceleration, therefore the streams aren't as stellar as I'd like.

Hopefully, I can get something like the 670m or 650m or something that can handle the streaming of HD video at 60 FPS.

 

[DuchessOfKvetch]

The best bang for your buck gaming laptops right now are the Asus ROG units and some new competitors from MSI. I've been buying the former for years. They are very commonly found on Amazon/NewEgg and from retailers like Microcenter. Best Buy sells a "crippled" version that is a few hundred bucks cheaper, but with downgraded hardware - not really worth it.

The cheaper models don't come with an SSD though, and it's not worth paying the upgrade cost. Still, a new machine is always fast anyway because it's a new uncluttered drive; and you can upgrade the drive after the 1st year warranty expires.

You're looking at around $12-1500 for the laptop if you get the right model. They're pretty robust, but the power cords/transformers are what you'll end up replacing over the lifetime.

I should add that due to my good luck with these machines, I don't even USE desktops anymore. I just have a half dozen laptops around the house that the family uses.

 

[zahratustra]

I'm with JDR and joxer on this. Maybe not in a "reading jump off the seat thriller book in a disco" but in a "looking at the world through a peephole" kind of way. I only use my laptop for gaming when I travel or when my PC is on the blink...

 

[pibbur who]

I'm with JDR and joxer on this. Maybe not in a "reading jump off the seat thriller book in a disco" but in a "looking at the world through a peephole" kind of way. I only use my laptop for gaming when I travel or when my PC is on the blink…

And I'm not.

My ASUS ROG comes with a 17.3 " screen. For my floortop I have 24" screens. However when I play on my laptop, the screen is much closer to my eyes, so the apparent difference isn't that great.

pibbur who use his laptop mainly when 1) travelling. And 2) pretending to be social by playing in the living room. And 3) when I occasionally want to relax in a comfy chair.