Buying a new PC for Graphic Intensive games

[500N]

Hi, need to pick everyone's brain if I can about what is important in buying a new PC (Not Apple) for Graphic Intensive games like World of War craft.

The GF is buying a new one to replace one of the sons computers that is getting a bit slow for Graphic Intensive games.

I have a reasonable knowledge of computers, mainly Macs.

Any help to do with:-
Operating system
Graphics card type
What to avoid - as in what will create bottle necks to slow it down ?


I have three sheets of possible computers but the only way of getting them up here is to take
a photo and post it up. Let me know if that is of help.

Thanks in advance.

[Prazum]

Go for Alienware, always well rated.

[500N]

Thanks

That's the first one on here list - brand wise.

[peterhr]

Solid state disk to boot from - say 250Gb, can have a bigger rotating disk to hold other stuff on if required later (just make sure there is room to fit it)

Personally I like Nvidia Graphics cards - but there are sites that publish benchmarks (mine is a Gigabyte GTX660 - gets five stars in reviews)

It probably needs to run windows for maximum compatibility with most games - I prefer Windows 7 but 8.1 is usable. Probably should use 64 bit version.

16Gb fast memory. Processor - Hmm. A faster dual core used to be better than a slower 4 core.

I use a 32inch full HD TV (1920 x 1080) as a computer screen, would probably be wicked for games playing.

All that said, he'll probably want a laptop to take to friends houses.

Everything I've said could well be carp.

(alianware is Dell owned isn't it?)

[mad_jock]

I have a ROG ASUS G750JW bottom of the range and it runs all the games I play on ultra settings.

Paid under a grand for it and another 200 quid for a SSD.

Its well worth getting something with a SSD but its sometimes better to upgrade yourself later.

The games laptops all have dual SATA disk ports so its no problem.

apart from it being a lump of a machine 5kg I really like this laptop. All the heat gets squirted out the back and it flys along.

I have 8.1 on it and have no problems.

[500N]

It won't be a laptop.

They don't visit friends houses and he has a laptop from school.

[Saab Dastard]

Think about designing and building your own - that way you get exactly the components you want. Probably not the cheapest solution, but highly satisfying.

SD

[500N]

Saab

Cheap isn't one of the criteria, she at least knows buying on price doesn't get you what you want.

Good suggestion and she would if:-

No 1 son who knows about these things would get off his arse.

Same with No 2 son who still lives at home and also know about these things but can't seem to do any of the research himself even though it is for him


So unless one of these companies over here has an easy pick and choose build type, it really is a case of buying one already built as close to what is required as possible.

[mad_jock]

just go to the dell site then and alienware.

And build up what you want.

[500N]

Thanks

I might just do that on the weekend.

This is one of the computers from Alienware being looked at.

Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop Details | Dell Australia

[Booglebox]

I like HP workstations for gaming, as they are great value and highly reliable / well-made. Dual-socket Z600 plus Nvidia 770 should sort you out.

[500N]

Thanks, added to the list.

Will look at it at the weekend.

[Saab Dastard]

Are you likely to want to try overclocking? That would have an impact on the choice of motherboard and cooling system. And the warranty.

SD

[500N]

Saab

No, I doubt it.

If he buggered it, his mum wouldn't buy him another.

[mad_jock]

Make sure you get a desent monitor with it.

The ssd 512 drive as well.

Mine went from booting in about 60 seconds to under 10 seconds just with that change. Think it was win index 5.3 to 6.9 limited by the graphics

[Don Coyote]

SSD will result in quicker boot times but tend to have a small capacity so you will end up with games installed on another hard drive anyway, particularly if you have lots of them.

Anything over 6mb of RAM will work fine. Equally an i5 processor will work okay as most of the work is done by the graphics card. I went for an NVIDIA GTX770 with 2mb of RAM, i5 processor and 8Gb of RAM and that is running recent games at full resolution in highest settings without difficulty on a 24 inch monitor. If you have a bigger monitor then you will need a better graphics card or settle for lower settings. It is running Windows 8.1 with no problems apart from one older game.

Anything above those specs will keep you entertained for a good while.

I understand that Alien ware are good but you are paying for the name somewhat. I bought off these guys, DinoPC but they are not much use to you with your given location.

[500N]

Don,

Thanks.

Links are good even if in UK as it gives me a chance to compare.

[MG23]

Originally Posted by peterhr

Processor - Hmm. A faster dual core used to be better than a slower 4 core.

Newer games seem to be expecting a quad core now, and, with eight slow cores on the new consoles, I'd expect future games ported from those consoles to use as many cores as they can get.

For gaming, I have an i7 with 32GB of RAM, Windows 7 and a GTX660; the RAM is overkill (but was cheap when I bought it), the CPU isn't pushed very hard on the games I own, but the GPU is starting to struggle to run with graphics settings maxed out on the newer ones. And, yeah, it boots pretty fast from the SSD.

[Booglebox]

I think pretty much all newer games are now quad- (or more) core aware.
When I had it, my old dual-socket (quad-core) HP xw6400 with 4gb and a nVidia 275 played pretty much any game from the 360/PS3 era without issue, at highest or near-highest settings (yes, even Crysis).
The new generation of consoles makes it now a bit out of date, but the fact that a 2006 (yes!) machine with a mid-range 2009 graphics card can do this just shows how consoles hold game development back...

[mad_jock]

must admit I got mine because of editing photo's.

And I also fired a load of ram in which hardly every gets used unless doing a large video file.

I have the Nvidia 765M card and 2G of ram. And a it rocks along with games.

The visiting kids harp on about better graphics cards etc but I haven't hit a game yet which struggles.

They all definitely do use all the cores though.

One of the lads at work was asking about what I had, discovered of course mine is now obsolete.

We got him ordered

Asus G750JM-T4049H 17.3-inch Full HD LED Gaming Notebook (Intel Core i7-4700HQ 2.40GHz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 750GB HDD, DVD-RW, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Nvidia GeForce GTX860M 2GB GDDR5, Windows 8.1 64-bit)

With a Samsung 840 EVO 250 SSD and a 2 pack of 4 Gb 1.35V ripjaws

Whole lot was under 1200 UKP.