New computer build

[Barrister]

These days, and for that kind of money, I would buy a nice laptop, and hook it up to your existing keyboard and monitor.  Any system you spend $1500 is going to be overkill for anything you're likely to do on it.

Hell no.  Kind of hard to make a gaming rig out of a laptop.

A few years ago?  Sure.

In 2012?  A laptop will run games just fine.

[DGuller]

These days, and for that kind of money, I would buy a nice laptop, and hook it up to your existing keyboard and monitor.  Any system you spend $1500 is going to be overkill for anything you're likely to do on it.

Hell no.  Kind of hard to make a gaming rig out of a laptop.

A few years ago?  Sure.

In 2012?  A laptop will run games just fine.

Lots of configurations will run games just fine.  I want the configuration where I won't have to worry about getting the top performance on even graphics-intensive games, and getting it for a number of years in the future.  Besides, I just don't get the point of settling on a compromise solution that is laptop, when it's just going to be docked most of the time.  That's like buying a pickup truck when you just take pleasure rides on the weekends.

[The Brain]

These days, and for that kind of money, I would buy a nice laptop, and hook it up to your existing keyboard and monitor.  Any system you spend $1500 is going to be overkill for anything you're likely to do on it.

Hell no.  Kind of hard to make a gaming rig out of a laptop.

A few years ago?  Sure.

In 2012?  A laptop will run games just fine.

[DGuller]

I've installed Windows 8 on my old 30 GB SSD drive.  Seems fine, if a bit annoying due to novelty, I don't see what the hate is for.  Of course, this is the first time I've had an OS running from SSD, so maybe that's not a fair comparison.

[DGuller]

WTF?  All this playing around with Windows 8 made me notice that my 920 CPU was running at 1.6 GHz, because its task manager shows you the frequency up front and center.  At first I thought that this may be throttling back to save power, but then I checked BIOS, and I had the EIST and CxO disabled (maybe not a good idea for another reason, but this shouldn't have throttled me back).  Nothing I did seemed to move me off 1.6, even when I ran a CPU stress test program.  Then I changed the multiplier in the BIOS from 20x to 18x, and suddenly I got 2.4 GHz that this multiplier should give you.  I changed it back to 20, and now I got 2.70 GHz.

WTF just happened there?  In the end, my BIOS setting reverted back to where they were, and yet my CPU frequency got unstuck from 1.6 GHz, and back to where it should've been.  For some reason my PC was running as 12x multiplier even though I had it set to 20x.  I wonder how long I was running my PC at 60% of its advertised power?  I'll play around with it and see if my computer feels faster than it did before.  I may not need a new computer just yet.

[DGuller]

And further WTF:  for whatever reason, during all those trials and errors in changing my CPU setting in BIOS, the turbo option was "grayed out".  Now that I unstuck the 12x multiplier, it's not.    I wonder if I tripped some stealth safe mode when the CPU fan fell off a year ago, and made my CPU overheat to the point of making PC shut off.  Now that I think about it, I think I was running at 1.60 GHz for about a year, since I recall seeing a number like that during startup, but never paid much attention to it. 

[viper37]

First, what's the latest skinny on Intel vs. AMD?  Is AMD a viable alternative now for semi-hardcore gaming?  I've always been an Intel man, but that was due to sticking with tried and true more than anything.

Intel is the absolute best.  You pay a premium, but you get the fastest processors out there.
If you want $$/performance though, AMD is the King.  You pay less, and you get less, but you get a very-more-than-decent CPU for half the price you pay an Intel.

I would recommend Intel for hardcore gaming on ultra-high resolution with multiple monitors and multiple video cards.  AMD for the rest.

Secondly, I need to revisit the size of case issue.  Is mid-tower good enough, or will it feel cramped, with the video cards being the size of small cars these days?  I have to say that my current HAF case may be a bit of an overkill.  While certainly it gives me enough room to work in, it's a bit too ponderous to tuck away far enough to not regularly stub toes on.

Full-tower and nothing less.

[viper37]

After reading the articles I could Google, I'm going to stick with Intel.  AMD seems like an iffy proposition for a gaming rig.

I've been gaming on AMD for many years now.  Crysis and Cryiss 2 gave me some headaches at the time.  Otherwise, I ran everything at the best possible resolution without problems.

[viper37]

A few years ago?  Sure.

In 2012?  A laptop will run games just fine.

for 3000$, sure.  For 1500$, don't expect to play anything more graphic intensive than Civilization V.

[viper37]

And further WTF:  for whatever reason, during all those trials and errors in changing my CPU setting in BIOS, the turbo option was "grayed out".  Now that I unstuck the 12x multiplier, it's not.    I wonder if I tripped some stealth safe mode when the CPU fan fell off a year ago, and made my CPU overheat to the point of making PC shut off.  Now that I think about it, I think I was running at 1.60 GHz for about a year, since I recall seeing a number like that during startup, but never paid much attention to it. 

You could overclock your CPU and video card by 5-10% without problems.  Change fans, and you can overclock it by 15-20%.

[DGuller]

I don't care much about overclocking, I think computer components in this day and age are far too unreliable to push it.  However, I am disturbed by the fact that I was severely underclocked without being aware of it.  I suspect that I was running at almost half the power for at least a year.

[Zanza]

A few years ago?  Sure.

In 2012?  A laptop will run games just fine.

for 3000$, sure.  For 1500$, don't expect to play anything more graphic intensive than Civilization V.

My 700 Euro laptop runs Diablo III fine with all details switched on.

[viper37]

I don't care much about overclocking, I think computer components in this day and age are far too unreliable to push it.

Actually, computer components in this day and age support overclocking better than 5 years ago.

What you need however is a good power supply and good fans (default fans aren't usually that good on CPUs and video cards).

[viper37]

My 700 Euro laptop runs Diablo III fine with all details switched on.

Than I stand corrected.  There have obviously been some advancement in the technology in the last few years.

[Barrister]

My 700 Euro laptop runs Diablo III fine with all details switched on.

Than I stand corrected.  There have obviously been some advancement in the technology in the last few years.

With a quality laptop you might not be able to set every graphical setting to "ultra" but you will definitely be able to run pretty much every game that's out there.

Please note I said "quality" laptop however.