Sakai 2 Posted March 3, 2010 Alright, the time has finally arrived. My school says I should get my refund later today or tomorrow. My longtime friend and computer has finally kicked the bucket to the point that any real gaming is out of the question. The BIOS is all messed up and it wont read my graphics card. With only 700MB of RAM or so anyways, this is a huge loss considering my graphics card has 512MB alone (NVidia 8600GT). Now I have about $600 - 700 to spend. And I also need to keep in mind that this will be for my school work as well. I really want to get a lap top, and I have been looking at one over at the waltermart that has a 17" screen, 3GB or RAM, 2.2 Ghz processer, 320GB HD, but has integrated graphics. only $500 tho, so its a deal, anyone got some hints at what to look for in a lap top, or ideas would be great!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xclusiv8 35 Posted March 3, 2010 Alright, the time has finally arrived. My school says I should get my refund later today or tomorrow. My longtime friend and computer has finally kicked the bucket to the point that any real gaming is out of the question. The BIOS is all messed up and it wont read my graphics card. With only 700MB of RAM or so anyways, this is a huge loss considering my graphics card has 512MB alone (NVidia 8600GT). Now I have about $600 - 700 to spend. And I also need to keep in mind that this will be for my school work as well. I really want to get a lap top, and I have been looking at one over at the waltermart that has a 17" screen, 3GB or RAM, 2.2 Ghz processer, 320GB HD, but has integrated graphics. only $500 tho, so its a deal, anyone got some hints at what to look for in a lap top, or ideas would be great!!! Never settle for an intergrated gpu. They basicly suck! IF you have the knowledge you should buy a pc in its basic parts and the put it together yourself. You save money and you get the best. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast 153 Posted March 3, 2010 Laptops aren't the greatest piece's of kit for gameplaying. Me I would buy a Desktop as you already have a decent Graphic's card as above build it yourself as you also know what your putting in it and to upgrade its a lot easier for example if your HD in your current PC is still in decent shape you dont loose too much data swapping it across and you can update it later as well or add a new HD when you build your new PC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Von Paulus 8 Posted March 3, 2010 With no dedicated graphi card, that's a no deal for simming, like xclusiv8 said. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Raden Posted March 4, 2010 (edited) Laptops aren't the greatest piece's of kit for gameplaying. Me I would buy a Desktop as you already have a decent Graphic's card as above build it yourself as you also know what your putting in it and to upgrade its a lot easier for example if your HD in your current PC is still in decent shape you dont loose too much data swapping it across and you can update it later as well or add a new HD when you build your new PC. I beg to disagree. Kindly check the ASUS, the ALIENWARE (the new one with 11 and so inches screen!), also there was (two months ago) a something like BATALION or BATTALION made in California, dedicated solely for serious gaming. I shall NEVER buy again a stand alone desktop that needs a minimum of 400WATTS of power compared ti most new Notebooks (even with 1TB RAM and a max of 600GB HDD, Truly Brite TFT screen -- high res of course) that runs on a mere 90WATTS or a Max of 120WATTS of power. These crooks in our POWER(less) company really r robbing us man here in Indonesia, that made me to save money and next buy a really good, less expensive INVERTER (with a Max of 10K WATTS - 220 to 240 Volts for Indonesia. I just have to buy a truck battery, and we'll have a minimum of 6K WATTS of electricity in our home. Need an INVERTER with a battery charger in it. SEARCH it in the Net. Kindly visit www.bhineka.com in JAKARTA, for prices n delivery. Edited March 4, 2010 by Raden Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xclusiv8 35 Posted March 4, 2010 (edited) I beg to disagree. Kindly check the ASUS, the ALIENWARE (the new one with 11 and so inches screen!), also there was (two months ago) a something like BATALION or BATTALION made in California, dedicated solely for serious gaming. I shall NEVER buy again a stand alone desktop that needs a minimum of 400WATTS of power compared ti most new Notebooks (even with 1TB RAM and a max of 600GB HDD, Truly Brite TFT screen -- high res of course) that runs on a mere 90WATTS or a Max of 120WATTS of power. These crooks in our POWER(less) company really r robbing us man here in Indonesia, that made me to save money and next buy a really good, less expensive INVERTER (with a Max of 10K WATTS - 220 to 240 Volts for Indonesia. I just have to buy a truck battery, and we'll have a minimum of 6K WATTS of electricity in our home. Need an INVERTER with a battery charger in it. SEARCH it in the Net. Kindly visit www.bhineka.com in JAKARTA, for prices n delivery. There is a reason why a desktop pc needs 400wats. A laptops is not even comparable to a desktop pc when it comes to brute computing power + the gpu is the biggest powerhogg. A laptops gpu is always slower even if its the same model. And the guy has a budget of 700 dollars. HE wont get an alienware lappie for that. IF he want to do some gaming on his pc yet have the power to work and mobility is not an issue then a desktop pc is the safest and cheapest way to go. Edited March 4, 2010 by xclusiv8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shotdown 8 Posted March 4, 2010 I don't think a laptop is a good idea for simming games (and those that could work are probably more expensive than 600-700 $). Could it be possible with that money to get a cheap laptop and parts to buy a desktop one? You already have GPU and (I gess) mouse, keyboard and screen. So it should be just a matter of getting power source, motherboard, memory and HD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Von Paulus 8 Posted March 4, 2010 There is a reason why a desktop pc needs 400wats. A laptops is not even comparable to a desktop pc when it comes to brute computing power + the gpu is the biggest powerhogg. A laptops gpu is always slower even if its the same model. And the guy has a budget of 700 dollars. HE wont get an alienware lappie for that. IF he want to do some gaming on his pc yet have the power to work and mobility is not an issue then a desktop pc is the safest and cheapest way to go. Yes. Serious gaming and specially serious simming only in desktop computers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rickitycrate 10 Posted March 4, 2010 I am simming on a laptop and although it works for now I want to move my simming to a desktop. For one thing cooling can be an issue with laptops. If you are one for over-clocking you don't want to do that with a laptop. A dedicated simming desktop is really the way to go. Just my opinion and I'm not an expert. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakai 2 Posted March 4, 2010 You all have been very helpful. I have come to the conclusion that most everyone thinks that desktops are the easiest to bring up the the specs I want with the budget im on. I have to add the like a year or so ago (when I started posting here again, lol) I was using an HP laptop, 2GB ram, all that happy stuff, pretty average. I ran both a modded IL2 and FSX with a bunch of planes with the sliders up most of the way and it ran like silk. I know that maybe that is the exception and not the rule, who knows, but it did its duty. I also have TWO wonderful children (I dont know if they are wonderful yet, hopefuly) coming into the world in August, so this is likely to be that last time I spend money guilt free on mememememe! By the end of today, should have new puter, will keep you all posted! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakai 2 Posted March 5, 2010 Well, I did it. Considering all the moving I do in life I decided on a lap top. The sucky part is that I had to suffer with integrated graphics. On the plus side, at least its NVidia integrated graphics. I also just placed my order with Amazon (using the cash I saved on getting this laptop) for an................. X-52 HOTAS setup. I had a thread a little while ago about which HOTAS setup to buy. I was gonna cheap out with the T-Flight, but after a lot of thought, I decided on the X-52. It should be here Saturday with the uber shipping I paid on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lexx_Luthor 57 Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Congrats. You can do alot to save frames in TK's sim. Have you tried that enbseries framerate enhancer yet? If not, IT WORKS. duhwoops, looks like you might not play Teh SF. I forget this is general pub forum. I don't have to compute around. So I'll never have a laptop. In fact, just the opposite. Got an older computer case, huge solid steel tower. 45 pounds empty. Main Battle Case. Something to match my IBM Model M keyboard. Full size GB mobo, so tiny and lonely looking in there. Edited March 5, 2010 by Lexx_Luthor Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakai 2 Posted March 5, 2010 LOL, sounds like a solid case to me! I do play TK sims, WoV/WoE1. I am thinking of buying WOV2, do you have 1st series or second series? If the second series, is it really such a huge jump? It seems worth it even if it is only a small improvement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted March 5, 2010 If the laptop has a DX10-capable chip, then Gen2 will be great because of the shader enhancements he made. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakai 2 Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) I am running Windows 7 Home Premium, and my chip is an Intel 2.2 Ghz dual-core so I do believe I am running DX.10 On hearing that I think I may buy WoV2 this afternoon. Also, I bought X-Plane 9 yesterday and haven't tried it out yet so no stats on that yet. I did, however, get IL-2 installed and patched up to 4.09m and am downloading the UP 2.0n package. I ran the vanilla IL-2 yesterday and it ran great and looked good! My only complaint is that my monitor on the laptop is a widescreen, something like 16:9!!! Most of my apps don't use the whole screen, IL2 doesn't anyways, so there are black margins on each side. But even then I think the viewable area is just as large as with my old 15" monitor I had for the desktop. The monitor is HD so that is nice too. I ran "Combat Mission: Shock Force" (nod to my wargaming buddys, woot!) last night after getting it and the "Marines" module at Battlefront.com and with the details middle/low it ran like pure silk so I should be able to notch up the graphics a bit and still have good performance. I am so amped to be getting the X-52 tho! If it weren't for the fact you need a computer to use the HOTAS setup I would be more excited about that! Edited March 5, 2010 by Sakai Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted March 5, 2010 Il-2 works with widescreen, you just can't set it thru the GUI. Edit the conf.ini file in the root Il-2 directory and you'll see the res specified on 2 lines. I think there might be a 3rd for the aspect ratio, I forget. Just change them to what your monitor uses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakai 2 Posted March 6, 2010 I will have to try that, would be nice to have IL2 running as such. I just got the X52 today! It is tough to get used to, but I think that after a little practice I will be once again killing in the name of!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lexx_Luthor 57 Posted March 6, 2010 I have SF1, running PATCH 2006. Enbseries doubles frames here. ATI4550 I think, no cooling fan. But I screwed my own fan (old AMD cpu fan) into the card's heatsink. sounds like a solid case to me! This one ~> http://www.calpc.com/catalog/full_tower.html It has *real* switches. Barebones but that means its perfect for a frame-up modding job from scratch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
