Gaming Help

[Thunderbay]

I'm new to the forums and do not really know where to put this thread, so here goes.
I'm looking at the alienware m11x, and I wanted to know if these upgrades were good enough for gaming.
Core i7 processer
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 8000MHz
500 GB SATII 7,2000 RPM

I wanted to know if 320 GB SATII 7,2000 RPM hardrive was good enough for gaming, just to save some money.
Thanks

 

[AstroManLuca]

Don't buy a laptop for gaming.

But hey if you must...

- The processor is a factor in games, but isn't as big a deal as the graphics. An i5 vs. an i7 will not make much difference. I think as long as you have a quad core (a few newer games use the extra cores) you're good.
- You should probably get 4 GB of RAM, but increasing the speed of the RAM doesn't really help much. If that's what you're asking. Just get 4 GB of the basic RAM if they offer extra speeds. Anything more than that and they're milking you.
- Faster hard drives do not help with gaming. Only with loading times.

Oh and laptops are NOT MEANT FOR GAMING! Maybe you need a powerful laptop for some other reason as well, but it is a better use of your money to get a cheap laptop and build a desktop for gaming rather than trying to get a gaming laptop. A $3,000 gaming laptop will give you about the same performance as a $700 self-built gaming desktop.

 

[Thunderbay]

I know about the desktop, but i need to be able to bring the computer with me places. Since I am still in school i need a laptop to take around to classes, hence the only reason for the laptop. Thank you for your help though
So is the 320 hardrive enough?
So could you tell me a little about this "homemade" desktop please?

 

[Texashiker]

So is the 320 hardrive enough?

Not really - but it also depends on how many games you install. My son has a 160 gig drive just for games, and only has about 10 gigs free. I ordered him a 1 terabyte drive this evening.

With portal 2 coming out, brink, and duke nukem on the way, I figure he is going to use maybe 200 gigs of drive space just for games.

My Steam folder is 169 gigs. With a 320 gig drive that does not leave very much room for videos and other media. By the end of 2011 my game folder will probably go to around 200+ gigs.

 

[Thunderbay]

Okay, thanks so I'll just go with the 500 then.

 

[Barfo]

What video card does this laptop have? If it's some lousy integrated graphics it won't be able to run games from the last 5 years, even if the CPU is fast and you have enough RAM.

 

[Thunderbay]

The m11x has integrated graphics, but when you open up a game the laptop switches to a 1gig Nvidia dedicated video card.