How future proof is this laptop for gaming?

[0roo0roo]

Alright, that would really be all that I need from a computer.

In fast paced action games one should be shooting for 60 fps minimum framerate.

 

[Puppies04]

In fast paced action games one should be shooting for 60 fps minimum framerate.

IMHO a system running at a minimum 50 fps is almost indistinguishable from 60 fps that said unless you can afford both a lappy and a desktop I would defiantly build a desktop. As pointed out by plenty of other people there really is no such thing as a future proof laptop if you want to run at high setting with all the bells and whistles, and let's be honest why wouldn't you.

To put it into perspective, I run a dell xps 17 with an i7 740qm and a 3gb gt445m and while it performs very nicely I wouldn't expect to go and pick a resource intensive game and run it with maxed settings. On a side note are you aware how small an 11 inch screen is? I really don't know how alienware can push the mx11 as a gaming rig with such a tiny screen

 

[BoomerD]

andrewdodd39, where do you live? Do you have a MicroCenter in your area?
If not, I strongly recommend doing your shopping at one of the better on-line sellers, such as Newegg or Amazon.

The processor is $140 at Newegg,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727

The motherboard is $139
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...USB3&x=17&y=29

Soprano case is $69 (BTW, you can do MUCH better for a case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&Tpk=VG7000BWS

Newegg is out of stock on the DVD burner, but have this one for $23:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827140041

$46 for the RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Z4GX3M1A1600C9

$94 for the video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=VCG98GTEE1XPB
(BTW, that's a crappy card...you can do MUCH better for only a little more $)

Their price for the power supply is actually pretty good. (a couple $$ more than Newegg, but for BB, that's a steal.) BTW, that's more PSU than you NEED, (you could get by fine with one of the 430 watt units, but I prefer a slightly larger unit than I NEED)


Post your budget...a range is acceptable as long as it's no more than a 20% spread...mnewsham and mfenn are wizards at putting together very good gaming system recommendations...that will kick the crap out of the system you've spec'd.

IF you have a MicroCenter in your area, you can often get the Intel i5-2500K, currently the best gaming CPU available, for about $179...only a couple bucks more than that PhenomII you listed...

Take a good look at these benchmarks...
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=288
You'll see why we all recommend the i5-2500K for anyone who wants to build a gaming rig...

 

[thisjustin]

A desktop will be so much faster than a laptop for games it's not even funny.

This $100 after Rebate 5770 is going to be faster than all but the most extreme laptop solutions:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127490

If your buying computer parts in the U.S. nothing much beats Newegg for decent prices, quality customer service and easy of use. Here's a little AMD build I put together to show you what you could get in that budget $990 with $75 dollars in Mail in Rebates.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=17371766

Not sure if that link will work, here's a screen grab:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/16/1000dollarprerebateamd5.png/

Anyways bullet points:
AM3+ motherboard should allow upgrading to future AMD processors down the line, this one's got USB3.0, Sata 6 Gb, ect, only thing you might want is two PCI express slots for crossfire(but then you would need ATI video cards)

AMD Phenon II 1090: If you want to be "future proof" you might as well spend 50 bucks and get the 6 core processor, although I'm sure lots of people will say (heck I would) that 4 cores is all you need right now. Alternative Phenom x4 965 for $140:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727

Nvidia GTX 460 1 Gb will get you great performance at 1900x1080 resolutions and below (although you could save 40 dollars and get 90 percent of the performance out of a 768 Mb model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-058-_-Product

OCZ Vertex 2 was one of, if not the fastest drive last year, it's still really fast, great at 180 bucks after MIR.

Get a 500-600 watt Corsair, Seasonic, or Antec power supply (whatever you can find the best deal on) and you'll be good to go.

100 bucks for Windows 7 OEM at newegg, it's completely legit meant for system builders.

And I threw a DVD Burner and Case in their just as a placeholder, but get whatever case you like the looks of. Heck you could put this in any old beige computer case you can find lying around if you wanted, or one of the el cheapo 20 $ shipped cases you can get at newegg. Just don't ever try to use the Power Supplies they give you in those cheap cases, they are absolute junk and likely to destroy your system.

And you would have about 180$ left over to buy a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and speakers (could always use a headset or the monitor speakers for a short while). Remember that your monitor will probably last longer than anything else in the system, not a place I would cut corners. Maybe skip speakers for a while until you save more money, or buy a really cheap 10 dollar keyboard and mouse until you save up some more money. FYI you always get 2 or 3 SATA cables in the motherboard packaging that you need for your SDD and DVD drive. Not really any other cables you would need, power cable usually comes with power supply (not with the antec green series though so double check that) usually get a vga cable with the monitor but you should buy a HDMI or DVI cable instead (the digital signal is better than analog). Oh wait, you'll probably want a Wireless Internet adapter, budget in $20 bucks for that.

Good luck on your first build. It's not too difficult building a computer, just remember to take it slow and easy. Also remember: zero insertion force, pretty much everything on the build should fit together without too much pushing or shoving.

 

[betasub]

Remember that your monitor will probably last longer than anything else in the system, not a place I would cut corners.

Agree with this. A reasonable quality screen will have a longer lifetime than most of your other hardware, and is your main output/focus.

Also remember: zero insertion force, pretty much everything on the build should fit together without too much pushing or shoving.

Sadly not always true. Plenty of slots (DIMMs, expansion cards), or the CPU socket and HSF mount, don't allow insertion that easily first time round - steady firm pressure may be needed!

 

[andrewdodd39]

A desktop will be so much faster than a laptop for games it's not even funny.

This $100 after Rebate 5770 is going to be faster than all but the most extreme laptop solutions:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127490

If your buying computer parts in the U.S. nothing much beats Newegg for decent prices, quality customer service and easy of use. Here's a little AMD build I put together to show you what you could get in that budget $990 with $75 dollars in Mail in Rebates.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=17371766

Not sure if that link will work, here's a screen grab:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/16/1000dollarprerebateamd5.png/

Anyways bullet points:
AM3+ motherboard should allow upgrading to future AMD processors down the line, this one's got USB3.0, Sata 6 Gb, ect, only thing you might want is two PCI express slots for crossfire(but then you would need ATI video cards)

AMD Phenon II 1090: If you want to be "future proof" you might as well spend 50 bucks and get the 6 core processor, although I'm sure lots of people will say (heck I would) that 4 cores is all you need right now. Alternative Phenom x4 965 for $140:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727

Nvidia GTX 460 1 Gb will get you great performance at 1900x1080 resolutions and below (although you could save 40 dollars and get 90 percent of the performance out of a 768 Mb model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-058-_-Product

OCZ Vertex 2 was one of, if not the fastest drive last year, it's still really fast, great at 180 bucks after MIR.

Get a 500-600 watt Corsair, Seasonic, or Antec power supply (whatever you can find the best deal on) and you'll be good to go.

100 bucks for Windows 7 OEM at newegg, it's completely legit meant for system builders.

And I threw a DVD Burner and Case in their just as a placeholder, but get whatever case you like the looks of. Heck you could put this in any old beige computer case you can find lying around if you wanted, or one of the el cheapo 20 $ shipped cases you can get at newegg. Just don't ever try to use the Power Supplies they give you in those cheap cases, they are absolute junk and likely to destroy your system.

And you would have about 180$ left over to buy a monitor, keyboard and mouse, and speakers (could always use a headset or the monitor speakers for a short while). Remember that your monitor will probably last longer than anything else in the system, not a place I would cut corners. Maybe skip speakers for a while until you save more money, or buy a really cheap 10 dollar keyboard and mouse until you save up some more money. FYI you always get 2 or 3 SATA cables in the motherboard packaging that you need for your SDD and DVD drive. Not really any other cables you would need, power cable usually comes with power supply (not with the antec green series though so double check that) usually get a vga cable with the monitor but you should buy a HDMI or DVI cable instead (the digital signal is better than analog). Oh wait, you'll probably want a Wireless Internet adapter, budget in $20 bucks for that.

Good luck on your first build. It's not too difficult building a computer, just remember to take it slow and easy. Also remember: zero insertion force, pretty much everything on the build should fit together without too much pushing or shoving.

Thanks, this is probably just what I'm looking for to play the games I would want, like MW3 (when it comes). I'm still thinking but I'll definitely save this as a wishlist. I may go for the 768 MB graphics card for now, that would be able to run MW3 when it comes out, right?

 

[aphelion02]

Hold off for a couple hours and I will put together a great system for under $1000

 

[andrewdodd39]

Hold off for a couple hours and I will put together a great system for under $1000

I came up with a $1,024 wishlist on Newegg, but I'm still very much open to suggestions you might have. I went with the SSD, hexa-core processor, and a $150 monitor so I could probably go lower.

 

[aphelion02]

You don't want to go AMD for a mid- high end system. The hexa-core just sounds nice, not only do most games not use 6 cores, each AMD core is much slower to a comparable Intel core these days. Go with a second generation quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processor. The i5-2500k is pretty much the best gaming processor out there now, even $2000+ rigs are based off it. And it only costs about $20 more than that hexacore.

 

[andrewdodd39]

You don't want to go AMD for a mid- high end system. The hexa-core just sounds nice, not only do most games not use 6 cores, each AMD core is much slower to a comparable Intel core these days. Go with a second generation quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processor. The i5-2500k is pretty much the best gaming processor out there now, even $2000+ rigs are based off it. And it only costs about $20 more than that hexacore.

I'm going to start a new thread, this one's title is no longer appropriate.

 

[mfenn]

I'm going to start a new thread, this one's title is no longer appropriate.

If you edit your first post and click "go advanced", you should be able to change the title of the thread.

 

[BoomerD]

If you edit your first post and click "go advanced", you should be able to change the title of the thread.

Too late...he's already got a new thread going.