Buying a Computer to run Skyrim : V - Skyrim

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:26 am

Desktops are on the decline. The market is diminishing. A desktop doesn't work for me anyway. I have a corner I could stick one, but then I'd have to deal with a big box, a monitor, power strips and cables, a desk and chair. With the laptop, I can plop on the couch, play and have fun, and put it away when company comes over. And, as you stated, being able to pick it up and take it with me on travel makes it worth its money.

But to each his own. If the desktop works for you, then by all means, use it. But you statement is way to generalized to be good advice.

No, they are not on the decline, lol. Its not too general. Unless you want to have to buy a brand new laptop every 4-5 years, that's not where its at. I'm not saying laptop gaming is bad, its just not as efficient and affordable as desktop gaming.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:05 am

No, they are not on the decline, lol.

Bad news for you. Here's just one example. There are many.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/a-government-study-shows-that-laptops-are-on-the-rise-and-desktop-computers-are-in-decline/story-e6frfro0-1226175405615

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:36 am

Bad news for you. Here's just one example. There are many.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/a-government-study-shows-that-laptops-are-on-the-rise-and-desktop-computers-are-in-decline/story-e6frfro0-1226175405615

Which has nothing to do with PC gaming rigs exclusively. Desktops will be around for decades
. And will most likely stay the superior choice for gaming affordability wise for just as long.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:30 pm

It will max any game out in 1080 and at a very high framerate. That's an excellent system, and not an over exaggeration. I paid that much. I max every game out. Know more about PCs. Not to mention 700USD is not 600L.

I based the price on a google of the item you were comparing it to.

A ￡600 rig that I mentioned would not be capable of maxing games like BF3 or metro 2033 at high framerates; it'd also have trouble with civilisation V and inevitably others. Making a blanket statement is a road to failure; to use your own words, know more about PCs.

Post the specs of your $700 rig and we'll see if you're talking out your ass or not. If you can get good parts for that price then good for you, but you're either lucky with the country you're buying in, or you're lying about one thing or another.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:40 am

I based the price on a google of the item you were comparing it to.

A ￡600 rig that I mentioned would not be capable of maxing games like BF3 or metro 2033 at high framerates; it'd also have trouble with civilisation V and inevitably others. Making a blanket statement is a road to failure; to use your own words, know more about PCs.

Dude, 600l is 900 something dollars, which will easily max any game out. I can max any game out with 700 USD. NewEgg, its your friend. Tiger Direct Canada is your friend in Canada. For the UK, I don't know. I don't see why newegg wouldn't be just as affordable over there though.

6950 2gb

965 quad core

4 gb ripjaw

am3+ Asus MB

1tb Seagate HDD

I max all games easily, on a 1080 37 inch LCD. Battlefield, Shogun II, even the free copy of Crisis I got. Ive been building PCs since the 90s, why would I buy parts and build a rig that couldn't max anything out? Especially when its not expensive at all these days to do so.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:21 am

Dude, 600l is 900 something dollars, which will easily max any game out. I can max any game out with 700 USD. NewEgg, its your friend. Tiger Direct Canada is your friend in Canada. For the UK, I don't know. I don't see why newegg wouldn't be just as affordable over there though.

Post the specs.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:04 am

Yeah. TC cant do a desktop though. He has to use a laptop for his travels. But anyway, I only bumped this because a dude on the previous page tried to say that a 900 USD rig couldn't max any game out in 1080, much less with the price I really said, which was 700 USD.

$900 could max a game out. Mine was little over that (￡600) and can do more than max it out.

Also, if he really needs portability, I think he should just buy a desktop and a cheap tablet. Though I'm not sure what exactly he needs it for..

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:49 am

Post the specs.

look at above edit. Only cost around 700 USD from NewEgg, with a few bundle deals. Probably could have got it even cheaper on black Friday, or cyber Monday. Which is why you build a PC, not buy one from a company like you must be suggesting.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:33 am

Which has nothing to do with PC gaming rigs exclusively. Desktops will be around for decades
. And will most likely stay the superior choice for gaming affordability wise for just as long.

If you said "years," I'd be inclined to agree. Decades? Sorry, but no. They're on the decline; that's the fact of multiple studies, one cited in the article I linked. The technology continues to evolve towards smaller and more powerful devices. Truth is, the laptop's days are numbered as well. But look, we're going round for round over a philosophical question. The OP asked about a laptop to play his game on. If he's wanting a powerful machine with some staying power, I suggest the Asus G74SX. It does generate some heat and needs the appropriate ventilation, but can run any game on max settings.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:56 am

If you said "years," I'd be inclined to agree. Decades? Sorry, but no. They're on the decline; that's the fact of multiple studies, one cited in the article I linked. The technology continues to evolve towards smaller and more powerful devices. Truth is, the laptop's days are numbered as well. But look, we're going round for round over a philosophical question. The OP asked about a laptop to play his game on. If he's wanting a powerful machine with some staying power, I suggest the Asus G74SX. It does generate some heat and needs the appropriate ventilation, but can run any game on max settings.

Nope, desktops will still be around in one form or another for the next 20 years.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:46 am

look at above edit. Only cost around 700 USD from NewEgg, with a few bundle deals. Probably could have got it even cheaper on black Friday, or cyber Monday. Which is why you build a PC, not buy one from a company like you must be suggesting.

Fair enough, the 2gb GPU is what I was looking for to substantiate the claims of maxing anything; it makes sense now seeing as you compromised on everything else to get the GPU. Personally I prefer more RAM and the i5 2500k.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:15 pm

Fair enough, the 2gb GPU is what I was looking for to substantiate the claims of maxing anything; it makes sense now seeing as you compromised on everything else to get the GPU. Personally I prefer more RAM and the i5 2500k.

I didnt compromise anything. 20-30 more USD and I got 4 more GB of ram, which I can put in anytime. And my MB is set up for the Bulldozers (which ended up svcking apparently). My AMD black works perfectly fine and doesn't struggle at all. 100 more USD and I got an i5, which I don't even need. Its not about compromise, its about this stuff not being all that expensive anymore. And even if my 6950 was 1gb it would still max all games. So if I would have spent what you originally thought I said, which is L600=900 something USD, I could have got even better parts. So in conclusion, my original post was far from an exaggeration, and right on the mark.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:00 am

Bad news for you. Here's just one example. There are many.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/a-government-study-shows-that-laptops-are-on-the-rise-and-desktop-computers-are-in-decline/story-e6frfro0-1226175405615

You'll have to do better than that.

If you want to prove your point, post more; and I mean studies taken in multiple countries which focus on surveys as to what people have in their homes, and not sales figures, because as I'm sure you know, PC gamers tend to build PCs not buy them.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:50 pm

I didnt compromise anything. 20 more USD and I got 4 more GB of ram, which I can put in anytime. And my MB is set up for the Bulldozers (which ended up svcking apparently). My AMD black works perfectly fine and doesn't struggle at all. 100 more USD and I got an i5, which I don't even need. Its not about compromise, its about this stuff not being all that expensive anymore. And even if my 6950 was 1gb it would still max all games. So if I would have spent what you originally thought I said, which is L600=900 something USD, I could have got even better parts. So in conclusion, my original post was far from an exaggeration, and right on the mark.

Nope, a 1GB card would suffer in framerate on BF3 because ultra uses upwards of 1.2GB. Maxed metro 2033 also uses 1313MB VRAM on max.

And buying AMD, you have compromised.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:47 am

I'm in the same boat. I'd love to run Skyrim with mods and high settings. I don't have the room or money required for a full blown desktop powerhouse. Anyone saying I could cheaply build a monster PC and fiddle with all its inner workings may as well tell me to construct a rocket ship capable of reaching the moon. I'm not a computer wiz, I'm barely competent at downloading mods. I don't even understand computer specs (wtf does 6609GW/Hz/gibberish even mean?!) I've asked around forums for the best/cheapest laptop and the only replies I get are "buy a desktop or build one yourself." It's not helpful. :sadvaultboy:

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:05 am

Nope, a 1GB card would suffer in framerate on BF3 because ultra uses upwards of 1.2GB. Maxed metro 2033 also uses 1313MB VRAM on max.

And buying AMD, you have compromised.

Nope. Your previous posts suggest you know little about PC gaming (900 USD for a mid range system...WTF?), therefore anything else you say I don't believe. I guess that's why my friends 6950 1 gb, maxes BF3 perfectly. And no, AMD isn't a compromise. There's just no reason to spend 100 USD more on a CPU I didnt need.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:12 am

To begin, I don't know if this is the right forum, but the only other forum that might work is related to hardware failure. I don't have a hardware "issue" unless you consider not owning a computer capable of running this wonderful game an issue.

On to what I'm looking at. I am planning on purchasing a gaming laptop (due to my work I don't have any reasonable place for a desktop) and I'm looking for some advice and input on whether I'm looking at will function well enough for what I want to accomplish. My aim is to get a laptop that can run Skyrim on High or Utra; the current machine I'm looking at is the Alienware M14x. The specs I have looked at for that particular model are as follows:

- Intel Core i5 2430M 2.4GHz (3.0 with Turbo Boost, 3MB Cache)
- 8Gb DDR3 1333
- 3Gb Nvidia GForce GT 555M
- 500Gb 7200 RPM Sata Drive 3Gb/s
- Internal High Definition 5.1 Surround Sound
- Windows 7

Those are the specs relevant to gaming. So I'm just wondering how well you guys think it will run Skyrim, as I can't use CanYouRunIt until I actually have the computer and I don't know of any other site where I could just plug in data and find out if my new machine would be capable. Any help you can provide is good. Thank you for your time.

Mods, if this is in the wrong section, I'm sorry but since it's not an issue with the game I figured it was more appropriate here.

Looking at the specs, I'd say you'll be able to run the game on Ultra just fine. However, I'll echo a previous poster and say "Skip Alienware, go Asus".

I've had an Asus "Republic of Gamers" laptop for 1.5 years or so now, and it's been great. Alienware will probably perform great as well, but you'll be paying a whole lot more for the brand. Asus is a quality brand. Go with it.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:44 am

OP, have you considered buying a kayak instead? You can get a pretty nice kayak for that price.

» Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:39 am

If you said "years," I'd be inclined to agree. Decades? Sorry, but no. They're on the decline; that's the fact of multiple studies, one cited in the article I linked. The technology continues to evolve towards smaller and more powerful devices.

Perhaps for consumer applications. But for various types of professional work, "workstations" (large monitors, various specialized hardware like graphics tablets or editing boards, full-size keyboards, huge/high throughput storage, etc) will always be needed.

Just because everyone thinks it's hip and trendy to carry around miniaturized touch-screen widgets, doesn't mean that they're what's best for every purpose. :shrug:

-----

re: "$900 machine will max any game"

Based on the various benchmark and review columns I read while researching parts for my build, that's just not true. There are a handful of games out there that, with all the options turned up and at high resolution, will even strain a 580GTX or 6970 in a $2k+ rig.