Alright, so I've came into some money recently, and I've decided that I might as well use the money while I have it to get a gaming PC/Laptop. I've wanted to get into PC gaming since high school but never had the chance cost-wise but now that money's not an issue I've hit another snag.
This is like music to my ears. My sensible side wants me to encourage you to invest the cash, but blowing it all on a fancy gaming rig is oh so much more appealing, isn't it?
Could anyone give me a basic rundown of what makes a good gaming PC? Also are there any you would recommend personally?
In a nutshell: the graphics card. In my opinion, it's incredibly difficult to purchase a modern CPU, motherboard, set of RAM, etc. nowadays that isn't already light-years ahead of what is required by the latest 'bleeding-edge' PC games. Graphics cards, on the other hand, are pretty much the only thing that are challenged when it comes to the latest games, when played on the highest possible resolutions and super-demanding configurations (triple monitor set-ups with 3D enabled, that sort of thing).
Is it easy to tinker with a PC once you get used to it? I heard you have to upgrade them once in a while to keep up with the latest games.
Allow me to bore you with my lengthy, only-marginally-relevant introduction to PC hardware.
Ahem.
I'm a chap whom for years and years put off the notion of building my own PC because, well, it all sounded so insanely and utterly difficult to wrap my head around. 'What the hell is a CPU socket?', 'Why won't that CPU work with
that socket?' 'Where is that smoke coming from?'. The confusion is further compounded when you ask for help online and the 'experts' come at you with all sorts of gobbly gook that makes perfect sense when you've been fiddling with the varying PC components for years, but makes next to no sense to the curious newbie. Years and years ago, I almost decided against putting together my first gaming PC, primarily because with every -- albeit friendly and helpful -- answer I received, I was left with two additional questions which I would need answering. I found everything to be mind-bending at first.
In truth, I think when it comes to first getting a grip of building your first PC, you could do with having a tech-savy friend nearby to help supervise everything, be it shopping for components, to actually fitting your parts inside the case. Wait, just which case
should you buy... so many questions. BLARGHGHAGH.
What a discouraging and aggravating time it is, attempting to understand what is required to get everything working in sync, when it all seems so simple and straightforward to everybody else.
I'll say this, though: Persevere, and you'll think you're the dog's danglers once everything comes together. You'll think you're a master of all things electrical. You'll think you know more about computers than the lads down at the local PC repair shop.
It's a great buzz to finally see your creation spring to life and be presented with that -- now-boring after a seeing it zillion times -- Windows boot-up screen. You'll soon be comfortable enough to re-read all of that mumbo jumbo that once had you scratching your head, and think to yourself, 'Pssh, yeah!'
Anyway, to answer your question: I believe, once you've become slightly more adept at installing parts, it can be incredibly easy to 'tinker' with your PC. If you should ever fancy trying something a bit more challenging and potentially wildly dangerous, you could always try installing some watercooling.
Dammit. Getting to grips with watercooling was such a headache.
I might be going off on a tangent here, but it needs to be said: certain areas of PC building, such as watercooling, is not made easy for novices. Instructions? LOL.
Good luck, son. I kid you not - my first watercooling 'kit', which supposedly included everything I would need, did not include any instructions of any sort; just a handful of terrifying-looking parts and about a bazillion screws.
So, yeah, basic 'tinkering': relatively easy-peasy. Advanced 'tinkering': much less easy-peasy, and you'll likely be wanting to pick your chum's brain again of an evening and have him/her walk you through the procedure(s) of whatever it is you have your heart set on.
I was also thinking of trying to get a decent gaming laptop instead of a PC, reason being that my Internet router is downstairs, which means I can move it downstairs easily when I need a good connection. Only problem is I heard a lot of laptops can't be upgraded as easily as PC's which could come back and bite me a few years down the line when the newest games won't run well on what might become pretty outdated in a few years time. I was wondering whether a gaming laptop was worth it? If so, any recommendations?
I'll never purchase another laptop ever again, gaming or otherwise. The mobility is nice, I'll give you that much, but the infinitely more costly repairs and damning faults incurred through no fault of your own is enough to have made me steer well clear in future. For some, whom are required to work on the move -- whose offices consist of trains, coffee shops, parks, and whatever -- then they're essential. They're just not for me.
'Gaming laptops' require a tremendous amount of cooling, also, if you care to keep your investment chugging along for a considerable amount of time, and not setting your lap on fire because your jeans are suffocating the ventilation grills. Battery life is also an issue to bear in mind.
Relating to the above question I was looking at Alienware laptops like the M17x and the M18 but I've heard mixed opinions, A lot of people say Alienware laptops/desktops run game really well and that they are happy with them, but then I see just as much of an equal amount of people saying that they are overpriced garbage, does anyone here own an Alienware Laptop/Desktop or have an opinion? I also heard the CPU's can't be upgraded, is this true? Is it much of a problem given how powerful the Alienware laptops are? (or so I've heard.) I'm confused as hell and would really appreciate the advice, If you have the money are they worth it? Any possible alternatives?
Alienware -- or Dellware, as I've come to know them -- apparently make brilliant, reliable gaming rigs. I'd fantasized about getting an Alienware rig in my teens, prior to learning how to build a computer myself. However, with the Alienware label comes a premium price tag, one which almost translates into practically doubling what you might pay if you were to purchase the individual components and fit them yourself. Mind you, yeah, you might also get a year's worth of support (or longer, if you decide to cough up extra), but you'll be stuck right up Poo Creek after your allotted period of support time has expired.
Speaking of support - Amazon UK are brilliant. If a component breaks down within 12 months of purchase, they'll issue you a new one and collect the old one for free. I'd sooner write a 3-sentence email to Amazon Support, requesting a replacement component, then be tasked with waiting on the phone for however long, having my phone bill shoot through the roof while I'm waiting to be put through to an engineer who may or may not tell me that the computer fault is my own and I'll have to pony up the extra to have that particular issue covered in my warranty next time.
Also I've heard you can get multiple graphics cards, what's that all about? Do more graphics cards mean better performance or am I making a serious misjudgement here?
Theoretically yes. Although, multiple graphics card configurations do not always necessarily translate into double or triple performance. CrossFireX or SLi configurations (AMD's and Nvidia's fancy way of saying two cards sandwiched together, working in tandem, respectively) can yield some impressive performance figures, but, really, it is almost entirely down to the gaming/software developers to better optimize for those sort of lesser-common set-ups. To provide an example: when I was running a fairly healthy CrossFireX set-up a few years back, there were a few games whereby the framerate would very nearly double, but only offer as much as an estimated 10% increase in certain others.
Dual graphics card configurations are great, when you have the headroom to keep those puppies cooled and a power supply chunky enough to sling out the required dosage of power, but ultimately unnecessary for the casual gamer.
Got another question to ask, does anyone here use wifi on their PC? If so how reliable is it?
Know what used to a problem for me? Walls. Well, at least they were a bit of a nuisance until my wife went and bought me a silly-powerful drill and I treated myself to a Bosch multi detector. I don't much care for wireless webernet connections, and I'll be damned if I'm going to have a cable run right the way through my house, tripping me up every time I need to race to the throne for some Steve time. I now have two cables channelled through my walls (one for internet access, the other so that I can play games on my TV in the living room).
Don't let walls be an inconvenience and dictate where you can or can't put stuff in
your own house.
Actually, on the subject of walls and drills and whatnot, a man is never truly a man until he owns a drill and has secured something larger than himself to a wall. Over the course of about 4 weeks, I've fixed approximately 75 things to the various walls of my house, ranging from a 50" plasma TV, to a home-made shelf. It is one fine shelf, though. Actually, it's 3 shelves. Black ones.
I trust that my nonsensical ramblings will have been of some use. Good luck with whatever it was that we were first discussing! Cheers!
