gaming Gaming Laptop?

[Dark Fox 151]

Hey friends, I'm finally getting into PC gaming, and my current laptop can pretty much only run tf2 and minecraft, so im hoping to get a decent gaming laptop, since I don't plan on running crysis on max settings I'm not going to blow my money on a $1000 laptop. So i'm getting an HP, and I need a little input.

 

Here's the rig:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C9W57AV?HP-ENVY-15z-j000-Notebook-PC

 

Im getting everything stock except for the following:

 

- AMD Quad-Core A10-5750M Accelerated Processor (The second processor on the list...Maybe)

-AMD Radeon HD 8750M + HD 8000 Series Dual Graphics (The second Graphics card, a must)

-16GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) (Best RAM on the list, also probably a must)

 

The external drive, the backlit keyboard...Random shit...

 

So, will this do? If not, Id really appreciate your recommendations, advice and suggestions, and for those who are tech savvy, what exactly am I looking at performance wise with this set up?

 

Oh and feel free to add me on steam:

 

00darkfox00

 

Thanks

[)O( Scarlet )O( 1,259]

Not bad, just NEVER go with Alien Ware, cos with that brand, all you're really paying for is the pretty lights and the little metal plate on the bottom. Also, you will want to make sure that your new laptop can play all the games that you want it to play.

[Darkshift 85]

If you're spending more money you're better looking at Intel stuff because AMD is for $400 computers whilst Intel better for big money computers and laptops.Gaming PC's are usually much better quality then Laptops by the way.It really doesn't give much away on terms of specs.

 

 

 

If I can remember your name I'll add you on steam in half an hour

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

Hey friends, I'm finally getting into PC gaming, and my current laptop can pretty much only run tf2 and minecraft, so im hoping to get a decent gaming laptop, since I don't plan on running crysis on max settings I'm not going to blow my money on a $1000 laptop. So i'm getting an HP, and I need a little input.

 

Here's the rig:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Laptops/HP-ENVY/C9W57AV?HP-ENVY-15z-j000-Notebook-PC

 

Im getting everything stock except for the following:

 

- AMD Quad-Core A10-5750M Accelerated Processor (The second processor on the list...Maybe)

-AMD Radeon HD 8750M + HD 8000 Series Dual Graphics (The second Graphics card, a must)

-16GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) (Best RAM on the list, also probably a must)

 

The external drive, the backlit keyboard...Random shit...

 

So, will this do? If not, Id really appreciate your recommendations, advice and suggestions, and for those who are tech savvy, what exactly am I looking at performance wise with this set up?

 

Oh and feel free to add me on steam:

 

00darkfox00

 

Thanks

 

Well, you're not going to be playing brand new games at a maxed out 1080p, but it looks like it means the minimum specs for quite a few games. 

If you're spending more money you're better looking at Intel stuff because AMD is for $400 computers whilst Intel better for big money computers and laptops.Gaming PC's are usually much better quality then Laptops by the way.It really doesn't give much away on terms of specs.

 

 

 

If I can remember your name I'll add you on steam in half an hour

 

Most computers with Intel use the integrated HD Graphics now unless it's built for gaming specifically. I've seen $700 computers with Intel parts that don't have dedicated cards. 

[Dark Fox 151]

If you're spending more money you're better looking at Intel stuff because AMD is for $400 computers whilst Intel better for big money computers and laptops.Gaming PC's are usually much better quality then Laptops by the way.It really doesn't give much away on terms of specs.

 

 

 

If I can remember your name I'll add you on steam in half an hour

Intel? Well the only other laptop with Intel available has an HD 4000 card, is that better?

 

Well, you're not going to be playing brand new games at a maxed out 1080p, but it looks like it means the minimum specs for quite a few games. 

 

Most computers with Intel use the integrated HD Graphics now unless it's built for gaming specifically. I've seen $700 computers with Intel parts that don't have dedicated cards. 

Minimum? Are we talking Oblivion in 360p or Skyrim in 720p? Will the 16 Gb Ram help? Or the better processor?

[Darkshift 85]

Intel with HD4000,if that's your best intel option you should choose the AMD option.The Card is very important and AMD is still decent.

[Milk Wave 454]

Wussup~ Since you're in need for a gaming laptop and you chose HP, here's my opinion on it.

 

You don't need 16GB of RAM to run any game, but more 8GB would do unless you're really afraid to. The most a game has ran would be around 6GB so far, which is why i'm saying this. Here's just a few tips for you though:

HP's are quite buggy now, since I have my own which runs windows 7 and it has a few minor problems on an occasion. But the bright side of yours is, it runs windows 8 which I have yet to experiment on.

Also, HP's are known to not be as good as they say they are so if yours dies within a few months then don't be mad. The quality control of their computers is bent in some weird ways but hopefully you get a good built one.

And the last thing, i'm a huge fan for AMD since the integrated graphics is generally better then Intel with the A8 and A10 processor. If you're able to crossfire the integrated with the dedicated card, then go for it since it will make the gaming a decent bit better.

Other then that, not a bad computer. It's an HP ENVY which is their best built computers so you should be fine with it. Though I will say this to you, I found an iBuyPower gaming laptop with the AMD A10 inside but it has a supped up graphics card which can run just about any game on ultra. It's about $1165 bucks but it can outperform this for the money, and probably last a little longer as well.
 

Edited August 28, 2013 by Baby Sirius

[Blue Bolt 4]

If your looking for a Gaming Laptop, look at some Asus Laptops. There really good depending on which one you get, plus they are Laptops/Computers that are made for gaming

[Lost 1,410]

Have you considered going for a desktop instead?

If you're serious about playing games, a desktop will offer more value for money, more reliability and far more expand ability, you just lose portability.

 

With RAM, you won't need any more than 8GB, you could probably get away with as little as 6GB if you're not planning on running multiple games at once or rendering videos. DDR3 is what you want, 1333mhz or above is probably a good idea.

[MLPForums Phanact 1,374]

If you're from the US then look for custom built laptops on;

CyberpowerPC

iBuyPower

XoticPC

OriginPC

 

If you're from the UK then go on;

Scan

PCSpecialist

 

You'll save an absolute shit-ton of money by going the route of a custom built laptop and this way you can specify the parts you want much more easily. Never buy pre-built/branded laptpops or desktops cause you're just being ripped off.

[Dark Fox 151]

Wussup~ Since you're in need for a gaming laptop and you chose HP, here's my opinion on it.

 

You don't need 16GB of RAM to run any game, but more 8GB would do unless you're really afraid to. The most a game has ran would be around 6GB so far, which is why i'm saying this. Here's just a few tips for you though:

HP's are quite buggy now, since I have my own which runs windows 7 and it has a few minor problems on an occasion. But the bright side of yours is, it runs windows 8 which I have yet to experiment on.

Also, HP's are known to not be as good as they say they are so if yours dies within a few months then don't be mad. The quality control of their computers is bent in some weird ways but hopefully you get a good built one.

And the last thing, i'm a huge fan for AMD since the integrated graphics is generally better then Intel with the A8 and A10 processor. If you're able to crossfire the integrated with the dedicated card, then go for it since it will make the gaming a decent bit better.

Other then that, not a bad computer. It's an HP ENVY which is their best built computers so you should be fine with it. Though I will say this to you, I found an iBuyPower gaming laptop with the AMD A10 inside but it has a supped up graphics card which can run just about any game on ultra. It's about $1165 bucks but it can outperform this for the money, and probably last a little longer as well.

 

I looked this over and I have no idea what I want or need, looking at all these options is like a different language haha

 

Have you considered going for a desktop instead?

If you're serious about playing games, a desktop will offer more value for money, more reliability and far more expand ability, you just lose portability.

 

With RAM, you won't need any more than 8GB, you could probably get away with as little as 6GB if you're not planning on running multiple games at once or rendering videos. DDR3 is what you want, 1333mhz or above is probably a good idea.

I'm on a budget, 900 is my max

If you're from the US then look for custom built laptops on;

CyberpowerPC

iBuyPower

XoticPC

OriginPC

 

If you're from the UK then go on;

Scan

PCSpecialist

 

You'll save an absolute shit-ton of money by going the route of a custom built laptop and this way you can specify the parts you want much more easily. Never buy pre-built/branded laptpops or desktops cause you're just being ripped off.

Good shit bro, Ill look into this, I might change my mind about the HP

 

Have you considered going for a desktop instead?

If you're serious about playing games, a desktop will offer more value for money, more reliability and far more expand ability, you just lose portability.

 

With RAM, you won't need any more than 8GB, you could probably get away with as little as 6GB if you're not planning on running multiple games at once or rendering videos. DDR3 is what you want, 1333mhz or above is probably a good idea.

Are you sure? It's really not a lot extra, or is it really just paying for a small increase in power?

Edited August 28, 2013 by Dark Fox

[MLPForums Phanact 1,374]

And like many other people have said, you don't need 16GB of RAM for gaming unless you're going to be recording gameplay footage and doing a lot of video and audio rendering on your laptop. 8GB of RAM at a higher frequency would be better and cheaper.

 

Whatever you do, don't skimp out on the GPU as that's where most of the work takes place with gaming. Try and get a graphics card with 2GB of VRAM if you can.

 

A GTX 765M or higher is what you want to be aiming for if you plan to be going for medium to high settings on a high resolution. Remember that you can and SHOULD overclock your GPU a little bit for a performance boost but keep checking temperatures when you're aiming for the sweet spot.

 

MSI Afterburner is a great tool to use to overclock your GPU and you can disable the overclock whenever you feel like it. Personally though, I prefer to flash my VBIOS to give higher voltages allowing for better overclocks but DO NOT do that unless you're experienced as BIOS flashing can quickly turn sour. (Although unlikely)

Edited August 28, 2013 by Kaz

[Dark Fox 151]

And like many other people have said, you don't need 16GB of RAM for gaming unless you're going to be recording gameplay footage and doing a lot of video and audio rendering on your laptop. 8GB of RAM at a higher frequency would be better and cheaper.

 

Whatever you do, don't skimp out on the GPU as that's where most of the work takes place with gaming. Try and get a graphics card with 2GB of VRAM if you can.

 

A GTX 765M or higher is what you want to be aiming for if you plan to be going for medium to high settings on a high resolution. Remember that you can and SHOULD overclock your GPU a little bit for a performance boost but keep checking temperatures when you're aiming for the sweet spot.

 

MSI Afterburner is a great tool to use to overclock your GPU and you can disable the overclock whenever you feel like it. Personally though, I prefer to flash my VBIOS to give higher voltages allowing for better overclocks but DO NOT do that unless you're experienced as BIOS flashing can quickly turn sour. (Although unlikely)

 

All the custom sites are way over my head haha, I found a simpler site, but the most I can afford is a card like this (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 2GB (Includes PhysX)

 

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadvanquish.asp?id=823809&hide=1

 

This is actually cheaper than the HP laptop I was gonna get, what do you think?

[MLPForums Phanact 1,374]

That's better than any laptop you're gonna buy for that same price. I'd say get the desktop if you don't NEED it to be portable and maybe if you can afford it, bump up the processor to an i5 even if it's a low end one.

[Rayalicious 435]

To start off with the words "laptop" and "gaming" aren't really made to be together. Usually the gamers would you usually prefer gaming desktop,u might encounter some overheating,which ofc reduces the lifespan if the whole thing.Still not bad but don't be so confident about those AMD specially if you plan to put some heavy load on it.

[Milk Wave 454]

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Gamer_Mage_D295

 

Save up $17 bucks over $900 and this could run faster then the other desktop you saw.

 

There's only a few things you got to do when scrolling down. Here's what i'll give you:

 

First things first, go down to the Case and choose the AZZA Armour Gaming Case. When you find it, you can choose between red or blue.

 

Keep scrolling down slowly until you find Processor Cooling, and choose the Corsair Hydro Series H55 Liquid CPU Cooling System. It's a lot better then the standard one that comes with it.

 

Scroll down one more until you find the DDR3-1600 Memory Module. It's already selected for 8GB but there's an option on what manufacturer you can get it from. Look down until you find Corsair Vengeance and click on it.

 

After it, keep scrolling down a ways until you find the power supply. This one is a little hard, but look until you find the AZZA Dynamo 850W Power supply. You really need a lot of watts for this computer to perform really well.

 

--

 

Then you're pretty much done from there ^.^ $917 gaming desktop which runs like a boss. Also, it already had selected the Nvidia GeForce Gtx 650ti as your graphics card so don't worry about it.

 

There is one more thing though, and that's if you want Windows 8 or Windows 7. If you want 7 then scroll down to the bottom and find Software & Accessories. When you click on it, you should be automatically be redirected to the Operating system. Then you can choose between either one from there.

 

Hope this didn't confuse you much, since the website is a little hard to use :3

[Lateon 588]

I'm hi-jacking this thread to ask sum questionz:

 

What exactly is the difference between AMD and intel processors? In the build listed above, it says "8x 3.50Ghz / 8 MB L2 Cache"

 

Now, I don't know if I'm just being a moron here, but I've been conditioned to think that intel > AMD. I'm not sure if this is correct, but I digress. The other things I don't know are these: What does the "8x" mean, and what does the "L2 Cache" mean? I saw that there's an L3 variant, and by the logic of more is better, L3 should do better...right?

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

Intel? Well the only other laptop with Intel available has an HD 4000 card, is that better?

 

Minimum? Are we talking Oblivion in 360p or Skyrim in 720p? Will the 16 Gb Ram help? Or the better processor?

 

No, from what I'm seeing the GPU is just a little weak(of course, I could only look up the better of the two, it may run better if the dual cards bridge and work together), and not that bad, you should be able to get 720p on quite a few new games if use lower settings. I only have a Pentium G2020 with the intergrated HD Graphics and I can get playable FPS in Skyrim on 800x600 and low settings. So you might be able to do medium settings and 720p. 

Edited August 28, 2013 by Shoboni

[Milk Wave 454]

I'm hi-jacking this thread to ask sum questionz:

 

What exactly is the difference between AMD and intel processors? In the build listed above, it says "8x 3.50Ghz / 8 MB L2 Cache"

 

Now, I don't know if I'm just being a moron here, but I've been conditioned to think that intel > AMD. I'm not sure if this is correct, but I digress. The other things I don't know are these: What does the "8x" mean, and what does the "L2 Cache" mean? I saw that there's an L3 variant, and by the logic of more is better, L3 should do better...right?

Forget what L2 Cache is, and it says that it's nearly equal to L3 depending on what you have, but aside from that here's the rundown.

 

Okay, so yes Intel is better then AMD. But if you're looking for being on a budget, it never hurts to stick one of theirs in. The one provided in the desktop build that I did is the AMD FX-8320 or the second best processor in that generation. It can beat out the Intel i3's, some of the i5's and MAYBE a few i7's but it depends on which one you get. Also, the fact that it's $160 dollars is what makes it amazing since the power/price ratio is way better then Intel's.

 

Also, 8x means 8 core processor. That is easily self explanatory for people who partially know it. And the thing about this is the fact that its 8 cores for $160, rather then spending $200 for a 4 core processor. More power for your money, sooo good <3

Edited August 28, 2013 by Baby Sirius

[Lateon 588]

 

 

Also, 8x means 8 core processor.

 

I figured as much, but I wasn't sure, since the last time I checked, anything above 4 cores and essentially you were made of money to get 6 cores or half of them were actual cores and half of them were "virtual" cores...whatever that means. 

[MLPForums Phanact 1,374]

AMD processors are not 8 cores nor can any game take advantage of more than 4 actual cores. Most games can only take advantage of two cores from what I recall with only the newer ones being able to use more.

 

AMD's 8 cores are actually just 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores which I believe is just the same as the i7's hyperthreading but most benchmarks show that mid-high end i5's and higher will absolutely destroy any AMD processor.

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

I figured as much, but I wasn't sure, since the last time I checked, anything above 4 cores and essentially you were made of money to get 6 cores or half of them were actual cores and half of them were "virtual" cores...whatever that means. 

 

Actually, we're reaching a point where even some games need a quad-core to run at full potential and most dual-cores are budget CPUs unless they have a high cock speed.   

[Lateon 588]

most dual-cores are budget CPUs unless they have a high cock speed.   

 

 

 

I guess I need to get with the times. Though, I'm not going to be buying a whole damn computer for myself until after I graduate.

[Rayalicious 435]

 

 

I figured as much, but I wasn't sure, since the last time I checked, anything above 4 cores and essentially you were made of money to get 6 cores or half of them were actual cores and half of them were "virtual" cores...whatever that means

 

At first i was confused as much as you,but here's the deal. There are 4 Physical cores, but 8 Logical cores,and this difference occurs when the processor  has the feature of Hyper-Threading heres a little pic of my Cpu-Z and the task manage in performance you will the difference

 

look 8 cores on task manger 4 on speed fan

[Milk Wave 454]

AMD processors are not 8 cores nor can any game take advantage of more than 4 actual cores. Most games can only take advantage of two cores from what I recall with only the newer ones being able to use more.

 

AMD's 8 cores are actually just 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores which I believe is just the same as the i7's hyperthreading but most benchmarks show that mid-high end i5's and higher will absolutely destroy any AMD processor.

Actually from reading the benchmark tests, the AMD FX-8320 surpasses most of 3rd gen Intel i5's in some things. Gaming was better on the Intel then AMD by a little bit but it's what they're made for: Being budget processors with a lot of power.

So then none of the processors really have 8 cores then, but being Float point cores still is different then hyperthreading.

Anyway, it would still work really well for a desktop and i'd have high hopes for it while working with the GeForce Gtx 650Ti.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Baby Sirius