Gaming PC/Laptop Questions

Ares

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I'll probably drop like $500 on a PS 4 and some games before Christmas. Then after the new year I'll look to saving up. I have no idea what I'll be looking for though. I'll probably need to post some things and just be like "Is this good or nah? Cause computer parts hurt my brain."

You may wanna get some help on your gaming rig build if you have never done it before.... any of us can help you pick the parts out but putting a PC together the first time can be a challenge.... its easy once you have done it all once... but that goes for tying your shoes too.
 

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You may wanna get some help on your gaming rig build if you have never done it before.... any of us can help you pick the parts out but putting a PC together the first time can be a challenge.... its easy once you have done it all once... but that goes for tying your shoes too.

I have duct tape and super glue. Piece o cake.
 

Crystallas

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While it is still super easy, yeah, get help. I still have a loads of tricks up my sleeve that I don't share(and you can't find online). But that doesn't mean you need to be super experienced to put a build together.

If you decide to do it, and you know what OS you're going to use, one thing you can do between the time you order the parts and when they're all delivered, is get your ISO ready(as a backup recovery disc/usb as well).
The drivers, the patches and updates, the software you want to use out of the box. A few tools exist that help do it. I have made a super version of windows, stemming back to 95a(3.1x and earlier really didn't need it). And they have all come in handy over the years for me, because I still use some of them as virtual machines, as they destroy the original installs that you find online.

Super advanced: Windows 8.1+ all patches, strip old and legacy regs that wont be used(if it's an old plug-in-play device, windows update will autoinstall it back anyways off the cloud). All codecs for video, all newest runtimes, strip out all fonts, except the majors(Arial, Calibri, Roman, Fixedsys, Impact, Verona, Tahoma, Terminal, Verdana, Symbol, Wingdings) and few others you might like, but these are the ones to keep for max layout compatibility(and you can delete calibri if you don't use newer MS office).
Remove all driver sys and infs other than the ones you need(IIRC there might be a tool for this). Strip out all MS programs that you wont use, including all dependencies and services. Get rid of shell based addons, like out of the box file compression and notepad, install winrar or 7zip, notepad++. Delete all Internet explorer dependencies, use an alternative file explorer(I use Directory Opus), Install Classic Shell. Strip out Windows Live and Multimedia services, replace those with Media Player Classic(unless you use WMP based services). Find a cracked version of ACDSee 2.43-3.1(Yes it's old, but wow, it's fast and still renders all image files, except 2009 transparent PNG correctly and faster than anything else, including a ton of image browsers that claim to be faster).

And there you go, Windows 8.1(7, XP, even when 10 comes out) running smooth, stable, fast, and secure to the point that even a 2 year old-computer will smoke it's modern counterpart with default installation. It also makes troubleshooting all that much easier, because you eliminate more conflicts.

BTW, my Windows 8.1 custom image is only 482mb, compared to the MS bloatware 4gig
 

brett05

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Just a note, ever since Dell bought out Alienware, the quality has dropped tremendously if you are considering going that route.
 

clonetrooper264

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While it is still super easy, yeah, get help. I still have a loads of tricks up my sleeve that I don't share(and you can't find online). But that doesn't mean you need to be super experienced to put a build together.

If you decide to do it, and you know what OS you're going to use, one thing you can do between the time you order the parts and when they're all delivered, is get your ISO ready(as a backup recovery disc/usb as well).
The drivers, the patches and updates, the software you want to use out of the box. A few tools exist that help do it. I have made a super version of windows, stemming back to 95a(3.1x and earlier really didn't need it). And they have all come in handy over the years for me, because I still use some of them as virtual machines, as they destroy the original installs that you find online.

Super advanced: Windows 8.1+ all patches, strip old and legacy regs that wont be used(if it's an old plug-in-play device, windows update will autoinstall it back anyways off the cloud). All codecs for video, all newest runtimes, strip out all fonts, except the majors(Arial, Calibri, Roman, Fixedsys, Impact, Verona, Tahoma, Terminal, Verdana, Symbol, Wingdings) and few others you might like, but these are the ones to keep for max layout compatibility(and you can delete calibri if you don't use newer MS office).
Remove all driver sys and infs other than the ones you need(IIRC there might be a tool for this). Strip out all MS programs that you wont use, including all dependencies and services. Get rid of shell based addons, like out of the box file compression and notepad, install winrar or 7zip, notepad++. Delete all Internet explorer dependencies, use an alternative file explorer(I use Directory Opus), Install Classic Shell. Strip out Windows Live and Multimedia services, replace those with Media Player Classic(unless you use WMP based services). Find a cracked version of ACDSee 2.43-3.1(Yes it's old, but wow, it's fast and still renders all image files, except 2009 transparent PNG correctly and faster than anything else, including a ton of image browsers that claim to be faster).

And there you go, Windows 8.1(7, XP, even when 10 comes out) running smooth, stable, fast, and secure to the point that even a 2 year old-computer will smoke it's modern counterpart with default installation. It also makes troubleshooting all that much easier, because you eliminate more conflicts.

BTW, my Windows 8.1 custom image is only 482mb, compared to the MS bloatware 4gig
Removed 3.5 gigs of bloat...holy crap
 

Crystallas

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Just a note, ever since Dell bought out Alienware, the quality has dropped tremendously if you are considering going that route.

Alienware quality was bad long before Dell.
 

Crystallas

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Removed 3.5 gigs of bloat...holy crap

Yep. But I wind up with something that looks super stripped down. IDGAF because it's ultra fast, responsive, stable, and to me, the OS doesn't need to look great, it just needs to work great.

Ugh, 4k monitor, I needed to resize this, because even a supercompressed jpeg was over 1mb.

View attachment 1887




Or crop the key method of organization.


View attachment 1888


And of course, after decompression and installation + 15 months of installing more crap. Here is what it looks like.

View attachment 1889

Still super fast. :)
 
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Crystallas

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My former co-worker must have gotten lucky. He got one a few months before the buyout and it is so amazing.

:yep:

They had a few peaches here and there. They still do now. Always overpriced.
 

clonetrooper264

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My favorite teams
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  1. Chicago Bulls
  2. Golden State Warriors
  1. Chicago Bears
  1. Chicago Blackhawks
Yep. But I wind up with something that looks super stripped down. IDGAF because it's ultra fast, responsive, stable, and to me, the OS doesn't need to look great, it just needs to work great.

Ugh, 4k monitor, I needed to resize this, because even a supercompressed jpeg was over 1mb.

View attachment 1887




Or crop the key method of organization.


View attachment 1888
Yeah I see what you mean. I did notice that my linux partition always ran a ton faster than my windows one, probably because it just has less crap in it. My laptop does run at a pretty good speed right now though, even with the standard windows 8 bloat. My old one though could not delete enough stuff...:smh:
 

Crystallas

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Yeah I see what you mean. I did notice that my linux partition always ran a ton faster than my windows one, probably because it just has less crap in it. My laptop does run at a pretty good speed right now though, even with the standard windows 8 bloat. My old one though could not delete enough stuff...:smh:

View attachment 1889

OOC What does your Windows folder look like?

Mine is after decompression and a year+ of installing other things. When I say 482mb for the installation, I mean the ISO, not what shows after the decompression.
 

clonetrooper264

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View attachment 1889

OOC What does your Windows folder look like?

Mine is after decompression and a year+ of installing other things. When I say 482mb for the installation, I mean the ISO, not what shows after the decompression.
Well I suppose I can't tell you till I get home, but I imagine it has far more than that since I didn't really uninstall much when I got it.
 

Ares

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:yep:

They had a few peaches here and there. They still do now. Always overpriced.

IMO this is more of the issue than anything when it comes to companies who build for you like Alienware.

I am not sure how Alienware works, but I once tried to see if I could replace the mobo on my friend's DELL in college and found dat shit wasn't happening.

I would rather have stuff I can upgrade or replace parts in if necessary.

Alienware will rape thy wallet
 

Crystallas

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I am not sure how Alienware works, but I once tried to see if I could replace the mobo on my friend's DELL in college and found dat shit wasn't happening.

Was it not ATX or an ATX/BTX derived form-factor? Dells still use ATX/BTX form-factors. You just might be stuck with microatx or even ITX options.
 

botfly10

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Have to disagree about getting an i7. Unless you're going to be doing video editing or some other processor-intensive tasks, you're better off getting a good i5 processor and using the savings on a better video card. A good processor and a great video card is going to net you more functional gaming performance than a great processor and a good video card, every day of the week.

Depends on the games you play. But yeah, dropping from i7 to i5 is a great corner to cut that wont hurt you in the majority of games.
 

botfly10

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I tried to run some games on my regular PC and it's terrible. I turned graphics to the minimal and it was still so choppy it was unplayable.

What I'm getting from Crys, is to maybe invest in a PS4 (or whatever console) and wait on investing in a PC for maybe a year or so.

No dude. no, no, no. If you can't afford a PC get a console.

If you can afford getting a PC and you want one, get one. Never ever let the tech that is a year or two down the road stop you. Thats just nonsense. That cycle never ever ends. Unless you are talking about waiting 2 months for a new gen of hardware to come out, the waiting game is just a never ending hole.

If you build a PC right now it will be fine for a very long time.

If you wait 2 years, you will build a PC that will be fine for a very long time. But it will not be cheaper. Only difference is you will go 2 years without a gaming PC.
 

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