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Looking for PC gurus


Rikiu

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I've never really been a huge PC gamer and only use my laptop to play a few games. It has never had great performance even with low graphics settings but its done ok. More recently my laptop has started to struggle to the point of overheating and rebooting randomly. At this point I have to change something and I'm looking for advice as I've very little knowledge on PCs.

 

As I said I don't care about running the game on high settings (low is fine) I just want a stable, smooth experience that doesn't reboot randomly. My laptop only has 3GB memory and uses about 1.3 of that just through Windows 7 so I know I'm short of memory to run SWTOR. Question is, would a simple ram upgrade be sufficient (I'm using 64 bit OS) or should I go for a tower; in which case what's the cheapest options available bearing in mind I'm happy with low settings just a smooth, stable experience.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

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I dont think upgrading your laptop's ram would be sufficient. sadly laptops allow for very little wiggle room when upgrading and I think it might be more gpu/cpu related instead of memory. Honestly though, if you see yourself playing PC games for awhile, I suggest investing in a desktop. If you build it yourself (building a computer is no where near as hard as it sounds), you can make one pretty cheap that will run most games on high/ultra.
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I dont think upgrading your laptop's ram would be sufficient. sadly laptops allow for very little wiggle room when upgrading and I think it might be more gpu/cpu related instead of memory. Honestly though, if you see yourself playing PC games for awhile, I suggest investing in a desktop. If you build it yourself (building a computer is no where near as hard as it sounds), you can make one pretty cheap that will run most games on high/ultra.

 

http://thenewboston.org/list.php?cat=24

There ya go man. And I would suggest, if you're short on cash, go with an amd processor. They cost way less, but I have had both amd and Intel systems and never encountered a problem. If you've got cash to burn, however, then go with an Intel core i7. Intel CPUs generally perform better on benchmarks than amd. Watch the tutorial videos at the link above and you'll see that building a PC is really quite simple. And will run you about 500 bucks, as compared to an equivalent, prebuilt system that will run you about double.

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I just got a new desktop from Cyber Power PC and although I have always been hard and fast about building my own computer, that would be my suggestion. Even with bargain basement type sites for hard ware I couldn't have built this computer for the price I got it for. From what I understand another good site is I Buy Power, but I have never bought anything from them myself. Both offer good prebuilt desktops for under $500, and from what I have seen anything on those sites will run swtor at its default graphics levels or high with no problem.
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First and cheapest thing to check is whether you've built up too much dust, cat hair, or whatever inside the machine. Start with the fan inlet/outlet vents, then go to maybe opening up some of the access panels on the bottom and see if you need to clean off the radiator(s) for your CPU and/or GPU heatsinks.

 

Some years ago, my old laptop was having the exact issue you're describing, and cleaning it out worked wonders.

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I just got a new desktop from Cyber Power PC and although I have always been hard and fast about building my own computer, that would be my suggestion. Even with bargain basement type sites for hard ware I couldn't have built this computer for the price I got it for. From what I understand another good site is I Buy Power, but I have never bought anything from them myself. Both offer good prebuilt desktops for under $500, and from what I have seen anything on those sites will run swtor at its default graphics levels or high with no problem.

 

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/hemera-custom-gaming-pc-p-99.html

 

Would something like that run it ok? Again, I'm not too bothered about top settings graphics just a smooth experience.

 

First and cheapest thing to check is whether you've built up too much dust, cat hair, or whatever inside the machine. Start with the fan inlet/outlet vents, then go to maybe opening up some of the access panels on the bottom and see if you need to clean off the radiator(s) for your CPU and/or GPU heatsinks.

 

Some years ago, my old laptop was having the exact issue you're describing, and cleaning it out worked wonders.

 

I'll give it a look but the laptops very cool for all other purposes and older games so I think I need to bite the bullet and get a desktop.

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Laptops in general are not designed for taking apart like desktop machines are and infact if its under warranty you could invalidate by doing so if it has a seal, so take caution there. Yes you can get Ram upgrades for Laptops but quite expensive compared to desktop RAM.

 

You will get more bang for your buck with desktop without doubt. Laptops for convienence Desktops for sustained performance and upgradability. Yes there are powerful Laptops out there but expensive compared to a equal Desktop.

 

Don't forget that laptops reduce their processing power as the battery reduces power, so in that sense unless you using from the mains it's performance will lessen as you continue to use it on battery.

 

Building a PC is not as daunting as it sounds as it quite straightforward.

 

1st decide what processor you want the best you can afford really. I-7's the best at the moment but most expensive. Processors will come with there own fan and heatsink assemblies and you will need thermal crease for the contact between the fan assembly and the processor die surface otherwise heat will not dissipate correctly from the processor.

 

 

2nd Once you know your processor get a motherboard that has the correct slot/socket for it

Most standard ATX motherboard can take up to at least 16MB RAM usually in 3/4 slots. ASUS or Gigabyte main

ones. Most new ones will have SATA 6GB drive sockets RAID abilities and at least 1 PCIE2 slot for your

graphics card. You can even go ATI cross fire or Nvidia SLI with two cards if you want to go mad, but one is

enough for most but the hard core gamers. Most will have onboard sound processors aswell.

 

3rd. Ensure you get a case assembly that matches the form factor off the motherbaord you have chosen, ATX most common but it is large (As a guide twice the size of your desktop in work). Consider how many ext drive bays you want for DVD players and internal 3.5 bays for your hard drives.

 

4th Consider what graphics PCIE2 card you want ensure its direct x 11 as that is most up to date interface with windows. Go for one with 2Gb graphics memory, they should all have HDMI or DVI sockets for connection to monitors. ATI and Nvidia are by far the most common.

 

5th. The max power you need for your power supply (PSU) will depend on how much power your graphics card needs and very important you get one that has enough power for that. The graphics card takes most power so once you have enough for that you have enough for everything else. Ensure its a good 80+ Efficency model. Corsair usually reliable. To cut down on wire clutter get a moddable one.

 

Building one is a case of slotting the processor into the motherboard (it will only slot in one way) putting thermal crease on the dire surface attaching the fan assembly inserting the Motherbaord into the case slotting in your RAM and graphics card inserting your hard drives and DVD player into the bays attaching the data cables between them and the Motherboard inserting the PSU attaching the power cables, plugging in the power and reset button and led lights wires from the font of the case to the Motherboard. Tidy the cables as much as you can place the case cover your done ready for windows install (Go for win7 64bit).

 

:)

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I forgot to mention also ensure that the RAM DDR3 sticks you get are all of the same type (frequency, Latency and size) get the same modal is the best, check your motherboard documentation for the types your Motherboard supports. ;)
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One thing at a time :

 

A) Your laptop : is probably overheating due to the fan been clogged with dust or not operating properly. A good cleanup could help things some. Overheat and sudden restart is a common issue with older laptop that have accumulated dust over time (inside).

 

B) That said there is little you can do to it to make it run the game better. Even upgrading memory (expensive) won't make it run much better. So if the cleanup gets rid of the overheat and reboots, and you are happy at that performance, then don't waste much money on that.

 

C) Unlike other game, while the video card is always important, this game also depends a lot on CPU, memory and disk as well. On my older machine, my cpu would hit 90%+ a lot. Also, my slow hard disk makes the load screens take longer. You also want to have at least 4Gb of ram available to the game, so you want to look at 6 to 8Gb ram.

 

Note that the machine linked previously (UK link), while ok priced, does NOT include the OS and needs more ram. So consider the extra expenses when looking at a cheap machine. The difference in cost between 4GB and 8GB ram should be minimal.

 

I also support the desktop solution. Easier to upgrade with time and can be made to run cooler than any laptop. I am more familiar with Intel chips, so I would say an economy rig would have a Core I5, 8GB ram and you should be ok to run. If money allows, a core I7 would be better of course. An AMD rig would run fine, I just don't know their processor line so don't know the equivalent cpu models.

 

Last : those long delays on load screens come from disk access. An SSD drive can help those a lot. SSDs are coming down in price quite a bit, so if you have a chance to get one, it will directly improve load times.

 

Didn't even mention a video card, did I? ;-)

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Thanks for the info. I'd already factored in the OS and I'll need to fork out for a network card too but that's pretty cheap. I'll upgrade the RAM then as well and, as you said, I can easily upgrade as the years go on, but for right now I'm happy with decent performance compared to my current several minute load screens choopy fps etc :)
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One more thing : even on the desktop with the cpu, video and all that heat can be an issue, so make sure it has good fans or add fans. It is easy to do. You want cross ventilation, air going in on the front and been pushed out the back. so you form a breeze inside the box. Specially with large video cards, they can "split" the case in two and air might not get around them so well. A few dollars/pounds spent on a fan or two can go a long way.
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