Sunday, July 19, 2015

Computer Troubles

It looks like my computer has died on me. There was a pop, the machine shut down, and I could smell the acrid stink of burning electronics. Amusingly, this is probably a common experience for those of us who game on PCs.

I'm trying to write this from my phone. My kingdom for a real keyboard. I don't really write a lot on my phone, so it is an interesting experience. It's actually kind of impressive how much of the load the auto-complete can handle.

In any case, I am trying to decide what I should do next. Should I get another Windows desktop, a Windows laptop, or a Mac laptop. A laptop might be nice, and would certainly take up less space and be more portable. On the other hand, the performance would be worse. As well, most Windows laptops tend to come with a lot of pre-installed junk.

A Mac laptop would be better in that case. However, I am a bit leery of gaming with it. There's Bootcamp, but I am not sure of the point of constantly switching between operating systems.

The default, of course, is another Windows desktop. Best value for money, a proper nVidia graphics card, and it's far easier to customize and get something with just Windows installed.

Suggestions from people who have been computer shopping recently are appreciated. I don't really pay attention to the hardware side of things anymore.

28 comments:

  1. If you are going go the laptop route, check out Clevo /metabox. Good laptops, customisable and minimal pre installed junk.

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    1. I looked up this, but isn't this an Australian outfit? I'm in Canada, so I don't think this will work.

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  2. A pop and an acrid smell, sounds like a capacitor blowing, likely on your MB.

    As far as hardware goes, OSX can do a fair bit of gaming, but we know FFXIV just pulled their Mac client, and plenty of games on Steam don't do OSX either.

    I tend to build my own towers, but most laptops these days are decently beefy. Heck, my Surface Pro (original) is capable of running WoW and raiding, or running Civ V. A more recent model, like the Surface Pro 3, or a (Lenovo I think) Yoga are decent I've heard. Those tend towards ultra portable, though.

    Integrated graphics aren't terrible anymore, and many laptops can come with actual nVidia graphics cards. Desktop replacement laptops are pretty good, still 15 - 20 lbs but just as powerful as any desktop tower.

    Sadly, vendors I'm not great at giving suggestions on. I have a Lenovo Touch Y50, which is sufficiently beefy, but the hardware quality leaves something to be desired (the monitor is staticky because loose cabling, and the hybrid SSD/HDD was slow as a dog, and conked out in a year so needs replacing).

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    1. Well, it's also about being able to play future games. Ideally the machine should last 5 years or so. So I would like to be able to play the games of 2020.

      It's odd, but I trust Apple more than I trust PC manufacturers. I trust Apple to charge me excessive amounts of money, and to be absolutely certain that their way is best, regardless of other options. But they won't install random spyware or "helpful" applications that degrade performance.

      That's why I'm leaning to Apple over the other companies who produce pre-built laptops. A tower custom-built from chosen components would also provide similar assurances.

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  3. I recently bought my second Alienware laptop - had the M14x (which my partner is now happily using; it's 4 years old) and I have the newer 15" model. They're real gaming workhorses. The only issue I have had with the older machine was replacing a failed hard drive - hardly an uncommon problem in a gaming machine. I've noticed that while custom built computers may get better max FPS, the Alienware machines can hold a decent FPS (40-50) under very heavy (ultra etc) graphical settings; the quality of the components and the fact professionals have matched them in the first place gives me peace of mind for a quality gaming experience. I say that as an IT professional myself of some 15 years - I have built computers but don't think it's worth the hassle anymore to save a few £££.

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    1. Alienware, eh? Okay, I'll look into them.

      I have the same opinion on building computers too. It just isn't worth the hassle any more, and it's easier to let the professionals handle it.

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  4. Bummer!

    I bought a 17" Clevo gaming laptop a dozen years ago.. still have it as a linux test server, though the battery is completely buggered. It was a very expensive, incredibly noisy (6 tiny high-pitched fans), and very hot 20lb mistake. Presumably they're better in those regards these days but the last one would make me look very closely at them before buying.

    On the other side of things, my 3 year old 15" MacBook Pro Retina games very nicely at 2880x1800. The current ones undoubtedly even better. With a 3yr warranty, you don't really have to worry so much about hurting it by gaming temperatures. Not as expensive as my Clevo was, but still well beyond that of a DIY PC.

    Haven't looked at DIY PCs for several years so hopefully others can help with that..

    I gave my last PC to my brother and bought the new Mac Pro. It's beautiful, tiny, and whisper quiet under a gaming load. Again though, well above the cost of a DIY PC. The reasons for choosing this over a DIY PC would primarily be OSX, size, and operational silence. Also, though not needed, the 2nd graphics card seems to cause occasional system freezes in Windows whenever CrossfireX is enabled that I've never been able to resolve.. defeating the purpose of the second card for me. But I'd still buy another if this dies in a heartbeat, it's that good.

    Bootcamp isn't that big a deal.. a reboot only takes a few seconds with the new flash drives and you'll probably stay in one or the other most of the time anyway.

    If you don't care so much of the cost, I would get the latest 15" MacBook Pro Retina with the CPU upgrade and Radeon R9 M370X ($3300) if you want a good gaming laptop that you can also use to dabble in Xcode. (Or probably any of the Mac Pro configurations if you want a more sturdy desktop - I got a 6-core D700).

    Otherwise, I think it'd be pretty hard to step wrong in a DIY PC.. the guys at NCIX would probably recommend a functional set of components quite quickly based on your requirements.

    If you get anything with Windows preinstalled, don't think twice about formatting and reinstalling Windows by itself first thing.. I've seen those extra programs cripple a coworker's laptop in strange ways.

    You might also be able to get away with just identifying and replacing the blown capacitors Talarian mentions. Good barrel capacitors have a flat silver cross etched in the top. When they fail, the cross splits open and the innards ooze out so they're not hard to spot. They're also only about $1ea at an electronics shop. Saw my uncle's MB die that way once, but wasn't worth trying to fix it so.. good luck? ;)

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    1. A Mac Pro is an interesting alternative, and one I haven't thought about. Though that CrossfireX issue is a bit worrisome. I would lose the portability though. The trade off would be OS X for extra money and possibly a moderate decrease in performance.

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  5. How about just getting your current hardware repaired? It may not be that costly.
    If don't want that, I'd always suggest a proper Windows tower PC.

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    1. In my experience, if the power supply or motherboard die, they usually take other components with them. In the end, it usually isn't worth trying to figure out exactly what is salvageable.

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  6. Hey Rohan,

    I got a new rig in December and wrote a short post with spec details here. It's the best gaming rig I've ever had by a long way and it has been worth every penny.

    https://thenoisyrogue.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/new-gaming-rig/

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    1. Interesting. It looks like the state of the art for gaming laptops has really advanced since I last looked at buying a machine. Or possibly the desktop has stagnated and laptops are finally catching up.

      I guess this makes the Windows laptop option more appealing, at least if I can find a trustworthy manufacturer.

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    2. Nope, it's a desktop. I seriously researched current laptops as I really prefer to be portable and they just didn't even come close price wise. I think you'd need to spend almost double the money if you want a laptop that has great current specs.

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    3. Oh, I misread your post. Your previous machine was the laptop. I was kind of wondering why you bought a new screen, but figured you just plugged it into the laptop.

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  7. I tend to buy parts and assemble myself, using a mix and match of the stuff suggested by MMO-Champion in their "setup of the month". I find the top-level one to be overkill, so I tend to go with the "3rd level", except for stuff like the monitor, which tends to be longer-lived than the rest and where I go for their top recommendation.
    For a case, I can absolutely recommend Asus Nine Hundred, I have v1, then new v3 looks even better....

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    1. Thanks for the pointer to MMO-Champs builds. I'll check them out. I agree that the edge builds are not worth the money, but the price/performance trade-off is much better just a step or two below that.

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  8. http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-budget-gaming-laptop-so-far/

    love the wirecutter, have bought 2-3 major purchases and 3-4 accessories based on their recommendations and have not been disappointed.

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    1. Thanks for the link! I'll check out that site's recommendations.

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  9. If you like to tweak your system and replace cards and whatnot, a desktop is the best way to go.

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    1. I used to be into this, but lately it's more hassle than it's worth. It's much easier to just upgrade all components at once every 4-5 years, rather that upgrade one component every year or so.

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  10. You may want to try replacing the power supply on that PC, it could have been just that part that went. $50 may make your PC run again, is it worth trying?

    My son's laptop died early this year, and he wanted something he could game with that wouldn't break his bank account too badly. After looking at alternatives, we went with a barebones PC with an i7 + motherboard, and made it a monster. An 8GB Radeon R9 video card, 32GB of RAM, a 120GB SSD for the operating system and a 3TB drive for everything else, his machine should be set for any new games he wants to play. That cost ~$1500, which I thought acceptable for the performance.

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    1. In my experience, a power supply that dies often takes the rest of the system with it. As well, it's most probably the motherboard that died.

      That is a good price/performance trade, and if I get a desktop, it will probably be around that price point, and have similar components.

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  11. I bought the old 17" from M-Tech, but they're in the USA.. duty was something like $600 as I recall. ( http://www.m-techlaptops.com/ShopOnline/pc/M-Tech-M877-most-powerful-laptop-made-90p1209.htm#.Va3X0PnPG5M )

    I bought a 15" gaming laptop sometime later (forgot to mention above) from Eurocom, which is in Ontario so no duty or PST for online orders I think. ( http://www.eurocom.com/ec/productsg%281%29ec )

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    1. Yeah, I'll stick with NCIX. They're my standard company, and I'd rather not play around with shipping and duty costs.

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  12. Hi Rohan,

    Late with this one so you may have already purchased a solution. A couple of suggestions just in case you have not yet committed.

    You seem to have a preference leaning toward Apple hardware from some comments so my advice is to run with that. Disregard games for a minute and see which Macbook/Macbook Pro/iMac covers the rest of your needs best and use that as a starting point. Talk to the sales rep and ask for one that does some mmo gaming on their own Mac. Populate the memory option and if you have cash to burn consider a build to order option of the upgraded graphics card (if your chosen machine has that option). Last Macbook I grabbed for the wife came with an offer to return and refund in full if it did not do what she needed (14 days from memory) as she was on the fence between a new Macbook and the Pro variant.

    The majority of games developers will always go with whatever is mainstream for their clients which is Windows. Regardless of how much improved Mac gaming performance may become under the impending OS X El Capitan's Metal graphics system, too many to count releases will be Windows only to maximise ROI. I find it easiest to run Windows to Go (8.1 performs well) from an external bus powered SSD which is my portable bootcamp Windows gaming drive.

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    1. After thinking about it, I'm probably going to go with a Windows machine. A Mac would be nice, but it's probably better to get a machine optimized for the most common task. In my case, it's going to be gaming, so the optimum is Windows.

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  13. If you are in the market for a Windows laptop, I can recommend MSI. I have one of their lower end gaming laptops (in addition to my desktop) and it is a great machine. Excellent build quality, brand name behind it. The higher end machines can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

    They do an all-in-one gaming PC as well, no idea how that stacks up (and my personal preference is a good old desktop then - being old school)

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into MSI.

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