The computer and electronics super geek thread

[anime52k8]

Budget? Best performance for what? How light? I mean, gaming performance usually means sacrificing on weight, as many "lightweight" gaming laptops are heavier than some of the generic cheapies.

light as in lighter than my current laptop (7lbs without the battery).

running new games on high settings at 1080p and 60fps. also running multiple CS programs at the same time.

haven't figured out a budget yet but hopefully under 2k.

and I'd like to still have a 17 inch screen.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

light as in lighter than my current laptop (7lbs without the battery).

running new games on high settings at 1080p and 60fps. also running multiple CS programs at the same time.

haven't figured out a budget yet but hopefully under 2k.

and I'd like to still have a 17 inch screen.

i've been looking but i haven't found anything worthy to post. but under 2k you can get a nice lappy. looking for something that runs the current of games on high on 1080p 60fps you may not find one that is lighter than 7 pounds... maybe equal or a bit heavier based on the performance you're looking for.

i would recommend getting a lappy with a gpu that's 780m gtx or 680m gtx single or sli that's removable so you can upgrade in the future.

Edited February 27, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

actually here's a list of gaming lappys in all different price points at xoticpc:

http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming-laptops-notebooks-gaming-laptops-ct-118_96_98.html

[anime52k8]

i've been looking but i haven't found anything worthy to post. but under 2k you can get a nice lappy. looking for something that runs the current of games on high on 1080p 60fps you may not find one that is lighter than 7 pounds... maybe equal or a bit heavier based on the performance you're looking for.

i would recommend getting a lappy with a gpu that's 780m gtx or 680m gtx single or sli that's removable so you can upgrade in the future.

Something like this sounds nice actually:

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=10&id=416

I know nothing about graphics cards anymore, is the 765M any good?

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Something like this sounds nice actually:

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=10&id=416

I know nothing about graphics cards anymore, is the 765M any good?

a lot of gpu of card makers often re-badge old cards with newer model numbers and a slight bump in clock speed and you get no real world upgrade but getting ripped off. but sometimes they do make legit redesigns to their cards. To avoid getting ripped off, i always check the mobile gpu list on notebookcheck.net.

here's the info on the 765m as well as benchmarks for games

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-765M.92907.0.html

in the link, looking at the masterlist to the right you can see what class the card is in.

this is the masterlist of all gpu mobile cards i use to compare when ever i'm checking on a GPU's game performance.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

i've seen a notebook with a 765m gtx for 770shipped but i'm not sure it will meet the performance you'd like

here's the link:

http://slickdeals.net/f/6725552-eurocom-shark-2-0-15-6-with-gtx-765m-i5-4200m-8gb-ddr3-matte-1080p-screen-for-740-or-770-w-shipping-no-os

here's a review from the link with games performance benched marked on it to get a sense of what games the 765m can run

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Schenker-XMG-A523-Clevo-W350ST-Notebook.94048.0.html

the gtx765m is a class 2 card.

but for the price of that msi, of 1500 i think you can get a much better spec'd laptop for that money.

Edited February 27, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

Something like this sounds nice actually:

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=10&id=416

I know nothing about graphics cards anymore, is the 765M any good?

Nvidia's marketing is a little... off.

Right now, their cards are numbered XY0 (or XY5), where X is the GPU generation (currently 7) and Y indicates it's performance level. Typically, on desktops, X80 is their expensive flagship performance model, X60 is their mid-range sweet spot, and X50 is budget gaming performance. (Recently X70 has entered the mix, but I'm not really sure why... you can save $150-$200 without giving up too much power by going with an X60, or you can just spend an extra hundred and go all out on an X80, but I digress).

In a fit of marketing or whatever, though, the mobile versions perform more like the next number down on a desktop. So a GTX 760M handles more like a GTX 750 desktop card. And I think it's an important distinction, because a desktop GTX 760M will play most games at 1080p and 60fps, but a 760M probably won't. Reviews I've read where the reviewer is actually using the computer and not simply running benchmarks suggest a 765M will play most games at 1080p on High (but not Ultra) around 40fps.

For what it's worth, I have a very similar laptop. Same case, minus the backlit keyboard. It's thinner and lighter than my previous Asus RoG series, but it's kind of average sized compared to most laptops. While David makes a point that you can get more computer for your money, they tend to be the big tank gaming-style ones. Honestly, I don't think that's a bad price for a "thin" gaming laptop. I paid $1200 for mine, and mine has an older i7, no backlit keyboard, no blu-ray, and a GTX 660M.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Honestly, I don't think that's a bad price for a "thin" gaming laptop. I paid $1200 for mine, and mine has an older i7, no backlit keyboard, no blu-ray, and a GTX 660M.

i would save 700 and get the one i linked for 770. with the same card. and use that saved 700 to buy an Os and the rest for some macross toys

Edited February 28, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[mikeszekely]

i would save 700 and get the one i linked for 770. with the same card. and use that saved 700 to buy an Os and the rest for some macross toys

Well, like you said, that price doesn't include an OS, plus it's got half the RAM, half the hard drive, and looks about 30% thicker. That doesn't make it an invalid choice, just pointing out that the MSI isn't a bad price for what it has.

Me personally, I went with a thinner lappy because it was a pain lugging my Asus RoG series to China and back. And I haven't gone back to China since I bought. In hindsight, I actually have traveled so infrequently that I should have either spent more on the GPU and less on "thin", or simply not bought it at all since I do 99.99% of my PC gaming on my much more powerful desktop.

[anime52k8]

I haven't had a place for a dedicated desktop setup in years. Ever since I got out of high school I've been using a laptop as my primary computer. I also carry my laptop to school in a backpack so that's why I value light weight. (But I'm graduating soon and I got my laptop fixed so it's kind of a moot point).

[VF-19]

You know what I really, really hate about laptops? Putting away the power cables, and then forgetting where the heck I put them.

[myk]

You know what I really, really hate about laptops? Putting away the power cables, and then forgetting where the heck I put them.

I don't know about you guys, but my laptop has about an hour and a half before it dies; the power BRICK and the cord are never too far from me...

[VF-19]

Stupid thing is I put them away to clean house. Now I can't remember where I put them, and, quite frankly, it's driving me rather nuts. Luckily, eBay has replacements for cheap.

[mikeszekely]

I haven't had a place for a dedicated desktop setup in years. Ever since I got out of high school I've been using a laptop as my primary computer. I also carry my laptop to school in a backpack so that's why I value light weight. (But I'm graduating soon and I got my laptop fixed so it's kind of a moot point).

What'd you end up doing to fix it?

For what it's worth, I'm not saying that laptops are a waste of money and that desktops are better. I'm saying that my laptop was a waste of money and that my desktop is better.

In any case, if I had the money to buy a gaming laptop today and hadn't bought that MSI last year, I'd probably spring for a Maingear Pulse 17. Slightly thinner than a Razer Blade Pro, 6 pounds, same CPU and GPU as the MSI you were looking at (and the same GPU as the one in the Razer Blade), 16GB of RAM, 256MB SSD plus a 1TB regular hard drive, plus they throw in a T-shirt and an Asus external DVD drive (you can pay more to upgrade to Blu-ray, if you want). Right now they're throwing in Splinter Cell: Black List and Assassin's Creed IV, too. $2099.

Edited March 1, 2014 by mikeszekely

[anime52k8]

I called HP a second time and it turns out the first guy I talked to was an idiot and the laptop was still under warranty, so they sent me a replacement drive with the os and all the drivers pre-installed for free.

[CrusherJ]

@ CrusherJ, Tomshardware.com forum has a similar section for desktop builds and lots of info/review on components, but everyone here has a lot of knowledge/information as well.

Thanks for the tip Smiley424! I'll post over there and see what additional advice I get.

(not sure what happened with the quote box, ah well)

Edited March 3, 2014 by CrusherJ

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

new nvidia titan z

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2014/03/25/titan-z/

"Built around two Kepler GPUs and 12GB of dedicated frame buffer memory, TITAN Z is engineered for next-generation 5K and multi-monitor gaming.

With two GK110 chips, TITAN Z is powered by a total of 5,760 processing cores, or 2,880 cores per GPU."

priced at a competitive

2999.00

Edited March 25, 2014 by davidwhangchoi

[Archer]

Looking for a gaming laptop that will be able to max or near max games for the next few (2) years. That being said, I don't really want to break the bank. Any suggestions?

Don't mind aesthetics too much, since I'm going for power/money, nothing else.

Edit: By max, I mean ultra settings in 1080p or even 900p if it comes to it

Edited April 13, 2014 by Archer

[myk]

Give the Toshiba Qosmio series a look. They don't have the appeal of Dell's Alienware lineup, but then again they don't have their pricetag either...

[azrael]

That being said, I don't really want to break the bank. Any suggestions?

Do you have a maximum limit on how much you want to spend?

[myk]

Do you have a maximum limit on how much you want to spend?

Yup. Knowing how much you have to spend will narrow the selection very quickly...

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Looking for a gaming laptop that will be able to max or near max games for the next few (2) years. That being said, I don't really want to break the bank. Any suggestions?

Don't mind aesthetics too much, since I'm going for power/money, nothing else.

Edit: By max, I mean ultra settings in 1080p or even 900p if it comes to it

that's sorta hard. it sounds like a 2k laptop.

[Nekko Basara]

Please don't let me derail the laptop discussion, but I wanted to drop something in here in the hope that it might amuse some folks. This is my desktop, rebuilt around Christmas time.

All of my primary rigs have been named "Blue Max" as a double-reference to my favorite Macross character and my love of WW1 aviation. This time I decided to decorate the case to fit the name.

There are a few more pics in the gallery if you are interested. Sorry for the image quality!

P.S. As far as the parts, it's not that exciting.

CPU: i5-3570K (~4.1 GHz using a Xigmatek Dark Knight)

RAM: 8GB Team Extreem DDR3-2400 (10-12-12-31)

MoBo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4

SSD/HDD: 240GB Samsung 830 / 1TB WD-Green of some sort

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon 6850 (badly in need of upgrade)

[Knight26]

It looks like my old ASUS G60 has finally bit the dust. I went on an overnight trip where it came on in bag and I think that might have overheated it. I can't get it to load up windows, but it will come up in safe mode, nothing I do seems to help. So I think I might have finally cooked the already overtaxed video card, ugh... The hard drive at least appears intact, and I have not yet had a chance to open it up yet and look inside. I even tried the AVG rescue CD, which has worked in the past, but that did nothing for it this time.

Anyway I am looking to replace it and am thinking the Asus G750, but I have a price limit so am looking at the lower cost option for it, likely last years model. I really like the hardware and cooling options on it. I have had too many laptops overheat on me so I am all over the G seris dual fan and exhaust design.

[myk]

If the video card was dead wouldn't the display be equally dead?

[Knight26]

I have some time to shop around for my replacement Laptop, what do people think of Sagers in general, good, bad?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I have some time to shop around for my replacement Laptop, what do people think of Sagers in general, good, bad?

Not too long ago I sprung for the Sager NP8275 / Clevo P170SM, and I can't find a thing to complain about it. While I was shopping around I saw that the Sagers had great prices compared to other equally spec'ed gaming laptops. In the end, my choice boiled down to a MSI or Sager.

[azrael]

It looks like my old ASUS G60 has finally bit the dust. I went on an overnight trip where it came on in bag and I think that might have overheated it. I can't get it to load up windows, but it will come up in safe mode, nothing I do seems to help. So I think I might have finally cooked the already overtaxed video card, ugh... The hard drive at least appears intact, and I have not yet had a chance to open it up yet and look inside. I even tried the AVG rescue CD, which has worked in the past, but that did nothing for it this time.

If the video card was dead wouldn't the display be equally dead?

Sorry, it's been a busy week. I'm gonna back myk on this. If the vid card on the laptop is dead, you would get no video. Period. Not even in safe-mode. Neither the laptop display or an external monitor would show anything. Unless the laptop has a 2nd GPU (like Intel integrated graphics). But the laptop sounds like it's headed for computer heaven so I'll stop.

Anyway I am looking to replace it and am thinking the Asus G750, but I have a price limit so am looking at the lower cost option for it, likely last years model. I really like the hardware and cooling options on it. I have had too many laptops overheat on me so I am all over the G seris dual fan and exhaust design.

Which G750? JM, JZ, or JS? Now, how much are you willing to spend if you have a limit, i.e., (like we ask everyone);

What's your budget?

[Chewie]

Anyone in the market for an Ultrabook?

I have a NIB(read unopened) Dell XPS12 flip that I am really considering letting go off because I have zero use for it. I know a lot of you are into gaming rigs, hence why I don't need it, but I figured I'd ask here before CL or Evilbay. It's the same stats, if not the same model, as this one.

If anything I'll drop it over in the FS section, just asking if anyone was really interested. Sorry.


Back on topic, about to buy my new mobo; Asus Maximus VI Formula and go all liquid cooling on my system. Easier said than done though because hopping into LC has made me want to change my case and add a plate to my 780. Being a fan of ASUS and all the custom rigs they post about on FB, it makes it harder and harder to just go with something simple.

Anyone else run liquid on both mobo and GPU?? What kits do you have?

Anyway I am looking to replace it and am thinking the Asus G750, but I have a price limit so am looking at the lower cost option for it, likely last years model. I really like the hardware and cooling options on it. I have had too many laptops overheat on me so I am all over the G seris dual fan and exhaust design.

Make sure you are careful when looking at the G750 at a brick and mortar, especially at places like Best Buy. A lot of places are trying to unload last seasons model, and there isn't much in the way of labeling in most stores who carry it. Makes it very easy to get confused and end up paying the same price for the old one.

[Knight26]

Well I have figured out what replacement I am going to get. A Sager NP8278. It is equipped and cooled in a similar way to the lower end G750 and is about $100 cheaper. I have a limited budget. I am happy with the choice, should be under $1200 out the door since Xotic doesn't charge tax or shipping. BUt since I live in Cali, I will have to wait a little longer for shipping, no biggie. At least I won't have to give this craphole state any money for it.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Knight26

[VF-19]

Built me a (mostly) new PC.

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero

CPU: Intel Core I7-4770K

However I have one puzzling problem. My motherboard refuses to now recognize my 3TB Seagate. When I first built it this morning, the computer booted up fine, and saw all the drives. Now, it stops on boot, giving me the code A2 (but not progressing beyond it), telling me that it's hung on drive detection.

I've already updated my BIOS, and reset my BIOS (just in case it was my own fault) and troubleshooting has shown that the drive can be read in windows (either by plugging it in via a USB enclosure, or setting my SATA ports to hot swap in BIOS). Moving the drive around on a combination of SATA ports and power lines has resulted in no change. However, if I grab one of my older SATA hard drives (a 320GB Seagate in this case), and plug it into the same port, then it will boot properly.

Any ideas why the BIOS would suddenly decide not to boot with that particular drive attached? Google was... less than helpful.

[technoblue]

Please don't let me derail the laptop discussion, but I wanted to drop something in here in the hope that it might amuse some folks. This is my desktop, rebuilt around Christmas time.

All of my primary rigs have been named "Blue Max" as a double-reference to my favorite Macross character and my love of WW1 aviation. This time I decided to decorate the case to fit the name.

<snip>

Impressive. And I like how you incorporated Max's color scheme, NB! Most of those components are still decent today. If you are able to get a better GPU, you should be good for a while yet.

[azrael]

However I have one puzzling problem. My motherboard refuses to now recognize my 3TB Seagate. When I first built it this morning, the computer booted up fine, and saw all the drives. Now, it stops on boot, giving me the code A2 (but not progressing beyond it), telling me that it's hung on drive detection.

I've already updated my BIOS, and reset my BIOS (just in case it was my own fault) and troubleshooting has shown that the drive can be read in windows (either by plugging it in via a USB enclosure, or setting my SATA ports to hot swap in BIOS). Moving the drive around on a combination of SATA ports and power lines has resulted in no change. However, if I grab one of my older SATA hard drives (a 320GB Seagate in this case), and plug it into the same port, then it will boot properly.

Likely problem is your SATA controller cannot read drives larger than 2.xx TB. You'll have to get a PCIe SATA controller card and plug it in that way (It's like or is a RAID card). Make sure it's a newer SATA-compliant card.

[mikeszekely]

Likely problem is your SATA controller cannot read drives larger than 2.xx TB. You'll have to get a PCIe SATA controller card and plug it in that way (It's like or is a RAID card). Make sure it's a newer SATA-compliant card.

That'd be my guess.

Another solution, and one I highly recommend if you were planning to boot from a 3TB drive, is to instead use that drive for storage and install Windows on a much faster SSD. 120GB is enough for Windows 7 and most of your non-game software, and one of the nice things about Windows 7's libraries is that you can set a default location for pictures, videos, downloads, music, and even documents as folders on the 3TB drive. I use setups like that (a120GB SSD for Windows, a 1TB WD Black for my games, and a 3TB drive for storage on my desktop, and a 128GB SSD for Windows with a 1TB drive for games and storage on my laptop), and the boost you get in performance, especially boot time, is worth it.

[VF-19]

Right now, mikeszekely, that is exactly how I have the computer setup. One SSD for boot, and the 3TB for storage/games/whatever. I will definately try out a SATA controller, but the behaviour of the computer is still very puzzling.

Upon initial assembly, I had no problems booting with all the drives attached. Two or three boots later, the BIOS (same one, I patched it after the problems started to appear), the 3TB refuses to be recognized on boot. If I make the SATA port hot swappable, then I can plug the drive in after boot, and see the full size, and everything that's in it.

The thing is, this is an Intel Z87 chipset motherboard, and as far as google can tell me, nobody has had a problem like I had. I'm almost tempted to replace the board to see what will happen.

Oh, and I did find my laptop power brick... After I ordered one on eBay. Luckily, it was only $15.

[technoblue]

Hi, VF-19!

I hesitate to say that yours is a motherboard issue since you said that the configuration worked on your first boot.

Have you tried removing the SSD from the equation to see if the BIOS recognizes the HDD by itself? I have read that the Z87 chipset can get funky with SSDs that use Sandforce controllers. I'm not sure what model your SSD is, or what controller it uses, but it is something to keep in mind while troubleshooting.

Also, since you tried another, smaller HDD that worked okay, do you have access to another 3.0TB+ hard drive that you can try with your motherboard? And just for giggles, I would try the HDD with the Asmedia SATA controller instead of the Intel SATA controller in case you haven't already done that.

Setting all the SATA ports to a hotswap configuration should not be necessary for a BIOS ID. That's confuising. What are the other SATA settings in your BIOS? And do you have a special boot order specified that could be leaving the HDD off the list?

Edited April 24, 2014 by technoblue