PC Gaming and General Advice: Halp pls!
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So I`ve been thinking about getting into the world of PC gaming for a while now and I have a few questions and thoughts about my situation.
To start, what I have right now is a laptop that is around 3 years old from time of purchase and the specs are as followed:
Quad-Core Intel® Core™ i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz
7.7 GiB of RAM
Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
First off, is this good or not. Is it time for an upgrade or is what I have decent?
For gaming, I would manly be playing from the steam library and right now I'm looking at the king of fighters games and the falcom ports done by xseed as the first purchases. Many of the heavy titles on PC right now don't catch my eye right now and down the line I don't see myself AAA gaming much.
Another issue I have is that my main OS for the past 4+ years has been Linux and steam support on Linux is........lacking to put it short. I'm looking to move back to windows just for the support on gaming but I don't want to deal with the bloatware and useless shit that made me leave it in the first place. I want to dual boot and have both but I want my windows to be just for steam and everything else for Linux. Should I look into the free download of Windows 10 as a starting point to dual-boot?
So to recap:
Want to start PC Gaming but worried about my specs and moving back to windows. What should I do? Is my system good enough for it? Is there a way so that if I dual-boot with Linux/Windows that my windows partition would be dedicated to steam/gaming? What could/should I do to get windows back on my PC?
Thank You in Advance and for Reading
To start, what I have right now is a laptop that is around 3 years old from time of purchase and the specs are as followed:
Quad-Core Intel® Core™ i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz
7.7 GiB of RAM
Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
First off, is this good or not. Is it time for an upgrade or is what I have decent?
For gaming, I would manly be playing from the steam library and right now I'm looking at the king of fighters games and the falcom ports done by xseed as the first purchases. Many of the heavy titles on PC right now don't catch my eye right now and down the line I don't see myself AAA gaming much.
Another issue I have is that my main OS for the past 4+ years has been Linux and steam support on Linux is........lacking to put it short. I'm looking to move back to windows just for the support on gaming but I don't want to deal with the bloatware and useless shit that made me leave it in the first place. I want to dual boot and have both but I want my windows to be just for steam and everything else for Linux. Should I look into the free download of Windows 10 as a starting point to dual-boot?
So to recap:
Want to start PC Gaming but worried about my specs and moving back to windows. What should I do? Is my system good enough for it? Is there a way so that if I dual-boot with Linux/Windows that my windows partition would be dedicated to steam/gaming? What could/should I do to get windows back on my PC?
Thank You in Advance and for Reading
Are there titles out in the genres you're interested in that you can use to gauge performance? If its an older machine, IGP is for sure something to think about. I simply dont knw enough about the titles you're interested in and how intensive they are. You are most certainly going to have to dual boot though if you get back to gaming.
Are you trying to stick with a laptop if you upgrade, or go the SFF PC route?
Are you trying to stick with a laptop if you upgrade, or go the SFF PC route?
Yes, for this thread!
Specs for my old machine:
M3970AM-HP (Angelica)
*This motherboard accommodates PCI Express x16 graphics cards.*
AMD FX-6100
Radeon HD 7450
Mid-size ATX (case)
Internal 300W (100V-240V)
So, I want to make some small upgrades here and there, mainly just to play some games. I don't need to game at 4k or anything like that.
I've got The Forest and The Long Dark in early access, and am looking forward to X-Com 2 and Overwatch (mainly these two). So, I guess shooters/first person games are the most taxing.
Specs for my old machine:
M3970AM-HP (Angelica)
*This motherboard accommodates PCI Express x16 graphics cards.*
AMD FX-6100
Radeon HD 7450
Mid-size ATX (case)
Internal 300W (100V-240V)
So, I want to make some small upgrades here and there, mainly just to play some games. I don't need to game at 4k or anything like that.
I've got The Forest and The Long Dark in early access, and am looking forward to X-Com 2 and Overwatch (mainly these two). So, I guess shooters/first person games are the most taxing.
By Smokey Go To PostAre there titles out in the genres you're interested in that you can use to gauge performance? If its an older machine, IGP is for sure something to think about. I simply dont knw enough about the titles you're interested in and how intensive they are. You are most certainly going to have to dual boot though if you get back to gaming.
Are you trying to stick with a laptop if you upgrade, or go the SFF PC route?
I could do both but is it possible to hook up a SFF PC to my current laptop to get the same idea of dual-booting (sorry if that doesn't make sense)?
My machine shouldn't be that old for IGP tho. It was bought new 3 years back
The intel graphics cards are generally really really .. average. That will be your main bottle neck.
Otherwise, it's an ok specced laptop.
If you wanted to throw something together cheaply, a normal desktop is the best way to go. I don't know if you could use your laptop monitor though. You'd probably need a stand alone monitor / mouse / keyboard.
As for the dual boot... if you get a separate PC you could just leave windows on that and use your laptop for everything else. Win10 is pretty good. And yeah, the free upgrade is still running. But it's an "upgrade" and from win7/8 only. If you only have a copy of XP you won't get it.
FPS games tend to be pretty heavy on the graphics. and the 7450 apparently rates pretty poorly . It's not even on the Toms Charts anymore.
But run a few benchmarks and check for your self, those charts are very much guidelines not defenitives.
I'm also by no means the most expert user for this stuff. Smokey and a few others have much more experience.
Otherwise, it's an ok specced laptop.
If you wanted to throw something together cheaply, a normal desktop is the best way to go. I don't know if you could use your laptop monitor though. You'd probably need a stand alone monitor / mouse / keyboard.
As for the dual boot... if you get a separate PC you could just leave windows on that and use your laptop for everything else. Win10 is pretty good. And yeah, the free upgrade is still running. But it's an "upgrade" and from win7/8 only. If you only have a copy of XP you won't get it.
By EldritchTrapStar Go To PostYes, for this thread!
I've got The Forest and The Long Dark in early access, and am looking forward to X-Com 2 and Overwatch (mainly these two). So, I guess shooters/first person games are the most taxing.
FPS games tend to be pretty heavy on the graphics. and the 7450 apparently rates pretty poorly . It's not even on the Toms Charts anymore.
But run a few benchmarks and check for your self, those charts are very much guidelines not defenitives.
I'm also by no means the most expert user for this stuff. Smokey and a few others have much more experience.
By giririsss Go To PostThe intel graphics cards are generally really really .. average. That will be your main bottle neck.
Otherwise, it's an ok specced laptop.
If you wanted to throw something together cheaply, a normal desktop is the best way to go. I don't know if you could use your laptop monitor though. You'd probably need a stand alone monitor / mouse / keyboard.
As for the dual boot… if you get a separate PC you could just leave windows on that and use your laptop for everything else. Win10 is pretty good. And yeah, the free upgrade is still running. But it's an "upgrade" and from win7/8 only. If you only have a copy of XP you won't get it.
Damn, so if I stick with my current laptop I gotta spend money on an OS again. :mjcry:
If I do go SFF PC tho it'll hook up to the T.V nicely via HDMI correct?
My estimate budget is around $600-$800. Also I'm in Japan as well so the exchange rate will make it more expensive too on my end.
By MagusKen Go To PostDamn, so if I stick with my current laptop I gotta spend money on an OS again. :mjcry:I'm in AU, the video card alone would be $550 :(
If I do go SFF PC tho it'll hook up to the T.V nicely via HDMI correct?
My estimate budget is around $600-$800. Also I'm in Japan as well so the exchange rate will make it more expensive too on my end.
Yeah, for the most part, all video cards have a HDMI out now days along with DVI. And thats how i plug straight into my TV. But you can usually see the connectors / find a list on the manufacturers website to confirm.
So I decided to make the move back to windows and just upgrade the video card and graphics.
Any cheap places/parts that are a good starting point?
Any cheap places/parts that are a good starting point?
I just bought this Processor from newegg, is it better or worse than other i5s?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372
After getting windows 10 and steam alongwith trying a few games, turns out that my laptop could run a good portion of the games I had interest in.
Only problem with a smalllllll bit of slowdown in King Of Fighters XIII but the gameplay takes no major hits.......till Im at one of the final bosses
Only problem with a smalllllll bit of slowdown in King Of Fighters XIII but the gameplay takes no major hits.......till Im at one of the final bosses
By MagusKen Go To PostAfter getting windows 10 and steam alongwith trying a few games, turns out that my laptop could run a good portion of the games I had interest in.Any sort of hitch while playing a fighting game would kill me.
Only problem with a smalllllll bit of slowdown in King Of Fighters XIII but the gameplay takes no major hits…….till Im at one of the final bosses
By Ragnarok Flames Go To PostAny sort of hitch while playing a fighting game would kill me.
Got the hitch fixed up thanks to changing the settings around and went to windowed fullscreen.
Also got 98 um and 2k2 um scanline mods working
By Ragnarok Flames Go To PostAny sort of hitch while playing a fighting game would kill me.Damn right I would
