Spec Question

I've been out of the computer loop for years now and I've been trying to learn all the new terms and specs but there is a lot of info to consume. Anyway, I plan on buying a new computer at the end of the month for two reasons:

1. I hate my netbook.
2. I want to dive into PA once the beta comes out. I am not a gamer and this game will likely be the most intensive thing the computer will ever do.

I'm on a budget and in Korea for at least the next year so a big desktop is out of the question. I have about $1000 to spend. I was thinking of getting a Mac Mini but it doesn't review well for graphics. What else can I look into buying? Samsung is out of the question because in Korea they charge a hilariously expensive premium. Series 7 is a GRAND pricier here. I also need 1TB of HDD space and most laptops seem to have only 320GB.

I know this topic is a little off-topic and that since it's early it's very hard to tell what the minimum specs will be (I did see the little blurb in the FAQ) at this point, but I just want a bit of assistance from the community I expect to be playing with later this year.

THANK YOU! And here is a link to me opening up for Dumbfoundead back in January as a second thanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myL8zhLaA1M

I'll tell you up front, the intersection of <1000$, a laptop, and good at gaming is extremely small if it exists at all. I have an HP Envy 15 which is okay at gaming, and even on sale it wasn't all that cheap. Just a bit of warning. I would honestly recommend building your own desktop, it isn't very hard, and you get a lot more bang for your buck. It's also possible to put together a smaller desktop (look for an ATX mini tower) with solid power. I was given a few parts and with an ATI 7870 (high end GFX card which was a big chunk of the price), I put about 700 in total to get a rig which should last me 2+ years with minor upgrades. If you go for a more modest card like a 7850 or a 6790, you could do a complete computer including peripherals for 800 or 900.


(This may also belong better in Unrelated Discussion)

It's also dependant on what you expect. My gaming machine cost about $500, but then I'm used to running games in minimal graphics mode.

Yeah I'm not looking or expecting to play on max settings. If the minimum for PA winds up looking like it does in the KS trailer that would be totally cool with me.

I'll look up the mini tower, but the fact I'm in Korea will probably make building a desktop a little more tedious. Or not. I dunno. I have to ask around. The problem is if/when I go back to America I'll have a whole big computer to somehow fit in my luggage with all my clothes.

If this should be moved that's cool.

My laptop can only run minecraft in lowest settings on meh draw distance, and League on lowest settings with 30-50 FPS. We obviously have little info about min spec but somehow I doubt laptops will perform well =p

And yeah, mini towers look to be about 40% smaller than a full desktop case. Up to you, though its a risk you'd have to take as far as whether a laptop can run it.

I found a video that playtests several games on the i5 Mini and it looks like I'll be getting an i7 in a couple weeks. Seems that most people complaining about the graphics are playing on stupid high resolutions. I'll get by fine on 1280x720, I think. Maybe one step higher. It won't be the best set-up for PA obviously, but it's probably the best choice I have given my budget and country.

If anyone has any suggestions do post them. I can't possibly be the only one with a spec concern looking to buy a new system. lol

Yeah, if you go with a small screen size, budget/inbuilt/older graphics cards might run just fine actually. I have 1080P monitors on both my laptop and my desktop :lol: Definitely look into a home built PC after you get back from Korea though, prebuilt gaming computers are a ripoff.

Look for this Notebook: MSI GE60-i560M245 (MSI nunmber: 0016GA-SKU6)
It should be really fine for your purposes.

In europe you can get it for about $1000. What does it cost in Korea?

First off, I would wait until the beta is actually close or announced. As usual, PCs get cheaper with time, so no sense buying anything now, since alpha has not even been announced. This will give you time to shop for parts whenever you find a good deal on a sale though. Instead of buying it all at once.

If you like Linux, you could pre-order a Piston PC. You could install Windows later, but that is an additional $100.
It is a bit pricey though at $900, and all hardware is proprietary.
http://xi3.com/buy_now-piston.php

Or you can try and build your own mini PC with mini-ITX form factor. Depending on the case, it might be small enough for a suitcase. Or carry it on the plane.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/min ... ,3369.html

You don't want to pay too much and the first thing you check out is A MAC? Macs are totally overprices and MAC OS isnt exactly a great choice to play game son either.
If your budget is 1000$ that should be enough to get a very nice gaming-desktop, if you build it yourself. Even if you don't build it yourself and instead you let somebody build it for you it should work out pretty well. The hardware in my machine costs not more than 1000$ currently and I can play anything on max settings. So 1000$ is totally fine to get a new computer if it is a self build desktop.

Dunno about Notebooks, but that will probably be harder. If you don't really need a Notebook I would recommend to look out for a korean onlineshop that offers you to configure your own machine and build them for you. Recommended specs are all over the internet. I don't know korean price levels, but 1000$ should be fine.

1920x1200 is the best res for bang for buck at the moment. And also 1200 should be your bare minimum for vertical res at this time.

He does not want to spent a fortune. I own a 7850/2G myself. It's definitely a quite fast card, runs Crysis 3 on maxed settings in full hd for the most part playable. I would expect PA to run fine on it. I don't know if it is the best card in its pricerange currently but it is definitely the price-range he aims for.

if your not buying a top card you may as well go on ebay and buy an older top card. lower variants are not normally the way to go. i've had 8 cards since 2002, one thing I know is the value of lesser variants is less.

I thought it was common knowledge that top cards cost a LOT more to achieve a bit more performance. Thanks to the consoles you can buy a mid-range card and play any game at maxed settings for years to come.

Look the lesser variants always have smaller memory buses (128bit). That is why ebay video cards can be a better option, especially if your talking about 40 nm and under.

Bottom line, If you look at http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ (top result for googling "graphics card benchmarks"), or even http://www.3dmark.com/search, you can see that those cards have quite reasonable performance and would be perfectly fine to use.

Well, I hope that is sarcasm haha.

........you haven't played many Console ports on PC have you? The fact that the current generation of consoles has lasted so long has really dragged down the PC market because most games need to run on hardware that's 5-6 years old(or whatever) and while there are good ports out there, most of the time you need a PC Exclusive or PC-as-the-primary-platform games to really take advantage of the hardware available now.

Mike

Hey, hey, hey, wait a sec.

What about us people who CAN'T AFFORD the latest and the greatest hardware? I'd prefer a game which has stylized but good-looking and good-performing graphics and good gameplay to your latest hyperrealistic shoot all the baddies meh-fest. Screw Crysis, I play TF2!