Gaming Rig

[tonyandmargaret]

It appears that it's not recognising that this screen is bigger. Any ideas as to how I could make it realise that's the screen is a different size?

EDIT: Thanks to @shaxberd it appears to be sorted now

[D0n M4730]

As you guys know, the main reason for me being unable to continue racing is that my current laptop won't run SCE satisfactorily, meaning that I'll need to upgrade it in order to return. Although I might not upgrade just yet, I have started looking around to see what I could get and how much it would cost, and one thing I have realised is that I don't really know what's good and what isn't or how much better than what I've already got it is, so I'm hoping you guys can help. My current system is as follows:

Processor: AMD A6-3420M (1.5 GHz quad core)
Graphics: Radeon HD 6520G (integrated)
RAM: 6GB
Hard Drive: 500GB

In terms of a replacement, I'm probably going to go with another laptop, and although I haven't really defined a budget yet I probably want to stick to less than €700 (about £500 at the current exchange rate). I could probably get an upgrade for less than that, but I've only had my current laptop for about 3 years and it wasn't my intention to replace it so quickly, so if I do upgrade now I want the replacement to last a good while.

What I'm looking for from you guys is some advice about what specifications to look for, particularly regarding processors and graphics cards - I see a lot of numbers but I don't know what they mean. And if you have any suggestions for specific models to look at then all the better.

[GremlinWon]

An i5 with Intel HD4000 graphics or better should do you well and for about £500. I wouldn't recommend an i3 to anyone.

[camp_bell]

An i5 with Intel HD4000 graphics or better should do you well and for about £500. I wouldn't recommend an i3 to anyone.

Definitely not. That's the same mistake pre-built computers in PC World make: putting a nice processor with a shitty integrated graphics chip. You want to avoid integrated graphics at all costs if you're even thinking about gaming, otherwise you'll be back at square one in a couple of years. If it's the choice between an i3 and dedicated graphics and an i5 and integrated graphics, take the i3 every day of the week.

I've no idea what laptop specs are at, but £500 should be enough to get something serviceable.

[DanThorn]

A few years ago I paid around ~£400 for my laptop and it's surprisingly competent at gaming. I don't know the specs offhand (I'll figure them out tomorrow) but your budget should be more than capable of buying something at least equal to or probably better than mine; I'm assuming things have moved on since then.

[GremlinWon]

At a budget of £500 you will struggle to find an i5 processor with a dedicated graphics card, especially a laptop.
I agree though with Lin that integrated graphics are the worst, but I'd be surprised if anyone can find anything for £500 with a good dedicated graphics and i5. Just saying.

[earthshine140]

At a budget of £500 you will struggle to find an i5 processor with a dedicated graphics card, especially a laptop.
I agree though with Lin that integrated graphics are the worst, but I'd be surprised if anyone can find anything for £500 with a good dedicated graphics and i5. Just saying.

My laptop is 4 years old now, but has an i5 and dedicated graphics - took a while to find admittedly but runs most games well (except Rocket League frustratingly) and I got that for £500, so there are options, mine's an Asus and they have a decent range.

[GremlinWon]

I have integrated graphics and I admit it's a pain as you have to be careful but runs most games I play fine. I do wish I had a dedicated graphics PC though.

[Sam Hill]

I used a Packard Bell Easynote until I built my own PC. It handled SCE quite well. Not sure how much it was but my parents bought it so it must have been pretty cheap.

[D0n M4730]

I've seen a few that look like they have dedicated graphics cards, next time I find an example of a specific model I'll post a link. When reading the specs of computers, is there a way to tell what is integrated graphics and what isn't?

Of course, there is the option of getting a desktop PC, which I may yet consider, although I would then also need to invest in a monitor, and it would be more of a pain in the arse next time I move house - which I'm not planning on doing in the short term, but neither do I plan to stay in my current abode for too long.

Sorry for asking stupid questions but I've never been too bothered about the specs of a PC as long as it does what I wanted it to do. Next time around though I think it's important to get it right to make sure that I don't end up back here in a couple of years.

[D0n M4730]

So guys, this has recently appeared on offer in my local area, and to me the price looks good for the specification. Any thoughts?

[ajokay]

AMD everywhere, only quad core, 8Gb RAM.

Probably not.

[camp_bell]

price looks good for the specification

More the other way round. It's a low amount of money and the specs reflect that. It probably wouldn't be much of an upgrade.

[D0n M4730]

This is precisely why I´m asking you guys. So AMD is best avoided then?

[ajokay]

AMD Processors, yes. AMD Graphics cards, no.

[camp_bell]

That only really applies higher up the market. Once you're into mid-range i5 territory, AMD can't compete. However, if the choice was between an i3 and one of the good 6-core AMDs for similar money, I'd take the AMD.

[craighypheno]

I have just ordered the parts to build the rig. I have inherited a keyboard, a mouse and a set of speakers so with everything including the wheel, it ended up being a staggering 43 pence over budget

Now to build this thing

[DanThorn]

My buddy put this together for me - I trust his opinion but wanted to know what you guys think? Is there anything there where I can get away with a lesser/cheaper version of it? I'm not fussed about it being overly amazeballs at the moment, I'm just after a solid base that I can build upon in future if I want to.

[camp_bell]

Looks very competent to me. The graphics card is probably the weakest link, but I'm not sure £100 more for a GTX 970 would be worth it.

I'd definitely consider a bigger SSD though. From experience, 120 GB is on the low side and 240 GB would be well worth the extra £20 or so IMO.

[Sam Hill]

I got my case for £15 so that's an area you could save in if you wanted to spend more on another bit

[camp_bell]

I wouldn't. Cheap cases are a pain in the arse to work with (drives mounted with screws rather than clips, awful/no thought given to cable management, etc) and generally have less options for stuff like fans. Plus they look like a Perodua dashboard.

[Smidgey]

If it were me I'd be looking for a way to squeeze a 970 in there over a 960 but other than that its fairly solid. You can go cheaper on the case and still get decent cable management/ease of access/fan mount points etc (my £15 case has all this for example) but that Fractal Designs on will last you decades.

[DanThorn]

After fixing my SCE issue I've discovered that my other games no longer work. Dirt Rally and Wreckfest won't load (same error I had with SCE); Assetto Corsa loads, but crashes back to the in-game menu every time I try an go to the track (or do the benchmark test).

AC worked fine before, as did Wreckfest (I've even played that since I fixed SCE). Not sure about Dirt Rally as I only tried that for the first time today.

I've got a feeling the issue is to do with missing .dll files, or .dll files is the wrong System32/SysWOW64 folders from when I was fiddling to get SCE to work. Is there a quick fix I can do to remedy that or shall I just bite the bullet and do a full system restore?

[Bye_Jr]

After fixing my SCE issue I've discovered that my other games no longer work. Dirt Rally and Wreckfest won't load (same error I had with SCE); Assetto Corsa loads, but crashes back to the in-game menu every time I try an go to the track (or do the benchmark test).

AC worked fine before, as did Wreckfest (I've even played that since I fixed SCE). Not sure about Dirt Rally as I only tried that for the first time today.

I've got a feeling the issue is to do with missing .dll files, or .dll files is the wrong System32/SysWOW64 folders from when I was fiddling to get SCE to work. Is there a quick fix I can do to remedy that or shall I just bite the bullet and do a full system restore?

Just had a thought - are you on windows 10? My brother had a similar issue where no games would run at all, then windows got an update and fixed itself.

[HFG Ben]

It may just be a case of re-registering some dlls. I did have a nifty script that I wrote for that, but it was on my old work computer. I may have backed it up into one of my cloud accounts so will have a dig and see if I can find it.