Building a gaming desktop without losing too much mobility...

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Hey guys,
I'm getting a new laptop during the End of Financial Year Sales and I found one with the specifications listed below. I was just wondering if anyone could suggest something better value, or just outright better, that I've missed. I intend to play Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. If you have any suggestions, please make it known.

Specifications:
Processor: Core i7 3630QM ~3.4GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR3
Hard Drive: 750GB SATA HDD
Graphics Card: 4GB NVIDIA GT650M
Operating System: Windows 8 64 bit
Display: 15.6" LED (1920x1080)

Other Features:
HDMI
USB3.0
Instant On

Price = $1,199 + $19.95 shipping

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Ok, good to know. I would hate to have this set up and then find out that they don't ship to Australia lol

 

[circularpromise53]

actually newegg doesnt ship internationally, but amazon and outletpc. If your going withk1114's last post then you can buy the case from a different site, because the one he provided doesnt ship to Australia. thats good information to put earlier

 

[k1114]

Parts will cost a bit more, that's about it. Haswell is out but I don't see mobos just yet other than on newegg. Pcpartpicker does have an australia option.

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Ok, so it'll be a bit more expensive and a bit more difficult to get the parts to Australia. Fair enough, I suppose.

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Ok, I'm now 95% sure that I will be ordering the parts in July sometime. Hopefully early July, but I still can't guarantee an exact date. I'll post pictures of it once it's built, and thanks again to both of you for being so helpful.

 

[circularpromise53]

awesome hope your satisfied, and we're here to help

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Hey guys, I'm back with a game-changer. Unfortunately, it's a change for the worse. I won't go into details but, basically, a budget cut has sliced up the original plan. So far, I really appreciate the help and guidance you two have offered and I'd also appreciate it if you could take the time to help a little more. I've reorganised the list with completely different parts, including the motherboard much to my disappointment. If you want, compare this to the original build and tell me where I can compromise. So far, the graphics card is taking the worst hit performance wise. I've done some research, both looking at core speed and ranking on "http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu"
It's all from one site as well because we can pick these up and not worry about reliability or shipping.

Motherboard:
Asus H87M-E (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=11035)
CPU
Intel Core i5 4430 3.0GHz LGA1150 (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10806)
HDD
WD 3.5" 1TB HDD (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=9444)
RAM
Patriot 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=9663)
Graphics Card
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660Ti (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10803)
PSU
Aerocool 750W PSU (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10875)
Monitor
21.5" LED Backlight 1920x1080 LCD Monitor (http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10694)
Case
http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=9808

If there's anything you'd like to add or modify, please say so as you're the experts here so whatever you think is better will definitely be taken into consideration. It'd probably be beneficial to check if you're recommended modifications are supplied on http://www.msy.com.au/index.jsp. Thanks again for all the help you've already supplied.

 

[k1114]

I'm just going to ignore that futuremark page and forget I ever saw it. You do not want an aerocool psu. You can go with the vs450. http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=9907 I can't find much info on that case and seems it's as cheap as they come. It would be your choice to maybe go with the elite 372. http://www.msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10279

 

[circularpromise53]

lol for benchmarks OP try this http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

and k1114's suggestions are good as always.

 

[k1114]

Oh no passmark is just as bad. Please throw these synthetics out the window.

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Just to be sure, these are compatible with everything else? The PSU provides enough power, and the case fits? We mainly had the PSU so powerful because this is intended to be upgraded, so why not have a PSU that doesn't need to be upgraded in the foreseeable future, but either way works for me. The case was just cheap, fitted, and looked cool lol.

EDIT: Could you also explain to me why futuremark, using results from 3DMark and other benchmarks compared with the price, is not reliable? They've already got the card, used it, and are showing the results, whereas I would just be comparing core clock speed and price. In other words, what is the real most reliable way to measure graphics cards?

 

[circularpromise53]

Just to be sure, these are compatible with everything else? The PSU provides enough power, and the case fits? We mainly had the PSU so powerful because this is intended to be upgraded, so why not have a PSU that doesn't need to be upgraded in the foreseeable future, but either way works for me. The case was just cheap, fitted, and looked cool lol.

EDIT: Could you also explain to me why futuremark, using results from 3DMark and other benchmarks compared with the price, is not reliable? They've already got the card, used it, and are showing the results, whereas I would just be comparing core clock speed and price. In other words, what is the real most reliable way to measure graphics cards?

imo those benchmarks are fine, although they dont show what youll get in a game, just with their synthetic benchmark.

 

[k1114]

Core clock speed is only one spec, so is absolutely useless by itself. It's like gauging car performance by only it's engine size. A smaller engine can produce more power and you still want to take notice of its other performance aspects. Gpu performance should be an average over multiple games especially because games will have varying results. Why take synthetics when you can get real world performance benchmarks? Futuremark has random igpus up top so you can guess how many other gpus are also fake ratings. Passmark is a bit better with sample sizes but doesn't support sli/cf so the dual gpu cards are just showing single gpu performance. Both seem to group the 7970 (no longer sold) and the ghz edition which is better on average than the 680 so gives a false impression that the 680 is better. Anyone can submit their results for both and results can be modified. It's also at the hands of uncontrolled environments of each individuals' pc. I'd recommend tom's hierarchy chart (part of the best gpu for the money article). http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html Or techpowerup if you want to see by how much they differ. They don't have a list with all gpus but the graphs in reviews are sufficient. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_760_TF_Gaming/27.html These are average performance over multiple games so is a better real world comparison.

The psu is bad quality, fails atx specs, and less efficient than the vs650 which is actually more power on the 12v rails where most everything takes power from (I mentioned the 450 earlier). The vs650 also costs less and is better quality. Though it's still more than you need for any single card unless it's a dual gpu card.

 

[At0mic_Cyb0rg]

Hey guys, I just want to say a big thanks for all the help you provided! We now have the desktop built and operating beyond expectations ( Which, I'll admit, were quite low after the budget cut) with Battlefield 3 going at 80 - 120 fps with the settings roughly high/ultra and Minecraft absolutely peaked at 615! It plays at roughly 250 but it peaked at 615 when performance was at it's finest. Thank you guys so much and I will still post photos if you want me to, but I'm a little distracted by all the games I want to test. Thanks again guys, totally worth it!