Geeky Computer talk (apols in advance)

At the risk of coming over all 'hairy', I wanna pose a couple of questions if there are any people out there who are pc gaming and graphics fonts of knowledge.

My favourite pc game ever was the original FarCry. It was truly epic. Thing is the 3rd instalment is out soon (aptly named FarCry3) and I want to upgrade my laptop. I'll probably be getting the new Adobe Lightroom software at the same time, so there's no point loading it on an old pc.

Decent dedicated graphics cards for laptops tend to crank the cost up quite considerably, and I don't want a tower, so I'm gonna have to bite the bullet. The new MacBook Pro would be perfect for the photo editing software, but no good for the gaming side (as well as being a rather silly price). So I find myself looking for a lappy that can be a sort of compromise, but perform decently enough, without shelling out wonga in the £1000+ bracket.

Does anyone have a working knowledge of current Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards, in terms of what cards will run games like FarCry3 at fairly high settings? Or does anyone currently own a lappy and is running these sort of games? There are some laptops on Ebay in the £400 range that claim to be good enough, but on closer examination, they're basically feckin shit as far as gaming or resolution quality goes.

Any (proper) advice gratefully received.

Czarcasm wrote:

At the risk of coming over all 'hairy', I wanna pose a couple of questions if there are any people out there who are pc gaming and graphics fonts of knowledge.

My favourite pc game ever was the original FarCry. It was truly epic. Thing is the 3rd instalment is out soon (aptly named FarCry3) and I want to upgrade my laptop. I'll probably be getting the new Adobe Lightroom software at the same time, so there's no point loading it on an old pc.

Decent dedicated graphics cards for laptops tend to crank the cost up quite considerably, and I don't want a tower, so I'm gonna have to bite the bullet. The new MacBook Pro would be perfect for the photo editing software, but no good for the gaming side (as well as being a rather silly price). So I find myself looking for a lappy that can be a sort of compromise, but perform decently enough, without shelling out wonga in the £1000+ bracket.

Does anyone have a working knowledge of current Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards, in terms of what cards will run games like FarCry3 at fairly high settings? Or does anyone currently own a lappy and is running these sort of games? There are some laptops on Ebay in the £400 range that claim to be good enough, but on closer examination, they're basically feckin shit as far as gaming or resolution quality goes.

Any (proper) advice gratefully received.

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feck OFF YA NERD

Greenjock wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

At the risk of coming over all 'hairy', I wanna pose a couple of questions if there are any people out there who are pc gaming and graphics fonts of knowledge.

My favourite pc game ever was the original FarCry. It was truly epic. Thing is the 3rd instalment is out soon (aptly named FarCry3) and I want to upgrade my laptop. I'll probably be getting the new Adobe Lightroom software at the same time, so there's no point loading it on an old pc.

Decent dedicated graphics cards for laptops tend to crank the cost up quite considerably, and I don't want a tower, so I'm gonna have to bite the bullet. The new MacBook Pro would be perfect for the photo editing software, but no good for the gaming side (as well as being a rather silly price). So I find myself looking for a lappy that can be a sort of compromise, but perform decently enough, without shelling out wonga in the £1000+ bracket.

Does anyone have a working knowledge of current Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards, in terms of what cards will run games like FarCry3 at fairly high settings? Or does anyone currently own a lappy and is running these sort of games? There are some laptops on Ebay in the £400 range that claim to be good enough, but on closer examination, they're basically feckin shit as far as gaming or resolution quality goes.

Any (proper) advice gratefully received.

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feck OFF YA NERD

My heart sank when I saw you'd replied to this thread

Is a desktop an option? More bang for your buck if so.

Mock Cuncher wrote:

Is a desktop an option? More bang for your buck if so.

Desktop would be cheaper and more powerful, 'cos of the space you have for graphics cards etc. yeah, but I need something more portable so I can do even less work, when I'm sposed to be, er, working.

£400 for a desktop, £250 for a laptop for work?

Mock Cuncher wrote:

£400 for a desktop, £250 for a laptop for work?

Problem is, I need the expensive graphics card in the laptop, so I can take it to work and be paid for playing FarCry3.

If I wasn't such a picky fussy lazy idle feck, then your solution would have been bang on.

Ordered my new Lappy today. Quite excited.

I can see why places like Comet are going under. The same spec laptop I've ordered off the Interweb, would cost at least £150 more, if bought in Comet/Currys etc.

Top site for saving on laptops...

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Dunno how they thought that name up.

Czarcasm wrote:

Ordered my new Lappy today. Quite excited.

I can see why places like Comet are going under. The same spec laptop I've ordered off the Interweb, would cost at least £150 more, if bought in Comet/Currys etc.

Top site for saving on laptops...

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Hmm, I'm buying my boy a new one for Chrimbo, as he kicked a pint of orange juice over the one I got him 5 years ago! The HP Pavilion I'm looking at is £50 cheaper at Currys than on that website.

Are you just going by the model number Charlie? There are a whole load of different spec pc's that come under the umbrella of one model number. Processor, Ram and Graphics card variances mean that there can be hundreds of £££'s differences on models that at first glance, are the same model number.

Mines just arrived less than 24 hrs after ordering. I clicked the free delivery in 3-5 day button too. Bonus!

Don't get fecking technical now. I think I was comparing like for like as it's a standard offering. AMD processor, 6mb ram and 750g hard drive, I assume the graphics card will be standard too. £379 on that site, £329 in Currys yesterday, although £349 online and £328 at Pixmania.

Anybody had a root around Comet for bargains? I had a look yesterday and wasn't inspired

The Comet sale is apparently gash.

10% off anything worthwhile, which means it'll still be cheaper elsewhere. 30% off is great if you're looking for mousemats, etc, though.

I've just checked Charlie, and there are about half a dozen of the one I've bought (Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3-581TG) All the same Model number, but they range from £420-£720! Different graphics card would make a lot of difference in price, though for that money, it would be integrated graphics, not dedicated.

Why the feck they can't just give each one a different code, God knows.

I went to Comet/Currys/PC World yesterday. That's where I realised that I'd be paying £700 in there for the same spec as I paid £549 for.

Czarcasm wrote:

I've just checked Charlie, and there are about half a dozen of the one I've bought (Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3-581TG) All the same Model number, but they range from £420-£720! Different graphics card would make a lot of difference in price, though for that money, it would be integrated graphics, not dedicated.

Why the feck they can't just give each one a different code, God knows.

I went to Comet/Currys/PC World yesterday. That's where I realised that I'd be paying £700 in there for the same spec as I paid £549 for.

Ditto. We could have done something much more productive and slipped out for a pint. Mind you I still ended up in The Dolphin whilst waiting for her to finish pillaging Debenhams.

Czarcasm wrote:

I went to Comet/Currys/PC World yesterday. That's where I realised that I'd be paying £700 in there for the same spec as I paid £549 for.

Ah ! but can you park on the internet .......... your car that is, not your domain.
I'm into photography and I just don't consider buying on the High St anymore. Can't be long before Jessops shut up shop and recede to internet only.... and I would imagine WHSmith won't be far behind, given their recent history.

Penzance wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

I went to Comet/Currys/PC World yesterday. That's where I realised that I'd be paying £700 in there for the same spec as I paid £549 for.

Ah ! but can you park on the internet .......... your car that is, not your domain.
I'm into photography and I just don't consider buying on the High St anymore. Can't be long before Jessops shut up shop and recede to internet only.... and I would imagine WHSmith won't be far behind, given their recent history.

'Tis true Penz. To be fair I wasn't expecting them to be able to match the price. The only advantage of shopping on the High St is being able to get all touchy feely with what you're considering buying.

Ooh! I can join in!

My Kindle Fire - a late birthday and early xmas present ordered while it was £30 off -should be arriving tomorrow. While I'm out. Hopefully one of the neighbours will be in, or else I'll have to go to Plymstock to fetch it.

No, I won't be abandoning proper books. However, this device will enable me to receive emails with offers of paid work while I'm out doing paid work or otherwise sheltering in a place where somebody else pays for the heating. And it'll be a handy way of carrying the quantities of seditious literature needed by your modern educated wanker.

You would need a graphics card costing around £300 to run it at the highest performance, spend around £150 for mid-level performance. The CPU needs to be pretty meaty though. I wouldn't want to spend less than £750 on a laptop to play Far Cry 3 - you could buy an Xbox 360 and play it on that although it won't look quite as good.

I've specced this for you though - it would run anything you throw at it.

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And Charlie

Charlie Wood wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

Ordered my new Lappy today. Quite excited.

I can see why places like Comet are going under. The same spec laptop I've ordered off the Interweb, would cost at least £150 more, if bought in Comet/Currys etc.

Top site for saving on laptops...

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Hmm, I'm buying my boy a new one for Chrimbo, as he kicked a pint of orange juice over the one I got him 5 years ago! The HP Pavilion I'm looking at is £50 cheaper at Currys than on that website.

I seriously wouldn't go for a HP laptop as they're absolutely 100% prone to overheating issues as the fans on HPs are notoriously poor.

If you're looking to spend about £350, look at the Acers.

The best place to get a PC of any kind online is Ebuyer - not always the cheapest but their customer service is superb and you can find absolute bargains on there.

And as a PS to Czarcasm, playing Far Cry 3 on a PC....
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Gotta agree with Hairy about HP's running hot. The Laptop I'm replacing is a Hewlett Packard and I've quite often thought it was going to melt the arm of the sofa, when I've been running programmes simultaneously.

Are you going for the 4k Alienware I've posted then Czarcasm?

Serious advice here but this is just about the lowest you can go to get the best out of the newer high-end PC gaming titles.
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£500

Here's a review
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It handles Battlefield 3 at high settings so Far Cry 3 should be a doddle for it.

Here's a decent video review of the game old chap
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Feck me hairy. I was trying to explain to Charlie how having the same Model number doesn't mean the same spec - I didn't think I'd have to explain it to a geek like you...

The pc you've linked to on Amazon (for £500) only has a core i-3 chip, 6gb of Ram, and unspecified Nvidea Graphics. Whereas the review you've linked to is a high-end Model with i-7 chip, 16 gb of Ram and a GT650M graphics card - therefore your review Model costs about a grand.

Stuff the Alienware. I've gone for this slightly more modest Acer.

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I won't be able to max-out the settings, I know that. But saving a fair few hundred quid and still getting it running at mid-range is a trade-off I'm happy with.

Czarcasm wrote:

Feck me hairy. I was trying to explain to Charlie how having the same Model number doesn't mean the same spec - I didn't think I'd have to explain it to a geek like you...

The pc you've linked to on Amazon (for £500) only has a core i-3 chip, 6gb of Ram, and unspecified Nvidea Graphics. Whereas the review you've linked to is a high-end Model with i-7 chip, 16 gb of Ram and a GT650M graphics card - therefore your review Model costs about a grand.

Stuff the Alienware. I've gone for this slightly more modest Acer.

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I won't be able to max-out the settings, I know that. But saving a fair few hundred quid and still getting it running at mid-range is a trade-off I'm happy with.

I searched for the GT650M card and that came up - I think Google is in league with the capitalist Devil that is Amazon.co.uk

The laptop you've chosen should give you decent performance with an FPS. Tested, it runs Crysis at just over 39 FPS at medium detail which is what you want.

High-end PC gaming is for people with lots of cash - I'm glad I gave it up in 2001-ish.

If you're getting this, you need to get a copy of Skyrim and a copy of Just Cause 2 - they're two of the prettiest open world games you'll play.

I totally agree.