PC Building Guide and Discussion #12

[Le Barron de HF]

Hello all, I got myself in quite a pickle and I need a new computer. I'm a student and I don't anything overly fancy. I want a PC for university and good enough to stream some NHL games. My budget is around 450$/600$ (CAN), what laptops would you have in mind for my needs?

 

[SniperHF]

Hello all, I got myself in quite a pickle and I need a new computer. I'm a student and I don't anything overly fancy. I want a PC for university and good enough to stream some NHL games. My budget is around 450$/600$ (CAN), what laptops would you have in mind for my needs?

I wouldn't really call these recommendations because there are just too many laptops to have experience with all of them, but these are along the lines of what you can get for the money.

Do you care about monitor size? 17" vs 15" vs 13", makes a big difference on how heavy/big the laptop is. But for $600 CAN you don't get to be terribly choosy either.

Mainly I'd try and get one with more than 4GB RAM. Preferably 8.



#1 This seems like a pretty solid for the money all around laptop. Not gonna impress or anything but good enough:
Lenovo IdeaPad 320 15.6" Laptop - Platinum Grey (AMD A12-9720P/1TB HDD/8GB RAM/AMD Radeon R7/Win 10)
8GB RAM, Decent CPU.



#2 A little beyond the price range:
Lenovo Laptop IdeaPad 330 81DM0002US Intel Core i3 8th Gen 8130U (2.20 GHz) 6 GB Memory 1 TB HDD Intel UHD Graphics 620 17.3" Windows 10 Home 64-Bit - Newegg.ca

^Has a pretty new CPU, relatively fast. Only 6GB instead of 8 but should still be okay. Big 17" monitor (could be a downside).



#3 Lower end one, $475 thereabouts:
ASUS Laptop X540BA-RB94 AMD A9-Series A9-9425 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 15.6" - Newegg.ca
Does have 8GB RAM, but a slower CPU. Still probably good enough but won't impress. I'd guess that the fit and finish is a decent bit lower than the laptops that start with a $6
Worse monitor quality wise but is smaller.



#4 Smaller one 14", in between price wise:
Acer Bilingual Laptop TravelMate TMP249-M-532K Intel Core i5 6th Gen 6200U (2.30 GHz) 8 GB Memory 128 GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 520 14.0" Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit - Newegg.ca
This one has an SSD so it will feel faster than the other two, CPU is in between. Downside is the SSD is only 128GB so your storage capacity is limited. 8GB RAM
Handier to travel around with. *NOTE* It says its bilingual, I assume that means French. I also assume that means you could make it run English if needed but maybe someone more familiar with these situations can confirm. But there might be some issues with the keyboard too


#5 Pretty similar to #2 but a smaller monitor.
Acer Swift 14" Laptop - Silver (Intel Core i5-8250U/16GB Optane/1TB HDD/8GB RAM/Windows 10)



Your requirements aren't too high, pretty much anything should work but you'll want more than 4GB RAM. Windows 10 can bloat at idle. 6 or 8 is enough.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

I wouldn't really call these recommendations because there are just too many laptops to have experience with all of them, but these are along the lines of what you can get for the money.

Do you care about monitor size? 17" vs 15" vs 13", makes a big difference on how heavy/big the laptop is. But for $600 CAN you don't get to be terribly choosy either.

Mainly I'd try and get one with more than 4GB RAM. Preferably 8.



#1 This seems like a pretty solid for the money all around laptop. Not gonna impress or anything but good enough:
Lenovo IdeaPad 320 15.6" Laptop - Platinum Grey (AMD A12-9720P/1TB HDD/8GB RAM/AMD Radeon R7/Win 10)
8GB RAM, Decent CPU.



#2 A little beyond the price range:
Lenovo Laptop IdeaPad 330 81DM0002US Intel Core i3 8th Gen 8130U (2.20 GHz) 6 GB Memory 1 TB HDD Intel UHD Graphics 620 17.3" Windows 10 Home 64-Bit - Newegg.ca

^Has a pretty new CPU, relatively fast. Only 6GB instead of 8 but should still be okay. Big 17" monitor (could be a downside).



#3 Lower end one, $475 thereabouts:
ASUS Laptop X540BA-RB94 AMD A9-Series A9-9425 8 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 15.6" - Newegg.ca
Does have 8GB RAM, but a slower CPU. Still probably good enough but won't impress. I'd guess that the fit and finish is a decent bit lower than the laptops that start with a $6
Worse monitor quality wise but is smaller.



#4 Smaller one 14", in between price wise:
Acer Bilingual Laptop TravelMate TMP249-M-532K Intel Core i5 6th Gen 6200U (2.30 GHz) 8 GB Memory 128 GB SSD Intel HD Graphics 520 14.0" Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit - Newegg.ca
This one has an SSD so it will feel faster than the other two, CPU is in between. Downside is the SSD is only 128GB so your storage capacity is limited. 8GB RAM
Handier to travel around with. *NOTE* It says its bilingual, I assume that means French. I also assume that means you could make it run English if needed but maybe someone more familiar with these situations can confirm. But there might be some issues with the keyboard too


#5 Pretty similar to #2 but a smaller monitor.
Acer Swift 14" Laptop - Silver (Intel Core i5-8250U/16GB Optane/1TB HDD/8GB RAM/Windows 10)



Your requirements aren't too high, pretty much anything should work but you'll want more than 4GB RAM. Windows 10 can bloat at idle. 6 or 8 is enough.

Thank you very much for the time and links, I'll look into them. But yeah monitor is not a big priority for me as long as the laptop isn't tiny.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

En hp laptop 15 db0007ca 15 6 inch touch screen notebook 2 5 ghz amd ryzen 3 2200u 1 tb hdd 8 gb windows 10 home | Staples

En acer aspire 3 nx gnvaa 008 15 6 inch 2 in 1 2 2 ghz amd a4 9120 1 tb hdd 8 gb ddr4 windows 10 home | Staples

Are those decent deals too? I see that Lenovo have a bad rep online

 

[SniperHF]

En hp laptop 15 db0007ca 15 6 inch touch screen notebook 2 5 ghz amd ryzen 3 2200u 1 tb hdd 8 gb windows 10 home | Staples

En acer aspire 3 nx gnvaa 008 15 6 inch 2 in 1 2 2 ghz amd a4 9120 1 tb hdd 8 gb ddr4 windows 10 home | Staples

Are those decent deals too? I see that Lenovo have a bad rep online

Just about everyone has a bad rep if you look enough

I do not like the Acer. It has a very weak CPU.

The HP is comparable to #1 on the list earlier. But a newer model.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Just about everyone has a bad rep if you look enough

I do not like the Acer. It has a very weak CPU.

The HP is comparable to #1 on the list earlier. But a newer model.

Fair enough, I had an Acer and thought it was more than decent.

 

[SniperHF]

Fair enough, I had an Acer and thought it was more than decent.

I'm open to basically any brand. The issue with that Acer is mostly the specs on the CPU. It's slower than a run of the mill CPU from 2007.
The HP you linked has a CPU that's approximately 135% faster for $60 more. Makes it a no brainer in comparison IMO.

And it's brand new, the Ryzen 3 2200u CPU came out just this year. The one in the Acer is 2-3 years old.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Thank you for the additional info, I was leaning on that HP cpu!

I'm open to basically any brand. The issue with that Acer is mostly the specs on the CPU. It's slower than a run of the mill CPU from 2007.
The HP you linked has a CPU that's approximately 135% faster for $60 more. Makes it a no brainer in comparison IMO.

And it's brand new, the Ryzen 3 2200u CPU came out just this year. The one in the Acer is 2-3 years old.

 

[Bocephus86]

All this sharing makes me feel bad. I built one PC back in 2004 but I can't remember the card (it was a GeForce, and was near top of the line at the time). Then I built another in 2016 with a GtX 1060 6 gig, which I sold & replaced with a 1080ti before GPUs went crazy in November (around Thanksgiving, US). Before the first card, it was all store bought PCs from my family. In between, I didn't (really) PC game.

The GeForce was a beast for a while though. And that PC sat at my mother's house for nearly 10 years before I cleaned out the dust & used it to get back into PC gaming in 2015. Granted, I was (mostly) playing old ass games with it, but I am still shocked it turned right back on.

All I know is I had 2 gigs of (regular) ram, and I remember that, in 2004, that was "overkill" for a PC.

 

[SniperHF]

All I know is I had 2 gigs of (regular) ram, and I remember that, in 2004, that was "overkill" for a PC.

Yeah I'd have probably been happy with 1GB in 04. Dual channel wasn't mainstream yet either though it was out there.

Now that people are commonly putting 16GB into systems I think were gonna plateau there for a while. 8GB is still enough really if the system is mostly idle otherwise. In gaming anyway you only really need just a little more than 8 but the sticks don't divide well to get you 10 GB

 

[XX]

Gaming is more about framebuffer now. If you have a 4GB or smaller card you're probably in trouble in the next few years.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Gaming is more about framebuffer now. If you have a 4GB or smaller card you're probably in trouble in the next few years.

Definitely feel it already with my 970.

 

[waffledave]

16 GB now is plenty. I am not a hardware expert but at a certain point you run into diminishing returns with adding more memory. You are limited by the bandwidth of the connection between your CPU and memory.

 

[Commander Clueless]

First Time Spy Benchmark of Upcoming NVIDIA RTX 2080 Graphics Card Leaks

The latest leak.

Heaping shovel full of salt, obviously.

 

[SeidoN]

my plan right now is to wait until around April/May of next year, buy a cheap used 1080ti and probably not buy another GPU for a long ass time, maybe ever

 

[Commander Clueless]

my plan right now is to wait until around April/May of next year, buy a cheap used 1080ti and probably not buy another GPU for a long ass time, maybe ever

Probably your best bet, if that link is any indication of reality.

The 2080 looks about 5 per cent faster than the 1080 Ti, and at time of writing is significantly more money (~$900 vs ~$1,100 on Newegg Canada for the cheapest of both cards). Time will tell, obviously, but the value proposition still seems a little off.

Yes, you get the RTX features, but that always takes time to develop before it becomes practical.


Of course, if that leak ends up being for the 2070, things get a little more interesting.

 

[Sined]

I'm trying to convince my co-worker to sell me his 1080Ti when he receives his 2080Ti

 

[Bocephus86]

Truly appreciate you all giving feedback on all of this that a normal person can understand. I shall stick with my 1080ti (which I bought with fantasy football winnings, so free) for the next 2-3 years.

 

[SniperHF]

2-3 years is a big commitment
And we still have real benchmarks to wait for too.

But yeah I probably wouldn't be chomping at the bit to jump from a 1080ti (or any equivalent level 10xx cardx) to a 20xx variant unless the numbers unexpectedly blow everyone away.
People on a 9xx card or an older R9 AMD card, would probably be pretty happy with it though.


But looking at the GPU history of mine I posted, I'm clearly not one to worry about being on the bleeding edge of performance . I think the highest end card I ever bought was the 9800 GTX, at launch.
The x850 WAS high end but at the time I bought it was existing in the market at the same time as the next gen so it was really a middle end card at that point.

 

[Commander Clueless]

2-3 years is a big commitment
And we still have real benchmarks to wait for too.

Let us have our delusions of saving money.

But yeah I probably wouldn't be chomping at the bit to jump from a 1080ti (or any equivalent level 10xx cardx) to a 20xx variant unless the numbers unexpectedly blow everyone away.
People on a 9xx card or an older R9 AMD card, would probably be pretty happy with it though.

Could be, although if the leaks vs price are any indication (all the grains of salt), they may want to pick up a cheap 10 series instead...

 

[Ceremony]

En hp laptop 15 db0007ca 15 6 inch touch screen notebook 2 5 ghz amd ryzen 3 2200u 1 tb hdd 8 gb windows 10 home | Staples

En acer aspire 3 nx gnvaa 008 15 6 inch 2 in 1 2 2 ghz amd a4 9120 1 tb hdd 8 gb ddr4 windows 10 home | Staples

Are those decent deals too? I see that Lenovo have a bad rep online

For what it's worth I've had a Lenovo Ideapad for the same purpose as you for ~two years and it's great. The keyboard's a bit flimsy which could be annoying, but I don't type that much on it.

 

[Hammettf2b]

currently having some trouble with a pc game while its connected to the tv and would love some help. I'll just copy and paste what I asked at a different forum.

I like playing on a big screen tv so I have an hdmi connected from my pc to the tv and just mirror the monitor image. (is that even the best way to do it?) I used the pc graphics settings that I found online and they work great on my pc monitor (had some jaggyness before changing the settings) but now when I use the tv, the jaggyness is back. I put the tv in game mode but it didn't help. any ideas on what I should try? I'm really new when it comes to stuff like this so please forgive me if it sounds dumb. The game is Madden 19.

 

[SniperHF]

I like playing on a big screen tv so I have an hdmi connected from my pc to the tv and just mirror the monitor image. (is that even the best way to do it?) I used the pc graphics settings that I found online and they work great on my pc monitor (had some jaggyness before changing the settings) but now when I use the tv, the jaggyness is back. I put the tv in game mode but it didn't help. any ideas on what I should try? I'm really new when it comes to stuff like this so please forgive me if it sounds dumb. The game is Madden 19.

Is it possible the larger sized TV just allows you to see the jaggies more?
You can take screenshots and they should show the same jaggies as the screen if it's not the monitor's fault. And take a screen shot when attached to the monitor too, then say blow it up full screen on your TV.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Is it possible the larger sized TV just allows you to see the jaggies more?
You can take screenshots and they should show the same jaggies as the screen if it's not the monitor's fault. And take a screen shot when attached to the monitor too, then say blow it up full screen on your TV.

It looks like the jaggies went away on the monitor after I changed the graphics settings in game. I didn't change any settings on the monitor. I'll see if I can capture the screenshots but it might be hard as it only gets jaggy if something is moving like the play happening or moving menus.

 

[SniperHF]

It looks like the jaggies went away on the monitor after I changed the graphics settings in game. I didn't change any settings on the monitor. I'll see if I can capture the screenshots but it might be hard as it only gets jaggy if something is moving like the play happening or moving menus.

Well, assuming both the monitor and tv are the same resolution the TV will have bigger pixels in raw size because of the larger screen. Therefore it would be easier to distinguish the shape of the pixels and thus easier to see the jagged lines. So the jaggies could still be there on the monitor, just harder to see.

If it's mostly happening in movement, your TV could just not be very good for gaming. You could be seeing some minor ghosting that is distorting the image.