Gaming Laptop & "modest" HTPC or Uber Gaming Desktop Rig???

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:35

Right Guys need some advice.

I've been planning on building a HTPC for some time now with a Component output (I have the JVC HD CRT which I will be using it with)

However having been round my brothers this weekend & having a blast on FEAR (Yes I know it's very old) I have the urge to buy a new rig for some gaming as I've been away from the PC side of gaming for quite sometime now...last game I bought was Doom 3 :eek:

But now I dont know what to do.

I dont know if I should still build my HTPC & buy a good Gaming Laptop or if it's at all possible should I build an uber gaming rig that will have component output so I can run it as a HTPC as well??

I would really still like the use of a HTPC to get rid of my Tevion DVD player which is really playing me up now

Anyway what would you suggest...Ideally my budget for both is about the £1500-£1600 mark obviously the lower the better
Although is it even possible to build a gaming rig that will allow me to use my JVC CRT to play games on or will I still need a Flat panel Monitor for gaming anyway??

Thanks in advance for the help.

Neil

Jaffa_Cake · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:40

How about a Uber Gaming Desktop Rig and a HTPC?

Gaming laptop will take up all that budget for one thats vaugly decent. Gaming laptops are a waste of money.

You can easily afford a HTPC and a top-brass gaming desktop on that budget.

wellibob · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:45

Laptops/notebooks are big girlie handbangs !!

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:47

Jaffa_Cake said:
How about a Uber Gaming Desktop Rig and a HTPC?

Gaming laptop will take up all that budget for one thats vaugly decent. Gaming laptops are a waste of money.

You can easily afford a HTPC and a top-brass gaming desktop on that budget.

Now that sounds like a plan

My HTPC build was looking at about £600 & tbh I didnt realise it would be possible to build a really good gaming setup for less than £1k

I pretty much have the HTPC specc'd like I said so what should I look at for a gaming rig??

Thanks in advance

Neil

Raikiri · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:54

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £199.99
(£234.99)
Lian-Li PC V1000 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower - Silver £109.99
(£129.24)
Thermalright HR-03-PLUS (8800 GTX) VGA Cooler £33.99
(£39.94)
Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers (White) - Retail £66.99
(£78.71)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) ) £56.99
(£66.96)
Hyundai ImageQuest N220W-D 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver £164.99
(£193.86)
Logitech Deluxe Keyboard (Black) - OEM £5.99
(£7.04)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11)
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12025L 120mm Fan - 3 Pin £19.96
(£23.44)
Samsung SH-S183ABEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.50
(£19.39)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £56.99
(£66.96)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
(£93.99)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM £269.99
(£317.24)
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail ) £19.99
(£23.49)
Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £111.98
(£131.58)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Socket AM2/LGA775) Heatsink £31.99
(£37.59)
Sub Total : £1,321.31
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £54.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £240.85
Total : £1,617.11

Change the fans to yate loons though, shame OcUK STILL don't stock them.

If you want to spend less then lose the speakers, monitor, get a single core and an 8800GTS. Down to about 1100~ then and you can use your current monitor/TV.

Growlingfish · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:54

FEAR is really old?? Don't think you could've found many nicer looking games to twist your arm

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:58

Growlingfish said:
FEAR is really old?? Don't think you could've found many nicer looking games to twist your arm

Well I say old I thought it came out sometime ago show's you I have been away for a while

Like I said the last "real" PC game I bought was Doom 3...since then I have bought one other title...Police Quest Collection & thats hardly taxing is it

Anyway thanks for the spec Raikiri...would that deffinitley be able to connect to Component inputs as well to act as a HTPC in the lounge??

Neil

Kanifee · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:59

"gaming laptop" isnt that like contradiction in terms

though for £1600 id expect you to walk away with a mighty fine single gpu gaming rig and a really well made htpc as well just let us know what the final specs are when you build them mate love to see what you end up with

Raikiri · 16 Jul 2007 at 19:03

soundwave said:
Anyway thanks for the spec Raikiri...would that deffinitley be able to connect to Component inputs as well to act as a HTPC in the lounge??

Neil

Yeah, pretty certain you can. Doesn't the CRT have VGA though? Most HD ones I have seen (admittedly not many) have done.

Jaffa_Cake · 16 Jul 2007 at 19:04

Raikiri said:
*spec snip*

I was under the impression he wanted 2 systems for the budget not one :eek:

My specs would be:

Spec 2 - gaming rig:

Spec 2 - HTPC with gaming potential:

Not too sure about the HTPC - I've heard certain cards are better for TV output than others.

Edit: forgot to ask if you need monitor/keyboard/mouse for either. They can easily be slotted in

Raikiri · 16 Jul 2007 at 19:06

Jaffa_Cake said:
I was under the impression he wanted 2 systems for the budget not one

I made one that would do everything and then some

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 19:11

Jaffa cake,

Thanks for the specs...if I go the 2 rig route (which tbh I think I will now) then I would need a Monitor for the gaming rig other than that I can add keyboards & Mice myself.

As for the HTPC whatever card I have in it will need a VGA-Component convertor becuase unfortunatley my TV doesnt have a VGA input as it was one of those JVC sets that was out about 2 years ago & does 1080i over component but nothing else...still it's a perfectly reasonable set for the money I paid (£350) & makes my 360 look lovely

Damien,

Dont worry you'll all be the first to know what I do

Thanks again guys it's all a huge help

Neil

<F0rb> · 16 Jul 2007 at 20:48

What you want is a nice cheap little HTPC for £500-600. Although i dont think you can get one with component out ?

Then spend the £1000 on a nice gaming PC.

Gaming PC : ( sorry i can't make it look all fancy screenshots

how do you do this ? )

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) (£117.49)

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
(£88.11)

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SuperClocked 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (320-P2-E815-AR) (£211.49)

Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£23.49)

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) (£117.49)

LG L204WT 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black (£164.49)

Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) (£81.06)

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 Soundcard - OEM (£50.51)

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
(£65.79)

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard (£93.99)

Sub Total : £862.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £153.62
Total : £1,031.47

HTPC :

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (£65.79)

Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£23.49)

Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail (£51.69)

Asus ATI Radeon EAH2600 Pro HTDP Silent 256MB DDR2 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (£64.61)

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) (£75.19)

Abit IP-95 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£35.24)

Antec Fusion HTPC Case - 430HE Watt PSU (£112.79)

Sub Total : £364.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £65.60
Total : £440.48

Now i don't know how you want your HTPC to work, wether to stream it, or hold in all in there, this will all change the spec slightly. The only other flaw is i know nothing about micro ATX, and what the size/other restrictions are.

What i have done is given you 2 very capable systems within your budget.

Growlingfish · 16 Jul 2007 at 20:51

<F0rb> said:
What you want is a nice cheap little HTPC for £500-600. Although i dont think you can get one with component out ?

Yeah you can - most graphics cards these days, low-end as well as high-end, come with breakout boxes for component output. Just check the boxed accessories when you look at the different cards.

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 21:03

Hey guys,

Thanks again for the specs it's really appreciated.

Just an update on the HTPC side of things...I basically already had a spec in mind for that which was all to be built around this here MOBO which actually comes with component out as standard & a Geforce 6150 chipset which I'm lead to believe would be ok for a basic HTPC??

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-145-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=807

I would then chuch a AMD Dual Core 4200+ in there with 2GB PC6400 Ram & a 320GB HDD, everything else after that (coolers etc) would be under advice from you lot anyway.

I basically neede the most help on a gaming setup as I havent got a clue whats about these days

Anyway thanks again for all this...you lot are like gods to me with your knowledge

Neil

<F0rb> · 16 Jul 2007 at 21:05

I was under the impression you would want to playback HD, but i did sort of just guess that

My spec there is good for HD, but obviously you can cut down a lot if you only want dvd's

soundwave · 16 Jul 2007 at 21:18

<F0rb> said:
I was under the impression you would want to playback HD, but i did sort of just guess that My spec there is good for HD, but obviously you can cut down a lot if you only want dvd's

HD isnt a huge deal to me at the moment but at some point in the future (probably when I upgrade the CRT to a proper 1080p LCD) so I would like that option to be there so i'm assuming that Geforce chipset I mentioned on the ASUS board isnt good enough for that? or is the processor that I chose that lets it down?

Basically to begin with good DVD & DivX playback is my main priority for my HTPC but I would still like some future proofing of it as well, so if your spec can do all that & with component out then there is absolutley no reason why I wont go down that route.

Neil

peetee · 16 Jul 2007 at 22:16

soundwave said:
HD isnt a huge deal to me at the moment but at some point in the future (probably when I upgrade the CRT to a proper 1080p LCD) so I would like that option to be there so i'm assuming that Geforce chipset I mentioned on the ASUS board isnt good enough for that? or is the processor that I chose that lets it down?

Basically to begin with good DVD & DivX playback is my main priority for my HTPC but I would still like some future proofing of it as well, so if your spec can do all that & with component out then there is absolutley no reason why I wont go down that route.

Neil

fairly sure people were saying a 3800, 1gb and a mobo with onboard 6150 was adequate for HD, its not THAT big a deal really, after all, its only a video

I think the above specs are kinda overkill for some media centers, but its good as it means they have potential for games too

Jaffa missed out the mobo from media center, and maybes swap the 8600 out for a 1950pro, im fairly sure the 8600s are fairly carp

Jaffa_Cake · 16 Jul 2007 at 22:28

peetee said:
Jaffa missed out the mobo from media center, and maybes swap the 8600 out for a 1950pro, im fairly sure the 8600s are fairly carp

Whoopsie!

I wouldn't take my spec as a final spec anyway (especially without a mobo!)

Picked the 8600 because they are cheaper than the X1950's and they do DX10, never know what DX10 might be needed for in the future.

Growlingfish · 17 Jul 2007 at 11:59

soundwave said:
Just an update on the HTPC side of things...I basically already had a spec in mind for that which was all to be built around this here MOBO which actually comes with component out as standard & a Geforce 6150 chipset which I'm lead to believe would be ok for a basic HTPC??

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-145-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=807

Check exactly how the HD out works - there won't be the correct sockets literally on the motherboard. Description states that a 'module' is bundled which you need to use - this will plug into something on the mobo (possibly the DVI? maybe one of the PCI slots?) and so might use up a socket that you are hoping to use for something else.