Getting back into PC Gaming

magick

magick

magick

Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2004
Posts
4,413
Hi, im getting an Alienware m17x. I've been out of PC gaming for a long time now and am going to buy quite a few games when I get the laptop. These are the games i'm getting :-

Shift 2 - Unleashed (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £15.02

Dirt 3 Game PC Offered by Startup Media by Codemasters £17.44

Left 4 Dead 2 (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £12.48

Portal 2 (PC/Mac DVD) by Electronic Arts £17.91

Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PC DVD) by Valve £8.99

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £8.99

Dead Rising 2 (PC DVD) by Capcom £9.80

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (PC DVD) Offered by UK Media by Ubisoft £13.90

The Witcher 2 - Premium Edition (PC DVD) Offered by Oakwood Distribution Limited by Namco £27.94

Total War: Shogun 2 - Limited Edition Offered by ACTIVATE by Sega £24.99

World in Conflict - Complete Edition (PC DVD) by Focus Multimedia Ltd £5.44

Call of Duty: Black Ops (PC DVD) Offered by Online Game Shop by Activision £28.81

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (Mac/PC DVD-ROM) by Blizzard Entertainment £32.99

Dead Space 2 (PC) by Electronic Arts £12.99

Super Street Fighter IV - Arcade Edition (PC CD) by Capcom £17.97

Crysis 2 - Limited Edition (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £31.12

Crysis - Maximum Edition (PC DVD)by Electronic Arts £8.99

Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £12.99

Metro 2033 (PC DVD) Offered by Gamesbuyer by THQ £8.01

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC DVD) by Activision £14.99

Mass Effect 2 (PC DVD) by Electronic Arts £8.99

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC DVD) Offered by 4GamersUK £5.94

Resident Evil 5 (PC) Offered by 4GamersUK by Capcom £9.59
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Now I can save quite a lot of money and download time by buying the games on disc instead off Steam. Which of the above games don't require the disco in the drive to play? And which games require a net connection everytime I wish to play?

Like I say it's longtime since I was last into PC gaming (Quake 3 days) and now I read things have changed a lot with online activations and so on.

Also by buying them off mail order how confident can I be that someone hasn't ripped the serial numbers and used them?
 
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Eames said:
No I'm talking about steamworks games.

There are certain games, if you have the disk version, have to be unlocked on steam to play them. You can then effectively "bin" the contents of the game box.
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Ok what about the other games? Should I go for disc or get them off steam? Like now a lot of games require you set accounts up still. Should I go for disc games when the are non steam works games?

With these steamworks games can you install them off the dsic to save time and does it install in the steam folder just like a download?
 
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infernox said:
It weighs a lot, about 7kg with the charger, which you would need, you'd get about 15 minutes of charge.

£1500, 7kilos and the upgrades are steep.

Each to there own though.
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Are you on about the m17x? It gets about 2 hours when running off the IGP. When I game i'd use the mains.
 
infernox said:
Get a desktop if your gaming on the mains. You can get a ITX - z68 chipset now.

Very small and very capable.

With the money saved you could get a £400 laptop and a desktop with money left over.
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I know I can get a better Desktop but I travel around quite a bit now and would sooner have a good all in one laptop.
 
infernox said:
Save money and buy the MSI, more than capable, and doesnt rinse your money.

1080p in 15.6 will look better than 1080p on 17

1 inch isnt something to be worried about.

And MSI have a very reputable rma system if things do go wrong.
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I looked at 1080p on 15.6 in a shop the other day and found it far to small. Plus I use a lot of online casinos which are flash based and cant be scaled in size so it would make them uncomfortable to look at for a long time.

If I do go for something a bit less it would be a Dell XPS 17 L702x.
 
infernox said:
Fair play. The xps would be a good shout with some upgrades. go for that.

Alienware charge to much for their leds and such.

Have fun whichever you choose. You wont be dissapointed with pc gaming when you look at the witcher 2 on high.
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The difference in price between the two isn't that great considering the difference in performance :-

Dell XPS 17 said:
Included in your system:
English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
OS Media MUI Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD
1Yr Next Day Hardware Support
1 year Accidental Damage Protection
Computrace LoJack for Laptops, 3yrs license
17.3"(44 cm) FHD 3D WLED TL (1920x1080) 1080p with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M Graphics Card - 3D Capable
3072MB (1x2GB, 1x1GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
8x DVD+/-RW, & Blu-ray Disc™ combo drive (reads Blu-ray Disc™ & writes to CD/DVD
250GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
6-cell 56Whr Lithium Ion battery
Backlit UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
Silver Anodized Aluminum Cover
£1,235.03
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Alienware M17x said:
Included in your system:
English Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Alienware M17x Stealth Black
Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 2630QM (2.00Ghz, 6MB, 4C)
2GB GDDR5 AMD® Radeon™ HD 6990M
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (7,200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
17.3" WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD
Blu-Ray ROM Combo (Blu-ray read only, DVD, CD read and write) Drive
Intel Wireless LAN 6300 3x3 (802.11a/b/g/n) Card - EUR
Primary 9 cell Li-Ion Default Base Battery
No Antivirus Software
1Yr Next Day Hardware Support included with your PC
1 year Accidental Damage Protection
Computrace LoJack for Laptops, 3yrs license
£1,766.03
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McDaniel said:
Not sure the question was about the laptop in fairness folks - if that's what he wants then who are we to say otherwise (I'm biased as I have a m17x and lurve it!)

Still steam is your best route tbh pal, might need to mix n match between buying on steam or if cheaper and steamworks by retail and activate key on steam
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Do you find the M17x comfortable to use on your lap for normal browsing?
 
McDaniel said:
not particularly, but to be honest it's normally on a desk/table anyway - I travel a fair amount with work so a mobile gaming solution... also it's so I can game in my media room and not be unsociable with my housemates by sitting in my room!

I got mine about 6 weeks ago, lovely bit of kit, have no issues - and runs everything i've thrown at it so far; though I ordered a SSD for it yesterday :D muahahah
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cool. have you repasted it yet? and what specs you got?

EDIT :

Repasting guide here http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/561599-m17x-r3-cpu-gpu-re-pasting-guide-w-pics.html

Some people have temp drops of 10 deg


WARNING MAY VOID YOUR WARRANTY THOUGH
 
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