System for Comp Science at Uni?

bmi92

bmi92

bmi92

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1 Jan 2010
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Hey guys.

With any luck I will be starting my Bsc in Computer Science at Loughborough in September and I'm trying to plan ahead for everything I need. Obviously (Well I expect, will find out on my visit day) that there will be computer labs there with "good" enough computers to complete any assignments etc but I'm wondering what type of system I would need.

There seems to be quite a bit of AI/Graphics coding in the second year, following a first year that just seems like lots of programming.

So I'm thinking, will I need a good system to be able to code AI/Graphics etc?

(I basically made this thread so someone says yes and I justify spending £1000 on a new system)

Thanks guys
Ben
 
Well to tell you the turth you wouldnt really need anything but thats based on my experience im 2nd year @ city doing the same course and theres nothing really that needs a great pc.
 
£1000 is way to much for second year and possibly third year graphics. A decent setup excluding monitor for about 5-600 would be plenty
 
You can do a computer science degree on a netbook.

They know that most people will go to uni with only a laptop, and cater for that in the courses. Although the labs are there, they never make students rely on them.

That doesn't mean you won't WANT a better system, but you definitely won't NEED one.
 
a good keyboard and monitor is a must ,your going to be sat in front of the pc hunting for that missing semi-colon in your java code for hours and hours...

but yea like has been said before even 3rd year graphics shouldnt stress even a £600 ish machine
 
I did Computer and Network Tech and built a beasty in my first year it was good for 3 things:
Gaming instead of studying
Willy waving to my coursemates
In the final year we did a massive module that envolved virtualisation of serveral server, that's is probably the only time having a beefy machine helped me!
 
Im a current first year student at southampton uni (loughborough was my insurance - so ive seen the lab machines there).

I personally have a full maxed out gaming i7 beast but thats only because my dad kindly bought it for me.

In reality you only need a basic machine. I would say just a core 2 processor and other components to match.

The only intense thing you'll be doing is compiling apps and now-a-days thats done in seconds anyway.

Anything will do. If you wanted to shell out i'd say get an SSD as that has really inceased my productivity (no waiting around for your browser, IDE etc to open to get on with things). Faster boot as well (I often turn on, check facebook, turn off in <1.5 mins - sad I know).
 
Even so, an SSD is money well spent - my system felt much faster with the SSD, than after I upgraded to a 5850. Same money, but one felt much better. So, as above, get a system budgeted for around £600-750, then spend the rest on a decent largish capacity SSD - and enjoy the performance.
 
M0NSTER said:
Yeah I was looking at getting http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-237-OK and adding an SSD to it. And then spend some money on a decent monitor (or 2 ) :p
Click to expand...

I think it would be abit better if your built the PC yourself, you could get something better maybe a i5 build and its a lot of fun to build a pc and I even put that ive built a pc on my personal statment when i was applying to university 2 years ago and it was like a talking point XD.
 
Fallen god said:
I think it would be abit better if your built the PC yourself, you could get something better maybe a i5 build and its a lot of fun to build a pc and I even put that ive built a pc on my personal statment when i was applying to university 2 years ago and it was like a talking point XD.
Click to expand...

I've built my PC before, and can't be bothered with the hassle again to be honest. If any part breaks, its an individual RMA etc. I'd rather just buy the whole package this time for the sake of being hassle free (or so I hope).
 
I'm at Loughborough doing computer science near the end of my 2nd year. The lab computers are really good (triple boot imacs). And the AI + graphics in the 2nd year requires some coding but nothing that requires any significant computing power - you could do it on a netbook...


I would recommend a nice big screen or 2....that helps more than a good pc :)
 
RANZID said:
a good keyboard and monitor is a must ,your going to be sat in front of the pc hunting for that missing semi-colon in your java code for hours and hours...

but yea like has been said before even 3rd year graphics shouldnt stress even a £600 ish machine
Click to expand...

oh the memories, displaying line numbers helps:p
 
Thanks man. A bit OT for GH, but what is the course actually like? Is it endless hours sat behind a PC writing code? What sort of contact time shall I expect in my first year etc?
 
No idea how the course is structured at Loughborough, but here in the first year there isn't that much coding to make you sit in front of a PC for hours on end.

Most of the course is general/advanced computing knowledge with some added maths then you can add the obligatory programming.... for first year anyway. This might vary for your University though, since some Uni's I know focus on maths and some don't.
 
Well my first year at city was the same some computing knowledge, i did quite abit of java but nothing that would mean hours and hours of coding its done more bite size you could say. Then you have some maths. Mostly 1st year abit relaxed as most unis dont count it towards your degree and it gives everyone some time to settle in.
 
2 screens (or more:P) an SSD decent cpu and ram for just general nice usage. all you need. multi screen helps loads and SSD just makes things snappy!
 
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