PC Reccomendations

[ourdoc]

Thanks for all the ideas. As far as a gaming console and laptop, I already have both of those, but will admit I like playing Wow, and that takes a good system with extreme graphics to really enjoy it, it doesn't work as well on a laptop. I have may friends I have played with since the beginning there many years ago, and they are more like family. So I opted to go with another Alienware, but a much smaller one than my last Area 51.

Oh I almost forgot, don't need the HELCO stock, I have solar

Again, Mahalo for the replies.

[Guest]

Glad you found something that works for you

[ourdoc]

Wow can be extreme graphics if you're running it in ultra graphics, on dx11, something my old system didn't support even though in lower graphics I was getting a 90 FPS rate. And the video cards alone in my old system cost the same as my new system complete. I also do some video editing in my spare time so the power will be a boost and their cooling for Hawaii is the best. The main reason I went with Alienware, was the ability to pay for it over a year with zero interest, even though it wasn't necessary, its a nice option. Yes, I used to build all my own systems, but being older and lazier I'd prefer someone else deal with the hardware now lol...

[ericlp]

I just built a System for myself 6 months ago. With Solar in mind.

I wanted something FAST and also something that EFFICIENT ... Hard to do. But I think I accomplished it.

I surf the net on my 47" LED panel 1080P / Home-theater PC / game player / music server.

Works good for me!

------system specs

Cooler Master Elite 430 - Mid Tower Computer Case $55
Corsair Builder Series CX 600 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS $65
MSI LGA1155/Intel B75/DDR3/SATA3 and USB 3.0/A and GbE/MicroATX Motherboard B75MA-E33 $70
Intel Core i3-3220 Dual-Core Processor 3.3 Ghz 3 MB Cache LGA 1155 $120
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM $40
Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 GHZ 1 GB DDR5 HDMI/DVI-I/DP PCI-Express Graphics Card $150

Total of 500 shipped from Amazon...

already had 3 TB hard drives and a copy of windows 7. I didn't want to take my full tower case with me when I moved so, I had to build a new system here. Couldn't be more than pleased it's faster than the rig I had on the mainland.

Got an amazing computer that sips power. You can do your own research but I spent a few months trying to narrow down what would work for me personally and it fit's the bill perfectly. I can play FarCry 3 and modern games like left for dead 2 etc...etc... @ 1080P. Will I play the newest games 3-5 years from now? Probably but at a lower standards. But I normally upgrade every 3-5 years anyway. So it's not a problem for me. If I was on mainland power and it was 10 cents a KW, I probably would have adjusted my budget a bit for the a system with more speed and less efficiency.

I built my a dad (also lives in hawaii) an AMD based system that I toyed with an AMD A-10 5800K Trinity APU. It burns as much power as the Intel based chip but even tho the GPU is very fast the 7770 is about 4-5X faster even tho it will burn 170 watts a full load. The efficiency of the 7770 is amazing at sipping less than a WATT of power when not in use.

Like a say, if I wasn't such a heavy Gamer (I'm not) I hardly play games on my PC. Because I don't really have the time to invest in it like I use too. I would have bought the A10. But when I DO play games I want the eye candy.

Also, get a damn good power supply that is efficient as well, since a crap PSU can burn up a lot of watts just on it's own.

I'll help you out and if you want to come by and see what I built no problem... Just let me know!

[ericlp]

double post

[Guest]

Nothing beats the 26 watts at full load for a mac mini, 10 watts when surfing the web. Of course you give up the separate graphics card. My core i5 HTPC with a nvidia gtx460 burns about 124 watts at idle and 180 at full load. The core i7 27 inch imac idles at 80 watts and maxes out at 160, that is really amazing considering that includes a 27 inch monitor and a discreet GPU. Laptop parts really are the way to go if you are worried about power consumption.

[ericlp]

Actually, my acer uses an AMD E-350 APU. Amazing little piece of technology that can still play a wide verity of games and it sucks down 18 watts!

Really got me excited about APU's. But sadly the newest APU won't play modern games at 1080P resolution 1920x1080 that was my ultimate goal. If you dial it down it's doable. Mac do not have the greatest technology.

Problem with Laptops it's hard to get 3TB of hard drive space in them. Tho if you go with 3 external drives that's probably 10 watts per drive alone with 3 separate Power Supplies. Then you would have to go with Console gaming platform (yuck!) have you check out how much an xbox power consumption uses? My Main PC idles at 80Watts about the same for my 47" flat screen. But that's with a high efficient Power Supply and Hardware. Tho it cranks up to well over 300 when doing intensive work and still remains quiet.