AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Alright, thanks both of you! I figured about 1,000 for the tower, so I guess I was right about that. I'll probably shell out another 200-300 for peripherals and the OS, and then 150-200 for the monitor.

I won't have enough cheddar until the end of the summer, I was just wanting to have a general guideline of how much I needed to save. I guess about 1,500 will do it and then I can upgrade as need be.

Ideally, you'll want an IPS panel over a TN panel for your monitor. IPS has better color accuracy and viewing angles, but also costs more. I'm still on TN myself but I hope to upgrade this year.

Alright. Once I get the cheddar, I'll post what I'm going to get and ask if there's anything I should replace.

Eh, TN panels usually have less latency and input lag, especially in the lower price range, so it depends on what you're looking for.

I'll just get whichever one seems to be the best bang for the buck.

I went to Normal Boots today and there were advertisements for some site called vlc.cc there, which is kind of suspect to me since I have an ad blocker installed. I'm running Malwarebytes right now to be safe, but should I be concerned?

So I tried to turn on my laptop to well, use it. The power button isn't working it seems, it shows charging indicator while plugged in and the battery is fully charged anyway.


I think this is goodbye

help me az

long story short, i decided to say fuck it and rebuild my computer starting with a new case because mine was tits and had no fans in it. i bought a HUGE booty case that's all fancy and shit but neglected to realize the front end is powered by USB 3.0, and my motherboard is like 4 years old. so i'm having to jerry rig it to accept 3.0 until i can buy a new motherboard. im running a 4yr old i5 right now and i might as well get a new processor while im at it since i need a new mb anyway.

the issue is i am so out of date with processors i don't know what the deal is. i'm on a pretty limited budget so i want something that isn't going to be more than $200 but also do what i want. my only reference is my husband's pc he bought last year with an i7 3770k in it that has a clock speed of 3.5ghz. his computer runs very well (we tend to not worry with overclocking etc,) so i know if i have at least that i'll be fine.

i tried looking up reviews/buyers guides but all the i7s i see on there are $300+ which i'm not really interested in spending unless there's a REALLY good reason. i found a i7 for about $140 that has a slightly higher clock speed than kyle's and i'm wondering what it is with the more expensive processors that makes them worth it?

You want an i5-4670K or an i5-4690K which is the refresh that's coming out in a few weeks. The only difference between a $200 i5 and $300 i7 is hyperthreading which only provides a 20% boost under optimal conditions and only in programs that support it. Alternatively you can save a bit and get a non-K model which cannot be overclocked, but that means that a few years from now once it's starting to show its age, you can't give it a boost in the form of a slight overclock to make it last longer. Once you go past the $200 price point, price:performance goes out the window so there's little point in an i7 unless you absolutely need the performance.

Also clock speeds are not a very good measure of performance, what you want to do is look up benchmarks and compare processors that way. Like so.

Alternatively you could look up something like an AMD FX-8320 in the $150 range, it has probably the best price/performance ratio of any CPU on the market at the moment, which is why I picked it. But AMD vs Intel is a whole another can of worms.

i don't have a preference between AMD and intel really, i've just always had intel chips so i tend to stick with what i'm familiar with. i will actually check out the one you have because $150 is pretty much an ideal price for me c: thanks

Whatever you go with, don't forget to grab an aftermarket cooler. Something like the Hyper 212 Evo at $35 will greatly reduce heat and noise even at stock clocks. And that's something I'm sure will be extra helpful in Texas.

I should point out that the FX-8320 is basically equal to the $190 FX-8350, except that it has a lower base clock making it around 10-15% slower. It really starts to shine if you overclock it like I've done, I've pushed it from 3.5 to 4.4 which allows it to beat the $200+ i5's in some tasks.

You can forgo the aftermarket cooler on Intel CPUs if you don't overclock imo, it's what I did. If you want minimal noise aftermarket is still the way to go of course. Benchmarks are much more important than clock speeds. You probably don't need more than 4 cores. It would help if we knew what you're gonna use the PC for.

okay, so I'm going to need to get a new computer now that mine is bricked (it was probably time for an upgrade anyway). I kind of need it to be a laptop, and I'm not expecting to be able to run Witcher 2 or anything. what I'm looking at right now is an HP pavillion 15-n028us, with a 15.6" screen, AMD A6 processor, 6GB ram, 750GB hard drive, for about $600-$650 after tax and insurance. (a bit under 450 as the base price)
I would be using it primarily for browsing, writing, Corel Painter essentials 4, and Finale, which is a low-mid demand music publishing software.
Anyone think this choice is completely abhorrent, given the price and how I plan to use it?

That's a low-end APU which puts it on par with mobile i3's from a few years back, but it's better with workloads that involve graphics since it basically a CPU and GPU in one. I'd suggest checking if you can find a model with an i3-4000 series CPU first though, Intel's ahead of the game when it comes to mobile performance. Also, I've heard horror stories about HP's consumer grade laptops, but I have no personal experience with them.

What's the insurance about though?

does anyone have any recommendations for a good gaming laptop? i don't really want to go over 2k