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Gaming desktop vs. MBP
- Thread starter lykranian
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my advice, check the thread showing gaming benchmarks for the highend mbp... decide if that's going to be good enough for you, if not or if it will probably not be sufficient in a year or so, i'd probably spring for a dedicated rig. Chances are if you want to play the latest and greatest and are a heavy gamer a dedicated rig will be better.
Honestly pretty much any modern processor will handle todays games, the gpu is what you need to invest your money in. 4 gb of ram is probably sufficient, 8gb can be found for really cheap especially if you have a desktop you can just put 4 - 2gb sticks into. I'd get any decent spec'd dual core i5 processor with 4gb of ram then spend the rest of your money on the best gpu you can afford/need
I'd get the MBA & Gaming PC.
Just get a minimum i5 quad processor, a high end graphics card, and 4gb of ram (I'm just assuming all you're doing is gaming, so of course just change those specs to meet what you need) and you'll be playing everything far better than you would with that Macbook Pro and you'll still have the Air for portability.
Just get a minimum i5 quad processor, a high end graphics card, and 4gb of ram (I'm just assuming all you're doing is gaming, so of course just change those specs to meet what you need) and you'll be playing everything far better than you would with that Macbook Pro and you'll still have the Air for portability.
I have a homebuilt desktop (core components were upgraded 14 months ago on a <$800 budget) and a 2011 13" MBP. In addition to gaming, my uses include programming/software development and image manipulation (Photoshop), and I'm very satisfied with this combination.
My brother has a top of the line 2011 15" MBP. While it can run most newer games, it's still significantly slower than my desktop where gaming is concerned, despite the fact that said desktop is now over a year old and has a mid-range GPU (Radeon 5770). Towards the end of this year I will likely replace the 5770 with a next generation high end card (for all of ~$250 at that), and the aforementioned comparison will then border on absurdity. Because powerful GPUs will eat up a lot of wattage in short order and put out a lot of heat to match, they don't pair well with mobile platforms and thus there's really no alternative to a proper desktop if you have any serious interest in gaming.
Besides, it's nice to have some level of redundancy in a worst case scenario. Laptops are relatively prone to theft and hardware failure (though you can certainly mitigate the risk of the former to a very low level). Oh, and definitely build the desktop yourself. It's really pretty easy these days (what with the vendors themselves matching parts for you, and every major hardware site out there offering build guides) and you'll get better parts for the money. Putting it together can be fun in its own right, if you enjoy tinkering.
My brother has a top of the line 2011 15" MBP. While it can run most newer games, it's still significantly slower than my desktop where gaming is concerned, despite the fact that said desktop is now over a year old and has a mid-range GPU (Radeon 5770). Towards the end of this year I will likely replace the 5770 with a next generation high end card (for all of ~$250 at that), and the aforementioned comparison will then border on absurdity. Because powerful GPUs will eat up a lot of wattage in short order and put out a lot of heat to match, they don't pair well with mobile platforms and thus there's really no alternative to a proper desktop if you have any serious interest in gaming.
Besides, it's nice to have some level of redundancy in a worst case scenario. Laptops are relatively prone to theft and hardware failure (though you can certainly mitigate the risk of the former to a very low level). Oh, and definitely build the desktop yourself. It's really pretty easy these days (what with the vendors themselves matching parts for you, and every major hardware site out there offering build guides) and you'll get better parts for the money. Putting it together can be fun in its own right, if you enjoy tinkering.
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By the looks of it, those are some ridiculously weak GPU's when compared to current generation GPU's in the MBP (AMD HD 6000 series opposed to ATI HD 5000 series)
I recommend 15" high end w/ hi-res screen, if you can afford it.
None of the specs justify either desktop's price. Here's the specs for the PC listed below that you can build yourself:
Intel Core i5-2500K Quad Core 3.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, nVidia GTX 560, Blu-ray capable, 1TB Hard Drive, $1100. Shoots both of those PCs out of the water blindfolded.
If not, get the 11" MBA. DO NOT GET A PREMADE gaming PC. Build one yourself, it's often cheaper. Here's a list of items to get you started:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147108 Rosewill case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130573 MSI mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 Intel i5-2500K. Don't get the i7-2600K, not much improvement for $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM 6Gbps
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610 nVidia GTX 560 Ti Fermi GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015 650W PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106326 Blu-ray drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 Heatsink & Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 Arctic Silver 5 CPU thermal grease, for use with heatsink
Total cost w/ rebate @ Newegg discounts: $1100-1200. I know it's not cheap, but that's much cheaper for a machine of that caliber, which usually go for $2000-2500. If you want it cheaper, go with a weaker GPU (Such as the GTX 550) or get a DVD drive.
What is the radeon equivalent of the 560? And building one does sound like fun!
And, the interweb will tell me how to assemble all the shenanigans, right?
AMD's equivalent to Nvidia's gtx 560 is the Radeon 6950
You beat me to it xD
Yes, the Radeon 6950 is the equivalent. It is more power consuming and louder, but handles high-res monitors better. Also bigger.
The interwebz indeed will! Google is your best friend.
I have purchased a couple of gaming PCs from Cyberpower... you get great deals from these kind of companies, but the service can be spotty.
You choose which video cards you want in the system, so it is completely up to you.
I use Tom's Hardware for their monthly gaming GPU article. The last page always compares all video cards so you know which one is better than the other.
If you are a serious gamer - there are really no better options for high performance / low price.
R
You choose which video cards you want in the system, so it is completely up to you.
I use Tom's Hardware for their monthly gaming GPU article. The last page always compares all video cards so you know which one is better than the other.
If you are a serious gamer - there are really no better options for high performance / low price.
R
I'd get a gaming PC. I made my gaming PC for $350 about 2 years after I got my MPB, and it was better at gaming than my MBP... I've since spent about $400 more on it, and it's still great for gaming going on 3-4 years now.
It's more future proffing then anything, Sli is for if you ever find your self not maxing games out you can buy a second GTX 560ti, dont worry the intel 2500k is an awesome cpu and can be over clocked to 4ghz without too much effort, I reccomend you invest in an ssd especially if your getting a MBA it just makes every thing alot faster for normal use.
If it is a concern, iMac handles games well too, but I would also suggest getting a PC for gaming if iMac is out of your range.
I don't agree that building your own gaming rig is cheaper...you don't get the benefit of bulk volume purchasing that the vendors get.
Price something out from Cyberpower and you will see that you won't save much - if anything.
On the other hand, if you enjoy it, go for it.
SLI can be added at any time. Just make sure the motherboard can handle it, and get at least an 800W power supply. To test what you need, you can build a system online at Cyberpower with SLI and see what power supply is recommended.
R
Price something out from Cyberpower and you will see that you won't save much - if anything.
On the other hand, if you enjoy it, go for it.
SLI can be added at any time. Just make sure the motherboard can handle it, and get at least an 800W power supply. To test what you need, you can build a system online at Cyberpower with SLI and see what power supply is recommended.
R
I had:
AMD 955 Phenom II quadecore @3.8GHz
8GB DDR3 @1650MHz
AMD 6850 1GB
2x 250GB in RAID0
2x 2TB RAID1
1.5TB HDD
2x 1TB HDD
60GB SSD
23in Samsung 1152x2048
I put it in the closet when I got my MacBook Pro. It does everything I need it to. I turned one of my 1.5TB HDD"s into external storage and a 2TB into a Time Machine. and hooked my 23in up to my MacBook.
I'm all set.
AMD 955 Phenom II quadecore @3.8GHz
8GB DDR3 @1650MHz
AMD 6850 1GB
2x 250GB in RAID0
2x 2TB RAID1
1.5TB HDD
2x 1TB HDD
60GB SSD
23in Samsung 1152x2048
I put it in the closet when I got my MacBook Pro. It does everything I need it to. I turned one of my 1.5TB HDD"s into external storage and a 2TB into a Time Machine. and hooked my 23in up to my MacBook.
I'm all set.
If you want to do some research and learn more than you will ever need to know about each component in a pc, gaming or otherwise, check out overclock.net.