Confused between buying Laptop or Desktop for gaming

[Bhargav Simha]

I am not sure if its the right place to ask as I new to the forum. I am confused between buying a laptop or desktop(assembled) for gaming. I play CS and DOTA most, but also play all sorts of games like RTS, turn based RTS, FPS, RPG and sports simulations. Also have doubt if I can connect a good gaming laptop to my LG LM7600 42 inch full hd 3d TV.
I would love mobility (for my work and lan parties) however not at the cost of performance (i can alway play online on my 15mbps internet connection).
I was almost ready to buy a alienware or asus rog, but the indian prices of the laptop are very high when compared to U.S prices and I didnt feel it as VFM (actually i felt they were cheating the indian customers). Lack of a good gaming laptop in indian market and made me incline towards desktop again, but am still very confused.
I aplogize if I have not asked my query in a proper way. Thank you for your help in advance.

 

[Ahmar]

your budget..?

 

[Bhargav Simha]

1 lakh, but can extend a bit for desktop by buying some components later. The reason I am asking about laptop (though I hate the prices in india) is that I already have a desk top at home (pretty old though amd ath 3200+, gigabyte vm800m motherboard,2 gb ram, radeon 3000 series ( PCI) graphic card etc) and cant sell it.

 

[Bhargav Simha]

1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: 99% Gaming, 1% movies and work.
Games: All the latest games along with the witcher 2, crysis series, battlefeild series, far cry series, LA noire, fifa 13, NFS most wanted 12, diablo 3, HOMM series, Kings bounty series.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans:1 lakh, if needed to extend will buy part keyboard and/or monitor after january.
3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: Will overclock only after 2-3 years. Also I have not done overclocking before so ease would be of prime importance.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: windows 7/8

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: 120/240 gb ssd and 2tb hdd

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: Yes, 22/24 inch full hd monitor with high refresh rate (120 hz, but open to sugestions if you feel its not required)

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: Mouse( have a Logitech MX-500 mouse), headset (skull candy), LG dvd writer.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: before new year

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: I have never built a desktop, but can assemble if required ( I have been repairing my pc myelf from past 3 years)
10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: Hyderabad. I can buy locally at CTC or order online depending on the price and availability.

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: 1) I was dreaming of buying a good gaming pc or laptop from past 8 years. Finally have the financial resouces to do so. I even have 10 to 15 games in my steam account which I bought and could not play due to the config (latest being witcher 2 which i bought in the steam sale).
2) I want the best cpu and mobo with respect to gaming, i would not want to compromise in them.

 

[Bhargav Simha]

U can buy P.C that'll be best it'll support each & everthing ,the real deal is in playing on Screen,u'll enjoy it ...

So do the laptops these days, ex: alienware, asus rog and especially MSI G T70ONE. However the problem is that the first two overly priced and the MSI G T70 One is not available. Also they have the advantage of mobility and require less space.
Thats the reason I am so confsued. How about buying these lappys from US online stores?? how would it effect their warranty or service??

Please advice.

 

[Ahmar]

Intel i7 3770k:- 18750
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard:-10660
gpu-powercolor ati 6950- 11000
dvd- 1000 (any)
cabinet-cooler master elite 431 plus-3812
ram- cotsair vengence ddr3 8gb-2708
seagate 2tb-5880
total-53810
buy rest items or upgrade to better in the remaining money

 

[krishnendu]

When it comes to gaming always go for dextop insted of laptop. Because its the feeling the environment which is important.
Dextop will bring the excitement while laptop makes people LAZY.

 

[Bhargav Simha]

Intel i7 3770k:- 18750
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard:-10660
gpu-powercolor ati 6950- 11000
dvd- 1000 (any)
cabinet-cooler master elite 431 plus-3812
ram- cotsair vengence ddr3 8gb-2708
seagate 2tb-5880
total-53810
buy rest items or upgrade to better in the remaining money

Thank you for the fast reply. What do you suggest about the laptop top option? and do you think the asrock mobo would do jutice to the 3770k ?(heard its components and bios do not match the standards of Asus and Gigabyte), coz I may oc the processor and GC after 2-3 years. Is the mobo noob freindly for overclocking? also would like a graphic card like gtx 680 or its equivalent?

Also would like to mention that the config (laptop or pc) should be future proof, coz I dont think I can buy/upgrade another for atleast 5 years....

When it comes to gaming always go for dextop insted of laptop. Because its the feeling the environment which is important.
Dextop will bring the excitement while laptop makes people LAZY.

I must admit your are very correct, but the lappy would give me unlimited mobility. Do you have any sugesstions about buying from online retailers from outside the country? , according to the US prices I can get a MSI G T70 One or a alienware for about 1 to 1.2 lakh (lappys with 680 gtx and 15 or 17 inch screen), i am only afraid about warranty and service for my investment.

 

[pratyush997]

Get PC ... Seriously!

 

[rohit32407]

Intel i7 3770k:- 18750
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard:-10660
gpu-powercolor ati 6950- 11000
dvd- 1000 (any)
cabinet-cooler master elite 431 plus-3812
ram- cotsair vengence ddr3 8gb-2708
seagate 2tb-5880
total-53810
buy rest items or upgrade to better in the remaining money

No point in buying a 6950 for 1 lakh worth of gaming Rig. I would like to suggest Sapphire HD 7950 with boost(Dual X cooler) or a Sapphire VAPOR-X HD 7950 OC with boost. Both should be around 21k. This GPU is best bang for the buck right now. I am waiting to buy 1 myself.

For motherboard try to find Gigabyte Z77 G1 Sniper M3. An excellent motherboard IMO. Should cost you anywhere around 12k but i am not sure.

You can also go for i5 3570K which is more than enough for gaming if you can't fit i7 3770K in your budget.

For cabinet you can look for Corsair Carbide 400R. Must be around 4.8k

CPU Cooler- Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO if you are not looking at extreme overclocking. Should be around 2.1k.

RAM- I would prefer G Skill ripjaws mostly because of their low profile heat spreaders and they perform at par, if not better, with Corsair Vengeance. Try to go for 4Gb x2 config.

HDD- Try to get hold of a WD Caviar Black 1 TB for gaming purposes and another 1 tb of caviar blue or green(if you can't fit a blue in your budget) for data dumping.

SSD- Always better to have it for OS basically for quick booting and few of your preferred games. But this is not necessary at all and should be included only if you don't have to compromise on other more important components IMO.

PSU- If you are not going to XFIRE or SLI now or later then a Corsair GS600 will be just fine. It must be around 4.2k but again I am not sure.

Rest is upto you.

For laptop you will have to spend double the money and still you won't get performance which can match a desktop. Overclocking is out of question in a laptop due to cooling limitations.I prefer to keep a gaming desktop for my gaming needs and a mid range laptop for other work(not gaming) which requires mobility. I personally would never go for a laptop if my primary purpose was gaming.

 

[Bhargav Simha]

@rohit32407 Thanks a lot buddy. You cleared my doubts, thank you. The config and explaination you gave me is grt too. I will go for a Desktop then.

Have heard a lot about 7950 vpour and OC (from gameranad's 130k thread), however what do you think about the zotac gtx680 I was thinking about 680, so that I dont have to upgrade the system till 4-5 years. The 8800 in my office comp worked grt till last year, worked for games released in 2011 too, though at low settings. Can I expect the same kind of performance from 680 4-5 years down the line?
About the mobo, what do you think about the asus maximus V formula and its gigabyte equivalent? Even though i dont intend to OC it to extreme, I would like to have a mobo with good grade components and is easy to OC...
Bout the cpu, what is the performace difference between 3770k, 3770 and 3570k; to be precise in terms of gaming coz I play games civ 5 and sc 2 most?
Also suggest a good HD monitor for gaming, should have good refresh rate and decent color reproduction(though I may buy it after 1-2 months if it does not fit my budget)?

 

[gameranand]

DO NOT BUY LAPTOP. Trust me I have played on Laptop and Desktop too and mere the screen size of Laptop is more than enough to reject it + no upgrades which is essential for a gaming PC and there are 100 other reasons that I can think of. But I guess you are already convinced.
Now coming to point, I don't usually reply here as its not my field but after searching a lot for my PC I guess I can advice for a budget which is near mine.

1. CPU - I guess 3570K will be good enough for gaming.
2. Mobo - Asus Maximus Gene would be my choice for you.
3. RAM - G-skill 1866 MHz which would cost you around 3K at PrimeABGB
4. CPU Cooler - CM Hyper Evo
5. HDD & SSD - A 120GB SSD + WD 2TB Green Edtion
6. PSU - Corsair TX650 or TX750
7. GPU - 7970 or 7950. Whichever fits your budget, I guess if you have read my thread then you already know that after latest driver Update AMD has got the boost. Also Cilus has already explained the importance of DirectCompute
8. Cabinet - I won't comment, its a subjective area and what I like, you may hate so search and decide. But first of all think about budget of this particular component.
9. UPS - As usual APC 1.1VA
10. Keyboard - Logitech G510 or Corsair K60 or K90. If you a RPG lover then get K90 or G510 or stick to K60. Also one important point is that K90 & K60 are mechanical keyboard while Logitech G510 is a dome based.

I guess that would be all.

Yeah about 680, if you have the budget then get 7970 and skip this one. And yes you can easily play games for like 4-5 years with these GPUs.

 

[rohit32407]

It's hard to predict what will happen in next 3-4 years when it comes to GPU. I would say go for a 20k GPU now and spend another 20k in next 2 years rather than spending 34-35k in one go. If you want you can go for a 7950 Xfire in an year or so when its prices come down even further. But i have no idea about SLI or Xfire as I have never done one myself. Better to wait for other members to reply on that. but if you do plan to xfire in future then you will require a better PSU than what I have suggested.

ASUS Maximus V formula is an excellent board if you can afford it. The motherboard I have suggested is not that expensive and is a fair overclocker, in all VFM. I don't have any idea about any equivalent option from gigabyte but ASUS Maximus V formula is an excellent board. I would suggest you to go through gameranand's 130k rig thread in detail once and see what you can accommodate in your budget from the suggestions that are given there.

For gaming at the moment you won't require anything more than i5 3570k but in future you might. So if you can accommodate an i7 in your budget then go for it. Or else you can also have a look at i7 2600K..

Sorry I can't help you much with monitor and would refrain from making uneducated suggestions on that part. Wait for others to reply.

EDIT: Completely forgot about maximus v gene. +1 for maximus v gene from my side as well.

 

[gameranand]

Actaully I am getting i7 3770K and thats why getting better Cooler to cool that beast.

Hmm....about mothetboard alternative, I have already given you one and the one I opted earlier is also good but since your budget is around 100K for all components so I would say go for Gene. It is also a n excellent board and a nice overclocker also its available for around 15-16K saving you around 5-6K from Maximus V Formula.

Since you have already decided to go for PC so ask a mod to change the thread title to make the title more to the point.

 

[rohit32407]

yeah just saw your final config. Edited my previous post.

 

[Ahmar]

Thank you for the fast reply. What do you suggest about the laptop top option? and do you think the asrock mobo would do jutice to the 3770k ?(heard its components and bios do not match the standards of Asus and Gigabyte), coz I may oc the processor and GC after 2-3 years. Is the mobo noob freindly for overclocking? also would like a graphic card like gtx 680 or its equivalent?

Also would like to mention that the config (laptop or pc) should be future proof, coz I dont think I can buy/upgrade another for atleast 5 years.....

no laptop is not for gaming you cannot upgrade it.....
in case of gpu
you can get a ati 5970 for 26000/-

 

[gameranand]

Why the hell on earth would he buy a 5xxx series when 7xxx series is available. Please don't suggest if you don't know.

 

[Ahmar]

Why the hell on earth would he buy a 5xxx series when 7xxx series is available. Please don't suggest if you don't know.

Radeon HD 5970 vs Radeon HD 7970 – Performance Comparison Benchmarks @ Hardware Compare

 

[gameranand]

Oh boy you really don't know do you. Read some reviews, benchmark results, gaming performance etc. Just do a Google search for it and then reply. If 5970 was so good then why they made 6xxx series and why people purchased and then again oh AMD made the mistake again and made 7xxx series. Stupid AMD. Like I said first do some research and then post, someone is spending 100K and you are suggesting him a 2 generation old card ??

 

[rohit32407]

Man I thought 6950 in itself was a bad suggestion and now you are suggesting 5970. Why would anyone buy a 5970 for 26000 which is 2 generation old when you can get a new generation 7950 for as low as 22k(maybe even lower). Those theoretical comparisons are no good when it comes to real world gaming performance.

@OP Just go for either 7950 or a 7970 whichever you can fit into your budget.

For further clearance regarding 5970 vs 7950 have a look at this thread *www.overclock.net/t/1327692/is-it-worth-upgrading-from-a-7950-to-a-5970/10