1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Hardware PC Hardware Buyer's Guide August 2013

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Meanmotion, 22 Aug 2013.

  1. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Nov 2003
    Posts:
    1,652
    Likes Received:
    19
  2. sotu1

    sotu1 Ex-Modder

    Joined:
    24 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    2,884
    Likes Received:
    26
    "Windows 7 "

    Either you really believe in Win 7 or you didn't update this. And I genuinely don't know your advice here!
     
  3. mi1ez

    mi1ez Modder

    Joined:
    11 Jun 2009
    Posts:
    1,615
    Likes Received:
    101
    I'd stick with Win7...
     
  4. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    2,761
    Likes Received:
    89
    The OS is down to your personal preference really but I'll refer you to our Windows 8 testing http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/software/2012/10/26/windows-8-performance-benchmarks/7

    In short we agree with mi1ez - we'd still buy Windows 7 over Windows 8, although addons such as Start8 do make it much more user friendly in a desktop environment.
     
  5. thogil

    thogil What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    4 Feb 2011
    Posts:
    24
    Likes Received:
    1
    The start screen in windows 8.1 is far better than the start menu in windows 7, due to a superior search system. What with search being the only reason you would ever open the start menu since Vista, I'm not sure why you would want to downgrade to Start8.

    There really is not much in it, so much that its hard to recommend paying for an upgrade, but there are a few minor improvements (multi monitor taskbar and wallpaper, file copy pausing, task manager, native zip and iso opening, etc), and literally no disadvantages.

    In other matters, it's good to see this feature back.
     
  6. VipersGratitude

    VipersGratitude Multimodder

    Joined:
    4 Mar 2008
    Posts:
    3,535
    Likes Received:
    837
    If that's your definition of 'regular' I'd hate to use a bathroom after you :D

    Joking aside, does anyone here anticipate AMD GPUs becoming a more sensible choice over the next decade due to a more similar architecture to the consoles?
     
  7. Matticus

    Matticus ...

    Joined:
    23 Feb 2008
    Posts:
    3,347
    Likes Received:
    117
    Wow, when your GPU is worst than the affordable all-rounder you know it's time to upgrade!

    Great to see this back though, I usually point people to this when they ask me about buying a new PC. That way I get none of the hassle and only 99% of the liability when it goes wrong :p
     
  8. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

    Joined:
    8 Aug 2005
    Posts:
    1,039
    Likes Received:
    41
    The AMD FX 6300/6350 is a far better CPU than that i3 for the affordable all rounder, even though they're slower per core, 6 of them at 4GHZ or more will be far more useful over the next few years in games and apps.

    Especially with all the multi-core console ports that will be incoming from 2014 onwards..
     
  9. barrkel

    barrkel What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    31 Jan 2007
    Posts:
    82
    Likes Received:
    1
    I don't accept your priors; your argument depends on unwarranted assumptions.

    I don't use Windows 7's start menu, since I prefer the XP menu, and I use ClassicShell to get it. It has the search functionality, but I seldom use it, I use a Cygwin terminal window if I want to type to start a program. I generally use the start menu for selecting a program based on categorization / spatial navigation / muscle memory.

    Windows has had "native" support for zips since at least XP SP2, and I've disabled it ever since it was implemented, because it bogs down Explorer and litters the treeview with in-zip directories. MS have had an ISO mounter freely downloadable from their site since at least the early 2000s too. Having these baked in is not an advantage to me.

    Windows has supported multi-monitor wallpapers ever since it supported multiple monitors. The trick to it was that you had to compose your wallpapers on a single bitmap and set it as the tiled wallpaper.

    Multi-monitor taskbars are another non-advantage. I have an infinitely configurable desktop at work (Linux) that can easily do that, but I'd rather spend the extra centimetre on my browser window. Widescreen monitors aren't high enough as it is.

    I generally pause file copy / moves with Ctrl-Z. If you've never used the terminal, you may not know what I'm talking about...

    The biggest disadvantage is encouraging MS's further adventures in TPM and locked down boot loaders.
     
  10. deathtaker27

    deathtaker27 Modder

    Joined:
    17 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    2,238
    Likes Received:
    186
  11. loftie

    loftie Multimodder

    Joined:
    14 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    3,173
    Likes Received:
    262
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 670 faster than the 760? And considering it's £200 - or below if it's on offer like it is now on overclockers and probably scan too - would it not be the better choice? Assuming of course they don't all vanish.
     
  12. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    2,761
    Likes Received:
    89
  13. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    2,761
    Likes Received:
    89
    Funny you should mention that - I did nearly put it in! I think the margin is pretty slim though - it's down to 1-2fps in many of our benchmarks and as you say you're essentially relying on flash sales of the 670 to bring it down under £200, whereas the 760 is regularly available for under £190 which for this guide is what you want really. However if you can find one for for £180 or less it might be worth considering, but then the GTX 760 is also a pretty good overclocker, especially the MSI Twin Frozr we looked at recently.
     
  14. Edwards

    Edwards Minimodder

    Joined:
    8 Oct 2010
    Posts:
    835
    Likes Received:
    54
    Lol.
     
  15. roundyz

    roundyz What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    16 Jan 2002
    Posts:
    153
    Likes Received:
    2
    Whats premium about this "8GB 1,600MHz DDR3" ? Its the same as the others..
     
  16. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

    Joined:
    16 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    2,761
    Likes Received:
    89
    It's premium not pointless - we don't just ramp up the specs as we go through the article for the sake of it ;) Seriously though, the testing we've done showed that very few situations benefit from more than 8GB of RAM, and even where they did the difference was small, while the move from 4GB to 8GB is far, far more beneficial. This is why the affordable all-rounder now includes it too. I dare say in the next buyer's guide (hopefully won't be as long this time!) the Premium Player may well include 16GB.
     
  17. Apoptosis

    Apoptosis What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    7 Sep 2009
    Posts:
    50
    Likes Received:
    0
    Mostly what I would've gone for, although when I get enough scratch for a new system, I'm not going to be using any more mechanical drives. Thankfully, large-capacity SSD's are coming down in price!
     
  18. chrismarkham1982

    chrismarkham1982 Multimodder

    Joined:
    1 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    1,835
    Likes Received:
    259
    Agree in priciple (and im no amd fan) will say though that they trade blows in the various benchies so id imagine the fact that the I3 uses a fare bit less power for its needs is probably the reason it was chosen.

    Xbitlabs have the i3-3240 (id imagine identical power usage to i3-3220) under load at 91w where-as the fx-6300 is at 162w, thats a big margin, 31w more than an i7-3770k in the same test/system!
     
    G0UDG likes this.
  19. Harlequin

    Harlequin Modder

    Joined:
    4 Jun 2004
    Posts:
    7,131
    Likes Received:
    194
    do I even need to click it to know intel have bought and paid for another BT article....


    £400 would get you a mini itx A10 based gaming rig or are you still `recommending` £1000 itx kit??
     
  20. loftie

    loftie Multimodder

    Joined:
    14 Feb 2009
    Posts:
    3,173
    Likes Received:
    262
    Fair point. Even if there's not much in it I personally would still go for the OC 670 for the extra ~£10, simply for the higher min frames on skyrim, though both push over 70fps, and the slightly lower power draw at load.

    Also, @£191 that's a standard 760 on scan, the OC ones hit ~£200.
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page