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2017 Holiday Gift Guide: Hardware - MMORPG.com

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited November 2017 in News & Features Discussion

image2017 Holiday Gift Guide: Hardware - MMORPG.com

Like an RGB-encrusted loot box carousel, the holiday season has spun around yet again. But, like a harbinger of anxiety, it also brings the difficult decision on what to get for the gamers in your life, or even what to snag for yourself. Have no fear, however, as we’ve got you covered with our series of gift guides for the 2017 holiday season.

Read the full story here



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Comments

  • 3dom3dom Member RarePosts: 889
    To my surprise I've found out laptop versions of video cards are almost the same as desktop versions nowadays - unlike it was few years ago when laptop versions were exactly one generation behind desktop counterparts and got only 50-60% of desktop performance for higher price. Now the price of laptops is just 10-20% higher than the price of similar desktops (and exactly the same if you count +$200-300 for a monitor to the price of desktop). I'm not a fan of $3-5k hyper-cooled overclocked desktop monsters so it look like I'm getting new gaming laptop this year.

    TL;DR could be interesting to see an article about various gaming laptops.

    Thank you for your time!

  • VrikaVrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,882
    edited November 2017
    I think something like a keyboard, a mouse, a gaming controller, a monitor, a headset, or new speakers are much better choice if you're looking for something to buy.

    Computer upgrades should be purchased when you notice that you need them. If you decide to upgrade something now because you don't know what would be good Christmas gift you're more likely to end up buying something that's not a good upgrade decision.
     
  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726
    My opinion of course, but the additional price on those M.2 SSDs is not worth the it  You just won't notice that much of a performance gain.  The noticeable difference is between a hard disk and any SSD.

    Secondly there is a big price difference between a 1060 3GB graphics card and a 6GB one. Close to $100 and the 6GB are in short supply because of the miners.

    Nvidia's 1080s are the best buy on the market right now as they are not favored by the miners and are in plentiful supply.

    For most of us, hearing the difference between the sound card on the motherboard and a separate sound card is minuscule and only significant if you have an expensive speaker set up.
    RexKushmanSadfist
  • GazimoffGazimoff Staff WriterMember UncommonPosts: 225

    Ozmodan said:

    My opinion of course, but the additional price on those M.2 SSDs is not worth the it  You just won't notice that much of a performance gain.  The noticeable difference is between a hard disk and any SSD.

    Secondly there is a big price difference between a 1060 3GB graphics card and a 6GB one. Close to $100 and the 6GB are in short supply because of the miners.

    Nvidia's 1080s are the best buy on the market right now as they are not favored by the miners and are in plentiful supply.

    For most of us, hearing the difference between the sound card on the motherboard and a separate sound card is minuscule and only significant if you have an expensive speaker set up.



    Some interesting comments here:

    SSD: There's a noticeable performance improvement when going from SATA 6Gb/s to NVME M.2, but these are generally limited to boot and load times - heavy data transfer when you can saturate the bus. Whether that's worth the extra is up to you. Either way, stepping up from HDD to any SSD for boot is a huge improvement.

    GPU: You're right in that the price differnce between the 1060 3GB and 6GB has grown, but it's not just a VRAM difference - the 6GB model has 10% more CUDA cores as well. From what I've seen, the 1070 seems to be a more popular pick for miners, so I'm not sure where you're seeing supply issues. In EU at least, they're easy to get hold of.

    Sound card: It's a difficult thing - you need a decent speaker setup or good headphones to notice the difference. But, as more people are using their PC to stream Netflix/Pandora etc, it's worth investing in a good stack and soundcard to match. The difference in audio clarity is startling.





    Player of games, smither of words, former of opinions, and masher of keys. WildStar Columnist
    Currently playing: WildStar, Guild Wars 2, EVE Online, Vain Glory.
  • LastlaughlolLastlaughlol Member UncommonPosts: 144

    3dom said:

    To my surprise I've found out laptop versions of video cards are almost the same as desktop versions nowadays - unlike it was few years ago when laptop versions were exactly one generation behind desktop counterparts and got only 50-60% of desktop performance for higher price. Now the price of laptops is just 10-20% higher than the price of similar desktops (and exactly the same if you count +$200-300 for a monitor to the price of desktop). I'm not a fan of $3-5k hyper-cooled overclocked desktop monsters so it look like I'm getting new gaming laptop this year.



    TL;DR could be interesting to see an article about various gaming laptops.



    Yeah I don't know about that.

    A laptop will never have the same cooling capability as a desktop. Heat disspation=better higher performance threshold+less parts wear. Therefore desktop gaming is superior to laptop gaming in terms of performance.
    ScotSadfist
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 22,823
    edited November 2017
    It seems even video game cards now have "Founders" editions, I await the loot box game from Nvidia to try and get a card upgrade. I should say, as for the advice given, could not fault it.
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