On Tue, 21 May 2013 18:57:15 -0500, amdx <
am...@knologynotthis.net>
wrote:
>Ok, I ask the question for my son, he's off at college.
>He uses a laptop and thinks a new computer will be faster.
He's correct. For gaming, raw CPU horsepower and video performance is
what's important, not network speed. I suggest you download and run a
gaming benchmark test from:
<
http://www.3dmark.com>
<
http://www.futuremark.com>
<
http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmark06/>
The free versions are ok, but for $10, the video tweak tests are
worthwhile. Warning, the downloaded tests are about 600MB which
expands to a 1.5GB monster on installation. Note that there are
different versions for DirectX 9, 10, and 11. I use the one for Dx9
(PCMark06) as I'm interested in comparing gaming machine performance,
not how much I can squeeze out of the video card enhancements. There
are also pages where you can view user results for various systems,
video cards, and operating systems:
<
http://www.3dmark.com/login>
Try the Benchmark ticker.
<
http://www.3dmark.com/ticker>
(It takes a long time for the screen to start filling with data.) It's
interesting seeing what type of systems are out there being used for
gaming. Hmm... it's not showing any data today. Grrr. Anyway, you
can see how you stand against the highest scoring computers at:
<
http://www.3dmark.com/hall-of-fame-2/>
Here's my home desktop:
<
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/16937631>
I haven't run it on my laptop, so I can't do a comparison right now,
but I think you'll find it much slower, especially the video
performance.
>He want's to build a new computer, and I don't want to
>buy the parts!
Most of the home made game machines I've seen are unstable pieces of
marginal junk. It takes experience and expertise to put together a
machine that actually works well with bleeding edge games. They can
also become very expensive with little resale value (except to other
gamers). If he's never built a custom machine before, have him build
something with emphasis on upgradability. Hint: Aluminum mini-tower
case as he's going to be dragging it some.
>PS. I also don't want to encourage more playing games vs studying.
If he's building a machine, he's learning. If he's playing on the
machine, he's not learning. Too much studying is bad for the learning
process. I learned more from the things I did wrong in college than
any of the studying that I should have been doing.