Could someone help me with choosing a new computer?

[kek13]

Hey guys, as the title suggests I'm in the market for a new computer, specifically one that can run most current gen games smoothly.

I have it narrowed to about two but I have a couple of questions before I spend anything.

First: What exactly is the difference between a "quad-core" processor and an "Intel i7" processor, to me those just sound like fancy names for pretty much the same thing and I haven't been able to find any reliable info on either as the first thing that comes up on a google search is a link to both their respective manufacturers sites.

Second: Why is the Gateway brand considered to be a poorer brand than HP or AMD?
I'm sure that most PC company's are pretty competent in assembling computers so I see no good reason as to why this particular brand is any worse than those two this brand is also the only one that seems to be well priced as well as powerful enough for what I intend to use it for)

Third: what is a good processing speed?
The one I'm composing this message on can run about 3 GHz and the one I have my eye on can run at about 3.4 GHz

And lastly this is the model I'm looking at: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-intel-core-i7-2600-computer-dx4860-ef22p-dx4860-ef22p/10171616.aspx?path=ebe6ddff684c84203478a17948ee65aeen02

I think that about covers everything I wanted to ask anyone who bothered to read this, if you have any good advice please leave it down in the comment section and thanks in advance.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

To be honest, if you want a PC for gaming, building it yourself is the most efficient way to do so.

That PC will run games alright, but you won't be able to max out most current gen games.

An Intel i7 is a quad core processor with hyperthreading, meaning that it effectively has more processing power than say, an AMD Quad Core of the same Ghz.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

To be honest, if you want a PC for gaming, building it yourself is the most efficient way to do so.

Good way to avoid getting something with an overpowered CPU and a ridiculously underpowered GPU. Gateway the OP linked to is an example - i7 CPU but with a GT 520 GPU... hell, they may as well have saved money and just used the on-die GPU the i7 has. Who wants to lay down that kind of scratch only to have to turn around and lay out more on a decent GPU?

 

[FreakSheet]

Well, brands can be very important in choosing power supplies. A good company will test in realistic conditions (higher temperatures) while a poor brand will test in cool conditions, which few computers will achieve.

Quad core means it has 4 separate cores, and the Core i7 is a quad core, and likely the highest quality of cores out there. Of course, it comes at a high price, so for a smaller price range a Core i5 is more recommended.

EDIT: I forgot, there ARE hexacore i7's, but if you have the money for one of those lovelies, something tells me you know something bout computers as well.

And for me, just under 3Ghz works, but for the longer term more is always better to go higher.

On that computer, the power supply doesn't look like it will handle more serious graphics cards. 450 watts isn't exactly pitiful, but it just doesn't cut it.

Also, the card to is... kind of sad

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_geforce_gt520&num=3

That has benchmark tests. THESE ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND. You want to look at as many as you can, for processors and graphics cards alike. They can also tell you stuff like power consumption and temperature.

For that card, it is on quite the low end of the spectrum. I personally have the NVidia GTX 460, and it works great, but it is a bit of an older card, so maybe more recent is better. Also, look at the benchmark of the Nvidia GTX 460. Its a mid range card, and can take around 200 watts. That's almost half the power supply in the computer there. For one card, 600-650 watts is usually good, while 750-800 watts will work for a dual card set up (which that particular computer doesn't support) Thats just a general rule, but look at the power consumption, or even find a power calculator before deciding what size you want.

Hardware Canucks is a great site, and has lots of benchmarks for various stuff. You can still buy a premade computer, but look at the components, see what will meet your gaming needs. And while I can tell you what to do, I will say that with my own money, I would look for something else.

And feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[Blackpapa]

First: What exactly is the difference between a "quad-core" processor and an "Intel i7" processor, to me those just sound like fancy names for pretty much the same thing and I haven't been able to find any reliable info on either as the first thing that comes up on a google search is a link to both their respective manufacturers sites.

A quad-core processor is a processor that has four physical cores.

The i7 is a family of current generation pentium processors that have 2, 4 or 6 cores.

Most developers today are lazy fucks and most games are single-threaded. Even so, having a dual core processor benefits gaming as the game runs in one thread, the OS and other stuff in the second.

Cryengine 3 uses up to 4 cores but then again it runs on an xbox.

Supreme Commander 1 uses up to 4 cores and it actually needs it.

Dwarf Fortress uses 1 core because Toady needs to learn parallel programming.

Second: Why is the Gateway brand considered to be a poorer brand than HP or AMD?
I'm sure that most PC company's are pretty competent in assembling computers so I see no good reason as to why this particular brand is any worse than those two this brand is also the only one that seems to be well priced as well as powerful enough for what I intend to use it for)

Brands don't matter, the components do. That said component efficiency can vary greatly between revisions, different stepping versions (example: Q6600 with G0 stepping was superior and highly sought after). With RAM chips you have to take into account the frequency, CAS latency - and there's still a lot of factors which affect performance which are too technical for anyone but a major geek to understand. The same goes for all components and you have to take benchmarks and parameters into account.

That's a lot of knowledge. Shit companies don't bother posting all the details and instead try to sell you shit. If you know your way around computers you might do a proper purchase you'll be happy about. Otherwise if you don't want to invest the time to research which components are good and cheap (or cheap and sufficient) you'll have to invest money into a brand name PC.

Third: what is a good processing speed?
The one I'm composing this message on can run about 3 GHz and the one I have my eye on can run at about 3.4 GHz

About 160000 MIPS.

By the way frequency alone != computing power. I did overlock my old pentium D 805 to 3.9 GHz but a 3.4 GHz i7 beats it several times in hyperPI. And just because my EEE has a 1.2 GHz atom doesn't mean it's 1/3 the power of a dual-core i7 running @ 3.6.

And lastly this is the model I'm looking at: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/gateway-gateway-intel-core-i7-2600-computer-dx4860-ef22p-dx4860-ef22p/10171616.aspx?path=ebe6ddff684c84203478a17948ee65aeen02

I think that about covers everything I wanted to ask anyone who bothered to read this, if you have any good advice please leave it down in the comment section and thanks in advance.

It's an adequate machine for mom&pa to play solitaire on but not for gaming. The fact that the manufacturer is barely mentioning what parts are inside means they're worthless shit. The information that he does mention paints a very poor gaming PC.

My advice: find some overclocker nut and pay him to build you a PC. Back when I was a poor student I built a mid-end machine for pennies - using salvaged materials, used parts, custom-made cooling solutions and lots and lots of overclocking. In fact it runs Crysis 2 perfectly smooth. Downside is it looks like a Mad Max prop and I had to buy a PCI bios debugger card to get it to work. Those were the times...