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Aug 2023
2:26pm, 21 Aug 2023
20,782 posts
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rf_fozzy
Need a bit of advice - need to replace a desktop replacement laptop (~8yr old) and was thinking of getting a small PC instead as I'd like something with a decent graphics card - not just so it can play games, but also so it can handle some image processing stuff a bit better.
I'm about 15yr out of date on graphics cards as I've generally had laptops with inbuilt graphics cards, so have absolutely no idea what I should be looking at.
Any ideas/general advice? Don't want anything *too* expensive as it's not worth it for what I want to do - basic-ish will do what I want probably
I was looking at the mini desktops rather than laptops as they seem cheaper? And the laptop above isn't dead yet, although it needs a lot of stuff clearing off of it.
I have a cheap laptop I use for carting about to do stuff too.
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Aug 2023
2:51pm, 21 Aug 2023
47,544 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I can't give much info, but I bought at Dell Inspiron 7577 16GB RAM 1TB disk about 5 years ago maybe 800 quid, with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 ti graphics card, and it can play all games except the very, very latest one, with no problems.
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
CUDA Cores
768
Graphics Clock (MHz)
1290
Processor Clock (MHz)
1392
Graphics Performance
high-6747
Memory Specs
Memory Clock
7 Gbps
Standard Memory Config
4 GB
Memory Interface
GDDR5
Memory Interface Width
128-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec)
112
Cheapish laptop with up to date (but not bleeding edge) graphics card would do you fine, I would think?  G
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Aug 2023
3:07pm, 21 Aug 2023
47,545 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Oh, 128 GB SSD as well, forgot about that.
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Aug 2023
3:09pm, 21 Aug 2023
20,783 posts
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rf_fozzy
I'd probably just go for a single SSD now. Prices have dropped massively on them - not sure HDD are worth it any more.
Presume you use the SSD for booting and the HDD for storage.
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Aug 2023
3:21pm, 21 Aug 2023
21,783 posts
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larkim
I think it's got to the stage now where just about any non-integrated GPU is pretty damned good for gaming so long as your not expecting 120fps for 4k resolution across 3 monitors.
Nvidia are still a great reliable option. Buying off the shelf a full device from someone like Scan is a good option; we bought one of their gaming machines about 2 years ago and it still runs as fresh as the day we unboxed it.
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Aug 2023
10:59pm, 21 Aug 2023
20,784 posts
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rf_fozzy
So basically anything with a decent card should do the job?
Ok, that should make it a little easier.
Hoping not to pay *too* much though.
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Aug 2023
11:10pm, 21 Aug 2023
20,636 posts
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Chrisull
Yes - Any new graphics card under 150 will do a decent job, caveat - they also won't run the very latest games at acceptable rates.(multiplayer require fast frame rates, and to see something like Red Dead Redemption 2 in its full glory) The graphics card economy is simply insane, bitcoin farms and scalpers have driven the prices up on even medium level ones to ludicrous amounts (north of 500), and quite often even those prepared to pay the prices won't be able to get them because they sell out as soon as they're available, because automated bots grab them. It's probably died down a bit since the chip shortage, but having watched it first hand via my son, it's a different world out there, to the "old days" of 5-10 years ago.
And totally correct do not bother with a HDD, go total Solid state, I got a 1TB one, best decision ever, far more reliable, far faster.
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Aug 2023
1:00pm, 22 Aug 2023
47,554 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
When I bought laptop 5 years ago, I think 128 or maybe 256 GB was biggest I could get without paying £00 premium, and I wanted at least 1 TB of storage. So I went for hard drive. G
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Aug 2023
1:00pm, 22 Aug 2023
47,555 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
When I bought laptop 5 years ago, I think 128 or maybe 256 GB was biggest I could get without paying £00 premium, and I wanted at least 1 TB of storage. So I went for hard drive. G
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Aug 2023
5:13pm, 22 Aug 2023
58 posts
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Slowboy
GTX 1660 super is (currently) a bit of a sweet spot between price and performance, and is generally available.
Most of the more capable cards are focussed around features like real time ray-tracing and up-scaling (DLSS) which you really don't need.
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