Luis_V

I agree with all that you said. This laptop is actually for a friend and he is living in the United States right now, but it is probably temporary. He is planning to stay there for at least another 2 years, but things can change. So having a laptop is much easier to just pack and go if he needs to move back to his country. He is considering a desktop too, but not the priority.

Hi all, I am planning to buy a laptop for gaming. I play Fallout 4, New World, GTA V, and these kind of games. My budget is around USD 1500. Personally, I value upgradability, so slots for RAM and SSD are appreciated. I usually play on a second monitor, so the laptop screen is not a huuuge deal. I don't use webcam, so the lack of it in the Strix is not a big deal. Also, I barely move my laptop from my desk, so battery life and portability is not a concern. Currently, I am down to three options: Asus Strix Scar 15 2022 ($1650) - Intel i9 12900H - 16 GB DDR5 - RTX 3070 ti - 15.6" IPS 1920x1080 300Hz https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Display-GeForce-Keyboard-G533ZW-AS94/dp/B09RMW1L7Y/ref=psdc_13896617011_t1_B088KKPCZ5?th=1 Asus Strix Scar 15 ($1800) - AMD 5900HX - 8 GB DDR4 (I would upgrade to 2 x 8GB from Corsair) - RTX 3080 - 15.6" IPS 1920x1080 300Hz https://www.newegg.com/black-asus-rog-strix-scar-15-g533qs-ds94-gaming/p/1TS-001A-06EM1?Item=1TS-001A-06EM1 Lenovo 5i Pro ($1600) - Intel i7-12700H - 16 GB DDR5 - RTX 3070 - 16" IPS 2560x1600 165Hz https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-5-series/legion-5i-pro-gen-7-(16-inch-intel)/82rf006xus I have been having a hard comparing the systems as they differ in key aspects. Two systems have Intel and the most recent DDR5, while the "older" system with DDR4 is equipped with an RTX 3080. Not sure which option would be the best. I am leaning towards the Strix Scar with Intel and 3070 ti, but wanted to hear other opinions. Any experience with any of these machines? What would you recommend?

I didn't expect to be schooled but I agree with both of you. It took me two years to get this scholarship while I was living with $800 dollars a month to pay the rent and everything else. I don't want this happening to others, so if I can restrain from using more than I need I could indirectly be helping other people. For now, my work relies mostly on CPU and RAM. What would be the minimum GPU I can get to just display the image? Should I finish the build with a GT 710 ($60 CAD)? Or should I go for a 5600G instead?

Hi all, I created the post attached below but it took a wild turn as I realized I was a being naive (or too hopeful) by believing I could manage to find a GPU in the current scenario. TL,DR for the older post: I want to buy a good all around PC, around $2000 CAD, capable of playing triple A games at 1440p 144Hz. The money for buying this PC comes from my scholarship, and it is a portion that has to be spent on research related itens, which is my case since I work with data analysis. I get a 3000 CAD every year. Half of this money went for a good office chair and the other half is going to the PC. If I buy the 3070 that I wanted I would have to put money from my own pocket. However, after going to memory express I realized I could do things differently. They have a couple of MSI GTX 1650 Ventus XS OC ($325 CAD) and I was considering to buy this one as a placeholder for a better card in the future. This way I could use my own scholarship to buy an even better card, probably a 3080 and a good 1440p 144Hz monitors. The good thing is that I save some money from my own pocket, as I would not be able to use this money for anything else. The bad thing is that my scholarship will renew on April 2022, so I have to wait 8 months until I finally finish my build. This is even worse because this time will be during winter when temps will be -30 C and I will be locked home. But I am also aware this is probably the most mature thing to do. The alternative would be to go all in and buy a combo of 3070 TI plus Corsair CX Series CX750M PSU for $1389 CAD. This is the only thing the store has that gets close to the 3070. And yes, they only sell it as a combo. What do you guys think? Also, are there any chances the GPU will hit an ever worse shortage in the near future?

I was indeed a bit too hopeful I saw they had some pre-builts loaded with 3070s and I was hoping I could modify the configuration to what I need. This is why I kept the price advertised in their website as if they had those cards available. However, it turns out they cannot modify the pre-builts as they come from third parties and have to be sold as is. I am considering switching my approach entirely. Yesterday I went to the store and they had a few GTX 1650 and some 1030s available. If I remember correctly the 1650 was around $250 CAD. I am strongly considering to put my build together with this card and buy another one next year. My scholarship provides $3000 every year to be spent on research related itens, so I could even buy a much better card, like a 3080 ti. The only "problem" is that it will renew in April of next year, some I will have to wait a bit.

Budget (including currency): 2000 CAD Country: Canada Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: I will use the computer mostly for gaming, but I also run some data analysis for my PhD. For games, I usually play CS:GO since my gaming laptop from 2014 cannot run much more than that, but I want to play more triple A games. As I mentioned in the title, I am hoping to run them at 1440p and 144 Hz, but I am willing to make compromises. For my PhD, I learned the basics of R coding and I am using it for the data analysis, but I don't know for sure the exact system requirements. This is why I chose AMD Ryzen, as I heard it is more future proof for tasks other than gaming. Also, I plan on studying and applying machine learning (ML) in my project as well. I heard ML may require powerful GPUs, but I will not be developing super complicated stuff and will probably use packages and approaches developed by others. My datasets are not huge and I don't think they would ever go above 1 GB (if that matters). I can expand on this if you want. Other details: As mentioned above, my budget is $2000 CAD (and I am already over it), but I am spending it all on the build and there is nothing left for peripherals or monitor. I do have a gaming mouse and a mechanical keyboard should not be a problem, but the monitor is what scares me, so if I could save some money it would be great. One important thing to note: I heard it is more likely I will get the GPU if I buy the entire systems as a pre-built from Memory Express (Canadian retailer). So all the parts were chosen based on their availability on ME's website. PCPartPicker Part List CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($359.99 @ Canada Computers) Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($245.49 @ Amazon Canada) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($119.99 @ Memory Express) Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg Canada) Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB VENTUS 3X OC Video Card ($879.99) Case: Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh w/ Controller ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon Canada) Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($163.99 @ PC-Canada) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada) Total: $2129.42 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-08-11 17:12 EDT-0400 *I know Memory Express offers price match, so I replaced Vuugo and other sketchy companies by the ones they are more likely to match the price. I am going to visit a Memory Express today or tomorrow to verify how things are working for GPUs. Lastly, I feel I am overspending on the mobo, but I need the wifi and especially the bluetooth. I don't care that much about the storage as I have a SSD SATA 500 GB and this is super easy to upgrade in the next few months. For the GPU, I chose the 3070 as it is more future proof for 1440p gaming at 144Hz, but I could save some money by buying a 3060 ti. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

I am not trying to defend the product, but have you considered the currency? In USD it would be $388. Since it doesn't appear to be a good deal, should I delete the post?

Hi all, I was scrolling down Google Now on my phone and found this deal advertised on Mobile Syrup's website. I don't know for how long the discount will be available. The Dell website says it is $240 OFF (32% discount). It is a 27 inch display, IPS, 1440p, 165Hz, 1ms GtG response time, Nvidia G-sync and AMD Freesync compatible. It seems to be a nice deal, but I don't know how good the monitor is. It appears that the HDR is not great, but the rest seems fine. I am considering it for myself, but will do more research about it. The code for getting the extra discount is the following: $15OFF$199+ The link for the Dell website is the following: https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-27-gaming-monitor-s2721dgf/apd/210-axeh/monitors-monitor-accessories

Thank you! The SSD is quite small indeed. We generally save every file in a backup drive, but doubling that SSD is a good idea for sure. Sometimes the program does crash for no clear reason, maybe it is a problem that ECC memory could correct? Just guessing though, and it wouldn't matter much as these crashes are not too often. I understand it is hard to predict the amount of improvement. I really needed someone with such build to test if the difference in performance would be significant. I think it will be a bit hard to convince my supervisor to spend this much money when he could spend the same amount on 3 PC's and run 3 experiments at the same time... Thank you for taking the time to build this list, I appreciate it. I don't know how much we want to spend on a graphics card since it doesn't seem to impact our pipeline. Currently, our PC does not have a dedicated GPU, so it is very likely that, for now, we will be fine with a cheap GPU. However, I do get your point that this GPU specifically is expensive for the model. I really like you build, although to get the full power for my application I would have to double the RAM (4 GB per thread) or get the 16-Core processor. I will also check with my supervisor if we can buy the parts separately or if the PC has to come ready to run. This money is stored on a University account, so they may require to buy pre-build computers to avoid possible frauds. Anyway, thank you very much for your input!

Budget (including currency): 8.000 CAD (it depends on how effective the PC is for our purposes, I will have to check with my supervisor) Country: Canada Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mainly used for Maxquant software (I explain in detail below) The build I am considering: THINKSTATION P620 WORKSTATION (found this workstation in a video from LTT) AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Pro 3955WX Processor (3.90 GHz, up to 4.30 GHz Max Boost, 16 Cores, 32 Threads, 8 MB Cache) 8x 16 GB DDR4 3200MHz RDIMM ECC (total of 128 GB) NVIDIA® Quadro® P620 2GB 256 GB M.2 Gen 4 PCIe SSD, OPAL Tower WRX80 92% Power 1000W Windows 10 Pro 64 $6,330.12 CAD according to Lenovo website Other details: I am a PhD student in a lab where we use a technique called proteomics. In summary, every function in your body depends of a wide variety of proteins. A couple of years ago we would look at just a few of them at a time. Now, with proteomics, we analyze the samples in an equipment called mass spectrometer, which has a high sensitivity and is capable of quantifying thousands of proteins at the same time (super cool eh?). The problem is that this equipment generates a bunch of measurements/graphs that need to be translated back to proteins, and this is what we will do in the workstation. There are a variety of softwares capable of doing this, the one we use in our lab is called Maxquant. This programs depends on the number of cores and the memory in a PC. More specifically, 4 GB of RAM per thread. Here are the requirements according to the developer's website: http://coxdocs.org/doku.php?id=maxquant:common:download_and_installation. My supervisor also said that having a SSD makes a huge impact, probably due to the writing speeds. Currently, we are using an Intel i7-6700, 16 GB of ram, and an "SK hynix sc311 sata 512gb" (this a Dell system). With this build, the analysis can go from 2 to 4 days (or even more), depending on the design of the experiment. We are looking for a new build, and I suggested my supervisor that we buy a Threadripper system with lots more threads and memory to speed up our pipeline. The biggest problem is that this will not be a cheap computer, and I am afraid it will not translate to a processing time that is noticeably faster. Therefore, here are some questions: - I am afraid the SSD may be a bottle neck for the system. Is that something I should worry about? - I don't know much about ECC and non-ECC memory, will it have a major impact in the performance? - Most importantly, is there any way that I can test before buying one? Any Threadripper owners out there willing to test it for us? Thank you in advance!

I have just tried an older version and it didn't work. In fact, the version I am trying to install is the latest one for my GPU, which was released on 2019.4.11. The GPU is not soldered in my laptop, so I can actually replace the entire board by a new GTX 870m, but the price is similar to a GTX 1650 Super, which is the GPU I would go for if I buy a desktop. So I don't think it is worth it. It would already be great if I can get a final diagnostic that tells me if this is a software or hardware problem

Thanks for the replies! I am installing the x64 version on the x64 Windows 10. I am using the standard Nvidia settings when installing the driver. I agree, but it is a laptop so GPU upgrades are not really an option. I plan on buying a desktop PC, but money is a little short right now. I tried older drivers already, but I am going to try once again! Thanks!

Hello everyone! I own an MSI GT60 2PC Dominator that I bought brand new in 2014. The GPU is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M, which has started to give me a headache. Recently, I faced some problems like certain games suddenly closing, followed by a message related to driver malfunction (the GPU driver). Last week it froze during a Valorant gameplay, and I had to reboot it using the power button (holding it down to force a restart). Since then, the GeForce Experience doesn't initialize and my GPU has an "Error code 43" (screenshot attached). First, I formatted the laptop since in my mind it would fix any software problem, but it didn't solve anything. When I run the installer (.exe) it says that there is no compatible graphics card (screenshot attached). Next, I tried to install some old drivers and recent drivers, but none of them worked. I also tried editing the "nvaci" and "nvaei" with my ID hardware like I've seen on some videos, right before installing the driver, but it didn't work too. In my last attempt, I disabled Windows Update, uninstalled every Nvidia driver, started the laptop in safe mode, and was finally able to install something, but the yellow triangle remained in the device manager (Error code 43). Thus far, I managed to reinstall the Nvidia driver, but it fails to install the Game Ready software (v425.31 - screenshot attached). Please, can anyone help with this problem? Is there a chance that the problem is on my GPU?

I know it is not the wifi because I tested on multiple places and when I plug the energy in everything goes back to normal. Also, Zoom already showed a warning saying something about "low resource may affect the audio quality". The same thing happens to Skype. It seems that there is something related to multimedia requiring more power. I already shut down everything else when doing Zoom meeting, but the problem is that sometimes I need to use Chrome to retrieve a piece of information.

Hi all, I have a 1-year-old Lenovo E590, i5 8265U and 8 GB. When I am using it unplugged the performance drops considerably. I know that laptops have bottlenecks for gaming while on battery, but this is not my case. Thus far I was avoiding apps that demanded too much power while one battery, but the problem is that even when using it for Zoom meetings the audio and video start lagging, for me and others watching me. I already went to "advanced power options" and set Wireless Adapter Setting to Maximum Performance and I also set Processor Power Management -> Maximum processor state -> 100%. Is there anywhere else that I can change and still allow full power while on battery?

Hi all, I'm living in Canada and I have a Shaw BlueCurve plan that comes with the modem/router. Browsing the internet is inconsistent and playing game is quite hard. Counter-strike is lagging a lot if a few people start using the internet at the same time. The connection is awesome right next to it (600 Mbps) but in the office it drops to ~15Mbps in a smartphone. Plus, the internet provider installed the cable right on the corner, making the placement of the router a little more challenging. Currently, it is positioned right next to the cable, but I intend on moving it more towards the center of the house. In addition, I wanted to buy a dedicated router which should solve my problem. I attached a quick draft of my house. I am on a budget, so I would like to spend less than CAD 150. If someone convince me, I might think of going up to CAD 200. This is my list so far. Any suggestions? #1 - Tp-Link AC2600 (Archer A10) - Amazon link #2 - Netgear R6400-100CNS (AC1750) - Amazon link

Awesome. Thank you very much, I appreciate it!

Thank you very much for all the info. My plan is to buy two 16 GB from Crucial, but my budget might not allow it for now. I did some little research and found that mixing 8 GB with 16 GB is not ideal but doable. Do you have any personal experience with mixing and matching RAMs? My laptop came with one stick of 8 GB at 2666 Mhz, but I read that the motherboard maximum is 2400 MHz. Since there is already a bottleneck I might not lose much from mixing the RAM.

I see, it makes sense. A data set generally have multiple files with 500 MB to 3 GB each, while the total averages around 8-10 GB. However, the useful information used by the program is only a fraction of the total size. The maximum supported by the motherboard is 32 GB. In my case will 2400 vs 3200 MHz make a difference? Thank you!

I took pictures of the task manager because the laptop is way too slow for a screenshot. I took one right after opening task manager(1) and another one after it "stabilized"(2). Also, I copied this from the software's website. Hardware requirements Intel Pentium III/800 MHz or higher (or compatible) although one should probably not go below a dual core processor. 2 GB RAM minimum. 2 GB RAM per thread that is executed in parallel is required. There is no upper limit on the number of cores. Whatever you can fit into a shared memory machine will work as long as the disk performance scales up with it. Does it mean that if I use 7 cores than I need 14 GB of RAM? Thank you very much for your help!!

Hi everyone, I use a program to analyze some data, but the run time is around 1 or 2 days to finish. I wanted to know what is my current bottleneck and maybe upgrade it to shorten the run time. The software is MaxQuant. In summary, it is used to identify proteins by matching an experimental feature to a database, this way it gives the proteins in that sample. I heard that a SSD is very important as it needs to write a lot of stuff on the drive. My computer is a Lenovo E590. Intel 8th i5, 8 GB of RAM, and M.2 NVMe storage. I opened Task Manager and the RAM usage is at 99%, but is it that simple? I know that laptops generally cut CPU power to save battery, can it also be the case? Also, how do I assess my SSD to check if it is powerful enough?

Hi guys, I am planning to buy a laptop for school with good specs so it lasts for a long time. I have a particular interest in Dell Inspiron 15 5584 that comes with a Qualcomm DW1810, does not have bluetooth 5.0, and does not seem quite fast. I am thinking about replacing it with the Intel 9560 and it seems compatible by their website (https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/ca/en/cabsdt1/inspiron-15-5584-laptop/inspiron-5584-setup-and-specifications/communications?guid=guid-13c30394-f35f-4f23-8d8b-8f8f6ac390e8&lang=en-us). Do you guys think it will work? My main concern is the number of antennas. I don't know how many it has, but it seems that I would be switching from 1x1 to 2x2. The other option is to buy the Lenovo E590. Best, Luiz

I don’t have many options. I want something portable, no onboard Ram, capable of Nvme, Bluetooth 5.0 and up to 1000 CAD. Just the fact of not wanting onboard ram already cut my options to half. Why would you say GF63 is mediocre?

Today I went to a Memory Express store and got my hands on both MSI gf63 and Lenovo E590. I have to say that now I am more inclined to buy the E590. The MSI has a plastic chassi and the keyboard is not that great. The Lenovo doesn’t have a dGPU and is a bit heavier, but seems stronger and have a numpad and (apparently) a better keyboard. What are your thoughts?

Thank you. I will take that into consideration, but I am really worried about the keyboard. I know that for this price I will have to make little sacrifices... It is hard to say because I've never used a laptop on the go, mine is always connected to the outlet, so I would guess 4-5 hours. I'd prefer 15.6 as long as it is light (4 to 5 lbs); otherwise, it is ok to be a 14".