New Computer suggestions

[hazmatt]

CSI147, if you live anywhere near Nashville, TN, I'll build you one if you want.

Or he could have it shipped to one of us who could put it together and ship it to him. (if he wanted)

[Brooke]

Or he could have it shipped to one of us who could put it together and ship it to him. (if he wanted)

True.

Shipping a built computer is a pain, though.

[hazmatt]

True.

Shipping a built computer is a pain, though.

True.

I had a computer come damaged in shipping. Other then throwing them off the back of a moving truck I don't know how they could have caused the damage because they were packed decently. Worse part was that I couldn't tell from the box. It just looked scuffed up a bit.

[CSI147]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions.   Right now I'm looking at a Dell laptop. It has the following.

Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 7730U 8-core/16-thread Processor with Radeon™ Graphics

Graphics card:  AMD Radeon™ Graphics

Memory:  16 GB: LPDDR4x, 4266 MT/s (onboard)

Storage: 1 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD

Display: 16.0-inch 16:10 FHD+ (1920 x 1200) Anti-Glare Non-Touch 250nits WVA Display with ComfortView Support


I know its not the latest or greatest but I'm thinking (really hoping) it will work.  I have my old Logitec Extreme 3d Pro Joystick.


Window 11 Home.

[hazmatt]

Oh boy. Looks like that's Vega 8 graphics. (Integrated graphics) I know very little about these other then it's integrated and I think you need something like Vega 11 to get decent performance. (I could be completely wrong here) But I would check the return policy in the event it doesn't do what you want it to do. A quick search showed that you could get something like this on Amazon:

$849
GIGABYTE G5 KF: 15.6" FHD 1920x1080 144Hz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, Intel Core i5-12500H, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 512G SSD, Win11 Home (G5 KF-E3US333SH) Black

Or this for $926:
MSI Cyborg 15.6" 144hz Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7-12650H NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD Window 11 Home

I'm not sure what the price is on that Dell but I think you would get much better performance with something like these with dedicated graphics.

Just my 2 cents

 

[oboe]

I concur with Hazmatt on this.   Integrated graphics generally don’t have what it takes to make AH perform well.

[Bizman]

What the two above said.

Although AMD integrated graphics are usually way better than Intel's they're still far away from real gaming graphics.

Another thing to consider with laptops is that although the graphic cards use a similar naming to the desktop versions, the performance isn't similar. There is a reason why desktop GPU's can be a foot long and two inches thick. As such a monster can weigh more than a decent laptop it's obvious that it can't be miniaturized to a tenth or less, otherwise all gaming cards would be of that size just to save raw materials.

[hazmatt]

The way I came up with the 4060 laptop is that I bought a gaming laptop with a 3060 that ran AH3 fine even with VR. The 4060 is now the card in the same price range and is at least 20% faster than the card I have from what I've seen.

[CSI147]

Wow you guys are quite knowledgeable.   OK I'm scratching off the mentioned laptop.  Aces High is the only game I'm really interested in.  Enjoyed it years ago and now I'm retired and have some spare time.   Is it really that demanding as far as what hardware requirements is needed?  I figured AH was old enough that most computers today would easily handle it. Did someone spike AH with steroids in the last 7 years? 

I need a computer I can road trip with from Wa. to Montana several times a month.  Needless to say it's tough on gear. That is why I'm looking for an off the shelf mini pc or laptop I can just plug a monitor into at each location and play.  One of the places I will be using it is in an old wine cellar that never gets above 65*f even on a 3 digit temp. day outside. In fact it will be mounted to, sitting on, or next to cellar concrete that's around 55*f.  Keeping that in mind what do you think of Mini pc's?  Beelink and Miniforum keep showing up on google searches and Youtube videos as candidates for compact pc's for gaming.  I have never heard of them.  In fact, I didn't realize mini pcs was a thing until now.

Specifically:  Beelink SER7 Mini PC, Ryzen 7 7840HS (8C/16T, up to 5.1GHz) Mini Computer, AMD Radeon 780M, 32GB DDR5+1TB SSD Micro Desktop, Small Gaming PC 4K Quad Displays HDMI+DP+Dual USB4, 2.5Gbps LAN, WiFi 6

MINISFORUM UM790 Pro Mini PC AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS(8C/16T, up to 5.2GHz) 32GB DDR5 RAM 1TB PCIe4.0 SSD Micro Computer 2xHDMI/ 2xUSB4(8K@60Hz) Intel Killer WiFi6E Radeon 780M Graphics Small Form Factor

I tried to watch the many Youtube videos on them.  So when these influencers start rattling off numbers and acronyms my eyes glass over and brain fog gets thick.  Anyways, thanks for all your responses.  Meanwhile, I'll be practicing with the Offline practice on an old Dell All in One computer at home.  Might even dip my toe into the free two week deal once I can recall all the different key mapping and joystick inputs. 

[oboe]

According to this site:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Radeon-780M-vs-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-4060-Laptop-GPU-vs-Radeon-760M_11564_11455_11566.247598.0.html

a laptop with a 4060 in it would have 3x the graphics performance of a computer with Ryzen 780M integrated graphics.    In addition, a laptop would travel better and more conveniently than a computer + separate keyboard + monitor.  The computers will love the cooler temps of a wine cellar, and you can get yourself a leather pilot jacket to don while flying!

Aces High III has more demanding graphics than the old AHII did (and the game is prettier for it).   Make sure you get powerful enough hardware to run the game well.   

[Bizman]

Is it really that demanding as far as what hardware requirements is needed?  I figured AH was old enough that most computers today would easily handle it. Did someone spike AH with steroids in the last 7 years? 

Guess so, beta testing for AH3 ended late 2016 and the requirement for a video card changed dramatically. AH2 relied mostly on the CPU so any good office laptop could run it. When AH3 came no card could run it maxxed until several years later.

But if AH is the only game you're going to play a mid-priced gaming laptop is plenty good enough. There's caveats, though: If the laptop has a 4k screen running at 144 Hz, well, that's asking for trouble, sort of. Of course there's ways like reducing the speed and resolution. Basically simple one time tasks but something to take into account.
 

[hazmatt]

Guess so, beta testing for AH3 ended late 2016 and the requirement for a video card changed dramatically. AH2 relied mostly on the CPU so any good office laptop could run it. When AH3 came no card could run it maxxed until several years later.

But if AH is the only game you're going to play a mid-priced gaming laptop is plenty good enough. There's caveats, though: If the laptop has a 4k screen running at 144 Hz, well, that's asking for trouble, sort of. Of course there's ways like reducing the speed and resolution. Basically simple one time tasks but something to take into account.

I thought the laptops I looked up were 1080p. Hope I didn't get a 4k laptop.

[Bizman]

I thought the laptops I looked up were 1080p. Hope I didn't get a 4k laptop.

At least the Gigabyte says so, the MSI doesn't tell in your post.

Also 4K isn't as problematic as a 1440p could be in terms of reducing the resolution for gaming. As 4K has exactly 4x the pixel count of 1080p it downscales naturally to that by combining 4 pixels to show one. Not to mention that for viewing photos or even movies the image quality would be great - or as good as you can see on a tiny screen.

[hazmatt]

Ya, you can only get so much from a laptop screen. That's why I wanted a laptop that would run VR.
My laptop 3060 runs about the same as my desktop 1070 and my 1080ti desktop is noticeably faster.