A Computer that can do it all?!?

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Rocksta107

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 9, 2007
Messages
195
I'm currently in a bit of a conundrum. I'm looking for a computer that can do everything and I keep running into shortcomings. I do a lot of on location recording, so I need a system that is extremely portable like a laptop. I also like to play a lot of games, so I want something that can hold one or maybe 2 video cards. It also needs to be QUIET since it's going to be in the room with sensitive microphones.

Laptops seem to do a lot of the trick, but your typical high airflow laptops with 8800 GTXM cards are really loud!

On the other hand, a SFF or Mid Tower case will need a keyboard and mouse and monitor to go with it everywhere.

I've been looking at cases like the NZXT Rogue and the Coolermaster Ammo for portability, but can't seem to sell myself on the idea of being able to transport this kind of stuff on a daily basis.

Am I doomed to buy 2 seperate systems? A small quiet laptop for audio and a Mid-Tower case for gaming? Has anyone come across the same conflict of interest and found something I'm not thinking of?

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated!
 
You can get a carrying strap to cart your PC around, I bought one years ago and it makes the job a lot easier.
However, PC design is not good enough for the stresses involved in carrying/transporting them around and parts will work loose through torsional stress and vibration.
My PC has been a lot more stable since it has been sat still.

It depends how much effort you are prepared to put into making sure your PC is in a usable condition after transportation.
If you are always very careful with it, you shouldnt suffer too many mishaps but its always wise to make sure all cards and power/cable connections are properly seated before powering on.
 
XPS One's tend to be highly uncustomizable with lower end gaming cards. Plus I'm not sure if they were made to be moved around much.
 
The other hard thing with a laptop is I can't really use any of my PCI Professional gear and would have to buy all new FireWire input devices.
 
I would say two systems is going to be your best bet. By the time you spend a bunch of money on a gaming laptop that gives you the portability that you want, you could have put together two seperate systems.

Right now I have my gaming PC(in my sig) and for portability we bought an HP 6700 series laptop. Spent about $850 on it and it does everything else I need it to do other than game.

Just a thought....
 
Just buy an acer with a geforce 7000m, 4 gigs of ram and you're good to go. Will cost you about 700 maybe 800 depending on if you want it with all the accessories (case, mouse, headset etc)Laptops aren't for gaming, so you better not be attempting any serious gaming.
 
Another option that I've seen is mod a case to put an LCD in the side of it.

For portability it's a little limited(only like a 17 or 19 will fit in the sides of a mini/mid atx tower, but combined with a carrying strap, you can get a full power semi-portable desktop, and when you go home you can easily run a 2nd or 3rd monitor on it giving more desktop area.

Or, especially right now with Best Buy clearancing the MacBook Pro's, you can get a 2.4ghz MBP for 1900$ if the best buy near you carries them.

Run bootcamp if you want/need windows, or join the darkside and just go Mac ;)
 
You can mod your own case by getting an ultra slim case, fanless video card, cpu cooler with a silent 120 fan, and 2 other 120 fans inside to keep air circulation going. Then you can mount your LCD on swivel or hinge brackets to the side of the case so it can fold out.

Instant portable silent computer!
 
I dont know if this is what you want, but it takes the concept of a mac and a barebones system and puts it in PC form. Personally i think it would be awesome. But i dont know if you can fit a 8800 in there.

Link to: MSI Crystal

Or if your looking for a decent lappy that can play crysis on a mix of mediam and low go for this. Not to mention its easily upgradeable, with up to 4gb or ram and 1 more hdd slot:

EVEREX XT5300T

or a

MSI Hetis and do what the above posters stated and mount a little 15 inch LCD to it. Might have to reinforce the side you mount it on, but it would be cool.
 
Wow, Thanks for all the replies, this helps a lot!

So I'm thinking of taking one of these eyesores:

Coolermaster Ammo

And adding a cheap 15" monitor to the side via hinge. I have a 24" at home that I can use when I want to play games, and then just keep a cheap keyboard mouse combo in a backpack. What do you all think? Is this going to be bad for my system? I assume we have to have some LanVeterans here who know how transportation can wear on a system, let me know!
 
What's really important if your going to be moving it around a lot, is that you get parts that can handle the jumble. So something like an awesome TRUE heatsink wouldn't work for a case like that because they move real easily.
 
Will that be true of any nice heatsink, or just the super big ones aka Tuniq Towers' etc...

I'm going to get a SLACR G0 Q6600 and probably leave it stock, or overclock just a bit. Something small like an Orb or Zalman 7000 should do the trick and isn't too bulky.
 
a05b is amazing for having to move a desktop around without losing the ATX mobo performance, look into it
 
You know, I was leaning that way until I realized there were no PCI slots on a laptop and it might be silly to get two desktops. With a laptop out of the picture, I really don't see two systems bringing enough to the table to justify the extra comp.
 
I assume it's for liability reasons, but most of the big heatsinks I have seen have explicit warnings on the documentation about moving systems around with them installed.

You really want a lot, and to be honest, if there was a small, portable, extremely powerful, silent gaming rig, wouldn't most people on this forum own one? Your post is going on 24 hours old, and nobody has given you the golden ticket answer that will have everything you want. I believe it's because such a system does not exist. There is *some* sacrifice made in one category in order to excel in others.

You sound like you need a Nintendo Wii, not a PC.
 
if you wanted some decent and quiet cooling you could always try and watercool one of those smaller cases so you could get a failry quiet rig that wont have a heatsink thats liable to snap the mobo or w/e
 
why not get a macbook pro? it would mean that you would have to buy firewire interfaces, but really, it owuld be much more portable, relatively quiet and with the new GPU's they have, it would be a very portable solution.

i know how important a silent computer is in a recording environment, and there are lots of solutions, but for portablility i would suggest a macbook.
 
Well, you don't need 2 graphics cards to game. And you don't need some massively powered, battery life saving laptop to on location record.

Why don't you build a box for gaming at home and buy a cheap laptop to record with? If the only thing limiting you from buying an 8800GTXM powered laptop is the noise, surely you can afford this solution.

If you get yourself something with an 8400M in it, you can still run most recent games. I haven't tried Crysis but source games, 2142, and FEAR do nicely.
 
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