hd500 still only has 40 shader cores, so i wouldn't trust it if you're going past those indie games you're referencing

HD 5000 Graphics performance

Very poor compared to discrete cards and not something I would want to use, but if you were looking for a machine that can act as both a true laptop and something you could occasionally do light gaming on you could do worse.

oh yeah i totally agree with you, it's much better than some other integrated chips, just trying to add a bit more to say how it doesn't compare with discrete cards

Was hoping toms would have a good gaming laptop roundup, but a pcmag one was all I could find. Basically looking for a dtr, battery life isn't a concern at all. Also hoping to spend under two grand, fifteen hundred if possible.

Gaming laptops sure got some funky random-strings of letters and numbers for names.

Last laptop I gamed on burned up two graphics cards, so I'd like to avoid that. Guessing a heat dispersing laptop tray may be in order. (Will be gaming on the couch, plugged in)

ty for the help

asus probably

If those are the prices over there then you made out just fine. The 7870 is still a solid mid ranged card and it should be more than adequate for the next couple years.

AMD and Nvidia are basically doing everything in their power to make the newest and fastest card which is significantly driving down the prices of older, yet still powerful cards like the 7870. In fact, cards are getting more powerful at a rate that's much faster than games are becoming graphically demanding (in most cases). Not sure if that necessarilly bodes well for gaming in general, but it certainly saves us all some money.

Ugh, the little bit that sticks out at the back of most Asus computers, like the Asus G75VW-DH72, tilts me like crazy.

just think of it as your computer is packing a ghetto booty.

Like zees?

exactly.

and hey, if the cooling system works as well as it's supposed to, you might even be able to get a laptop gpu overclocked for a change

This. Seems like prior to the last few years, if you wanted to play with maxed settings in graphically intensive games you'd need to go Crossfire/SLI or shell out $700+ for the top of the line. I haven't found a game yet that's averaged less than 50 fps with a 670 gtx which you can pick up for ~$300.

EDIT: I just checked prices on them and apparently they've gone up in the last six months, wtf?

Bought it. I don't really have any really crushing game to try it on, for the game I play the most often, League of legends, it's vastly slower then my 2 year old computer. Even with settings at the lowest I get crappy framerates at times, and I pretty much always have the slowest loading time. I had a couple really bad freezes, sound repeating and couldn't move the mouse or CRTL-ALT-DEL, I had to hold down the power button, I think that happened twice.

CPU INTEL I7-4770K
M/B ASUS H87-I-PLUS
KINGSTON HYPER X *8GB/1600 MHZ X 2
HDD WD 1TB/BLACK
INTEL SSD SERIES 335 / 180 GB.
GIGABYTE GTX 760 2GB/DDR5
CASE ZALMAN Z12+
POWER COOLER MASTER GX750W.
ASUS DVDRW 24X SATA
ASUS XONAR ESSENCE ST
TT FRIO OCK

Yikes. Who is the manufacturer? That's a decent machine, definitely something wrong, though my guess is that you have something running in the background eating up all your resources and causing those problems, maybe a sketchy anti-virus program that came with it. Load up LoL and when it's acting choppy alt-tab out and take a look at the process tab in the task manager and see if anything is eating up an abnormal amount of CPU cycles or RAM. You should also still try the Hardware Monitor program just to rule out that it's not a temp problem. Also make sure you've updated to the latest drivers/firmware esp. with your mobo and graphics card.

If I purchased a machine and was having problems like that in the first couple of weeks I would be on the phone with the Company I bought it from telling them to send me a new one. If you are going to pay the premium to buy something preassembled you shouldn't have to deal with the hassle. Not saying Roger shouldn't check a few basic things out like what weevil has suggested, but it should have been sent to him in working order. Freezing and massive underperformance are not working order.

I saw mentions for a Deathadder for a mouse. Looking to upgrade to a quality one from the dregs of routine Dell mice. I think I'll give the 2013 DA a shot, those transformer looking ones look a bit out of my league yet.

How about headsets? I'm looking for something over the ear and comfy with a good quality mic. Something in the 40-80 dollar range seems reasonable. I will likely purchase from a local Memoryexpress store.

Definitely buy something with the microphone built in (which it sounds like you are going to do). I have a separate headphone microphone setup and all the wires get to be annoying. When I replace my current setup it will be with a wireless microphone/headphones combo.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PC-...pr_product_top

The first like my google gave me, don't buy there.

Negatives
-Open-ear (well it's a feature but you can hear everything around you and others can hear trough them a bit)
-No usb-adapter (if you have one generic, it naturally works)
- No Volume control in the cord.
- Little lacluster bass

Positives
- Sound
- Comfortability
- Price
- Pretty sturdy

Open ear isn't a negative if you care about sound quality

I couldn't agree less. If you want quality, don't get a headset unless you are willing to shell out big money ( like for a Sennheiser PC 360 ).

I have no experience with headsets, I only know that not having one is a pain in the ass. If the build quality sucks then fine, avoid them. If you are referring to sound quality then I would say get one anyway. Probably 99% of the population isn't going to tell the difference anyway unless the quality is absolute garbage.

Headphone sound quality is a lot better than most computer speakers

Clarification on sound quality: I want sound quality as much as the next guy, but it is really easy to start splitting hairs when comparing different products. I've read reviews of audio products in the past where the reviewers get really in depth on sound quality and critique every little thing** leaving the reader with the impression the the product under review isn't a very good product, which might be true for orchestra conductors and people using tools to analyze audio output. But most people are not orchestra conductors and are probably going to be happy with the audio quality even if audiophiles have problems with its "highs" or "lows" or whatever the case may be. If you go on amazon or newegg and read reviews from users you can usually get an idea of how the product sounds and if there are any major problems that normal people pick up on. I think this is probably more helpful than reading a ton of professional reviews.

**Not saying that making this information available is a bad thing, only saying not to overrate it.

Eh, points of view. For you it's splitting hair, for me it's actually getting the best for my money.

I'll keep my headphones and a 5$ mic over any headset of equal price any day of the week.

I wouldn't. a.) $ 5 mics are horrible and anyone in the other end is going to hate you or not hear you. b.) Headsets are handy c.) The sound quality is good.

The difference between $50 and $20 headset is huge, but with the budget given you get a good audio quality if you're willing to give up some features. The jump from $50 to $150 isn't that impressive imo and not worth the money for the most. I would never recommend it for someone who clearly states the budget.

Even with mid-range headsets, you can actually get better sound quality than any computer speakers and actually most home speakers.

Anyone upgrade their graphics card lately? I need to replace a dying HD 6950 and I am trying to decide between an R9 280X and an R9 290. The 280x is ~$300 and the 290 is ~$400. The 280x is clearly a better value, but it could be 4-5 years before I upgrade again so I am tempted to get the faster card with more memory. Anyone have thoughts?

My CPU is an i5 2500K, and I have no intentions of upgrading it.