I'm thinking of replacing my old desktop computer (it's a 2009-ish clearance rack Gateway, with a quad core AMD Phenom x4/2.4 Ghz processor, 8 GB ram, and an integrated Radeon 4600 graphics card with 1.2 GB).... mainly because I have been having video issues when I'm in the 20-player PVEs and in the space battlezones, and there's no room in the case to add a graphics card.
(STO's the most graphics-intensive game I play, and I don't use my computer for work.)
I've been looking mainly at the Dell Inspiron i3847 series, because I've heard good things about their expandability. My idea was to buy one off the shelf, then assess the need to add a graphics card or not. (Unless someone speaks up who already has one of these.)
Here's the two models I'm kinda looking at -
#1 has an Intel i5-4440/3.3 Ghz processor, 12 GB ram, Intel (unspecified) graphics card
#2 has an Intel i7-4790/3.6 Ghz processor, 16 GB ram, Intel (unspecified) graphics card
#1 is $170 cheaper (normally $120, but it's currently on sale where I shop) and I'm mainly trying to figure out if #2 is going to have significantly better performance to justify that, or if I should just go with the cheaper model.... and also if either/both are going to be significantly better than my current machine...
The difference between the Core i5 and Core i7 CPU is basically the Core i7 has something called Hyper Threading (HT). In a nutshell, HT is like a virtual CPU core that allows the physical CPU core to work one two different tasks (called threads) at almost the same time. This can provide a boost in performance if the software being used have been designed to take advantage of HT.
Games are not designed to use HT because it generally requires additional time and effort which generally translates to increased costs and potential delay to the release date. Therefore, getting a Core i7 CPU for a PC used primarily for playing games is a waste of money.
12GB of RAM is more than enough to play games with. The general recommendation is 8GB of RAM.
By "Intel Graphics" the PC will be using the integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics core. Not very powerful compared to a dedicated graphics card (GPU), but it is certainly more powerful than the integrated Radeon HD 4200 (I don't think a Radeon HD 4600 exists). The Intel HD 4600 should allow you to play the game at 1600x900 resolution with a mix of low and medium graphic settings and acceptable performance (which varies from person to person).
I have played STO on my laptop using only the Intel HD 4400 (which is weaker) and the game performs decently enough at 1600x900 with low graphic settings. In short, if you have been playing with the integrated Radeon graphics core, then playing the game with the Intel HD 4600 should give you a welcomed performance boost.
Of course installing a relatively inexpensive dedicated graphics card (the equivalent of $100 USD or less) will provide an even larger performance boost.
Comments
Games are not designed to use HT because it generally requires additional time and effort which generally translates to increased costs and potential delay to the release date. Therefore, getting a Core i7 CPU for a PC used primarily for playing games is a waste of money.
12GB of RAM is more than enough to play games with. The general recommendation is 8GB of RAM.
By "Intel Graphics" the PC will be using the integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics core. Not very powerful compared to a dedicated graphics card (GPU), but it is certainly more powerful than the integrated Radeon HD 4200 (I don't think a Radeon HD 4600 exists). The Intel HD 4600 should allow you to play the game at 1600x900 resolution with a mix of low and medium graphic settings and acceptable performance (which varies from person to person).
I have played STO on my laptop using only the Intel HD 4400 (which is weaker) and the game performs decently enough at 1600x900 with low graphic settings. In short, if you have been playing with the integrated Radeon graphics core, then playing the game with the Intel HD 4600 should give you a welcomed performance boost.
Of course installing a relatively inexpensive dedicated graphics card (the equivalent of $100 USD or less) will provide an even larger performance boost.