FM24 - PC/Laptop advice thread *** PLEASE READ OPENING POST BEFORE POSTING ***

[obongwati]

Recently upgraded from a desktop i5 6500, GTX 960 to a laptop Ultra 7 155h Arc Graphics and I have to say the difference is out of this world. 

Games run smoothly, will be posting an update on the benchmark since no one has posted. 

[Gangor]

On 12/06/2024 at 04:24, obongwati said:

Recently upgraded from a desktop i5 6500, GTX 960 to a laptop Ultra 7 155h Arc Graphics and I have to say the difference is out of this world. 

Games run smoothly, will be posting an update on the benchmark since no one has posted. 

Well you would hope so in 9 or 10 generations! Glad you're enjoying it. I'm sure people would be interested in any issues you're having with the Intel graphics which are known to be a bit hit and miss. 

[Delicate Dave]

3 hours ago, Gangor said:

Well you would hope so in 9 or 10 generations! Glad you're enjoying it. I'm sure people would be interested in any issues you're having with the Intel graphics which are known to be a bit hit and miss. 

I've looked a bit at these new processors. They should fit in well for games like FM if their price is sensible. But they'll never be as good as a dedicated graphics card so if you play more tasking games they should be avoided imo. The certainly is a gap for them as the market being driven by games doesn't help this market. 

[Smurf]

1 hour ago, Delicate Dave said:

I've looked a bit at these new processors. They should fit in well for games like FM if their price is sensible. But they'll never be as good as a dedicated graphics card so if you play more tasking games they should be avoided imo. The certainly is a gap for them as the market being driven by games doesn't help this market. 

You can still get a dedicated graphics card with the Ultra processors. 

The Ultra 7 155H has better multi-threading performance, better graphics, and is more power-efficient. It also has advanced features like AI acceleration and modern connectivity options.

[hyrule_king]

Ordered my new PC from PC Specialist it is currently out for delivery, process has been really good so far with regular updates. Hoping the delivery side goes without any issues. 

cheers for your help in an earlier message @kevhamster

[Delicate Dave]

31 minutes ago, Smurf said:

You can still get a dedicated graphics card with the Ultra processors. 

The Ultra 7 155H has better multi-threading performance, better graphics, and is more power-efficient. It also has advanced features like AI acceleration and modern connectivity options.

Well yes and that would be the way to go to produce real power but it'll be just as or if not more expensive than what it's replacing. Which is a two card system but just one does 3D and the other is for general apps. The thing I was say is, with luck, these will reduce the cost, esp for FM players and most current dedicated cards are overkill. So perhaps no need to buy a laptop with a dedicated card if you only want one to play FM and use as your general purpose PC. Should make them lighter too.

[kevhamster]

2 hours ago, Delicate Dave said:

I've looked a bit at these new processors. They should fit in well for games like FM if their price is sensible. But they'll never be as good as a dedicated graphics card so if you play more tasking games they should be avoided imo. The certainly is a gap for them as the market being driven by games doesn't help this market. 

The Intel Arc GPUs are dedicated graphics cards.  It's just Intel deciding to enter the market now to try to rival Nvidia and AMD.  They actually seem to be very well priced, and the 2nd generation cards seem to have ironed out a lot of the issues the 1st gen cards had, based on things I've read.

[kevhamster]

4 minutes ago, hyrule_king said:

Ordered my new PC from PC Specialist it is currently out for delivery, process has been really good so far with regular updates. Hoping the delivery side goes without any issues. 

cheers for your help in an earlier message @kevhamster

You're welcome!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Can someone tell me which one is better please.

https://box.co.uk/msi-vector-16-hx-a14vgg-248uk-i9-9s7-15m242-248

Or this one please 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-vector-16-hx-a13vhg-16-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i9-rtx-4080-1-tb-ssd-10260205.html

 

[kevhamster]

2 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Can someone tell me which one is better please.

https://box.co.uk/msi-vector-16-hx-a14vgg-248uk-i9-9s7-15m242-248

Or this one please 

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-vector-16-hx-a13vhg-16-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i9-rtx-4080-1-tb-ssd-10260205.html

 

Pros and cons to both:

The one at Box has a slightly stronger CPU and more RAM, slightly weaker graphics card, higher screen resolution and higher refresh rate.

Both are excellent, purely for FM I don't think you'd see a noticable difference in performance.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, kevhamster said:

Pros and cons to both:

The one at Box has a slightly stronger CPU and more RAM, slightly weaker graphics card, higher screen resolution and higher refresh rate.

Both are excellent, purely for FM I don't think you'd see a noticable difference in performance.

Would the one from Box be better when it comes to creating and uploading videos please ?

[kevhamster]

7 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Would the one from Box be better when it comes to creating and uploading videos please ?

I'd imagine the one at Currys would be better for that due to the stronger graphics card.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

11 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

I'd imagine the one at Currys would be better for that due to the stronger graphics card.

OK thank you.

 

[Smurf]

4 hours ago, kevhamster said:

I'd imagine the one at Currys would be better for that due to the stronger graphics card.

It's easy to think that. But a lot of video apps require more ram than graphics cards. 

 

You'd kinda want both with more ram being priority over video.

 

32gb min for video editing/creating

64gb preferred 

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, Smurf said:

It's easy to think that. But a lot of video apps require more ram than graphics cards. 

 

You'd kinda want both with more ram being priority over video.

 

32gb min for video editing/creating

64gb preferred 

 

 

I could always put the ram from my old laptop to the new one if they are both the same RAM.

I ended up buying the one from currys and get it delivered on Saturday. 

Thanks for your help.

[Gangor]

14 hours ago, Delicate Dave said:

I've looked a bit at these new processors. They should fit in well for games like FM if their price is sensible. But they'll never be as good as a dedicated graphics card so if you play more tasking games they should be avoided imo. The certainly is a gap for them as the market being driven by games doesn't help this market. 

I was actually assuming he's got a laptop with dedicated Arc graphics. I guess that's also how they're branding their iGPUs so I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.

[kevhamster]

6 hours ago, Gangor said:

I was actually assuming he's got a laptop with dedicated Arc graphics. I guess that's also how they're branding their iGPUs so I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.

I didn't realise myself they were including the iGPUs in the Arc branding - all the ones I'd seen myself were still using the Intel HD and Iris XE names!

[Gangor]

34 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

I didn't realise myself they were including the iGPUs in the Arc branding - all the ones I'd seen myself were still using the Intel HD and Iris XE names!

I think Iris is the iGPU branding of Arc??? Haven't bothered to do much research tbh as it doesn't come up much

[peterpansnr]

Anyone seen a good  laptop deal that gets me the following?:

17 or 16 inch screen

Highest memory possible (minimum 16GB)

1TB storage

i7 processor

Full numeric keypad

Back-lit keyboard

Decent graphics card

The main thing I need it for is that the computer can handle having a load of applications open at the same time. When I play Manager though, these will be closed down (I need the laptop to double up for work and a fair gaming experience with the old FM)

[kevhamster]

8 minutes ago, peterpansnr said:

Anyone seen a good  laptop deal that gets me the following?:

17 or 16 inch screen

Highest memory possible (minimum 16GB)

1TB storage

i7 processor

Full numeric keypad

Back-lit keyboard

Decent graphics card

The main thing I need it for is that the computer can handle having a load of applications open at the same time. When I play Manager though, these will be closed down (I need the laptop to double up for work and a fair gaming experience with the old FM)

You haven't stated your budget, but this is the cheapest one I can find that ticks all of those boxes.

https://ao.com/product/fx607jvn3113w-asus-tuf-gaming-f16-laptop-black-99885-251.aspx

[peterpansnr]

20 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

You haven't stated your budget, but this is the cheapest one I can find that ticks all of those boxes.

https://ao.com/product/fx607jvn3113w-asus-tuf-gaming-f16-laptop-black-99885-251.aspx

Thank you. Sorry, very silly of me. My budget is £750.

[kevhamster]

5 minutes ago, peterpansnr said:

Thank you. Sorry, very silly of me. My budget is £750.

You will need to compromise with some of your requirements with that budget.

Within your budget, this is the one I'd recommend:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-thin-gf63-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-4050-512-gb-ssd-10251215.html

[peterpansnr]

22 minutes ago, kevhamster said:

You will need to compromise with some of your requirements with that budget.

Within your budget, this is the one I'd recommend:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/msi-thin-gf63-15.6-gaming-laptop-intel-core-i5-rtx-4050-512-gb-ssd-10251215.html

Thanks. Would it be cheaper if I didn't go for a gaming laptop? The gaming is secondary to the work, as blasphemous as that sounds on here...

[Gangor]

5 hours ago, peterpansnr said:

Thanks. Would it be cheaper if I didn't go for a gaming laptop? The gaming is secondary to the work, as blasphemous as that sounds on here...

Most laptops with dedicated GPUs are gaming laptops and it's likely that FM25 will benefit from if not require a dedicated GPU. However, the next gen of AMD laptop processors are expected to get upgraded integrated GPUs which could well be more competitive. It might therefore be worth waiting until laptops using them are released later this year. By that time we should also know the required specifications for FM25 so you can buy with more certainty. If you do need to buy sooner, I would be inclined to follow @kevhamster's advice. 

[kevhamster]

4 hours ago, Gangor said:

Most laptops with dedicated GPUs are gaming laptops and it's likely that FM25 will benefit from if not require a dedicated GPU. However, the next gen of AMD laptop processors are expected to get upgraded integrated GPUs which could well be more competitive. It might therefore be worth waiting until laptops using them are released later this year. By that time we should also know the required specifications for FM25 so you can buy with more certainty. If you do need to buy sooner, I would be inclined to follow @kevhamster's advice. 

This ^^^

We don't know FM25's system requirements yet so are making the assumption that dedicated graphics cards will be needed for the 3D match engine until told otherwise.

[Delicate Dave]

18 hours ago, peterpansnr said:

Anyone seen a good  laptop deal that gets me the following?:

17 or 16 inch screen

Highest memory possible (minimum 16GB)

1TB storage

i7 processor

Full numeric keypad

Back-lit keyboard

Decent graphics card

The main thing I need it for is that the computer can handle having a load of applications open at the same time. When I play Manager though, these will be closed down (I need the laptop to double up for work and a fair gaming experience with the old FM)

For business type laptop I prefer HP, take a look at HP ENVY 17t but any Laptop would be fine if you used a USB numeric pad with it.

[Delicate Dave]

17 hours ago, peterpansnr said:

Thank you. Sorry, very silly of me. My budget is £750.

I suspect you need the second hand market. If you choose wisely for that price you can get a very decent Laptop. If you are really stuck and want to go down the ebay route let me know and I'll be happy to search for some options on there based on critia you give me.

[peterpansnr]

Thanks, guys. The consensus then is to wait 'till November when FM25 will possibly be out. DD, i'll let you know if that becomes the best route, thanks for the offer.

[kevhamster]

10 hours ago, peterpansnr said:

Thanks, guys. The consensus then is to wait 'till November when FM25 will possibly be out. DD, i'll let you know if that becomes the best route, thanks for the offer.

At least until we have system requirements announced.  I'd imagine that would happen before the game launches. 

[obongwati]

Bought the Acer Swift Go 14. 2.8K OLED, Ultra 7 155h Intel Arc Graphics 16GB ram few weeks ago. So here are my reviews:

- Ultra 7 155h is certainly fast, holidayed a season in around 20-25 min with 7 leagues loaded, but just in general pressing the space button is almost instant response.
- Graphics on the Ultra 7 is disappointing. Don't get me wrong its fast, but the there's noticeable stutter and the fan noise and thermal gets warm (and hot). Perhaps it is a hardware issues, I've updated the drivers and laptop and its still not as smooth as the reviews i've seen in Youtube. 
- So I've been playing on 2D if its a warm temperature, on a cold or Aircon room I would switch to director views.
- Roughly 2 to 2.5 hours of FM until battery reaches <5%
- OLED is gorgeous, certainly makes the experience worthwhile
-14" is perhaps not optimal for FM, I think opting a 16" would be more optimal
 

[Delicate Dave]

3 hours ago, obongwati said:

Bought the Acer Swift Go 14. 2.8K OLED, Ultra 7 155h Intel Arc Graphics 16GB ram few weeks ago. So here are my reviews:

- Ultra 7 155h is certainly fast, holidayed a season in around 20-25 min with 7 leagues loaded, but just in general pressing the space button is almost instant response.
- Graphics on the Ultra 7 is disappointing. Don't get me wrong its fast, but the there's noticeable stutter and the fan noise and thermal gets warm (and hot). Perhaps it is a hardware issues, I've updated the drivers and laptop and its still not as smooth as the reviews i've seen in Youtube. 
- So I've been playing on 2D if its a warm temperature, on a cold or Aircon room I would switch to director views.
- Roughly 2 to 2.5 hours of FM until battery reaches <5%
- OLED is gorgeous, certainly makes the experience worthwhile
-14" is perhaps not optimal for FM, I think opting a 16" would be more optimal
 

Blimey that sounds like a right pain, My 8th gen i7 is from 2019 and faster than that, doesn't get hot and doesn't make a noise. I have about 50 leagues loaded, 60,000 players and although I don't holiday full seasons I sometimes do about half a season in 15-30 mins (guessing). Mind you as the crowd are just daft in FM I have all the detail turned off but play in 3D.

[Brother Ben]

On 19/06/2024 at 13:01, obongwati said:

Bought the Acer Swift Go 14. 2.8K OLED, Ultra 7 155h Intel Arc Graphics 16GB ram few weeks ago. So here are my reviews:

- Ultra 7 155h is certainly fast, holidayed a season in around 20-25 min with 7 leagues loaded, but just in general pressing the space button is almost instant response.
- Graphics on the Ultra 7 is disappointing. Don't get me wrong its fast, but the there's noticeable stutter and the fan noise and thermal gets warm (and hot). Perhaps it is a hardware issues, I've updated the drivers and laptop and its still not as smooth as the reviews i've seen in Youtube. 
- So I've been playing on 2D if its a warm temperature, on a cold or Aircon room I would switch to director views.
- Roughly 2 to 2.5 hours of FM until battery reaches <5%
- OLED is gorgeous, certainly makes the experience worthwhile
-14" is perhaps not optimal for FM, I think opting a 16" would be more optimal
 

Can I be a pain and ask you to benchmark it, I'd be really interested to see how it performs 

 

[Smurf]

On 19/06/2024 at 13:01, obongwati said:

Graphics on the Ultra 7 is disappointing. Don't get me wrong its fast, but the there's noticeable stutter and the fan noise and thermal gets warm (and hot). Perhaps it is a hardware issues

That sounds weird - it should be fine 

There's troubleshooting steps here

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005746/graphics.html

The one thing is the Windows Game Bar could be trying to activate and not activating (it's in the troubleshoot link)
Turn off the Windows Game Bar and Game DVR.

• Press Windows + S.
• In the Windows search box type Game bar settings and press Enter.
• Under Control how Game Bar opens and recognizes your game turn off the option for Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar.
• From the left-hand menu, directly below Game Bar, select Game DVR.
• Turn off the Record in the background while I’m playing a game setting.

Note	If applicable, test the configuration without the dedicated video card, using just the Intel® Processor Graphics.

[kevhamster]

4 hours ago, Smurf said:

That sounds weird - it should be fine 

There's troubleshooting steps here

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005746/graphics.html

The one thing is the Windows Game Bar could be trying to activate and not activating (it's in the troubleshoot link)
Turn off the Windows Game Bar and Game DVR.

• Press Windows + S.
• In the Windows search box type Game bar settings and press Enter.
• Under Control how Game Bar opens and recognizes your game turn off the option for Record game clips, screenshots and broadcast using Game bar.
• From the left-hand menu, directly below Game Bar, select Game DVR.
• Turn off the Record in the background while I’m playing a game setting.

Note	If applicable, test the configuration without the dedicated video card, using just the Intel® Processor Graphics.

It does seem to be an iGPU, rather than a dedicated GPU.  Turns out the Arc line also includes iGPUs which is something I wasn't previously aware of.

[obongwati]

On 21/06/2024 at 05:08, Brother Ben said:

Can I be a pain and ask you to benchmark it, I'd be really interested to see how it performs 

 

Downloaded this when I got the laptop, but delayed the test for this reason. But will test it out sometime next week. 

 

 

15 hours ago, kevhamster said:

It does seem to be an iGPU, rather than a dedicated GPU.  Turns out the Arc line also includes iGPUs which is something I wasn't previously aware of.

I hope it's the issue that the game is running without the Arc, really hope thats the problem, not sure how do you test if the IGPU is used during a game. Test counter strike on medium and man the laptop is struggling. 

[Smurf]

8 hours ago, obongwati said:

Downloaded this when I got the laptop, but delayed the test for this reason. But will test it out sometime next week. 

 

 

I hope it's the issue that the game is running without the Arc, really hope thats the problem, not sure how do you test if the IGPU is used during a game. Test counter strike on medium and man the laptop is struggling. 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-do-i-find-out-if-my-laptop-is-using-my-gpus/574f141f-fbca-4d68-aca8-d9e2071fbb79

[bigmattb28]

@kevhamster Kev am I being stupid here mate, what's the difference between these 2? I'm leaning towards getting this laptop for FM25, but I don't know much about specs and stuff, but are these the same laptop?

John Lewis

Curries

Same one is on Box at £1,200 but the others are £1,049 Box

Or better yet is there anything better, even overkill for FM on a budget if £1,200?

[Delicate Dave]

19 minutes ago, bigmattb28 said:

@kevhamster Kev am I being stupid here mate, what's the difference between these 2? I'm leaning towards getting this laptop for FM25, but I don't know much about specs and stuff, but are these the same laptop?

John Lewis

Curries

Same one is on Box at £1,200 but the others are £1,049 Box

Or better yet is there anything better, even overkill for FM on a budget if £1,200?

Bottom two are the same top one is different

Model - NH.QK6EK.001
Model - NH.QM0EK.00C other two.

Best place to look is Acer - Large companies partner up with manufacturers to produce versions, often the idea is so the shop can make more profit they put in a different screen or repackage in some way. If you find no difference go with who you can get an extra discount of or better warranty. As for specs you'll need to wait till around Sept for FM25.
 

[kevhamster]

1 hour ago, bigmattb28 said:

@kevhamster Kev am I being stupid here mate, what's the difference between these 2? I'm leaning towards getting this laptop for FM25, but I don't know much about specs and stuff, but are these the same laptop?

John Lewis

Curries

Same one is on Box at £1,200 but the others are £1,049 Box

Or better yet is there anything better, even overkill for FM on a budget if £1,200?

The one at John Lewis has the newer i7 compared to the other ones.  That's the one of that I'd go for from them, and I can't see anything I'd consider better at the price.

[bigmattb28]

16 hours ago, Delicate Dave said:

Bottom two are the same top one is different

Model - NH.QK6EK.001
Model - NH.QM0EK.00C other two.

Best place to look is Acer - Large companies partner up with manufacturers to produce versions, often the idea is so the shop can make more profit they put in a different screen or repackage in some way. If you find no difference go with who you can get an extra discount of or better warranty. As for specs you'll need to wait till around Sept for FM25.
 

 

15 hours ago, kevhamster said:

The one at John Lewis has the newer i7 compared to the other ones.  That's the one of that I'd go for from them, and I can't see anything I'd consider better at the price.

Thanks both. I'll go with the John Lewis one 

[Rambler]

Sorry another laptop post.  My current laptop has died so I will need to get another one, mainly for playing FM. Budget is around £800 - £900, any suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Smurf]

53 minutes ago, Rambler said:

Sorry another laptop post.  My current laptop has died so I will need to get another one, mainly for playing FM. Budget is around £800 - £900, any suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance.

https://www.laptopsdirect.ie/msi-modern-15-intel-core-i7-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-15.6-inch-ips-windows-11-lap-9s7-15h411-003/version.asp

Harddrive is a bit small - but external storage will help with that - or you could eventually swap the harddrive for a larger one.

[Delicate Dave]

4 hours ago, Rambler said:

Sorry another laptop post.  My current laptop has died so I will need to get another one, mainly for playing FM. Budget is around £800 - £900, any suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance.

What happened to the old one? maybe it can be fixed. It's not hard to fix most things, just replacing parts, even a new MB might only cost £50.

[TheVerySpecialOne]

What do you think about this pc, looking to upgrade from my ****** laptop. My neighbour is selling this for 280 eur. Will it be good for games like football manager, pes 2021, Asseto Corsa, motorsport manager on my gigabyte 165 Hz 1080p monitor. I would add 500 gb ssd on that build 

 

OS - Windows 10 Pro  
CPU - Intel i7 8700 ( 6 core 12 threads )  
Cooler - LC Power CC 120  
MBO - ASRock H310M-HDV  
RAM - 16 GB ( 2x8GB ) DDR4  
GPU - Gigabyte Gaming OC RX VEGA 56 8 GB  
SSD - 256 GB Patriot,  
Thermaltake 550w 80+  
Case - LC Power Midi Tower

Edited Monday at 21:54 by TheVerySpecialOne

[kevhamster]

15 hours ago, TheVerySpecialOne said:

What do you think about this pc, looking to upgrade from my ****** laptop. My neighbour is selling this for 280 eur. Will it be good for games like football manager, pes 2021, Asseto Corsa, motorsport manager on my gigabyte 165 Hz 1080p monitor. I would add 500 gb ssd on that build 

 

OS - Windows 10 Pro  
CPU - Intel i7 8700 ( 6 core 12 threads )  
Cooler - LC Power CC 120  
MBO - ASRock H310M-HDV  
RAM - 16 GB ( 2x8GB ) DDR4  
GPU - Gigabyte Gaming OC RX VEGA 56 8 GB  
SSD - 256 GB Patriot,  
Thermaltake 550w 80+  
Case - LC Power Midi Tower

Yeah, it'll do a decent job especially for that price.

Edited Tuesday at 13:34 by kevhamster

[daveygravy84]

Hi guys,

 

Would this pc be overkill for fm? 

 

https://www.fiercepc.co.uk/fierce-resurge-gaming-pc-intel-core-i7-14700kf-nvidia-rtx-4070-super

I'm looking at laptops too around the same price, but I just hate the fan noise, does this annoy anyone else?

[Delicate Dave]

21 minutes ago, daveygravy84 said:

Hi guys,

 

Would this pc be overkill for fm? 

 

https://www.fiercepc.co.uk/fierce-resurge-gaming-pc-intel-core-i7-14700kf-nvidia-rtx-4070-super

I'm looking at laptops too around the same price, but I just hate the fan noise, does this annoy anyone else?

Is it overkill? Your CPU score 53,398 - MY CPU SCORE 9,899

:-)

 

[kevhamster]

2 hours ago, daveygravy84 said:

Hi guys,

 

Would this pc be overkill for fm? 

 

https://www.fiercepc.co.uk/fierce-resurge-gaming-pc-intel-core-i7-14700kf-nvidia-rtx-4070-super

I'm looking at laptops too around the same price, but I just hate the fan noise, does this annoy anyone else?

It's definitely overkill for FM24's specs - you could have a cheaper graphics card with no hit to performance.  We don't have specs for FM25 yet, but I suspect the same would apply.

Here's another option.  Nearly £400 less and I suspect performance wouldn't be massively different between the two for FM:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-V/AXnpb!!tmj/