MattVIP

MattVIP: Ok, one last question. Do you need a copy of windows or do you have one already?

Have one already

@Kasa here's what I have for you. Prices in your country are on a higher side so you might want to compromise on some stuff because it's super hard to make a capable machine for poker using only parts from reputable brands and not go over 4k in your currency so I'll give you some options.

CPU: i5 4460 1599
MOBO: MSI H81-P33 336
RAM: Kingston 8GB 1600MHz 360
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 445
PSU: XFX 450W 461
CASE: Zalman T5 235
Monitor: AOC 22'' IPS 1068
DVD: Asus DVD RW 129

This is the core and it add's up to roughly 4600. If you can't go over 4000 swap the CPU for: i3-4160.

If you decide that you want to invest a bit more here are some optional parts that will make your experience way better:
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO
Cooler: Raijintek Themis
Silence Optimized Case: Fractal Design Define Mini

Hope that helps.

MattVIP: Ok

Thanks, I really appreciate the effort.
Yeah it helped a lot

Would there be a noticable difference if I go with i3 instead of i5 for 6-tabling?

If you stick to 4-6 tabling you should be fine, it can handle more than that, but i5 is noticeably better at multitasking which might be important for you in the future. i5 is a better chip that will age better too so if you're able to get it - get it. If you can't get it then i3 should also serve you well. I've done 6 tabling + HM on my emergency laptop with weak Pentium CPU so desktop i3 is certainly powerful enough for that purpose and then some.

AO

Need a laptop strictly for travelling please!

Specifics

- Big screen
- Windows
- New
- Known brand
- £500 budget

GO

Hi Matt,

I've read the whole thread but couldn't find general recommendations for laptops for mainly poker use. Please could you recommend me one? I am currently using a 6 years old Dell Inspiron: Intel Core i5, 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM which struggles with running two or three poker sites and Holdem Manager.

The answers to your questions are as follows:

1. £500-600.
2. Mainly for poker. Other activities would only include watching movies, Youtube, web surfing etc. No plans to play any of the newest games etc.
3. I usually play anywhere from 6-12 tables with Holdem Manager running while listening to music on iTunes or Youtube. I may want to play across few poker clients, use Table Ninja and have an external monitor in the future.
4. As per above, planning to buy an external monitor in the future, but not a priority at the moment.
5. UK. Have no preference for shops.

Please let me know if you need anything else.

Thank you very much!!
Tucka

Sure thing, I'll look into this and recommend something for you. I have to figure out which UK online store has the best prices/the most options in stock.

Hey Matt! Maybe you know a thing or two about mics / web cams?
I want them for as high as possible twitch streams for a budget price.
From this store: MICS, CAMS

When it comes to the webcam there's only one correct answer: Logitech HD C920 (http://www.1a.lv/datortehnika_preces_birojam/periferija_programmatura/vebkameras/logitech_hd_webcam_c920_black). The jump in quality is so high when compared to the other options that it's a no-brainer.

As for the mic... that's a lot more complicated and it would be best if you could give me your exact budget because it's easy to go overboard. That being said if we're talking industry standards the cheapest option that can offer you 'professional quality' (or rather as close to it as possible without costing you an arm and a leg) is an entry level USB condenser microphone like the Blue Yeti, AT2020 (USB version!) or cheaper Blue Snowball/Samson Meteor.

Heh, I was actually hoping to get it way cheaper

For web cam I guess gotta go for C920, can't have pixel-ed screen. HD web cam will be very useful in case of busto and me shifting into live webcam bizz

About mic - is there really much difference in them? If I buy one like Blue Yeti I go way over my budget. I also don't want a mediocre one which will also be meh, so in these spots I like to go for the cheap ones. Clicked a bit in interweb and found Zalman Zm-Mic1 as well rated, not USB though. Just 5 eur and I could upgrade if my stream gets traction. What do you think of it?

That's why I asked about the exact budget:) The good news is that this cheap Zalman mic is actually pretty damn great. I have on of those somewhere on my shelf. It's Head and shoulders above any headset or webcam mic. You might have to boost it in a bit in the options and you might have some quality issues with background noise but overall it's certainly doable and I've heard streamers using worse.

Thanks again Matt! I'm starting my twitch adventure next week, feel free to tune in and say hi!

Got the goodies! Web cam looks good, but Zalman mic is very quiet. Tried boosting it up, but it wrecks quality. Found a solution in interweb to buy USB audio adapter for it, hopefully it helps

Atm C920's mic is better

Looking forward to tuning into your stream

@MilfGrinder. Let us know your name on twitch and il be sure to stop by! Good luck!

keithyboy198: Looking forward to tuning into your stream

@MilfGrinder. Let us know your name on twitch and il be sure to stop by! Good luck!

Check out twitch.tv/JaySPokerr - going live on Monday!

tonycoon: MattVIP, once we're at it, which reasonably cheap (as in, under $50 each) mic and webcam would you recommend for a good broadcast quality?

MattVIP: When it comes to webcams the industry standard for streaming (Logitech C920) costs a touch more than 50$ . Same goes for the Samson Meteor which is the cheapest USB mic that's reasonably close to the professional audio quality as far as streaming goes.

(The quotes are from MG's challenge thread, which I don't want to derail any further.)

C920 is HD but so is the built-in cam of my laptop (2 megapixels), I just didn't know that budget cams have failed to become more advanced than this in the last 5 years.

Besides, I've just realised that it's preferable to use a low resolution - 360p at 30 FPS - to broadcast the action at 1 poker table, in order to make the stream watchable from mobile devices with no buffering issues, because non-partners can't offer different video quality settings on Twitch and need to cater to the low end of viewers' bandwidths. (Btw,

@MilfGrinder's stream is known to eat my 3G traffic allowance too quickly.) So an HD cam is actually a huge overkill

The audio part of the bitrate is negligibly low anyway, so the info about Samson Meteor might be helpful if my current mic proves too bad.

@tonycoon 3G? It even still exists?

You have to go deep in country to get that one, internet is one thing where my country is way ahead of the curve! I use 4G router as my internet source for few years now.
Attached Image

BTW my web cam is set at 640x480, 30 FPS for the stream. About the mic - I bought Zalman zm-mic1, yet it is UBER quiet, even when I tried USB sound adapter. Boosting the levels up just wrecks the sound. So yeah, I guess I'll have to buy a decent one as well

MilfGrinder:

@tonycoon 3G? It even still exists?

You have to go deep in country to get that one, internet is one thing where my country is way ahead of the curve! I use 4G router as my internet source for few years now.

I actually have a wired connection whose both upload and download speed is 100 Mbit/s, but I've broken the Ethernet plug and I've been too lazy to fix it this week

while the 4G network is nominally available but in fact it's nonexistent and the 3G one is overloaded and disconnections are rampant

But I've heard that, surprisingly, in Australia, Internet connectivity is terrible.

Anyone use a mac for your average daily tasks, thinking about getting one for the sake of it, Windows is getting more clunky every year and I hate their new task bar, so annoying to get rid of and change.

You can customize Windows (including the taskbar) to your heart's content. Switching from Windows to Mac for daily tasks is like switching from football to rugby because you're tired of kicking the ball the same way. In other words, it's not going to be a smooth transition and with every year this mythical stability and ease of use of MacOS become less and less true. The only somewhat common situation I can think of where switching from PC to Mac is absolutely a good idea (and even then Windows is still perfectly viable) is when you're into music production. Other than that I see no benefits of using a Mac over PC for someone who's not content creator/power user. Oh yeah, and it's a terrible platform for poker players.

I hope that helps

Seriously though, switching to Mac is fine if you have enough disposable income so that the premium that Apple charges their clients isn't as important to you then go bananas. After a quick transition period, you'll be just fine. It's just that for the vast majority of people Apple products don't offer enough benefits to justify the premium.

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