PC question
 

I'm looking to upgrade my current PC, and I'm not very knowledgeable regarding anything to do with this type of thing - so I'll see if anyone here can assist me.

I'm looking for a PC I can use for everyday daily activities - streaming videos, Microsoft word, etc. But I'm mainly looking for something I can play games on.

Best Buy has this computer listed - which is right in my price range.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpo...?skuId=6072200

The game I play the most, is StarCraft 2 - but I'd like to have the versatility to branch out and play other games as well.

These are the specs needed to run SC2


https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/27575

Will the PC I listed above be a decent choice, or does anyone else have a recommendation for another PC? Not looking to attempt to build my own PC or anything like that either. I want something simple to plug and play.

Thanks guys

Meant to post this in the media center. Sorry about that, mods.

You should build your own PC.

Maybe someday. Not particularly interested in doing so now, though.

I would recommend something with an Intel i7 as the core.

I'll look at your links

well for 600 you probably won't be able to swing an i7

But I bet you can swing an i5 for not that much more or around the same


I would do an i5 over that fx processor...personally

The thing about it is, that game in particular is a heavy CPU intensive game so you're going to want something better.

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-G11CD-US...6%3A2421882011

It's another hundred but i5 and I think better gfx card....I'm not up on Radeon though but is that card on the one from best buy integrated into the mobo?

That GPU is a little underpowered if you're looking to game. And I would want 16 gigs of RAM in a system these days.

Apple

For gaming?

Lol

that's a horrible idea. Only super geeks build their own PC's. Laptops are super cheap these days. Tons of portable power.

I've only bought laptops since 2002 or so and from Best Buy. They always have the best prices. Or you can put it on their card and pay it off over 18-24 months without interest.

anything less than 16GB in underpowered these days even if your not a gamer.

for pc gamers,building a pc is pretty easy...rewarding...and allows you to build exactly what you want for very little effort.

Laptops often have very little upgrade capabilities...and are more expensive, pound for pound than desktops

They're also harder to work on if something breaks....


I'm not advising everyone to build their own but more pc gamers would be better off building their own than buying a laptop

Just to clarify, when the folks who are recommending that the PC be built, you don't literally mean "build it", the way that us old-timers might have done around the time that Michael Dell launched his business? You mean go to a retailer of some sort, probably online I would guess, and pick the particular configuration of components one desires, which would then be assembled by someone else and shipped to the customer, right?

This is a semi-serious question. As the local area network administrator for about 10 to 15 PCs, I used to do a lot of stuff with computer hardware and software in the early 1990's, when building computers from easily-available components was a thing and one could imagine an expert telling a newcomer to try to build the computer from scratch, thinking it was good for the newcomer to learn, but now that Dell and other companies are around, friends wouldn't tell friends to actually assemble the PC from components, by hand, right? Or would they? Maybe you guys literally mean "build it", but I'm not sure! :shrug: :)

These folks, i believe, are recommending self built. Buy components, assemble the build.

Aw, interesting! Thanks, theelusiveeightrop! That's kind of cool that folks still do that! I never went to the trouble of building a PC myself, but I monkeyed around with enough hardware to realize that it would be pretty straightforward to do, especially with all the books and magazines back then that explained how to do it.

But I somehow thought that the big computer retailers figured out a way to industrialize the assembly so that they could do it more cheaply. ;)

For what it's worth, coming from an old-timer, I think building the PC from scratch could be worthwhile. I think the components nowadays work together even more harmoniously than in my day (the late 1980's, early 1990's) and it doesn't take much beyond a screwdriver to take apart and put together the innards of a personal computer. I'm not very mechanically inclined, but I found it to be pretty easy. Plus, knowing how everything was put together helps one be able to upgrade the machine and also to troubleshoot problems. Plus, the components are pretty cheap.
Here are a couple of articles that talk about assembling your own gaming PC:

https://www.simple.com/blog/how-to-b...aming-computer

http://www.pcgamer.com/best-gaming-pc/

An article about the assembly process:

https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Computer

you can go online and order any rig you want specific down to the case.they are cheap, just get another one if you need an upgrade later.anyone who asks to get a rig that will surf the internet, check emails and do some gaming doesn't want to or need to build a rig from scratch. They want to click and go.

The thing is a lot of these pre built computers especially for anything with gaming use cheaper parts in key areas like power supply and RAM to keep the price down

I named my tiny dog TLO. I met TLO once and told him that. He laughed.

Uh yea.. build it by hand, takes really the most minimum level of skill.

I’ve been building PC’s for more than 20 years and it’s never been easier to find guidelines as to which components to use for specific uses.

Amazon usually has great Black Friday sales on computer parts.

Also, always overbuild so that the computer is future proof.

ibuypower bb930


That’s the company and model number I bought..works great and it’s easy to upgrade as you go along..I would say build it if you can..you get more for your money..only reason I bought is because I needed it right now and didn’t have time to wait on parts

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ibuypow...?skuId=5727100

Ram and gpus are expensive right now due to bitcoin mining and other factors,however there is a lot of choices in gpu cpu configurations.The eighth gen coffee lake processors from Intel just dropped and the new i5 is a nice option it has 6 cores for a reasonable price.Get at least 16 gb of ram for gaming etc. AmD ryzen cpu and amd video cards have entry level price appeal.


I would build the rig yourself there is a lot of resources on the internet

https://pcpartpicker.com/

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LHY...-bx80684i58400

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IhX0fOUYd8Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I have purchased from cyberpower in the past and they delivered with no hassle if you want to go prebuilt. https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/category/gaming-pcs/

The guy doesn't want to build his own. Can someone point to an off-the-shelf machine that might be good for him near the price point he seems to be interested in?

hey, I told him to ignore the build your own advice. I told him to shop at Best Buy where I've got mine for years. I worked at Dell for awhile. Best Buy had better deals than my employee discount.

TLO is a cool dude. I've met him a couple times as well.

What kind of games do you play, mac? Any issues running them with this system?

Cities Skylines the most..at the highest settings

American Truck Simulator at very high setting

Car Mechanic Simulator at highest setting

Call of Duty at very high

Grand Theft Auto at very high

A few other games I can’t think of..oh a couple Call of Duty and games like that..I have never had any problems..they all run very smooth and with a good monitor it looks way better than my old laptop

I would suggest getting another SSD to put games on for faster loading..not required but very nice..I got a 500 Gig Samsung SSD to put games on and I really enjoy it..much nicer than the Hard Drive

I will be upgrading the graphics card when prices come back to earth..soon hopefully..not because I need to or have to..just would like a 1080 instead of the 1060..the 1060 does everything I could ask of it

I can’t complain and I am very happy with it..the tempered glass side to see everything is cool..comes with LED lights that change colors so that’s cool at night..I would definitely suggest it if you are able to afford it..it’s a good size case so if you do ever want to do anything to it upgrade wise it will be easy to do as I have done some

You say this one at $550 is right in your price range, what is the max you're willing to spend? I'd recommend getting an Intel CPU over an AMD, but there's going to be a price increase with one. This computer would work fine for SC2 (Remastered requires better specs than SC2 I think since it requires a good amount of VRAM, which is pretty funny) but I don't know how it'd fare with other, newer games. The system that mac posted is pretty solid and will last a while.

Also off topic but I've been a poster on TL since like 2007, it's so crazy to me to see how they're growing so rapidly with solid teams in multiple games. They've gone from being an unofficial Brood War team without any sponsors or anything to winning TI 2017, pretty cool to watch their progression over the years.

Mac has suggested a cots machine for him. So many urge to build your own because we know how easy it is and how much better the components are for the money. It pains us to see people still buying Dell boxes that are bricks waiting to happen.

The box MAC suggested looks to be a nice prebuilt rig though with upgrade capability. There is a good review there from Justme that TLO may or may not find useful.

NewEgg Black November has started.
Here's one for you TLO. 12 hours left before it expires.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...73&ignorebbr=1

https://images10.newegg.com/NeweggIm...3-Z01.jpg?ex=2