Re: Computer Build

On 05/12/2024 20:47, Justisaur wrote:

On 12/4/2024 1:37 AM, JAB wrote:

On 02/12/2024 21:23, Justisaur wrote:

My son expressed an interest in upgrading his computer, he's waffling though, as I told him he needs to pay for it himself.  He has the money, but doesn't want to use it.  I would pay local taxes to help out.
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My goal was to keep costs down, but make it at least as good as what I have now. The one he has now is a handmedown from his grands, unfortunately the case is a propriatary dell with a propriatary motherboard, a normal ATX doesn't fit in it, so I can't use it.  I may be able to use the PSU, but need to tear it apart to do so.  I'm only planning on a 500W PSU as it seems power requirements have gone down considerably.

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My not so helpfully advice is don't overthink it too much as the reality is unless you do something disastrous it's going to do the job for you. My last upgrade, instead of doing my customary spending ages trying to decide exactly what to get I went down the I don't need a 'god like' PC so let's just spend a little bit of time online looking for recommended budget gaming set-ups. Did I get the best value for money, almost definitely not but I also didn't waste hours upon hours of 'research' just to say feck it I'll go with that which I looked at two weeks ago.
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The other problem I found is that what would seem a good place for advice (real people online) turns out to be really problematic in that it ranges from at worst bad advice and at best this is the system I would want regardless of whether that would met your needs. Oh you want a new PC for general day-to-day stuff as some light gaming. Well clearly what you want is system built around a 4090!

 The adive I've gotten here has been far above anything I've found elsewhere over the years :)  Hopefully I've given some too.
 I already ordered it, I probably made some mistakes (as Ross pointed out) but it's still hundreds of dollars less than a branded gaming computer of probably similar performance (or more like much higher performance for the budget than one.)
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All I really know about gaming PC's is that you are almost always going to overpay for what you actually get unless you really value a flash case and some 'cool' stickers!

I do have to put it together, which I've definitely lost a lot of my interest for after my last one, but I'm willing to put in the time for my family.  If I counted what I'm paid vs. the time put into it, I'm sure I come out behind.  Part of it is just my hatred of getting stuck with unupgradable proprietary junk.  Not that I usually upgrade anything except the video card separately, but the PS & case can last many generations of computer.  I know one can get the computer built to order with the parts you want but that comes at a premium.
 

Similar to me as the time between refreshes means that I never really have a choice but to get at least MB + CPU + RAM, so much for the idea of future proofing a PC. As for putting it together, I cheated slightly with my last one in that I bought the MB + CPU + RAM pre-built. Can I have spent more time shopping around to get a better deal, probably but putting the CPU in is one of the parts I just don't like doing.