Re: World of Warcraft used to be under 50 GB install

On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 06:43:59 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

>
Eewww pre-builts!
Build your own and you get exactly the hardware you want.

I'm less picky.

Yes, if you want the ultimate gaming rig, maxed out in every area,
you're not going to get that experience from an OEM... not even from a
boutique reseller. But that sort of hardware is really only for the
sake of HAVING the hardware, and not actually because you're getting
some benefit in gameplay. And most people have neither the money, nor
time, nor expertise for putting together a computer like that.

Also, in my own personal experience, you aren't really saving much
money by getting somebody else to do it for you either. While some
boutique PC vendors are positively predatory in their pricing <cough
cough Falcon PC cough cough>, more mid-tier boutiques are relatively
competitive in cost. Yes, it's more... but not MUCH more. The days
when you could get a far superior PC for far less money are long past;
even boutique gaming PCs are sold at the narrowest of margins these
days.

And even less gamer-oriented PCs (e.g., Dells, etc.) are surprisingly
capable, although that has less to do with any engineering expertise
on the part of the OEMs than it does with the excessive surplus in
processing capacity that modern CPUs and GPUs offer these days. You
CAN get a good gaming experience on even mid-range OEM computers;
there's a reason a lot of gamers can use laptops as their primary
machines these days.

No, the biggest downside to buying pre-built computers --especially
from big-name OEMs-- is that they lack easy upgradability and
longevity. That cheap Dell you get today is fine for playing the games
of today... but out-of-the-box is will probably already be maxed out,
and as newer games come out you'll discover its capabilities are being
strained beyond its ability to keep up. Worse, the choices the OEM
made --whether in the shape of the chassis, or power supply, or
motherboard-- will greatly limit how you can upgrade the computer.
It'll usually end up being cheaper and easier just to buy an entirely
new computer than do a piece-meal upgrade to keep that particular
platform up-to-date.

But for a lot of people, that's not the sort of thing they want to do
anyway. They don't WANT to upgrade and install a new video card, or
worry about if they have enough PCI-E lanes. Even adding extra storage
or RAM is a struggle. For a lot of people, having that capability in a
computer is an expensive benefit they'll never take advantage of.

Twenty years ago, I was all on the side of 'build your own' but these
days? You get almost the same cost/value benefit from OEMs, and a lot
more ease of use. I still like tinkering and building my own rigs, but
I get value from _that_ and don't really see it in the end-product
itself while playing games.

TL;DR; get what makes sense to your wallet and usage scenario. If
that's a cheap OEM, or a mid-tier boutique pre-built, or building your
own from scratch, they're all good and -thanks to how powerful our
computers have become- you'll probably have a good experience when it
comes to games.

>
External HDs are ok for storage or watching movies/listening to music,
but you would not want to game from one.

That depends on your hardware. External SSDs linked through
Thunderbolt3 ports have surprising performance. I won't go so far to
say that they can compete with the fastest internal drives, they are
definitely good enough for gaming on. Certainly they are faster than
any spinning-rust drives. If you're not rocking the fastest SSD
internally (which is probably the case for a lot of OEM devices) you
may actually see a benefit from using the external.

Of course, a lot of PCs don't offer the fastest Thunderbolt3 ports,
and a lot of external drives tend to be slower hardware too. Don't buy
a 16TB Western Digital MyBook off of Amazon and think you can drop
"Doom Dark Ages" on it and have any sort of a good time. Your typical
USB3 port -and the old-school platter technology- will make that a
painful experience.

But if you need some more space, your PC has Thunderbolt3 and you
bought a fast external SSD? It'll work.