Need help buying a new rig

[Rosseau]

This is some great information from a great group of people here. I'm tempted to let Ranger pull his trigger first. It's a lot to consider, as I haven't bought in nine years! And yet, most of the info is here to make a good decision.

And yes, Sarge, I here ya regarding Microsoft's aggressiveness. I also went with Dell last time, as I caught them having a sale at a rather odd time.

Obviously, making an informed decision takes work and research, so thanks all of you for helping. Hoping recent buyers might also chime in with their experiences.

[Duck Doc]

Thanks Zak, and all of you, for the info. And yes, Ranger, not sure I want to support Lenovo. It used to be "made in Japan," and now it's made in the PRC.

Anyway, not sure what an "M2 boot drive" is, but will look for a 2TB hard drive if they are reliable. I see the 16GB graphics cards are very expensive, so hoping 8GB will do for my needs.

I've actually been mounting up my system on storage boxes (instead of a desk) for about four years, so am not a fancy-pants kind of guy. But am willing to spend for quality equipment, and still not sure who to buy from.

Best wishes, and have a great weekend,

Mike

If your budget is ample then run, don’t walk, to

Falcon NW @ falcon-nw.com

[Rosseau]

[/quote]

If your budget is ample then run, don’t walk, to

Falcon NW @ falcon-nw.com
[/quote]

Wow, that is some awesome hardware at Falcon, but beyond my budget. I can always fantasize, though.

I'm thinking of sticking with Dell, as never had a hardware problem with them in more than 25 years. If you'll allow me, I do have a question on monitors:

Size - Probably personal preference, but I certainly want to go from 24" to 27". Not sure what a display larger than that would do for the average Matrix game. A 32" curved might be too much for this old guy.

Resolution - Have no idea what "4K" monitors are, or even a good res to go with. Will these high-res displays be compatible with old HPS, CM2 and Matrix games, etc.?

[Kuokkanen]

Otherwise, has anything else changed?

The virtual extinction of the optical disk drive as an integral part of the PC is still what catches my eye. I have a few older but necessary programs that rely on the shiny silver platters to install. Buy myself a standalone ODD and plug & play it in I guess.

A very good point. I have a disc drive in near every computer I got save a tablet. But great majority of the software & media comes straight off the Internet without a need for physical media for delivery. Some people have something against it, and for good reasons: this story about a man losing access to his PlayStation Network account after several years and many purchases because of a silly user name. But physical media degrades over time and eventually becomes unusable. I have lost games due that.

[Kuokkanen]

Resolution - Have no idea what "4K" monitors are, or even a good res to go with. Will these high-res displays be compatible with old HPS, CM2 and Matrix games, etc.?

3840 × 2160 seems to be common 4k resolution for computer monitors and TVs. Other 4k resolutions exist for movie projectors and whatnot. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution

Personally I find HD resolution (1920*1080) sufficient for typical Internet use, videos, and video games. If you go for larger screens (+27"), you may want 4k or at least 1440*whatev resolution. You'll need stronger and more expensive hardware for it though.

[Platoonist]

A very good point. I have a disc drive in near every computer I got save a tablet. But great majority of the software & media comes straight off the Internet without a need for physical media for delivery. Some people have something against it, and for good reasons: this story about a man losing access to his PlayStation Network account after several years and many purchases because of a silly user name. But physical media degrades over time and eventually becomes unusable. I have lost games due that.

Well, I own a well-known graphic program that has since gone to the online subscription business model that is all the rage in marketing circles nowadays. Having previously paid full price to own it lock, stock and barrel I have no interest in furthering their revenue stream by getting billed every month to access it off the cloud. Plus, it's not like I need the latest and greatest version of said software either.

[Karri]

SSD is a must these days, most games are starting to rely on them. It's more likely to be a significant bottleneck rather than RAM, processor or GPU. Or even internet connection, last time I installed a game on my slow drive it took longer to read/write than download the data.

[Rosseau]

Seems wise then to stop at 27" monitor to avoid compatibility issues; and, also to ensure that one's primary drive is an SSD.

[RangerJoe]

Another thing to be wary of this time of year, is the so called deals like Black Friday specials since the quality (DPI and such like) may not be there. So a large screen TV for example may not have the definition that a person might want. The same would also apply to monitors. Computer components may not have the speed nor capabilities expected either.

The better thing to look for is deals where a person can buy a gift card and get another but smaller one for free! I gave two such smaller gift cards to my apartment manager and when she and her girlfriend went on a road trip, they enjoyed some free food. Each of those cards were enough for a triple chocolate fudge cake with ice cream for one person.

[CaptBeefheart]

Some good advice. I have two things to add:

Regarding monitor, I've got a 27" with Quad HD (2560x1440) resolution. WITP-AE and every other title I have work great with it.

Regarding RAM, I'd say 8GB wouldn't cut it with most games any more. I'd go with 16GB or more. I have 32GB since I like to leave browser tabs and Office docs open while the game uses upwards of 16GB (I think Galactic Civ 4 uses close to 16GB, for instance).

Cheers,
CB

[mainsworthy]

you could also stick to matrix older games, and not upgrade, because the old games are still fan tastic. also I have an old iMac but I installed windows because they were compatable as they used same chips, #i think there all compatable now, the reason i say is Macs have high res screens built in as they used for artests etc...

BUT make sure you have all the drivers for Mac stuff on windows, you may not need them now, but I have an old mac but the Mac disk had the windows drivers, they helped with dual booting.

as a bonus you get to run mac software in dual boots. i use it for old games so check mac specs if you want modern games running. its def a techy project so be sure, and if you cant get drivers your tossed down a great hole.

or get mac drivers and install MacOS on a PC if there compatable maybe. that may give your old PC extra life

its prob best to buy a prebuild PC win11 with an RTX and 32GB Ram.

[OldSarge]

One other thing to add that I didn't see mentioned is to ensure the power supply that comes with the machine is robust enough to handle the GPU/CPU - the two largest power consumers. Most off the shelf machines have a basic PS in the 400-500 watt range. Many of the higher end GFX cards can easily consume over 300 watts.

HTH

[RangerJoe]

One other thing to add that I didn't see mentioned is to ensure the power supply that comes with the machine is robust enough to handle the GPU/CPU - the two largest power consumers. Most off the shelf machines have a basic PS in the 400-500 watt range. Many of the higher end GFX cards can easily consume over 300 watts.

HTH

Actually, go as high as you can reasonably afford since if you add more and newer components they might need even more power. Plus you don't overwork the power supply.

But I am thinking of getting a new portable one that I could put on a hospital overbed table . . .

[Rosseau]

Some good advice. I have two things to add:

Regarding monitor, I've got a 27" with Quad HD (2560x1440) resolution. WITP-AE and every other title I have work great with it.

Regarding RAM, I'd say 8GB wouldn't cut it with most games any more. I'd go with 16GB or more. I have 32GB since I like to leave browser tabs and Office docs open while the game uses upwards of 16GB (I think Galactic Civ 4 uses close to 16GB, for instance).

Cheers,
CB

It's good to know that monitor is a "safe" buy with Matrix tiles. I appreciate it!

One other thing to add that I didn't see mentioned is to ensure the power supply that comes with the machine is robust enough to handle the GPU/CPU - the two largest power consumers. Most off the shelf machines have a basic PS in the 400-500 watt range. Many of the higher end GFX cards can easily consume over 300 watts.

HTH

Yes, I did have to swap out the power supply when upgrading the Dell's graphics card years ago. It's still running smoothly right now.

This time, however, I will get the card I want that comes with the system. Thanks to all!

[Rising-Sun]

Sorry for late reply, dont buy anything from Dell/Alienware, simply not worth it. I got this new gaming rig from them few years ago and turned out shit. Has a good video card (500 USD value) along with 16gb, i7 cpu 10th generation at 2.8GHz. I had alot of crash playing NMS and Wurm Online. Noticed it was overheating and only two fans, one for cpu and one blowing out in the back. Plus a small block PSU and probably under wattage. I paid like 1,600 USD for that mid tower and simply isnt worth it.

So i decided to build one from scratch, i cannot say how much budget i put into this, cause i have spare parts laying around. So using this massive black tower Thor v2, got three huge fans, two mediums, plus cooling unit for cpu. Also bought a i9 11th generation at 3.5Ghz at amazon for alittle over 200 USD. The video card is Nvidia RTX 3060ti with 8gb. With 850w PSU certified. As well SSD and double the ram from 16gb to 32gb.

So this custom rig ran great and never had a crash after that. Now i can play NMS at 4k on high settings. You can check on Newegg.com for barebone if you have some knowledge on building pc. Gotta becareful there are alot of ripoffs out there.

[Kuokkanen]

Gotta becareful there are alot of ripoffs out there.

Which reminds me, there are also cases of sloppy assembly. My experiences include improperly closed case, BD drive without cables, and Windows user name (and associated directory/folder) which don't work with Steam VR (ä/ö/the-like). And I bought the VR set (HTC Vive) along with the computer itself!

[sfbaytf]

I have a gaming/flight sim desktop and a couple of gaming laptops. As long as you have a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port you can buy something like a Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD. My gaming laptop with a 3070 GPU came with just a 1GB SSD. I just buy Sandisk Extreme Portable SSDs when they are on sale on Amazon to use with my laptop and desktop. I have a 1,2 and 4TB portable drive and I see no difference when gaming.

As for pre built systems it can be hit and miss. Bought first pre-built back in 2002 and it was good. The bought one in 2007-08 and it was crap. Faulty component and for some reason had nothing but issues with sound especially in Total War.

I then bought a pre-build from IBUY Power around 2012 and it was a workhorse. I then went them again a few years ago and it was great for 2 years then started shutting down. Tracked it down to a faulty water cooling system. Even though it was out of warranty they sent me new cooling system, but I did have to install myself. My only other complaint is the outdated bios that came with Steel Rock Motherboard. Can't upgrade to Windows 11 unless I flash it to upgrade.

My laptop is running Windows 11.

[jhyden]

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