I need a new PC, but know nothing about them. I just want to take it out of the box, set it up, and play. I don’t want flashy lights. I want quick graphics and smooth game play. I would like a second monitor. I have $2000 to spend. Any recommendations?
Edit: Here is one I’m looking at -
System includes:
• Processor - 12th Generation Intel Core i7-1255U (12MB Cache, up to 4.7 GHz, 10 cores)
• Video Card - NVIDIA® GeForce® MX550, 2 GB GDDR6
• Memory - Choice between 16GB, 2x8GB, DDR4, 3200MHz or 32 GB, 2 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
• Hard Drive - 1 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD
I’ve had good experiences with cyberpowerpc. You customize your build on their website however you want through a bunch of sliders and dropdown menus. All upgrades and fancy bells and whistles are optional. They assemble it and ship it. You take it out of the box, hook it up, and could be playing WoW as quickly as your internet will download it. They don’t come with any bloatware and it’s just a fresh install of Windows where the initial setup hasn’t even been done yet. There are top end machines well within your budget and you can change individual components to cheaper versions however you want to change the price up or down.
That gpu is a mobile chip. Are you planning on getting a gpu separately and putting it in yourself? If you do that make sure the case is big enough with proper airflow to keep it safe.
Oh wait are you looking at a laptop? I just assumed desktop.
Yeah I wouldn’t go with that personally if the primary purpose of the PC is gaming. That’s basically a laptop without the one advantage of a laptop. Also Dell’s track record isn’t so hot. You’re mostly paying for the brand name.
This can be more than necessary for gaming. Games aren’t really multithreaded tasks. You can go for a lower core-count CPU and aim for a higher BASE clock speed rather than an uP tO clock speed.
I like this one a ton: h ttps://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-5-5600g-ryzen-5-5000-g-series/p/N82E16819113683?Description=ryzen%20cpu&cm_re=ryzen_cpu-_-19-113-683-_-Product&quicklink=true (take out the space – I can’t post links)
It has enough cores to make you happy, a great base speed (anywhere around 4 ghz is more than nice) and the price is awesome.
For GPU, get literally anything that starts with a 30.
For memory, 16gb at most. Pretty much everyone is selling ddr4, but if you see ddr3 just know it’s a previous generation that is a bit slower, but honestly negligible if you’re just gaming. Don’t shell out too much extra to avoid a good deal on ddr3.
For storage, do a TB of solid state but DO NOT let someone mark you up like crazy to get it. Get the lower storage option then just buy an upgrade yourself and pay a shop to install it for you. A TB costs like $200 and I’ve seen people charge $400 coughMACcough
Here get this one: h ttps://www.newegg.com/abs-ali612/p/N82E16883360277?quicklink=true
Or maybe this one: h ttps://www.newegg.com/velztorm-pilum/p/3D5-000W-01FB8?quicklink=true it’s pretty cool because it has solid state storage and also a massive amount of optional disc storage, which is cheap. Put your OS and frequently-used programs on the SSD and everything else on the disc drive and bam - 3.5 TB of storage. Huge.
This one is right on the nose: h ttps://www.newegg.com/zotac-gh3070a5800x01bl-u-w2b/p/N82E16883218097?quicklink=true CPU is perfect, GPU is awesome, 16gb of ddr4, and a terabyte of solid state storage. Honestly this looks rad as heck.
Ditch this thing here for sure. Super low base speed. The number of cores is fine though but check out the one I linked instead.
You’ll want to change this out. PCIe is a slot on the motherboard that isn’t traditionally used for storage. Instead, look for one that uses a SATA port. The most popular SSD right now is a samsung evo: h ttps://www.newegg.com/samsung-1tb-870-evo-series/p/N82E16820147793?Description=samsung%20evo%201tb&cm_re=samsung_evo%201tb-_-20-147-793-_-Product
E: I lied, you TECHNICALLY can use a PCIe slot for storage. But it is true that SATA is the most prevalent. PCIe is moreso used by people looking to do a fancy storage setup that involves replication, but yes you can for sure stick a terabyte solid state drive here and use it as storage.
I’m pretty decently versed with computers but I don’t recognize this brand. It MAY be ok, but the more mainstream brands like Asus and MSI will be garunteed to play nice with your other components. You can always just google the name and search is xyz motherboard compatible with abc GPU and 123 CPU
E: I just checked out this motherboard and it looks like it’s pretty well liked! Nice, I learned something from here. Also, I found this site you can use to check compatibility: h ttps://pangoly.com/en/compatibility/asrock-z590-extreme/cpu
If you’re putting down $2k you could probably find a way to pick up a 3060 without much of an issue. Maybe check out a way to switch out the CPU you picked. An easy $100 can be saved there.
TL;DR: Power up the GPU, power down the CPU, MAYBE switch out your solid state drive for one that uses a SATA port
Pretend you are me lol, what would you build? Include monitor (a second one too if possible). Give me your data so I can simply copy it.
Edit:
I really don’t want flashy lights. I use my computer in my bedroom and sometimes leave it on while I sleep. I want a clean looking white computer to match my room if possible, but at the end of the day, smooth game play and quick pretty graphics is most important.
What you posted is actually pretty close to exactly what I got from cyberpowerPC.
IMO the processor is more than fine, I have an older generation of the same product line and it eats WoW alive at max settings and the AIO keeps it nice and cool, never really goes above idle temps even under heavy load. Quiet as a whisper as an added bonus because there’s no fan.
Like he said I would bump up the GPU to at least a 3060, even the base 3060 has double the vram.
The SSD being on the PCIe slot is fine. Cyberpowerpc does that with most of their builds because they make it so you can easily add more SSDs to the stack, you just have to buy the little extension bracket things, idk what they’re called.
Personally I would bump up the PSU by a couple hundred Watts at least, just for a bit of future proofing. 600 is already at the limit for running that CPU and GPU together.
Other than that it looks good to me. Those components will be good enough to run anything coming out in the next several years at max settings. And when it’s time to upgrade all you’ll have to do is buy a new GPU to replace the old one without having to buy a whole new computer (it’s pretty much just legos, don’t be intimidated by upgrading your own machine :P). You can even add more RAM if you ever want to, that mobo has 4 slots and will only be using 2.
Oh and one more thing, if you see on the site an option for advanced pro cable management or whatever they call it, in my experience it’s worth it. The inside of the case will be nice and tidy and if you ever snoop around in there or want to upgrade something yourself it won’t look like a confusing mess.
Edit: forgot to add, personally I would add another HDD, a 2TB SATA is fine, the advantages of SSDs are really only noticeable for things that access the drive constantly like your OS and large MMOs like WoW. 1TB will fill up a lot quicker than you think so it’s nice to have more, and all of it being solid state isn’t really necessary, it will save a bit of money.
