Tsmith4

I just recently built my computer but I would like to eventually have a 100% decked out system, and I plan to do that by upgrading things a little bit at a time as I have extra money and/or things are on sale. There are things I want to do, but I don't know which are most important. What would you recommend as upgrade path? Some of the things I was linking about are: Buy more storage (2 TB +) Upgrade m.2 drive (from SATA III to NVMe), Upgrade GPU Upgrade Monitor Upgrade Memory (Amount and speed) My current build: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Amazon) Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($93.98 @ Newegg) Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($69.95 @ Amazon) Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS Black Edition OC+ Video Card ($219.00 @ Amazon) Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox MB600L ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.98 @ Newegg) Power Supply: Thermaltake - Toughpower 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon) Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($114.39 @ OutletPC) Monitor: MSI - Optix MAG241C 23.6" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($194.99 @ B&H) Keyboard: Redragon - K552 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($34.99 @ Amazon) Mouse: Redragon - Centrophorus M601 Wired Optical Mouse ($11.99 @ Amazon) Total: $1183.24 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-25 13:59 EST-0500

And if you really don’t feel comfortable with building your own, although I really think pretty much anyone could do it without issues, follow the example of LTT’s recent secret shopper videos. That should give you an idea of a few places that would be better options to go with.

No, they don’t have to be identical. But they can be if it is easiest/best. We really aren’t picky.

Sorry for the long post... My spouse and I finally saved up enough to get gaming computers and I need help getting the best computers for our budget. So we need two complete systems with everything but the chair and desk (computer, monitor, peripherals, and OS). Right now we use our laptops to game and they aren’t enough (mine is a Dell Inspiron 1500, SO’s is a MacBook Air with just a 128GB SSD). We live in Southwest Virginia, in the US (so we’ll use $US). We are aiming for $1800 but have up to $2000 to spend for everything. SO’s needs: - The two games that they play the most are Guild Wars 2 and Sims 4, although they would like the option to play more games, especially more demanding titles which right now aren’t an option. - They want to be able to stream/record their gameplay, edit it some, and post in on Youtube. - They’ll probably still use their laptop for browsing and other small tasks (due to the portability of the Air), they just need the PC for the bigger stuff. - They want a cleaner, sleeker look for their case, probably black with purple or green. A window would be nice but that isn’t super important. - They are just fine with Windows Home. My needs: - I play Guild Wars 2 most (when I’m not in school), but I want to be able to play games like Destiny 2, Tomb Raider, and other AAA games. - I’m a software developer so I need Windows Pro. I do a little bit of iOS development so hackintosh compatible parts would be nice. - I might want to add a second monitor down the line—or even connect to my TV every once and a while—so dual monitor support would be nice. - I’m not picky on my case, but I do like sleek designs and simpler color schemes. I don’t need RGB everything. General needs/wants/thoughts: - I have never tried overclocking anything and I would enjoy the opportunity, but it isn’t a very high priority. - We both would like the option for VR gaming down the line, but we can update the graphics card later if it isn’t ready for that now. - I was thinking that we probably don’t need much more than 1080p, although we wouldn’t mind if a higher resolution fits in the budget. And neither of us does anything competitive or very intense so latency isn’t a very large concern. - There will be plenty of times when I’m not home and my SO could use my computer for handling streaming/video editing if necessary. - I’m not afraid of water cooling, if the build warrants it, with either an AIO or a custom loop. - Feel free to also throw in your game suggestions, we want to really play with our new systems. My goal is to give as much detail as possible but we are definitely not picky, we are happy to work with any/all suggestions. Anyway, I can’t think of any other information that might be helpful, but if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Honestly, the fact that you play WoW with your wife makes me respect you even more.

So I’m going to be building two computers soon (for my spouse and I), and we’re pretty much just waiting on the check in order to get help with the builds here on the forum and then start purchasing the parts. Should I wait until I have all the money and can just buy everything all at once, or should I start getting the pieces that I know will work no matter the build I go with (i.e. SSD, peripherals) as they go on sale? This is my first time building my own computers.

I just looked at what these computers sell for on eBay, and I really have to wonder who is spending more than $100 for a nearly 15 year-old computer...

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask this but here we go anyway... I was just given an old computer, a Dell Dimension 3000, and am wondering if there is anything about that is worth salvaging. I’m going to be building two gaming computers soon, for my spouse and myself, and one of them will be used sometimes for streaming. We going to be spending $800-900 on each of them but that is a post for another day. Anyway, is the Dell worth anything more than recycling? I know lots of streamers use a dual pc setup, but I don’t think this Dell would be worth it for that. If I added a few cheap parts could it be used for the secondary streaming pc? If I put some other hard drives in it, could it be a workable NAS replacement? Is there anything that I can do with it that would be worth it? Right now I don’t have a monitor to hook it up to to see how it runs but I was told it boots and runs properly (Windows XP, I think). When I opened it up, I saw that it has an Intel Pentium 4, 2 Gigs of ram, a smallish hard drive, and 250W power supply. I’m prepared for this to just be basically e-waste, but I would love if there is something cool I can do with it.

Right now I’m on a 4 year old laptop...

Now that the major PC players have had their announcements at CES 2019 (Intel, AMD, Nvidia), how long should I wait before I starting looking at parts for build a new gaming computer? I am not going to be buying any of the fancy new things announced, since it will be a $800-1000 (US), but if prices for other things will drop due because of said fancy things, that is what I am looking for. Any tips or suggestions as far as how long I should wait, or if I should even wait at all? I’m still very new to the PC building world so I don’t know the trends.

Yeah Craigslist here sucks for computer parts... The 750 ti and 550 ti are my only two options within a couple hours.

I’m in Virginia.

I am getting a computer from a friend, and most of it is put together, but the GTX 970 he had in it started acting up so I need to find a new one to put in it. This is my first computer that isn’t a laptop for school, so I don’t know what is best. Not to mention, I’m a poor college student with a family so the budget is tight. I have $150 USD to get a new graphics card. I mostly play MMO’s (GW2 is my main jam) but I would like to get into more games if I had a computer that could handle them. So my main question is, what is the best graphics card I could get for my money? And when I say best, I mean what makes the most sense for my build in that price range. I am okay with online purchases, and the only two used options I have in my area are a GTX 750 ti for $130 or a GTX 550 ti for $90. Let me know what you think is best! Motherboard: Asus M5A97 r2.0 CPU: AMD FX-8320E (8 core) CPU cooler: Corsair H60 RAM: 2x4GB HyperX Power: Corsair CX650M 650 Watts 80+ Bronze Case: Cooler Master, MasterBox Lite 5 RGB Storage: 240GB SanDisk SSD and 1TB Toshiba HD (Windows 10) Monitor: AOC 23” 60 Hz Thanks in advance!