Subj : Gaming (Windows) PC: build or buy?
To   : Digital Man
From : Arelor
Date : Fri Jul 16 2021 03:17 am

  Re: Gaming (Windows) PC: build or buy?
  By: Digital Man to All on Thu Jul 15 2021 09:12 pm

 > My daughter's gaming PC needs an upgrade as it overheats and hangs sometimes
 > when playing graphic intensive games, like
 > https://store.steampowered.com/app/1377590/The_Island/
 > 
 > She currently has a 2015-era quadcore AMD APU (I think it's 3+ GHz) with 16G
 > of RAM and a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050 Ti OC Low Profile 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit
 > PCI-E Graphic Card. I don't think the graphics card is an issue, but rather 
 > CPU/chipset and possibly cooling. Being a proprietary (HP) slim-line case an
 > motherboard, GPU upgrade options were limited, but I think that 1050 Ti is
 > actually handling the job pretty well.
 > 
 > Anyway, for her birthday, I want to replace the system with something (even)
 > better suited to gaming, like this:
 > https://www.costco.com/dell-xps-8940-tower---11th-gen-intel-core-i7-11700---
 > orce-rtx-3060ti.product.100773674.html
 > 
 > I could just build a new system from puchased parts and re-use her existing 
 > (the 1050 Ti), but being a low profile card, that could be tricky in a
 > full-height case and being a gift, I don't want it to be something I may hav
 > to troubleshoot (e.g. buying the wrong RAM for the CPU/motherboard... again?
 > 
 > The Costo Dell deal looks pretty good, $1600 for:
 > - Core i7-11700 (8-core) CPU
 > - 32GB DDR4 RAM
 > - NVIDIA GeForce RTS 3060Ti GPU w/8GB RAM
 > - 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD
 > - 1TB 7200RPM HD
 > - DVD/CD reader/writer
 > - Windows 10
 > 
 > Stuff it comes with but likely wouldn't use:
 > - keyboard and mouse
 > - Wifi and Bluetooth adapters
 > 
 > I didn't want to spend that much, but seems like it'd last her several years
 > without any need to upgrade (much). Thoughts?

If you think 1600 USD is "that much" you have not seen what people is spending
in not-so-good gaming equipment.

For a computer intended for gaming, upgradability is the key...you need a
moderboard into which you can plug "moar stuff" and "newer stuff". Otherwise
you won't be able to keep playing bleeding edge games with your setup in a
matter of a couple of years, at least with decent game settings.

A rule of thumb for gaming gear is to see which game consoles game publishers
are targetting and try to have at least a bit better specs than those consoles.
The reason is that many game companies use mainstream consoles as a spec
reference. If the last Playstation is Playstation 20 then you can bet triple
AAA developers are assuming their specs are the base for the current generation
of games.

The second approach is to scan the AAA game market in order to see which
requerinments modern games are demanding. If you can reliably match the
recommended requerinments for current games you can be sure that you will be
able to play any game with your rig up until the moment the current generation
of games ends.

Current generation of games is coming to an end by the way:
https://www.game-debate.com/news/28464/recommended-pc-system-requirements-for-w
hen-xbox-series-x-and-ps5-launch

Sorry I am not giving an opinion about your suggested configuration. I am not
that familiar with the current state of things. I hope my wall of text gives
you something to think about.


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