Subj : Gaming (Windows) PC: build or buy?
To   : All
From : Digital Man
Date : 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 16GB 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 the CPU/chipset and possibly cooling. Being a proprietary (HP) slim-line case and 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---geforce-rtx-3060ti.product.100773674.html

I could just build a new system from puchased parts and re-use her existing GPU (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 have 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?
-- 
                                            digital man

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Morris: I stand on the hill, not for thrill, but for the breath of a fresh kill
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