Which Tower Would You Buy?

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tgb
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Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by tgb »

In a couple of weeks I'll finally be in a position to replace my over-the-hill I3, and I'm considering two possibilities, but am having a tough time deciding.

Refurbished HP 800 G1
New HP Pavilion 580

A couple of points:

I have no objection to refurbished electronics
I barely use half of the 1 Tb storage I have now, so 2 Tb would be overkill
AMD Ryzen 7 vs Intel I 17 (but 4th gen)
I'm not convinced the improvement in graphics from a Radeon RX 550 over Intel HD 4600 is worth spending the extra $100

Keep in mind that 90% of the games I play are turn based and I've never been a stickler for the hottest graphics or worried about FPS.

Thoughts?
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hitbyambulance
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by hitbyambulance »

tgb wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:38 pm Keep in mind that 90% of the games I play are turn based and I've never been a stickler for the hottest graphics or worried about FPS.
it may well be possible you can probably stick a used (new-to-you) graphics card in your current machine and be good with that. post your current specs (including PSU) and we'll see.
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tgb
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by tgb »

hitbyambulance wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:40 am
tgb wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:38 pm Keep in mind that 90% of the games I play are turn based and I've never been a stickler for the hottest graphics or worried about FPS.
it may well be possible you can probably stick a used (new-to-you) graphics card in your current machine and be good with that. post your current specs (including PSU) and we'll see.
I3 3.4 Gh
8 Gb RAM
Geforce 650 TI

The issue is I'm seeing more and more new releases requiring an I5 at a minimum, and while I can run many of them, performance isn't so great. I'd like to get a little ahead of the curve for a change.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
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hitbyambulance
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by hitbyambulance »

this may be a very good option to consider - check this blog post:

https://boilingsteam.com/gaming-on-a-ch ... rkstation/
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tgb
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by tgb »

Something to think about, thanks.
I spent 90% of the money I made on women, booze, and drugs. The other 10% I just pissed away.
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gameoverman
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by gameoverman »

Your problem sounds like your games are starting to need four cores, not two cores with hyperthreading. By jumping to an i7 or Ryzen 7 you will be getting ahead of the curve, four cores PLUS hyperthreading.

You don't specify which CPU you have, but depending what you have you might be able to simply buy an i7 that is a drop in replacement for your i3. That would give you the same effect for hundreds of dollars less.

By the way, the RX 550 is essentially a replacement for integrated graphics and putting 4gb on it is a joke. Your 650 Ti will suit you just as well for all practical purposes.
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Daehawk
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by Daehawk »

https://pcgamehaven.com/best-gaming-pc-build-under-600/

Case Vivo V06
MOBO MSI B350M Pro-VDH
CPU AMD R3 1200
GPU Zotac GTX 1060 Mini 3GB
PSU EVGA 450 B1 80+ Bronze
RAM 1x8GB DDR4 2666MHz
HDD Seagate 1TB 7200RPM
SSD Optional

$599

Save even more if you can reuse parts of your own. Also that link if you scroll down shows a improved $700 build with a AMD R5 1500X
Last edited by Daehawk on Wed Nov 15, 2017 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by Isgrimnur »

Ivory over Dark. Maybe Green Angel. Make sure it isn’t leaning.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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gameoverman
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by gameoverman »

I forgot to answer the question. I'd pick the Ryzen system, it comes with DDR4 ram. I would not spend $500, in late 2017, on a DDR3 based system.
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GreenGoo
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Re: Which Tower Would You Buy?

Post by GreenGoo »

I just wanted to pop in to say that I read your question tgb, I'm just not well positioned to answer it. I pretty much only look at desktop technology when I'm in the market, and since I'm not shopping for myself right now, I don't have an opinion.

So I'm not ignoring you (i.e. people are seeing your question) but I can't help.
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