Time for a new PC for wife

[Zenn7]

Wife has my old (old) PC that had some issues (video card that I installed fried, mostly functional but some occasional odd issues). Think those are catching up as PC is getting slower over time and network card keeps needing to be reset and possibly some other issues.

Old PC, think it's pre-I3/i5/i7 processor.

She doesn't need much as she mostly runs either older or light games (slot machine games, best fiends, settlers 3 (for oldie)). Would like to be able to run Diablo 3 on the machine adequately (doesn't need to be high end graphics, just running at a playable speed on medium graphics is fine.

Not worried about future proofing but would like to make sure the thing will likely run for 5 years or more without frying/failure due to bad set up or low quality parts.

Budget - would really like to keep it under $800 (well under but that's probably not an option).

Got my last PC at CyberpowerPC. I remember everyone said get good name power supply, so I did.

I can't buy a customized CyberpowerPC for much under $1k. Their pre-built systems were notorious for cheap power supplies that would fail after a year or two, so don't think I wan't a pre-built.

Saw the eCollege-pc in another thread here and tried that - gives me this system:
Intel&nbspCoffee&nbspLake&nbspConfigurator : Intel Core i5 9400 2.9Ghz (4.1Ghz Turbo) 9MB Cache Six-Core | Stock Intel LGA1151 Heatsink and Fan | GIGABYTE B360M DS3H (Intel B360, HDMI, PCI-E, M.2, 6xSATA, 4xDDR4) | 8GB (8GBx1) Crucial DDR4 2666Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty | 1TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps Seagate Barracuda | 24X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD /-RW/CDRW | 1GB GeForce GT 710 GDDR3 PCI-E DVI/HDMI (Major Brand) | Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64bit (Includes DVD + COA + Install) | Fractal Design Focus G Black (2 5.25, 2 3.5) 2 Fans, Audio/USB 3.0 | 650watt Corsair CX650 80 PLUS CERTIFIED | Onboard 1Gbit LAN included | Onboard HD 7.1 Sound included | Wires and Cables ran behind case and tied up for maximum airflow | 3 Year Parts and Labor Warranty | Standard processing time: Ready to ship within 5 to 7 Business Days

http://www.ecollegepc.com/intel-coffeelake.html

Don't see an option to link to the configurator page w/ my options selected.

Any obvious defects/enhancements I should be looking for here? Any place with good pre-builds where I don't need to worry about low quality components? Other options I should be looking into?

[gilraen]

Any place with good pre-builds where I don't need to worry about low quality components? Other options I should be looking into?

You can get a Digital Storm Lynx for $700 - they definitely do NOT use low quality components.

[hitbyambulance]

PC is getting slower over time

just need to reiterate - processors don't just get slower and slower from their stated speeds over time (unless they're somehow throttling due to dust buildup in the fans/heatsinks?)

a 'Windows computer slowing down over time' issue is most likely due to one of two main issues:

* program/registry/startup menu bloat. the easy fix here is to reinstall Windows and start 'anew'.
* hard drive dying. in this case, replacing the hard drive with a $20 120GB SSD (and then reinstalling Windows) will solve this issue.

both are very easy fixes and the first option is no charge to do it yourself. there is a chance that malfunctioning components could well 'fix' themselves with a new OS install. would recommend blowing the dust out of the system, in any case!

if in fact a component (such as a videocard) is dying, or you actually just want some excuse to upgrade, then disregard.

this not to be confused with javascript-heavy websites themselves becoming more memory and processor intensive. a machine can be running just as good as it was 15 years ago, but increasingly bloated websites become a little too much for the machine to handle. this was happening with my 2001 iBook G3 in the early 2010s - a 600MHz CPU just wasn't cutting it anymore.

[Zenn7]

Thank you for the feedback so far and any further feedback that anyone may supply!

Any place with good pre-builds where I don't need to worry about low quality components? Other options I should be looking into?

You can get a Digital Storm Lynx for $700 - they definitely do NOT use low quality components.

No DVD RW drive, but other than that, seems like a good PC to me. If I go that way, maybe just buy an external DVD RW (she said w/o that, we have to keep Amazon music, she is currently getting that for $.99/month with a student sub - like $80 year w/o that though - all her music from her CD's is in the Amazon music cloud - she's bought a ton of CD's from garage sales, library bag day sales and thrift stores).



HitBaA - I have reloaded a few times, doesn't help much, and it doesn't always go well. There are some issues from whatever happened that killed the video card (I had to remove that, using whatever the onboard video is), so the Windows reinstall never worked 100% perfectly and there are some other issues (like the Network Card frequently disconnecting, have to go into troubleshooting where it resets the network card; this happens nearly daily). If I had parts around or the money to invest, I might be able to figure out what exactly was wrong with it, but I am certain there is some other damaged components still in the machine.

[Daehawk]

As a comment on the original post pc...Im not happy with the hard drive or the video card . The hard drive I could live with but would prefer a SSD. A 1tb ssd is about $120 for a Samsung. Less for other brands. A 500 gig is about $80 .

The video card is crap. I dont even know what a 710 is but 1 gig video ram wont play anything good and especially not Diablo 3. I have 2 gig and it sucks. Stuff thats been out years forces me to lower stuff or stutter or not run at all. Mines a 950 gtx. Of course Im basing it on my card and not knowing what a 710 is

[Zenn7]

As a comment on the original post pc...Im not happy with the hard drive or the video card . The hard drive I could live with but would prefer a SSD. A 1tb ssd is about $120 for a Samsung. Less for other brands. A 500 gig is about $80 .

The video card is crap. I dont even know what a 710 is but 1 gig video ram wont play anything good and especially not Diablo 3. I have 2 gig and it sucks. Stuff thats been out years forces me to lower stuff or stutter or not run at all. Mines a 950 gtx. Of course Im basing it on my card and not knowing what a 710 is

For the hard drive, I intentionally avoided a SSD drive - a little just trying to keep the price down as much as possible, but also, thought I had read/saw that SSD drives are not known for longevity. I have a SSD (and a non-SSD) drive on my newish PC y'all helped me by about 2-3 years ago on CyberpowerPC and I have been getting occasional errors on start up that I think might be the hard drive (which lends some support for that lacking longevity). I could be wrong about this though.

The video card - that was the lowest one besides whatever it defaulted to (I think the default was an onboard card). I don't need to run anything great, but if that wouldn't run Diablo 3 on medium settings w/o stuttering/issues, then I would need to upgrade.

[Daehawk]

I cant say for sure but at 2 gig my card has a lot of trouble with stuff out for a few years . Not that it wont play them but I either cant load the bells and whistles or it plays badly. 4 gig is usually minimum now. The new cards are all 8 gig. The older 10xx cards the low was 6 gig I think and I recall reading how that was not really a good buy.

I used PC part picker to build a system minus the power supply and it came to $1300. The cpu was a 9700 and almost $400 and the video card was a 2070 super and it was like $500. Id think you should be able to get a nice system for $800 somehow. Good luck to you.

EDIT: Im not endorsing them as I never used them but as an example of what $800 can get CyberpowerPC has a lot of systems $800 and under. Like this one is $799....

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gam ... p-GX-99001

Operating System: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition) (Included)
System Summary: Intel IET99001 + FREE Shipping + Next Day Rush
Gaming Chassis: CyberPowerPC ONYXIA Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ USB 3.0, Front & Side Tempered Glass (Included)
Lighting: ARGB COLOR LED STRIP ONLY MUST FAN CONTROL (Included)
Extra Case Fans: 3X 120mm APEVIA 120mm Addressable RGB 1200RPM Fans w/ Hub + Remote Controller (Included)
CPU: Intel® Core™ Processor i5-9400F 2.90GHZ 9MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 (Included)
CPU / Processor Cooling Fan: INTEL BRAND LGA 1156 (S) CPU FAN 65W (Included)
Motherboard: Cyberpower B360M Motherboard (Included)
RAM / System Memory: 8GB DDR4/3000MHz MEMORY (Included)
Video Card: GeForce® GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB GDDR6 (Turing) [VR Ready] (Included)
Power Supply: EVGA 600 Watts Gold 80 Plus Power Supply (Included)
Primary Hard Drive: 500GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD (Included)
Keyboard: CyberPowerPC Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard (Included)
Mouse: CyberPowerPC Elite M1 131 RGB 7-Color w/ 9 Button, adjustable Weight & lighting effects Gaming Mouse (Included)
Fan Controller/Temperature Display: ADDRESSABLE DIGITAL RGB CONTROLLER + RF REMOTE (Included)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition) (Included)
Service: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)

Just an example. Some of those parts dont list brand names and such. And Im sure the mouse and keyboard are cheap China stuff. Still $799 for that cpu and video care are better than the OP listed one. Again just example not recommendation. I know you said CPpc psus are cheap but AFAIK EVGA is a good brand.

[Zenn7]

I looked at CyberpowerPC's pre-builds under $800, saw that and another @$739 that both looked like potential contenders if it weren't for the fact that they have known issues with their stock power supplies.

As for the video card, I don't need bells and whistles in D3, just medium level will do (a little above the lowest settings, a little room to go down if it ends up not being quite right).

I can technically play the game (very poorly) with what she has now. But it's not really playable. So I'm guessing that 1gb video card will suffice of that particular need (and vastly exceeds any other needs she has, and she's not overly excited about D3, but we'd play D2 from time to time, so wanted to get her up to the next version and have some fun with that).

[hitbyambulance]

there's really no need to spend $500+ here:

Code: Select all

Diablo III Recommended Requirements

    CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
    CPU SPEED: Info
    RAM: 2 GB
    OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 (Latest Service Packs)
    VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 260 or ATI Radeon HD 4870 or better
    PIXEL SHADER: 4.0
    VERTEX SHADER: 4.0
    FREE DISK SPACE: 12 GB
    DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 512 MB

this is like a computer from a decade ago. *anything* you get now will serve her needs.

e.g. here it is running on an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G Vega 8 - this is a last-gen $85 ($70 at MicroCenter) CPU/GPU combination:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/am ... ,5472.html

you can see how capable integrated graphics can be - video quality settings are on 'high'! put something like that in a cheapie ASRock mobo and 8GB of RAM and throw it in that old PC case. might be able to reuse the power supply? in any case, CPU+GPU/mobo/RAM would cost about $160-180 all together. MicroCenter's 'house brand' 240GB SSD is about $33.

[Daehawk]

Ohh I see what I did. I was thinking Diablo 3 was the one going to be made within a few years not the last one that came out. Geebus. Knew it soon as I saw the video. I was like "How did you get video footage of a game not made at all"..sigh.

[Blackhawk]

For the hard drive, I intentionally avoided a SSD drive - a little just trying to keep the price down as much as possible, but also, thought I had read/saw that SSD drives are not known for longevity.

That was true when the tech was new. It isn't really an issue anymore, and they make a big difference. Their reputation as fragile has stuck around long after the issues were resolved.

[Daehawk]

My oldest SSD..Samsung 850 EVO ....has been in my PC since 2014. So 6 years. No problems at all.

[Zenn7]

I don't trust any of the components in the old PC.

I probably could build a PC from parts (been a long time, but I used to take PCs apart and repair/maintain them back in the late 90's as part of my job). I would prefer not to though (not my strong suit, rather get one that works or if it doesn't, it's someone else's problem to fix it).

Barring further feedback, I think I like that $699 system from Digital Storm.

[Jaymon]

I picked up a cyberpower PC for the kids a couple years back. Its been quite good, and they are not gentle with it. I thought it was noisy, and eventually replaced the CPU fan, but the rest of it has held up just fine, its now about 3 years old, and still handling things like a champ. Your mileage may vary, but I am getting good mileage out of the one I bought.

[Pyperkub]

Originally read thread title as

Time for a new PC or wife

And was really wondering what was going on!!!

[Zenn7]

Originally read thread title as

Time for a new PC or wife

And was really wondering what was going on!!!

If new wife comes with her own new PC... 2 birds, 1 stone... You might be on to something here.

Read your comment to my wife, she wondered which way you voted. :p

[Daehawk]

Originally read thread title as

Time for a new PC or wife

And was really wondering what was going on!!!

If new wife comes with her own new PC... 2 birds, 1 stone... You might be on to something here.

Read your comment to my wife, she wondered which way you voted. :p

There is only one correct answer.

[Zenn7]

Originally read thread title as

Time for a new PC or wife

And was really wondering what was going on!!!

If new wife comes with her own new PC... 2 birds, 1 stone... You might be on to something here.

Read your comment to my wife, she wondered which way you voted. :p

There is only one correct answer.

Well yeah... long as you put enough money into it, you can guarantee the new computer is an upgrade. Impossible to guarantee the new wife is an upgrade!

Kidding aside, unless you're in a bad relationship, I would assume that you might objectively find a new wife that is better (JeffV could find a wife that not only won't kill him for his Dear Penthouse weekend at the Dells, but might even arrange it and join in), but subjectively, you love the one you are with. That's not something you can find an upgrade for (ask anyone who had a good thing and tried to upgrade... guessing very few could honestly tell you they succeeded).

[Kasey Chang]

Seems you should just buy her a Chromebook and save the rest to buy a new PC... when you've built up more funds.

[gameoverman]

I don't trust any of the components in the old PC.

I probably could build a PC from parts (been a long time, but I used to take PCs apart and repair/maintain them back in the late 90's as part of my job). I would prefer not to though (not my strong suit, rather get one that works or if it doesn't, it's someone else's problem to fix it).

Barring further feedback, I think I like that $699 system from Digital Storm.

If you're buying new and only need Diablo level gaming performance, any new AMD or Intel quad core will do. You don't need 6 cores or hyperthreading. Then you just pick a suitable videocard for your desired resolution, 1080p or whatever. Any pre-built computer you should consider will use a standard power supply, so whether it comes with a good one or not isn't too much of an issue. You can always upgrade it if needed someday. I'd definitely want at least a small(120gb) SSD for the boot drive. It won't help gaming performance in terms of framerate but the computer as a whole will feel a lot snappier. You can always add a cheap mechanical hard drive for your larger scale storage needs.

[Zenn7]

Seems you should just buy her a Chromebook and save the rest to buy a new PC... when you've built up more funds.

Definitely not a Chromebook. Bought one for the kid and it was insufficient for her. Wife wouldn't even consider dealing with it (she's not tech savvy, not willing to try new things, etc).

[Zenn7]

I don't trust any of the components in the old PC.

I probably could build a PC from parts (been a long time, but I used to take PCs apart and repair/maintain them back in the late 90's as part of my job). I would prefer not to though (not my strong suit, rather get one that works or if it doesn't, it's someone else's problem to fix it).

Barring further feedback, I think I like that $699 system from Digital Storm.

If you're buying new and only need Diablo level gaming performance, any new AMD or Intel quad core will do. You don't need 6 cores or hyperthreading. Then you just pick a suitable videocard for your desired resolution, 1080p or whatever. Any pre-built computer you should consider will use a standard power supply, so whether it comes with a good one or not isn't too much of an issue. You can always upgrade it if needed someday. I'd definitely want at least a small(120gb) SSD for the boot drive. It won't help gaming performance in terms of framerate but the computer as a whole will feel a lot snappier. You can always add a cheap mechanical hard drive for your larger scale storage needs.

Prebuilt is what I usually go for. I haven't usually had problems with power supplies, but I had the impression that CyberpowerPC's standard is a sub-standard standard, not just standard not premium.

Y'all have sold me on the SSD (either a small one and mechanical HD or large SSD; probably the former as it's cheaper overall).

Sucky week at work so I haven't had much chance to pursue this further yet. Maybe this weekend...

[hitbyambulance]

I don't trust any of the components in the old PC.

I probably could build a PC from parts (been a long time, but I used to take PCs apart and repair/maintain them back in the late 90's as part of my job). I would prefer not to though (not my strong suit, rather get one that works or if it doesn't, it's someone else's problem to fix it).

Barring further feedback, I think I like that $699 system from Digital Storm.

If you're buying new and only need Diablo level gaming performance, any new AMD or Intel quad core will do. You don't need 6 cores or hyperthreading. Then you just pick a suitable videocard for your desired resolution, 1080p or whatever. Any pre-built computer you should consider will use a standard power supply, so whether it comes with a good one or not isn't too much of an issue. You can always upgrade it if needed someday. I'd definitely want at least a small(120gb) SSD for the boot drive. It won't help gaming performance in terms of framerate but the computer as a whole will feel a lot snappier. You can always add a cheap mechanical hard drive for your larger scale storage needs.

basically what i said earlier in the thread

again, no need for a discrete videocard, even. Ryzen processor integrated graphics will do the job easily.

[Daehawk]

I have a 250 gig SSD for just the OS..Win7.....and it says I have 133 gig free. That means the OS plus whatever was taken by the initial format leaves 133 megs. If you are thinking SSD for both OS and games Id go bigger. I have a 500 gig SSD for games and Im always deleting stuff.

[MonkeyFinger]

FWIW, I recently bought the wife a new PC to replace her aging Win7 machine. It came with a 500GB SSD and I added a 2TB hybrid for games and such. The SSD only has Windows 10 on it plus whatever other things insisted on being installed there and all that's only taking ~72GB.

[Zitterbacke]

Always consider installing the games onto another drive, or at least another partition. Steam is very good on this one, Origin is OK as well, others I have not tried so far. That way you can easily set up the OS freshly or replace that drive and have the games reimported to the game launcher via a repair installation, which is usually much faster than redownloading.

[Zenn7]

How about this CyberpowerPC instant ship:

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gam ... ip-GX-9920

Free 2 day shipping, coupon code for $50 further off. Has SSD and 1 TB mechanical drive for all her music and stuff. Might end up buying an external CD/DVD drive (or seeing I can add one to this).

The alternative would be to get a cheaper one and add a hard drive for music/stuff storage.

Actually, need to go look at her current drive, see how big it is and how much is used.

[Kasey Chang]

I have a Cyberpower i7-7700K and RTX2070 I got off Cyberpower more than a year ago. Ran EVERYTHING. I have an old monitor and a Craigslist monitor I have in a double-arm, and I have a variety of peripherals I saved from prior binges... Everything from drawing tablet to podcast mic. I think I paid 1300 for it. You obviously don't need this level of power.

Maybe one of Dell's Outlet PCs. Decent ones at 500-700 price point.

[Zenn7]

I have a Cyberpower i7-7700K and RTX2070 I got off Cyberpower more than a year ago. Ran EVERYTHING. I have an old monitor and a Craigslist monitor I have in a double-arm, and I have a variety of peripherals I saved from prior binges... Everything from drawing tablet to podcast mic. I think I paid 1300 for it. You obviously don't need this level of power.

Maybe one of Dell's Outlet PCs. Decent ones at 500-700 price point.

Found this new, free shipping, $450 on Dell outlet:
https://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSal ... UfhpbmA%3d

[Kasey Chang]

Intel build-in graphics, meh. What does she need to run again? The most demanding?

[Zenn7]

Intel build-in graphics, meh. What does she need to run again? The most demanding?

Diablo 3. Wouldn't suck to do better, but that is the most demanding currently. I take that back, the other thing would be Two Point Hospital (not having looked up requirements, I'm guessing it's probably not more demanding than Diablo 3, but it's possible I guess).

Again though, doesn't need to run highest graphics. Medium settings will suffice.

[Kasey Chang]

I would bump your budget up by $100 and get a low end Dell XPS with NVIDIA GTX 1030.

[Kasey Chang]

or get a refurb system here, many of these have better specs

https://computers.woot.com/plus/gaming- ... _cp_4_wp_2

That 569 system looks pretty darn good.

[hitbyambulance]

Two Point Hospital is actually more demanding in system resources than Diablo III, but still, hardly a beast pc:

[Zenn7]

Not so crazy about refurbs.

Looks like the recommended video card is what's in the CyberpowerPC computer I linked - AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB GDDR5 Video Card.

The processer is above the minimum, below the recommended - Intel® Core™ Processor i3-9100F 3.60GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151

Not sure how much difference between I3 9100 vs I5 6600. After a few generations does the I3 vs I5 not matter so much?

Thanks Kasey - not really wanting a refurb just because I want something that will hopefully last for years, refurb already has some mileage on it (though the refurb laptop I got for my kid last year is still doing great, so that might just be my paranoia).

[Daehawk]

Whatever you end up deciding keep in mind the warranty and what it covers and doesn't cover. Also how they handle returns or repairs.

[Zenn7]

Whatever you end up deciding keep in mind the warranty and what it covers and doesn't cover. Also how they handle returns or repairs.

Of the 3 options specifically listed so far (for pre-built, not counting HBA's build/upgrade it yourself) -
CyberpowerPC - 3 years parts/labor (mail-in - based on previous experience, you pay for the mail cost, though I did get them to pay for the video card that was DOA)
Dell - 1 year parts/labor - mail-in (guessing at mail cost is on me)
Woot - 3 months part/labor - didn't read specifically but can't imagine anything other than mail-in for an internet store)

Expecting the least from Woot. Guessing Dell would probably be the best actual support, but not sure.

[hitbyambulance]

Not sure how much difference between I3 9100 vs I5 6600. After a few generations does the I3 vs I5 not matter so much?

for her purposes, not really much of anything. graphics will be a bigger determining factor, not CPU.

Thanks Kasey - not really wanting a refurb just because I want something that will hopefully last for years, refurb already has some mileage on it (though the refurb laptop I got for my kid last year is still doing great, so that might just be my paranoia).

refurbed really would be a good plan here, for desktop - there aren't going to be that many mechanical parts involved (fans are easy to replace) and CPUs are long-lived.

consider again about building this yourself - the Ryzen system i just put together was incredibly easy to assemble. it's somewhat more foolproof than it used to be. snap CPU/heatsink into motherboard, snap RAM in, screw motherboard into case, attach wires.

[Daehawk]

it's somewhat more foolproof than it used to be. snap CPU/heatsink into motherboard, snap RAM in, screw motherboard into case, attach wires.

Fill with gas and pull the cord....NO WAIT!

Thats a vacuum cleaner.


Just add fabulous.

[Kasey Chang]

Expecting the least from Woot. Guessing Dell would probably be the best actual support, but not sure.

You can always spend another $120 and get a 3-year Squaretrade breakdown insurance, but I consider that a pure rip-off. PC's don't really breakdown nowadays.