How do you buy a computer anymore?!

[Jimmy Higgins]

When I was a kid it was 486 v 386. When I got older, 900 MHz v 700 MHz. RAM was RAM and you'd just buy a vid card.

Now days it seems impossible to tell what anything is. 61st Gen I5 quad core v 78th Gen I3 quad core. ?!?!?! I'm utterly fucked if I want to 'compare' it with AMD. Are they even good still?

And video cards are just exploding in size and resources, some requiring carbonite to keep it cool.

Gosh darn it! Get off my lawn! I just want a computer that play games on a TV well. I don't know what is value verses what is cheap. That is what made Celeron so awesome, you knew not to buy one.

I don't need to have 240 fps, but I want better than CGA graphics too.

 

[Philos]

When I was a kid it was 486 v 386. When I got older, 900 MHz v 700 MHz. RAM was RAM and you'd just buy a vid card.

Now days it seems impossible to tell what anything is. 61st Gen I5 quad core v 78th Gen I3 quad core. ?!?!?! I'm utterly fucked if I want to 'compare' it with AMD. Are they even good still?

And video cards are just exploding in size and resources, some requiring carbonite to keep it cool.

Gosh darn it! Get off my lawn! I just want a computer that play games on a TV well. I don't know what is value verses what is cheap. That is what made Celeron so awesome, you knew not to buy one.

I don't need to have 240 fps, but I want better than CGA graphics too.

Hi Jimmy,

Understood. This is why I went to the Xbox.

A.

 

[jonatha]

I just want a computer that play games on a TV well.

If you're willing to settle for crappy full HD video, the rest of the parts probably won't matter much.

[/gamersnob]

P.S. The main computer games I play are hearts, solitaire, and the NYT crossword. Stay off my lawn....

 

[bigfield]

When I was a kid it was 486 v 386. When I got older, 900 MHz v 700 MHz. RAM was RAM and you'd just buy a vid card.

Now days it seems impossible to tell what anything is. 61st Gen I5 quad core v 78th Gen I3 quad core. ?!?!?! I'm utterly fucked if I want to 'compare' it with AMD. Are they even good still?

And video cards are just exploding in size and resources, some requiring carbonite to keep it cool.

Gosh darn it! Get off my lawn! I just want a computer that play games on a TV well. I don't know what is value verses what is cheap. That is what made Celeron so awesome, you knew not to buy one.

I don't need to have 240 fps, but I want better than CGA graphics too.

I use the benchmark rankings provided by Passmark to compare components.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

These allow me to get a rough idea of performance and value-for-money without needing to know anything beyond the basics. It should certainly allow you to compare Intel and AMD CPUs.

For instance, I did enough research to learn that a GeForce GTX 970 could play Fallout 4 with high quality graphics, and I was able to use the Passmark chart to identify other cards that I could expect to deliver similar performance.

 

[DolphinDynasty]

When I was a kid it was 486 v 386. When I got older, 900 MHz v 700 MHz. RAM was RAM and you'd just buy a vid card.

Now days it seems impossible to tell what anything is. 61st Gen I5 quad core v 78th Gen I3 quad core. ?!?!?! I'm utterly fucked if I want to 'compare' it with AMD. Are they even good still?

And video cards are just exploding in size and resources, some requiring carbonite to keep it cool.

Gosh darn it! Get off my lawn! I just want a computer that play games on a TV well. I don't know what is value verses what is cheap. That is what made Celeron so awesome, you knew not to buy one.

I don't need to have 240 fps, but I want better than CGA graphics too.

Go with either Alienware as long as it has a quadcore 7 type processor or equivalent and at least 16 G ram, or if you need Apple (people try to tell me at work they do, but prolly cuz I'm supposed t have drunk the Apple Co koolaid by my employers) a MacBook pro 2.9 i7 Ghz processor, 16 G Ram.

P.S. I miss my Dad's 386 and 486 IBMs. You learned more about programming just getting it to load Windows then most kids will learn in their first computer class, if they even bother as it is now an "elective" not a need, which is fucking dumb

Edit: If price point is an issue try for an HP with i5 coprocessor, but if it has a separate graphics card like the macbook pro, it needs to be at least 2G on its own.

My job is now to sell this shit so now I have to learn specs and what they mean, which is annoying but if it helps any, lemme know.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Look at the popular games you like to play. Look at the hardware reviews to see what specs are adequate for them.

People who need anything beyond this almost certainly also know enough to spec the hardware they need.

 

[LordKiran]

When I was a kid it was 486 v 386. When I got older, 900 MHz v 700 MHz. RAM was RAM and you'd just buy a vid card.

Now days it seems impossible to tell what anything is. 61st Gen I5 quad core v 78th Gen I3 quad core. ?!?!?! I'm utterly fucked if I want to 'compare' it with AMD. Are they even good still?

And video cards are just exploding in size and resources, some requiring carbonite to keep it cool.

Gosh darn it! Get off my lawn! I just want a computer that play games on a TV well. I don't know what is value verses what is cheap. That is what made Celeron so awesome, you knew not to buy one.

I don't need to have 240 fps, but I want better than CGA graphics too.

The solution here is to either build your own from parts made by reputable manufacturers or find someone who can. Small computer repair shops are ideal. Chances are they also sell parts and do custom builds to your exact requirements. Barring that, they can at least find the parts you want and you can just assemble them yourself.

 

[J842P]

From what I understand, there is no need for the 7th generation Intel if you are not on a laptop. This biggest difference between 6th and 7th was apparently the power consumption, which isn't a big deal on a desktop.

I bought my last gaming rig off of newegg.com. I bought an IBUYPOWER build. Yeah, most of these pre-fab gaming rigs are on the expensive side, compared to what you could get by building your own, but nowhere near as inflated as a MacBookPro. And it's nice to just order your gaming rig, get it in the mail all in one piece, plug it in and play.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...b_Gaming-Desktops_4-_-PopBrands-_-iBuyPower_1

I would go for at least 16 gigs of ram, and and intel i5 is probably enough, 6th generation ok. Generally, Nvidia graphics cards are considered superior. If you don't want to run games on the bleeding edge, you can save a lot of money by going with a more modest graphics card.

Going for a SSD vs HDD can make a significant dent in loading times, but they are significantly more expensive. Especially considering you can get a terabyte HDD for peanuts nowadays.

 

[Phil Scott]

The last two computers I bought were refurbished laptops I picked up at high-street electronics shops. My needs are pretty modest.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I would go for at least 16 gigs of ram, and and intel i5 is probably enough, 6th generation ok. Generally, Nvidia graphics cards are considered superior. If you don't want to run games on the bleeding edge, you can save a lot of money by going with a more modest graphics card.

But what is a modest graphics card? My trouble these days is that when I was younger, it was RAM, Hard Drive space, and processor speed. The memory isn't the same now, processor speed has long since not been the reason to get a certain processor. At least storage is still storage, though I did see some computers have small SSD's (~8 GB) for a cache I presume. Video cards are the same, it used to be type (AGP v PCI) and memory. Now it is a matter of power supply, type of memory, type of processor in the damn video card! When did things get so... Get the fuck off my lawn!!!... complicated?

Going for a SSD vs HDD can make a significant dent in loading times, but they are significantly more expensive. Especially considering you can get a terabyte HDD for peanuts nowadays.

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The last two computers I bought were refurbished laptops I picked up at high-street electronics shops. My needs are pretty modest.

I have two laptops, one is hooked to the TV, so that needs to play all of the digital content I have ripped and do the Internet. The other laptop is my active laptop, but mainly still just browsing. The screen is too small to play games on in my opinion. I've got a dinosaur XP box that is off the grid for older stuff I still like to use. I really need to get something more up to date... maybe.

 

[jonatha]

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

Get one and you won't be able to imagine how you did without it.

 

[Phil Scott]

But what is a modest graphics card? My trouble these days is that when I was younger, it was RAM, Hard Drive space, and processor speed. The memory isn't the same now, processor speed has long since not been the reason to get a certain processor. At least storage is still storage, though I did see some computers have small SSD's (~8 GB) for a cache I presume.

I'd like to hear about solutions that allow SSD to work as a cache. But most people I know who have SSD just shove their operating system on it, so that boot up and application start up is really speedy. A HDD is then used for the home directories and media. I'd certainly consider getting SSD. I know for a fact that most of the latency in my day-to-day use of my machine comes from hard-drive access, and it's often significant.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Going for a SSD vs HDD can make a significant dent in loading times, but they are significantly more expensive. Especially considering you can get a terabyte HDD for peanuts nowadays.

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

For a heavy user I consider SSD to be a no-brainer decision.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

For a heavy user I consider SSD to be a no-brainer decision.

For drone data processing, sure.

 

[Phil Scott]

The last two computers I bought were refurbished laptops I picked up at high-street electronics shops. My needs are pretty modest.

I have two laptops, one is hooked to the TV, so that needs to play all of the digital content I have ripped and do the Internet. The other laptop is my active laptop, but mainly still just browsing. The screen is too small to play games on in my opinion. I've got a dinosaur XP box that is off the grid for older stuff I still like to use. I really need to get something more up to date... maybe.

I'd like to believe that we could get to the stage where we just don't need our computers to be faster, or have more space. As an experiment, when this laptop retires, I'm considering seeing if I can live off a raspberry pi, at least for my home machine.

I really like lo-tech indie games, and there's plenty of great ones available these days.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I have two laptops, one is hooked to the TV, so that needs to play all of the digital content I have ripped and do the Internet. The other laptop is my active laptop, but mainly still just browsing. The screen is too small to play games on in my opinion. I've got a dinosaur XP box that is off the grid for older stuff I still like to use. I really need to get something more up to date... maybe.

I'd like to believe that we could get to the stage where we just don't need our computers to be faster, or have more space. As an experiment, when this laptop retires, I'm considering seeing if I can live off a raspberry pi, at least for my home machine.

I really like lo-tech indie games, and there's plenty of great ones available these days.

There is are a couple of games that port to PC that I probably want to get, and being recent, the tech needs to be better than what I have. But I'm struggling between what I really need to get, if anything. It becomes hard buying value when it isn't obvious what you are buying.

 

[LordKiran]

But what is a modest graphics card? My trouble these days is that when I was younger, it was RAM, Hard Drive space, and processor speed. The memory isn't the same now, processor speed has long since not been the reason to get a certain processor. At least storage is still storage, though I did see some computers have small SSD's (~8 GB) for a cache I presume. Video cards are the same, it used to be type (AGP v PCI) and memory. Now it is a matter of power supply, type of memory, type of processor in the damn video card! When did things get so... Get the fuck off my lawn!!!... complicated?

Going for a SSD vs HDD can make a significant dent in loading times, but they are significantly more expensive. Especially considering you can get a terabyte HDD for peanuts nowadays.

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

Modest nvidia cards go for roughly 100 bucks. This is where Newegg or Amazon is your friend. 16 gigs of ram is also overkill. 12 should be enough for most games. anything more than that is for people working in programs like Auto CAD or photoshop professionally. But then RAM is dirt cheap so who cares?

https://www.newegg.com/Desktop-Graphics-Cards/SubCategory/ID-48?Tid=7709

You say buying computer parts is complicated, but in reality it's easier than ever due to the infrastructure and wealth of knowledge the internet provides. If anything about a given componant is confusing to you, you're one google click away from being able to make a reasonably informed purchasing decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

Having to do this 30 years ago though? If you didn't know this stuff or know somebody who did you were SoL.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

But what is a modest graphics card? My trouble these days is that when I was younger, it was RAM, Hard Drive space, and processor speed. The memory isn't the same now, processor speed has long since not been the reason to get a certain processor. At least storage is still storage, though I did see some computers have small SSD's (~8 GB) for a cache I presume. Video cards are the same, it used to be type (AGP v PCI) and memory. Now it is a matter of power supply, type of memory, type of processor in the damn video card! When did things get so... Get the fuck off my lawn!!!... complicated?

I can't imagine needing an SSD.

Modest nvidia cards go for roughly 100 bucks. This is where Newegg or Amazon is your friend.

But isn't the power supply an issue with video cards?

You say buying computer parts is complicated, but in reality it's easier than ever due to the infrastructure and wealth of knowledge the internet provides. If anything about a given componant is confusing to you, you're one google click away from being able to make a reasonably informed purchasing decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

30 years ago, there was just the PCI, no PCI-E, and there were no AGPs at all. It was obvious which processor was the best because it was the processor speed. And while memory did have a few options, you usually couldn't screw up too much on it. Video cards also didn't need a second electric line connected to your house and you didn't need frozen carbonite to keep the rig cool.

But thanks for participating in the conversation by saying very little of value and suggesting to just Google it. Very helpful.

 

[LordKiran]

Modest nvidia cards go for roughly 100 bucks. This is where Newegg or Amazon is your friend.

But isn't the power supply an issue with video cards?

You say buying computer parts is complicated, but in reality it's easier than ever due to the infrastructure and wealth of knowledge the internet provides. If anything about a given componant is confusing to you, you're one google click away from being able to make a reasonably informed purchasing decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

30 years ago, there was just the PCI, no PCI-E, and there were no AGPs at all. It was obvious which processor was the best because it was the processor speed. And while memory did have a few options, you usually couldn't screw up too much on it. Video cards also didn't need a second electric line connected to your house and you didn't need frozen carbonite to keep the rig cool.

But thanks for participating in the conversation by saying very little of value and suggesting to just Google it. Very helpful.

Power supply? It can be, but not if what you're looking for is something mid-range. The people who need to be concerned with power requirements are the people stacking multiple high-end graphics cards into one rig. For midrange you also don't need to worry toooo much about cooling, a fan that can fit in your chasis is good enough.

In any case, I'm sorry if I'm not as helpful as I thought I was, but it just seems obvious to me.

"Don't know what something is or how it works? Just inquire with that endless database of culminated human knowledge."