All you sensual, tech-savvy hunkboys, please help me out

[GreyClock]

So, as you may or may not have heard, my pc is dead. I was hoping that the people who recognize themselves in the title would help me by perusing some shit and giving their opinion.

I'm not looking for anything in particular, nor cutting edge. My old gonk served just fine for 11+ years and that was a prebuilt. I'm not really doing much in terms of gaming. But I would like to be able to, say when Diablo IV comes out. Maybe play WoW when my inevitable winter depression kicks in?

I don't know if that's attainable still? Buying a pc and have it last like my old one? I'm more likely to download a Settlers II rom than to play Call of Duty 47: Fuck Force. It won't bother me that I can't play new games in 5 or 10 years say. (In the highly unlikely event that something comes out that I have to play, I'll deal with it then.)

There's this store here that supposedly pretty cheap, and has a whole bunch of prebuilts it can deliver to my house tomorrow. (I got the dead one there also I believe.) For reasons beyond human understanding, their website doesn't have an English language option. However most of the specs are pretty easily recognizable I hope? If need be, I can translate where necessary. The most I'd be willing to spend is like 700, but if the above can be achieved comfortably for a lot less, that's a bonus.

Here's the link, I think the website is pretty self-explanatory even in Dutch. If you click a pc, on the new page at the top there's a button that says "Alle productspecificaties" click on that to see "all product specifications". See, Dutch isn't that hard.

https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/category/_windows-pc-s-642515.html

Here's one of the cheapest ones they got:
https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_hp-slim-desktop-s01-af0800nd-1659314.html


Would really appreciate the help! Also, I'm finally out of tobacco, so I was hoping to get this done before I go to jail for manslaughter, after throwing this laptop out of the window and hitting a passer-by. It takes like five minutes to switch a browser tab.

[DrClock]

If you want top end of your budget go with this:
https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_acer-aspire-tc-895-i8007-nl-1668154.html

This will play basically everything currently out on mid to high detail at 60fps and will last for a good long while. Then in the future you can just upgrade the GPU / ram to keep up instead of buying a whole new pc.

Everything else that's super cheap on this site has on-board graphics which is useless besides for watching youtube videos.
If you want cheap + gaming + can wait a while just buy the individual components from PcPartsPicker https://nl.pcpartpicker.com/

Edit:
Obviously gaming isn't the focus here, but getting something with a dedicated GPU is just a good choice in general, especially if you ever use things like photoshop or premiere.

[NintendrCkolc]

The only downside to the above mentioned, at least for its price anyway, that I could see potentially causing some grief is the lack of RAM. 8GB is doable nowadays but I'd recommend upgrading to 16GB ASAP. Especially if you run multiple programs at once or uh.. if you use Chrome. (Somehow I'm using almost 7gb with just a few tabs open, battlenet, steam, and discord open.)

Next I'd consider more storage or a better GPU but that's your call. If you're playing at 1080p, that GPU will run most everything.

[GreyClock]

The only downside to the above mentioned, at least for its price anyway, that I could see potentially causing some grief is the lack of RAM. 8GB is doable nowadays but I'd recommend upgrading to 16GB ASAP. Especially if you run multiple programs at once or uh.. if you use Chrome. (Somehow I'm using almost 7gb with just a few tabs open, battlenet, steam, and discord open.)

Next I'd consider more storage or a better GPU but that's your call. If you're playing at 1080p, that GPU will run most everything.

Thanks guys.

On-board graphics, I forgot to look out for that. Even though the one before my dead one had it, which caused me a lot of grief. Thanks for reminding me!

Yeah, 1080p. Storage has never been an issue for me. My old PC had 1TB as well. (Wait what, and that thing was more than 11 years old? Glad we're making progress.) I had to do a fresh install like 5 years ago and I was still only at 75% or so now. Otherwise I can always get an external if necessary.

In re RAM: I don't know. I don't really multitask. Maybe switch between a game and a browser to look stuff up, that's about it. This only started giving problems (delays, stuttering) with retail WoW when they dropped the full screen thing (I forgot the specifics). And that was on a, I'll reiterate, 11+ y/o pc with stone age 4gb RAM. So what are you doing?

That said, I read this one has the capacity for expansion of RAM. 2 slots, with a maximum of 32gb. So I guess that keeps my options open.

That's actually my biggest fear when it comes to buying complicated shit. I don't really care about the cost and stuff, what I hate is when you get somewhere down the line, it's been working fine, but it turns out it's limited in some way, but now you're stuck with it. ("Oh, I see you got the XYZ1c, you should've gotten the XYZ1c2!") For instance, if I bought this PC and I did have to update the RAM at some point, but it turned out it didn't have the capacity for it. That's something I'd like to avoid.

Also 700 was just spitballing, based on the exact pc Dr linked. Like, if I have to pay 100 extra for a vastly better setup, that's not really an issue. Although "This will play basically everything currently out on mid to high detail at 60fps and will last for a good long while." is what I'm looking for.

I'm leaning towards that one yeah, I just need PhantomCat's permission.

[KaotikClock]

tl;dr

[GreyClock]

Enjoy your IP-ban.

[DrClock]

The only downside to the above mentioned, at least for its price anyway, that I could see potentially causing some grief is the lack of RAM. 8GB is doable nowadays but I'd recommend upgrading to 16GB ASAP. Especially if you run multiple programs at once or uh.. if you use Chrome. (Somehow I'm using almost 7gb with just a few tabs open, battlenet, steam, and discord open.)

Next I'd consider more storage or a better GPU but that's your call. If you're playing at 1080p, that GPU will run most everything.

Thanks guys.

On-board graphics, I forgot to look out for that. Even though the one before my dead one had it, which caused me a lot of grief. Thanks for reminding me!

Yeah, 1080p. Storage has never been an issue for me. My old PC had 1TB as well. (Wait what, and that thing was more than 11 years old? Glad we're making progress.) I had to do a fresh install like 5 years ago and I was still only at 75% or so now. Otherwise I can always get an external if necessary.

In re RAM: I don't know. I don't really multitask. Maybe switch between a game and a browser to look stuff up, that's about it. This only started giving problems (delays, stuttering) with retail WoW when they dropped the full screen thing (I forgot the specifics). And that was on a, I'll reiterate, 11+ y/o pc with stone age 4gb RAM. So what are you doing?

That said, I read this one has the capacity for expansion of RAM. 2 slots, with a maximum of 32gb. So I guess that keeps my options open.

That's actually my biggest fear when it comes to buying complicated shit. I don't really care about the cost and stuff, what I hate is when you get somewhere down the line, it's been working fine, but it turns out it's limited in some way, but now you're stuck with it. ("Oh, I see you got the XYZ1c, you should've gotten the XYZ1c2!") For instance, if I bought this PC and I did have to update the RAM at some point, but it turned out it didn't have the capacity for it. That's something I'd like to avoid.

Also 700 was just spitballing, based on the exact pc Dr linked. Like, if I have to pay 100 extra for a vastly better setup, that's not really an issue. Although "This will play basically everything currently out on mid to high detail at 60fps and will last for a good long while." is what I'm looking for.

I'm leaning towards that one yeah, I just need PhantomCat's permission.

If Im reading this right: https://www.acer.com/ac/nl/NL/content/model/DG.BEZEH.00A
It looks like it comes standard with 16gb Ram and the site you linked swapped it to 8gb? Regardless if its single channel which it likely is you can buy a 8gb ram stick for like 20$ and bobs your uncle.

The GPU is pretty good but really that core-i5 is great. You realistically need an i3 but for the sake of having a computer that will last a long time the i5 is a better option and only like a 80$ difference.

Edit:
So yeah, it looks like that retailer bought the PC, and took out half the ram. If you send them that link above they will more than likely upgrade it to 16gb for free, because thats some sketchy as fuck business practice.
nvm im I'm a edgy teen.

[NintendrCkolc]

The i5 in it is essentially an 8700k which is kinda neat though I think the 8700k is clocked closer to 5ghz compared to the i5's 4.3ghz...

Still, 6 cores and 12 threads should be fine for the forseeable future.

[GreyClock]

I saw one of the reviews complaining about that. The one you linked has a GeForce® GTX 1660 SUPER as well.

According to every other website, the GTX 1650 is 4gb, the retailer's website says it's 6gb. Which seems more shady. Did you go: "the GTX 1650 is fine", or: "a 6gb GPU is fine"?

Weirdly though, in the store section of the Acer website, that model also has a GTX 1650 and 8gb RAM, but it's 899.

Oh wait, it boils down to model/article number, in the vein of the thing I said earlier (XYZ1c / XYZ1c2).

There's the Aspire TC-895 (I8007) DG.BEZEH.00A [1660 / 16] and the Aspire TC-895 (I8007) DG.BEZEH.00E [1650 / 8]. The retailer just doesn't specify, but at least they're not taking out shit. Also, it's way fucking cheaper.

https://www.acer.com/ac/nl/NL/content/model/DG.BEZEH.00A
https://www.acer.com/ac/nl/NL/content/model/DG.BEZEH.00E

[PhantomCatClock]

So, what Nvidia made was the little chip—basically the GPU's CPU—and everything else is made by the GPU manufacturer. Like, the Zotac 6GB 1060 is differen than the MSI one in a couple of tiny ways, but as far as building a computer goes, they're both 1060s and if you're buying a prebuilt you pretty much only care about the amount of memory in it (and cooling solution in cutting edge new ones)

so the gist is, a 1060 is like the worst you should go if you ever want to do VR but will probably run whatever you want at 1440p anyway (definitely at 1080p), a 1660 will run everything you want but will cost a scruple more, and anything starting with a 20- or 30- will run everything but that's GAMING PC territory, as far as nvidia's graffyx cards

[NintendrCkolc]

an AMD 5600 might give you more bang for your buck in the GPU department.. 5700's aren't terribly expensive either, especially with the 6000 series coming out.

[GreyClock]

So, what Nvidia made was the little chip—basically the GPU's CPU—and everything else is made by the GPU manufacturer. Like, the Zotac 6GB 1060 is differen than the MSI one in a couple of tiny ways, but as far as building a computer goes, they're both 1060s and if you're buying a prebuilt you pretty much only care about the amount of memory in it (and cooling solution in cutting edge new ones)

so the gist is, a 1060 is like the worst you should go if you ever want to do VR but will probably run whatever you want at 1440p anyway (definitely at 1080p), a 1660 will run everything you want but will cost a scruple more, and anything starting with a 20- or 30- will run everything but that's GAMING PC territory, as far as nvidia's graffyx cards

Uh okay, what about https://www.mediamarkt.nl/nl/product/_acer-aspire-tc-895-i8007-nl-1668154.html though?

[GreyClock]

I found the superior version (i7/16gb/GTX 1660) at a different store and it's 1299. So fuck that.

i5/16gb/1660 for 999.

i5/8/on-board graphics for 699.

So
i5/8/1650 for 688 seems like a steal.

[DrClock]

I found the superior version (i7/16gb/GTX 1660) at a different store and it's 1299. So fuck that.

i5/16gb/1660 for 999.

i5/8/on-board graphics for 699.

So
i5/8/1650 for 688 seems like a steal.

i5/8/1650 is pretty good, but if you're willing to buy the parts separate and build it (Super easy),
https://nl.pcpartpicker.com/guide/PB6MnQ/entry-level-amd-gaming-build

It has the 1650 SUPER, and 16gb of ram for 524€
And if you still have your old PC case you could probably use that one. Maybe even the power supply.

Otherwise on that site you sent, the 688€ is probably your best bet.

[GreyClock]

Yeah, on paper it's probably a way better idea to build it myself, but I think you're underestimating just how lazy I am.

For 150 more I get plug and play, Windows 10, 1 day delivery. Also, worse stats. But I could get 8gb ram for 20 you said? So ugh...


Also this fucking laptop.

[PhantomCatClock]

i5/8/1650 for 688 seems like a steal.

honestly if you can find the exact make of the RAM stick (assuming it's a single 8gb stick) you can just get this now, then in a few months get another of the exact same stick of ram and plug it into the correct slot (it matters for dual channel but we can find it supaquick, usually slots 2 and 4 tho) it'll probably be the only speed upgrade you'll ever need, unless you become the sort of person to spend $60 on a big brand game that just came out

[DrClock]

Yeah, on paper it's probably a way better idea to build it myself, but I think you're underestimating just how lazy I am.

For 150 more I get plug and play, Windows 10, 1 day delivery. Also, worse stats. But I could get 8gb ram for 20 you said? So ugh...


Also this fucking laptop.

That's totally fair. Then yeah go for the 688 one and like phantom said upgrade later with the same type of ram or just buy a 16gb kit.

[GreyClock]

Thanks for the help, guys! I'm reaching you right now from the thing, okay?

A few more things:

- I got a HDMI cable with it and used that to connect my tv. (Which I thought was a smart idea (it was, because this fucking thing doesn't even have a VGA thingy.) I don't know if that's the issue, but it looks terrible. Like migraine inducing. Terrible colors and bleeding or whatever you call it (dithering? anti-aliasing?) around text. I don't know if that's a pc or a screen thing? I was able to at least reduce it somewhat by adjusting some settings on the tv itself, but everything's kind of yellow.

- How do I work with this SDD/HDD devide? HDD is for storing files? SDD is for programs/games? Also it said it had 256GB/1TB but there's three partitions, 2x 237GB and 1x 931 = 1405GB, right?

- Also I noticed you can look right inside the computer through the mesh on the left side of the tower. Like it's not really a mesh, more "big fucking holes" . How often should I clean the inside of the pc? Remember the thick layer of dust on my old CPU.

- Any other tips?

[FLOUNDERMAN_CLOCK]

Thanks for the help, guys! I'm reaching you right now from the thing, okay?

A few more things:

- I got a HDMI cable with it and used that to connect my tv. (Which I thought was a smart idea (it was, because this fucking thing doesn't even have a VGA thingy.) I don't know if that's the issue, but it looks terrible. Like migraine inducing. Terrible colors and bleeding or whatever you call it (dithering? anti-aliasing?) around text. I don't know if that's a pc or a screen thing? I was able to at least reduce it somewhat by adjusting some settings on the tv itself, but everything's kind of yellow.

yeah tvs do shit like that hooked up to computers. reading articles will melt your eyes. if it has a "PC" or "direct input" mode that helps though it varies from tv to tv. also you might have the color profile set to warm.

[GreyClock]

yeah tvs do shit like that hooked up to computers. reading articles will melt your eyes. if it has a "PC" or "direct input" mode that helps though it varies from tv to tv. also you might have the color profile set to warm.

Yeah, I set it to warm before, that was the setting that reduced it a bit. Although my TV looked great hooked up to my old pc. I did find out I have to update my gpu driver though. Apparently that takes 3 hours? Maybe that'll help.