I just got back into Old School RuneScape for the first time since 2008ish, and I'm pretty sure playing on my laptop with its smaller screen is causing my headaches. I've been meaning to get a desktop for a while now, and this is as good of a time as any. My main requirements are a decent sized screen (shouldn't be a problem with a desktop I don't think) and the ability to install Windows 10 on it (ie there are drivers that will allow the hardware to work on Windows 10). My budget is $1000, but that's a soft limit.
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If you feel up to it, building your own is the way to go. As much as we hate Reddit, r/buildapc and r/buildapcsales are good resources. PC Part Picker is also a great website, but you need to know what you're doing, which is why r/buildapc is a good resource to go along with it.
If you don't want to build your own, a basic prebuilt or gaming prebuilt would be your way to go. It's been a while since I've looked, so this may be outdated, but I think Origin PC was generally reviewed to have good build quality for gaming prebuilts...but they also seem to start outside of your price range.
Cyberpower seems to be the most budget-focused gaming prebuilts, but, depending on your needs, which sound low, you might not even want a "gaming" PC, and could just get a modern "office" or generic PC.
Also, a thought just occurred to me; you mentioned one of your main concerns was screen size...you could just get a monitor to plug into your existing laptop, and then get a desktop later if you choose to upgrade further.
Logical Increments is another good option for part picking. Spans the gap between pre-builds and full DIY with PC Part Picker.
Ah, that looks handy!
Yeah, I probably don't need a PC that's explicitly for gaming. The most performance intensive games I play are The Sims 3 (thanks to EA's shitty optimization), pre-2010 Total War games, and Victoria 3. I've had decent luck finding lower end gaming laptops under $1200ish, but I don't know if or how that translates into desktops. I've haven't used desktops regularly since 2010. I got my current gaming laptop on sale for $850, and I think the original price was around $1000.
I'd like to be the guy who can build his own, but I just don't have the time to learn how to do it unfortunately. I get you on Faggit subs though. Niche subs can be so useful even though they make you feel so dirty about supporting that troon infested hellhole. I guess holding your nose and using an ad blocker is the best way to do it if better alternatives don't exist.
I considered that, but I'm 90% sure that would distracting as hell to me, especially since I'd still be using my laptop keyboard. I can't even plug my laptop into my TV to watch movies without positioning the laptop completely out of eyesight.
I'll check out Cyberpower. Low end gaming computers meet my needs quite well. The fact that they can perform moderately intensive machine learning tasks is very useful to me as well.
One nice thing about upgrading from on older computer is, basically any decent modern computer will likely be better.
As someone still running a computer I built over a decade ago, I'm looking forward to upgrading my own machine. It was nice back in the day, but technology has come a long way. Thankfully, some lastgen GPUs are finally affordable again. There were like two or three years where it made no sense to upgrade, because the prices were so absurd. A "budget" option would have been barely a step up from my ancient GPU; not worth it. A high end GPU was thousands of dollars...no thanks. Things are a bit more reasonable finally, though.
Why use your laptop keyboard? Plug in a decent external keyboard and monitor, close your laptop up, and never touch it when you're in 'desktop' mode. I've been using a laptop as my primary PC for a few years and that's pretty much what I do.
My understanding is that closing the laptop puts it in sleep/hibernation mode and therefore unable to run anything. If I'm wrong that would certainly solve this particular problem, although I've been wanting a desktop for other reasons for a while now.
You can change it in the power options, so that closing the laptop does nothing/leaves it running.
It's configurable in power options. Here ya go: https://www.howtogeek.com/412876/how-to-keep-your-laptop-on-with-the-lid-closed-on-windows-10/
The warning about shutting it down they give on there is important. I once closed mine up and put it under a pillow but it was still awake. It got so hot I could barely touch it and I was sure it was going to be bricked. Fortunately it hadn't been under there for too long so it was still alive and I was hella relieved (it was new at the time). I'm sure it would have been dead if it stayed under there for much longer.
Parts themselves are easier to install than lego pieces. They all pretty much only go one place and only fit one way. The tricky part is compatibility, but pcpartspicker somewhat checks that for you.
If you do build your own, and space isn't an issue, I'd recommend an unnecessarily large tower. I personally think they're eyesores, but it sure does help getting things installed when you're not 100% sure what you're doing.
If your laptop has an HDMI or DisplayPort output, you can just get a nice big monitor, hook it up, and just continue to play on the laptop and save a lot of money.
Just please tell me you've at least got a decent keyboard+mouse combo already hooked up to that laptop. I'd recommend Glorious, but they sent out Pride month shit so they'll never get another cent from me.
I've been looking to build a new tower for a few months now but I've been dragging my feet on it. The only real info I've dug up so far is that my buddy impressed upon me the performance difference that a M2 harddrive makes. It's akin to the switch between mechanical drives and SSDs, which I remember that staggering performance boost the first time I encountered it. So yeah, that's all I've got to add, now I'm gonna lurk in this thread and take notes.
I'd also recommend custom building. Main thing to know is what hardware is ideal for your price range and bang for your buck, and what brands are the most reliable for certain parts.
Also, 16gb RAM/memory is likely your bottomline requirement. 32gb is nice, but isn't quite necessary unless it's easy and convenient.
Monitor-wise, there's a few resources/sites I could recommend. https://www.rtings.com/ for one is really quite handy in narrowing down some options (the table section/tool is especially handy).
Here's a great tutorial for building your own PC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2Scfj4FZk&t=4s
If it's just a good screen you need, get a nice monitor and plug your laptop into it. Will save you a ton of money.
Yeah, I'm considering that solution now that I know that you can close the thing and have it still run. I still want a desktop for other reasons though.
Yooo OSRS let's go lol. Make sure you are using Runelite. The official client sucks ass in comparison.
Just build your own. It's fairly easy.
If you want it to go smoothly, stick to common well reviewed components instead of exotic stuff.
And no, you don't need water cooling or 18 different fans.
Get a docking station, mouse, keyboard and display if you wanna go at runescape mostly or older games. I have a dock for my laptop as well and you don't NEED a desktop if you don't want to play big games(I do have a desktop also). Just be sure or works with your laptop.
At this point your processor doesn't really matter as long as it came out in the last five or six years, you need at least 16 GB of RAM (go for 32 if you want to have more than 3-4 modern browser tabs open and do anything else), things like network hardware and sound are just fine with whatever's built into the motherboard. You're going to spend the bulk of the money on a GPU. If you buy a Geforce 3090 (around $800 on eBay last time I checked) then you'll never need to buy another GPU for as long as PCI-E exists as an interface because games are never, ever going to tax it except for absolute bleeding edge 4K stuff that, if you're playing Runescape as a main game, won't ever matter to you.
I think PC parts picker is still out there.
Basic cases are pretty cheap, as are mid-range motherboards. I had a harder time than I expected finding a no-frills case, and ended up settling for one with glass, which I find completely unnecessary. A decent last-gen GPU isn't that expensive, especially after the cryptomining market started to shift towards dedicated hardware.
I went the other direction with mine, because my gaming rig is basically my entire entertainment budget, so I don't have any direct experience with lower-end hardware.
PC hardware is still a lower value proposition than 2015-2019, so your best bet is connecting your laptop to a monitor. An IPS monitor with optional blue-light filter will help with headaches, and high DPI (1440p at <24 inches, 4k at 27+ inches) is a bonus. Keep in mind that a lot of USB hubs suck if your machine doesn't have hdmi or didsplay port, and a good dock will cost money bettering spent on a mid budget desktop. All the OEMs with good reputations (AFAIK, I don't keep up with this shit regularly) start at $900, example.
Linux is more respecting of older hardware than Win10/11, and less sketchy when it does work (some laptops have incompatible wifi modules, check Arch Wiki). If you do get a desktop for games, consider loading Linux Mint (most newb friendly) onto your laptop, and do everything else on that.
https://www.logicalincrements.com
Probably more expensive than you want to spend but Costco has Dell prebuilts with really solid stats for the cost. They are "workstation" class so they have a lot more memory than most consumer systems.
While they aren't marketed as "gaming" systems they have a perfectly good video card.
They are a bit low on storage so another SSD is the only upgrade you might need.
Monitor tests these days check if the screen flickers (this is what gives people those headaches). Make sure the one you get is flicker-free.
I looked around under the assumption that I would want that same setup and wouldn't build myself. I was going to suggest buying something without a dedicated GPU but capable of taking one later. The thought being spend $500 on the PC and you'd have a lot of space for a nice monitor/keyboard/mouse in the $1000 window.
Problem is I just can't find much like that I'd feel comfortable recommending for the price. In a lot of cases upgradable + cheap just didn't seem to exist. So what would I do? Basically go buy the best prebuilt gaming PC deal I could find. I like the $1000 special at CyberPowerPC, 12700F and 6700XT is not a joke PC at all. I found some $900 ones at iBuyPower and NZXT, but they are much worse for only $100 less.
Are you talking about this computer?
That's the one. Looks pretty decent to me. I've never bought a pre-built gaming PC though I've had friends with a couple from there and they are fine.