2020: Time for a new desktop
 

I've been using laptops for the last 6 years, at last it's time for e new PC desktop. I've lost track of what the best systems are, CPU, graphics cards, etc. Is Voodoo 3D Extreme still the way to go? How about Intel, cores, and other mysteries?

My laptop has an Intel i7 6700 @2.60 GHZ, it still runs plenty fast for everything I do but you know, I would want an upgrade, to future proof it. Would an i9400F @ 2.90 GHZ be sufficient?

Best bang for the buck:

AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Asus Prime B450M-A Mainboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4
Asus GeForce RTX 2070

Oh man, this is what I was hoping for when I posted, thanks, a solid recommendation. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Well, just saw the reviews at Amazon for the GeForce RTX 2070 card, not going to make the cut.

You haven't said what your price range is for this new machine or even what you're going to be doing with it so we'll start with the CPU and then you can get the rest to fit around it.
As you're on a games website I'll give you 4 CPU optons for you to mull over, if these are too much for your wallet I would have a look for some mid range CPU's.

Most powerful gaming CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K Intel thinks Onkel Neal is rich. :doh:
This is really only recommended for serious gamers.

Best value gaming CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K In your dreams baby. :o
A better value proposition with only a slightly worse gaming performance than the Intel Core i9.

Most versatile gaming processor: AMD Ryzen 3900X Not as pricey as the 2 above. :hmmm:
If you’re regularly dipping into multimedia editing tasks this is the one to buy due to its superior core and thread count.

Best budget gaming CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X I'd start here first and work my way up. :D
for those on a budget, or for those who are sensible about their wallets feelings. :O:

Man, you're right, I didn't think about that. I'm looking for mid-range, not the best, not budget, something stout and capable but a good value. Honestly, my laptop CPU does everything as well as I need, but I have to get a desktop and a better graphics card than the 960m in my laptop.

Most powerful gaming CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K Intel thinks Onkel Neal is rich. :doh: I won't be after this!!:doh:
This is really only recommended for serious gamers.

Best value gaming CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K In your dreams baby. :o
A better value proposition with only a slightly worse gaming performance than the Intel Core i9. Hmmm. Not much cheaper.

Most versatile gaming processor: AMD Ryzen 3900X Not as pricey as the 2 above. :hmmm:
If you’re regularly dipping into multimedia editing tasks this is the one to buy due to its superior core and thread count. This looks pretty good, is there any downside to going with an AMD processor, any compatibility issues?

How about this? https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/...X-Configurator

*BASE_PRICE: [+1795]
CABLE: None
CAS: IN WIN 101 Mid Tower High Air Flow Gaming Case w/ Tempered Glass Full Size Window (White)
CC: None
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz [4.6GHz Turbo] 12 Cores/ 24 Threads 70MB Cache 105W Processor
CS_FAN: Default case fans
ENGRAVING: None
EVGA_POWER: None
FAN: CyberPowerPC DEEPCOOL Castle 120EX ARGB 120mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
HDD: 500GB WD Blue SN550 Series PCIe NVMe + 2TB SATA III Hard Drive Combo [+87] (Combo Drive)
HDD2: None
HEADSET: None
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
KEYBOARD: None [-5]
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance)
MICROPHONE: None
MONITOR: None
MOPAD: None
MOTHERBOARD: ASROCK X570 PHANTOM GAMING 4S ATX w/ WiFi, RGB, Intel LAN, 2 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 8 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe
MOUSE: CyberPowerPC Standard 4000 DPI with Weight System Optical Gaming Mouse
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 850 Watts - Corsair RM Series RM850 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Fully Modular Ultra Quiet Power Supply [+81]
PRO_WIRING: None
RUSH: Standard processing time: ship within 3 to 4 Weeks
SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
SLI_BRIDGE: None
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: None
USBHD: None
USBX: None
VIDEO: AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 XT 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 [Navi] (Single Card)
VIDEOCAMERA1: Rocksoul 1080P HD Webcam USB 2.0 WK107SB [+19]
WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
WNC: None
WTV: None
_PRICE: (+1977)

May I give a recommendation

Buy a stationary gaming computer and a cheap desktop.

Stationary gaming computers cost almost the half of what a gaming laptop does.

Furthermore with a stationary you can upgrade your hardware, which you can't with a laptop.

Markus

None that I've heard of, a piece of advice if you didn't already know this, Amd cpu's and Intel cpu's are not interchangeable, so you can't put an Intel cpu onto that motherboard. :up:

A good rig, but how are you going to watch your DVD pron without a DVD player, :o and one last thing, I hope you're going to put a good monitor on that thing. :D

Great help, thanks! I kinda assumed they motherboard and cpus were not interchangle, thanks for reminding me.

I think my skittishness with AMD came from 20 years ago, I recall buying a 2nd PC for gaming in another room, and there were issues with installing Microsoft programs, or a game or something. It's been a long time but my recollection was AMD was not the fail safe standard I was used to with Intel. I may be persuaded to test that theory, did you see the mass of 5 star reviews for the CPU on amazon? Impressive!

The rig I sketched out, it used the exact same cpu as the one in the amazon page? It was so easier back when a cpu didn't have so many name variations!

DVD player? What year is this, do they still exist?? :D

Good monitor? Why? explain! :arrgh!:

Before you commit to a new desktop, consider what you'll be doing with it. :up:

Are you playing old (5 years or older) games? Will most of your new system's time be spent playing those games or are you heavily into multitasking while you decimate convoys?

This is kind of a loaded example. The majority of games available are designed to run on one core of your CPU. There are some games out there that can run on two or maybe four cores but there aren't that many of them. :03:

Are you planning to get into streaming on Twitch or uploading videos to YouTube? Broadcasting will put a much heavier workload on your hardware to justify those extra cores. If you're not planning to start your own gaming channel, why over-build your next desktop? :hmmm:

Getting back to single-core gaming, cores don't mean squat compared to CPU clock speed. Older Intel CPUs ran just fine at 3.95 to 4 GHz. This is their rated clock speed, BTW. No over-clocking required. :yeah:

Put some thought into your display before you commit to a desktop. Is a "normal" 2K display that's 2 feet wide what you're thinking about or will the new monitor swallow most of your gaming room? Think this part thru, there's no wrong answer (depending on your budget) but people tend to put the cart before the horse and wind up with either an under-powered CPU/graphics combo or else they over-commit on hardware they will never fully utilize. :03:

Plan for the display you want, then figure out how much horsepower (CPU and GPU) you'll need to run it. :yeah:

Edit- Check out this thread https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=243475 and I won't end up repeating myself.

Normal screen sizes vary from around 21.5in to 28in, and 24in is currently the sweet spot, if you've already got one of this size then you've just saved yourself some $$$$$.

You have to ask yourself this question, are you going to be streaming movies on this new PC regularly, if so you'll probably be better off investing in a better television and streaming to that than a new monitor, stick to a monitor of 24in for everyday computing and you'll not go far wrong.

Remember, the bigger the screen and the higher the resolution means that your graphics card has a lot more work to do. Besides that you'll have to sit further away from the PC, not much point in getting a 48in monitor if you have to watch it from 30ft away is there?. :O:

Screens and its inches.

Until beginning of January this year i had a 17.3 inch screen(laptop) as you may remember this laptop had a major meltdown and I had to buy a new computer, which was gaming computer and i bought a 24 inch to this computer.

What a different those extra inches made to the experience.

In the start I said in same distance to the screen, which made my eyes hurt
now some month later I have a little further distance to my 24 inch screen.

Markus

Planning to run two displays, ViewSonic 24". Games: No, not exclusively 5 year old games, I want to get into Battlefield and PUBG, so, AMD Ryzen 5-1600 / Intel Core i5-7600K or better; Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB or better

Not planning to watch movies on the PC much, that's what my den is for.

Not planning to stream either.

My current laptop has i7 6700HQ with 4 cores so I can't see dropping below that with a new system. But you're saying I really don't need something with 12 cores, like the AMD chip discussed above?


https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amd-vs-in...mpression=true
Ok, I think I see what you're saying. :)

Egg-zactly. :yeah:

This always winds up sounding like heresy on a gaming forum :o but sometimes it pays to really consider those budget pre-built desktops you see at the hardware store or on-line. We're not talking two grand, more like $300-$500. I'm big on telling people to wait for "back to school" sales to check out a pre-built rig and really try to tear it apart based on what you really need for gaming. :03:

I mostly play Flight Sim 2002 and Dangerous Waters when I'm not watching YouTube or reading a forum, so I'm pretty easy to please. I still check out new games but I really haven't found anything else that I'm itching to play.

I run a big enough monitor at 2K graphics with a 60 Hz refresh rate. Playing any Flight Sim at 60 Hz is pure joy. :yep:

To do all of this, I'm running a pretty cheap i3 CPU (3.8 Ghz stock clock, which is what makes the difference) with a $40 fanless vid card. The only reason I'm running a card at all is because I wanted something better than Intel graphics. :up: My rig is something like 4 years old and it was "yesterday's tech" when I bought it. I don't know how I'll replace it when it finally wears out, maybe 4 to 6 years from now. I also have it running for something close to 12 hours per day, every day. :yeah:

I think that brings up the big point I wanted to make. Start a game on your current gaming rig then bring up Win Task Monitor. Check out how much horsepower your current games really need. :yep:

BTW, here's a little thought experiment you may want to try. :D

Go to a store that has salespeople. Go in and tell one of them the following:

"I'm looking for a new computer for my Mom/Aunt. She needs something to play Mah Jong, watch YouTube, and drive my wife up a wall with e-mails, what have you got that won't break my budget?"

Pay attention to what they show you. :D Don't even think about a graphics card/GPU yet.

Or, play the same game but replace Grandma with your kid who's going off to college next fall.

Let them think you don't have a lot of money to spend. Pay attention to the specs of the towers they show you. :up:

Its the graphics card that runs the games .

Hmmm... I think that will be like "What can you tell me about a strange rash right around the back of the thigh... asking for a friend." :timeout:

I'm slowly getting back up to speed on PCs. In the 90s I had everything memorized, but it was a bit simpler then, for sure. Trouble is, once I know all the ins and outs of M.2 and NVMe SSDs, the flavors of Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory, and ALC662 audio codecs.... I'll buy a PC and lose track of the updates in the teck industory for 5 years until I go to buy another PC. :wah:

But you guys have done a great job of helping me dial down what I think I need!!

OK, check this out for a minute:

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-TC-885-U...9122909&sr=8-7

Notice I found it by searching for "basic computer desktop".

Now, let's take a look at what you get for $400. Its pretty bare bones, the keyboard and mouse look cheap and there's a lot of info we're not seeing, like why the graphics card isn't listed (there isn't one) and what the power supply is rated to (I'm guessing its at the low end of the quality scale).

Still, you are getting:

- 9th Generation Intel Core i3 9100 Processor (Up to 4. 2GHz)
This is a nice CPU, its just a tad on the old side but it clocks at 4.2 Gigs. :up:

-8GB DDR4 Memory, 512GB SSD & 8x DVD Writer Double Layer Drive (DVD RW)

Again, its bare bones but its not that bad. You've got a 1/2 terabyte SSD , 8 Gigs of DDR4 RAM, and they even throw in a DVD player. :D

What they don't talk about is the power supply, but its mostly safe to assume that you can throw a mid-range GPU/video card into the box without too many problems. :03: You also get a licensed copy of Win 10. Since they don't say what flavor of Win 10 Home it is, assume its 32 bit.

..and you're in the hole for 400 bucks. :up: This is a stock, low dollar system aimed at students and small business. It just needs to work, it doesn't have to look sexy.

The downside will come when you open the tower and look at the mother board. :o I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts its a mini (or even a micro) ATX board. It probably doesn't have any extra connections for a traditional hard drive (but its older tech so it might) and its probably glued or pop riveted to the case. :yep:
These are not "boutique" towers. :03:

So, why would you want something like this? Its dependable. It has to be, the company would be suicidal to sell junk at this price range.
It can be tricky, but it is upgrade-able. Find a video card the power supply can run, or throw a larger power supply at it. The odds are 50/50 (IMO) there's a second RAM slot on the mother board. For a generic "gaming/home" rig you really don't need 16 gigs of RAM, but its not a big deal if you do.

You're in the hole for 400 bucks. That leaves $1600 before you get to your old $2000 plateau. That's plenty of spare change to sink into a monitor and a graphics card. And a good keyboard and mouse. And another SSD or a remote hard drive. And several cases of beer. :up:

See where this is going? :yep: Am I saying to buy this tower? #### no, please no. But this is already a LOT cheaper than what you were looking at.

There are a LOT of good deals out there, you just have to find them.

:Kaleun_Cheers:

I'm studying the available components, and I don't really care about a case that lights up like a christmas tree. But I do want at least an i7 variant, that much I'm sure. I can spend more than $400, I will probably use it for at least 5 years.

Use SSD hard drives ... they boot faster

and maybe more ram memory you are at

but the board has four slots so go for four (4) 8gb or (2) 16gb

remember this is for 2025

who's going to put it together for you?

I would pay someone to put the MB/CPU together and the rest is easy mostly labor of waiting for the Window's 10 (yuck) to boot and claim you for the rest of your life.

I hear they even want your cell phone number now. :o

Can I ask why? :hmmm:

M$ has already announced the minimum specs for the new M$FS (aka: flight sim) and its an i5 CPU. :yep:
That's for M$FS, which probably won't be ready for this year. Which will tax a lot more hardware than the CPU. Which will require a very broad and very fast internet connection. Which I'm really not interested in. :yep:

Traditionally, new M$ flight sims are designed for hardware and clock speeds that don't exist yet. Still, they're saying an i5 can run it.


If you're planning to do some multi-tasking (while you're gaming) I can see the i7. For a pure gaming system, its still over kill. :yep:

That brings up one last point to ponder. :yeah:

Let's suppose that AMD and Intel get into a serious price war and suddenly the price of hardware (all hardware) drops though the floor. Everything gets cheap, would it be a good idea to "yolo" your new hardware and go for broke?

Remember, more power requires more power. And, someone will have to pay for that extra power when the utility bill shows up. :o

That was what broke the small bitcoin "farmers". They were paying more for electricity than the machines were earning. :03: