Decent Prebuilt PC’s for SL 2019

[JVlagic]

Alright guys. Basically I’m kinda stuck right now with this. All I know is I really wanna start playing again. So if you can, please send me some links of some decent prebuilt pc’s! Or what you recommend this year on a budget that will run the game decently. I know that when I get back into SL again I’m going to want to use bento and animesh for my avi, so I really want to make sure I buy a pc that will run all this smoothly but it doesn’t have to be perfect. I just don’t want to buy something that can’t handle the game and will freeze for like 30 mins making me unable to play or have characters load  like my last computer. 

Edited October 7, 2019 by JVlagic

[Coffee Pancake]

You will get significantly more bang for your buck building your own from scratch, you will also save a lot in the long run with even a basic grasp of whats involved. Budget 'Gamer' pre-builts are generally very anemic & under powered machines in blinged-out rgb led illumined boxes, business pre-builts come in plain boxes and are equally anemic on the inside.

(Even big brand machines are not an automatic safe buy. I could show you pictures of the insides of an Alienware PC that would shock you at how badly it's owner got robbed .. assuming you knew exactly what you were looking at, and how much equivalent hardware would cost)

It's really not hard and there are a lot of resources and very clear video build guides (and more than a few of us who will happily hand hold - I would be happy to), we can certainly take all the worry out of picking all 'the right' parts for a budget. If you can open boxes and grasp a screw driver, perhaps using hands, then you can build a PC. .

Step one is to look and inventory what you already have (keyboards, screens, an old PC). 

Step two, work out how much you want to spend. The biggest mistake you can make at the start is picking a nice round number that 'feels right' out of thin air. Look at it from the perspective of how much time you intend to spend in front of this PC and how long it should last you (2 -5 years). Even if it means you have to save up a little more, it will be worth it.

 

[JVlagic]

🐉

Edited October 7, 2019 by JVlagic

[JVlagic]

1 hour ago, CoffeeDujour said:

You will get significantly more bang for your buck building your own from scratch, you will also save a lot in the long run with even a basic grasp of whats involved. Budget 'Gamer' pre-builts are generally very anemic & under powered machines in blinged-out rgb led illumined boxes, business pre-builts come in plain boxes and are equally anemic on the inside.

(Even big brand machines are not an automatic safe buy. I could show you pictures of the insides of an Alienware PC that would shock you at how badly it's owner got robbed .. assuming you knew exactly what you were looking at, and how much equivalent hardware would cost)

It's really not hard and there are a lot of resources and very clear video build guides (and more than a few of us who will happily hand hold - I would be happy to), we can certainly take all the worry out of picking all 'the right' parts for a budget. If you can open boxes and grasp a screw driver, perhaps using hands, then you can build a PC. .

Step one is to look and inventory what you already have (keyboards, screens, an old PC). 

Step two, work out how much you want to spend. The biggest mistake you can make at the start is picking a nice round number that 'feels right' out of thin air. Look at it from the perspective of how much time you intend to spend in front of this PC and how long it should last you (2 -5 years). Even if it means you have to save up a little more, it will be worth it.

 

I see, thank you! what specs and videos do you reccomend? I’ve previously only owned laptops so this is all new to me. I literally have nothing right now. So I will be starting from the beginning. I am from Canada so anything technological is expensive as hell especially online. That’s why I’ve been a little stumped because I want to make sure I get all the right parts required for building a good pc and I forsure would like to make sure I can keep it going for a long duration or atleast be able to make future upgrades to maintain decent performance 

Edited October 7, 2019 by JVlagic

[Coffee Pancake]

Building a PC can be a bit like a wedding. You can do it all on a shoe string, or go absolutely insane.

The key goals for a first build should be a decent screen and an easy upgrade path. Exactly what that looks like depends entirely on budget. Splurging on a screen is a good idea, its the bit you will spend all your time looking at and will likely out last everything else. For the rest, there is always a price gradient, today's expensive top end part, is tomorrows mid tier bargain. 

The first choice for the PC is Intel or AMD Ryzen, and I would strongly recommend the AMD route. They are solid performers, and all use the same AM4 socket, and come bundled with a good-enough cooler (so you dont need to buy one separate) -  you can pick something mid range today, and have an easy upgrade in the future (that wont require you to replace other parts)

Speaking of motherboards, for AMD Ryzen you will want something x570. It's not the cheapest option. but it gets you the most longevity and broadest CPU compatibility (always think about those future upgrades. unlike laptops, you wont be replacing the entire thing everytime). Motherboards come in a variety of physical sizes .. like ATX, mini ATX, micro ATX. ITX.  Smaller isn't necessarily cheaper. Go for something 'Micro ATX' or just 'ATX'. Gigabyte or ASUS are nice.

16GB DDR4 Ram. Less than 8GB will make you miserable, more than 16 is probably pointless.

A Graphics card. You don't need to go crazy mad for SL as the processor is far more important. Something nvidia, the last 2 numbers in the model name are the ones that matter .. eg a 960 is MUCH better than a 1040. It it ends in 50 or higher, you're good.

An SSD for the main OS and your applications. Optionally an additional bigger mechanical drive for storage, pictures, games, etc. (dont worry about cables, the motherboard will come with some)

A power supply. How big it needs to be depends on everything else (there are lots of calculators online). Bigger than you need is better. Quality matters. I like Corsair.

A case to put it all in, something pretty that fits the size of motherboard you have picked. (while you can build the whole thing in a cardboard box and have it sat on your desk, I wouldn't recommend it).

A windows licence.

A cross head screwdriver. 

A couple of hours.

Getting started is really the most expensive time. Compromises today are easily corrected in the future.

If you have a Microcenter nearby, go chat to the staff and have a look at the stuff in person. Avoid places like Best Buy.

[cheesecurd]

I would suggest checking out the linustechtips forum for suggestions on building a modern PC within a budget. They have a section for new builds and planning where you can get help from other users on a build within a set budget.

For a prebuilt, basically anything with a modern Intel i5 or i7, 8-16gb of ram and a Nvidia GTX 1050ti or higher (1060/1660/1070/2060/2070 etc)

On the AMD side, a Ryzen 5 series. 7 series is basically the same but with more cores and SL doesn’t utilize a lot of cores that well. For GPUs you’d want an RX 570/580/590 or Radeon 5700.

Look for something with an SSD as its very beneficial for a cache heavy game like SL. Ideally an NVME m.2 SSD over a Sata SSD.

Acer and Dell have more consumer oriented lines of prebuilts that will come with the lower end of that spectrum of hardware, and gaming lines that will come with the higher end stuff.

For building your own you’re basically looking at the same thing specs wise but then you need to take into account buying your own pieces, and there’s more to a PC than just it’s cpu and gpu to consider when picking parts.

I suggest this:

Ryzen 5 2600 

Any B450 chipset AM4 micro atx motherboard.

2x4 or 2x8gb sticks of 3000/3200/3600mhz DDR4.

Any micro atx case you personally like, on the high end I suggest Fractal Design cases, very well build and very quiet, on the low end you can get a Rosewill FBM01 for like 25$. There’s a lot of sub 30$ rosewill cases, I’ve used almost all of them in the past, the FBM01 is the most solid built of the lot. They all look very plain and non showoff-ish.

For the power supply you need to pick a gpu first and know what power it will draw, as it’s the most power heavy component. Pcie power only cards (75w or less with no extra power connectors) don’t need much. 
 

RX 570’s are some of the best overall price to performance video cards right now.

 

Edited October 7, 2019 by cheesecurd