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Yet Another "what computer" question...

Harper Held
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Harper Held

Harper Held

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I'm on a budget and would like to keep the price to $600 or below. In an ideal world, $400.

That doesn't seem to be too horrible of a problem, except for the GPU. I'm looking around on Amazon and any time I select an "nvidia" gpu the price shoots above my target range.

My first first choice may not be do-able -that is to get a mini pc (think: NUC) which is capable of doing virtualization/emulation and second life. Obviously, you can't replace the GPU on those and I'm not sure that there are any with SL-compatible GPUs in my price range.

In the end, I'll probably have to settle for another tower desktop -not an all in one (I had an imac, it was a mistake).

So the main problem I have, the main question I have is: what do I look for in a GPU? I assume anything NVidia is probably going to be able to do ALM, though for a new computer I want to get something that can run on ultra if that's possible in my price range.

My shoot-for-the-moon task list of what i want to do is:

1)be able to shoot machinma with decent graphics (preferably ultra)

2)heavy virtualization -home server kinda stuff (for a casual homelab).

3)PC emulation at reasonable speeds. That's different from virtualization (86box vs virtualbox).

4)run FS comfortably on ultra or as close as possible (I can already do ALM on my 2gb Nvidia GT 730 -but fps drops to single digits).

While I am pining for a "mini" it's not a set in stone requirement -the biggest problem is cash (isn't it always?).

I appreciate any pointers and advice that y'all can give me -thank you!

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Harper Held

Harper Held

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misc notes:

- I'm wanting an i7 or a very, very recent i5 (a new i5 tends to be faster than an old i7 ...I think?)

- I want a minimum 16gb of ram, but prefer 32gb. 

That might sound fussy but I've found a ton of computers with those specs but...but but but but...gpu is an issue. They tend to have some weird intel gpu or a radeon. Hence my asking about what to look for (so I can tell what's garbage and what's not, or have a general idea).

[edit]

Based on conversations I've had with folks in the 86Box (emulator) discord, I'm leaning more towards Intel than Ryzen (they tried both and said intel worked better).

Edited by Han Held
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Henri Beauchamp

Henri Beauchamp

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I do not see any viable solution for so little money, sadly...

The ”run FS comfortably on ultra or as close as possible” goal would require a graphics card that would cost you half of your budget already (a GTX 1660 at the minium, i.e. 250 to 300 bucks or so), and that's not counting the CPU, the motherboard, the RAM (to run VMs comfortably, you will want 32 GB), the SSD, etc...

At this low price, you can have, at best a NUC with a Zen3 APU, so you can forget about ALM+shadows at decent frame rates...

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Harper Held

Harper Held

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5 minutes ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

I do not see any viable solution for so little money, sadly...

The ”run FS comfortably on ultra or as close as possible” goal would require a graphics card that would cost you half of your budget already (a GTX 1660 at the minium, i.e. 250 to 300 bucks or so), and that's not counting the CPU, the motherboard, the RAM (to run VMs comfortably, you will want 32 GB), the SSD, etc...

At this low price, you can have, at best a NUC with a Zen3 APU, so you can forget about ALM+shadows at decent frame rates...

Knowing is half the battle -and now I know. Thank you very much!

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Jenna Huntsman

Jenna Huntsman

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.. Have you considered the Steam Deck?

It's capable of running SL at full detail (excl. shadows, but they kill pretty much all machines).

I can't speak for the other use-cases you mentioned unfortunately, but it's got a full-fat quad-core Zen 2 AMD CPU in there.

It's not modular with traditional PC components unfortunately, but it does fit within your price range.

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Harper Held

Harper Held

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2 minutes ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

.. Have you considered the Steam Deck?

It's capable of running SL at full detail (excl. shadows, but they kill pretty much all machines).

I can't speak for the other use-cases you mentioned unfortunately, but it's got a full-fat quad-core Zen 2 AMD CPU in there.

It's not modular with traditional PC components unfortunately, but it does fit within your price range.

No -but it looks interesting! My impression at first blush is that looks like something I may end up getting later. I'm intrigued that the OS is "arch based", I'll wanna read around and see how easy or not it is to access bash etc -that might make it appealing for 86box.

TYVM!

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cunomar

cunomar

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This made me curious while thinking my laptop is beyond repair and theres absolutely no way i'm paying what would buy a legal to drive used car for a laptop .

Not a recommendation because i don't know enough but those who do might offer an opinion 

https://www.ebuyer.com/1286252-lenovo-v15-g2-ryzen-5-8gb-256gb-ssd-15-6-fhd-win11-home-82kd008nuk?utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=4863007528&hsa_cam=16274827186&hsa_grp=139178640928&hsa_ad=583088488684&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=pla-1633799127729&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8JbNop6X-gIVhpBoCR3Iwg6aEAQYASABEgJgiPD_BwE

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Harper Held

Harper Held

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On 9/6/2022 at 12:26 PM, Henri Beauchamp said:

I do not see any viable solution for so little money, sadly...

The ”run FS comfortably on ultra or as close as possible” goal would require a graphics card that would cost you half of your budget already (a GTX 1660 at the minium, i.e. 250 to 300 bucks or so), and that's not counting the CPU, the motherboard, the RAM (to run VMs comfortably, you will want 32 GB), the SSD, etc...

At this low price, you can have, at best a NUC with a Zen3 APU, so you can forget about ALM+shadows at decent frame rates...

File this under "learn something new every day" -obviously your point stands about my budget -but I've just found out it's possible to attach an external GPU to a mini pc.

I'm not sure what that means or if it's even viable (same price as a desktop? Same amount of space used? What's the point kinda) but it seems to open up some avenues worth exploring.

 

Edited by Han Held
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Modulated

Modulated

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On 9/19/2022 at 10:17 PM, Han Held said:

Not a bad idea -prices are coming down so that's definitely on the table -but I'm worried about when I need to replace the whole computer.

Thanks!

You might want to check EVGA's b stock section for gpus. They have a large selection of preowned/refurb models that come with warranty and decentish prices. I can't link to it because it's a retail site but easy to find just searching EVGA b stock. I have purchased a few from b-stock over the years with no issues.  They are also not going to be selling new nvidia cards going forward so prices may get better there. Worth a look.

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Harper Held

Harper Held

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7 hours ago, Modulated said:

You might want to check EVGA's b stock section for gpus. They have a large selection of preowned/refurb models that come with warranty and decentish prices. I can't link to it because it's a retail site but easy to find just searching EVGA b stock. I have purchased a few from b-stock over the years with no issues.  They are also not going to be selling new nvidia cards going forward so prices may get better there. Worth a look.

unless I'm wrong (and I'll double-check), it's the first result that comes up in google. Havin a look; thank you for the tip! :)

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Lyssa Greymoon

Lyssa Greymoon

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3 hours ago, Han Held said:

unless I'm wrong (and I'll double-check), it's the first result that comes up in google. Havin a look; thank you for the tip! :)

They also have mid-week madness sales on Wednesdays, the prices and selection are usually better. Check the regular listings too, sometimes their new products are cheaper than b-stock.

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Harper Held

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14 hours ago, sandi Mexicola said:

hey that sweet!  i gonna go check that sim and see what i can do, lol!  

I may have misspoken -I went back and got 20fps ...still respectable, but not as impressive. 😢

Still, damned happy though -so far this has handled everything I'm throwin at it really well considering it's an el-cheapo "gaming pc".

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