3 replies to this topic

[Hergiswi]

my wife and i have like 3 or 4 computers that are old and starting to show their age. i'm hoping, once we get a little money saved, to replace them. for our purposes, i've determined that it would be best to get her a desktop and me a laptop. i'm techy enough to have a basic grasp on this kind of stuff, but i'm much better with software than i am with hardware. i'm peripherally aware of processors and graphics cards but i don't know what's worth getting these days. i am comfortable buying ram and i have a bunch of ssds lying around so i don't need any of those.

 

i'd appreciate any input/thoughts you guys have on how to build/purchase a desktop and a laptop. as far as the desktop, we don't need anything too crazy. she does a lot of video editing and plays games like genshin. my last 3 laptops have been hp, but i'm not dead set on another hp. i just need one that can handle basic stuff like internet/video, spreadsheets, steam games, etc. money is tight so the less i have to spend the better.

 

 

oh also any advice for docks for a laptop would be great too. i have all the desktop peripherals already (2 monitors, keyboard, mouse, etc.) and it would be cool to be able to dock the laptop. my current ones are too old.

 

ty 

Edited by Hergiswi, 27 September 2025 - 03:54 PM.

[Kifstopher]

I've always been an AMD girl when it comes to processors, can't go wrong with a Ryzen 7. Don't need a Ryzen 9 unless you're like, rendering a feature length film
For gpus AMD got some good options for value, I run a RX7700 and have had like no trouble running anything the past few years, but i did splurge on it a lil
RAM is good and cheap these days, a lotta newer games are asking for 32gb (provided it's not already eaten by a browser lol). Can probably get away with 16 if you don't play anything too intense
As for laptops I've never had one survive more than a couple years, Asus usually good but nothing special. Hp laptops are like cursed by a wizard to slow down and die after a year lol
Oh yeah for motherboards, ASUS ROG STRIX B650 is AFAIK the current gaming standard. I still use a b450 though and it does the job
Power supply just add the wattage of the gpu and cpu and double-ish that should be fine (1000W usually covers anything these days). Also get fully modular so cable management doesn't suck
Also get a cooler master for the cpu, that's all I can think of. Good luck!!

[Anthus]

I built my PC back in 2020, and it's still going strong. I did upgrade my GPU once though. It's ultimately up to you on what you need, so here's some sites I used to help compare parts, and make sure they will work together. That's really the main thing, once you know what you want to do with your PC (or your wife's PC) you can look at specs within your range of needs (like check system req's for stuff you wanna use, etc). You can save a lot of money by not buying extra power or features you will never use.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/

https://www.logicalincrements.com/

https://gpu.userbenc...0-XT/3649vs4062

 

You can build a pretty solid PC for under or around $1000 these days. If you don't plan on playing anything super modern, you can get away with a much cheaper GPU. Generally with GPUs, you really don't need to latest and greatest. Two or three gens behind the newest is fine for 99% of games, and will be for a several more years imo. My card is about four years old, and it plays everything fine (can do 4k with some emulators like dolphin, and Ryujinx, and play games like FF7 Rebirth on high. Can't play FF7R in 4k though.) 

 

I have an AMD Processor and an Nvidia GPU. Here's my specs for reference. This cost me a little over $1300 to build but I also bought a keyboard, mouse, and one extra monitor. I did get my GPU at a discount though as I bought it from my dad lol. It would have cost about $600 at the time, but I think he sold it to me for like $200.

 

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (Gigabyte brand) (I don't know if this is the exact same card I have but it's very similar)

32GB RAM

ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS

1TB Samsung SSD EVO 970 Plus
2TB Samsung SSD EVO 970 Plus

And this case, but I can't seem to find the exact one I got but it was around 110$

Corsair RM 750W Gold Plus Modular (can't find the exact one either, but usually 700+ will be more than enough for most uses)

 

As for laptops, I kinda got nothing, sorry. I will say I have an Acer laptop that's about... seven years old? It still runs, albeit kinda slow at times. It's essentially a glorified youtube player on my nightstand at this point, but I do take it on vacations and it can play videos, and open discord and browse the net, but you won't be playing any games on it. It can barely run project 64 lol.

[Hergiswi]

Hp laptops are like cursed by a wizard to slow down and die after a year lol

ok so it's not just me?? every hp laptop i get starts out blazing fast and then feels like sludge a year or two later. anyway thanks for the advice on all that. i'm making a fancy spreadsheet to keep track of all this info so i can be a smart consumer™

 

lots of stuff

great, tysm for this as well. that gives me plenty of stuff to compare and check out