Path: ...!npeer.as286.net!npeer-ng0.as286.net!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Xocyll Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Re: Strategy on the Decline Date: Wed, 29 May 2024 21:30:51 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 105 Message-ID: <2fkf5jdsfj3gd2jec111vmejtpm3l6i1fr@4ax.com> References: <5hmd5j59ef3g9mc6joh5dvjica7klnuag2@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 03:32:29 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="0b77e576e2ad9ab36c9017ade2fc4070"; logging-data="1586420"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+5H5U9g8S4j9HZD+bFbnbI" Cancel-Lock: sha1:aWQNThjf4d46h7f/Epo2FKrKNro= X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.640 Bytes: 6456 Spalls Hurgenson looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say: >On Wed, 29 May 2024 03:36:58 -0400, Xocyll wrote: > >>Justisaur looked up from reading the entrails of >>the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say: >> >>>On 5/25/2024 4:28 PM, Lane Larson wrote: >>> >>>> It's a horror story.  Say I come up with $3200 to buy the top end >>>> Alienware.  I bet I'd still have to deal with lots of overheating.  What >>>> I'd like to do is break my computer over someone's head and get in the >>>> news, where it says that my computer was too hot and drove me mad.  I >>>> was appalled when I got this one home and Pathfinder: Wrath of the >>>> Righteous was used to fry an egg.  When is this shit going to stop?  I >>>> bought too many computers in the 90s just to keep up.  My parents lost >>>> some faith in me when I liquidated my stock portfolio to buy just >>>> another computer.  And it's still happening! >>> >>>Don't buy pre-made gaming computers. You end up paying 2x (or 3x if >>>you're talking $3200!) what you would for a better optimized system with >>>cooling that works. >> >>This depends. >>A local computer shop offers prebuilts that are not bad value at all. >>The caveat is they have almost no upgrade path except swapping out the >>video card, since they tend to have lower end motherboards and have all >>the ram slots filled already. >> >>You are correct if it's brand name junk like Alienware or any other big >>name, you get charged $500-1000 just to have their name on it. > >I agree. > >My last two PCs were pre-builts. I could have -and in the past /have/- >built my own computers, but it's just easier to have somebody else do >all the work for me. Will that motherboard fit in the case? Is the >cooling sufficient? Etc. I've still never bought a prebuilt. The ones I looked at were cheaper than what I paid building it myself, but they had a lower end motherboard, with only 32gb of ram and all slots filled, also only a 500gb SSD, and it wasn't clear if another could be added or spinning rust. And some random case. In the end I built it myself with a better board, 64gb of ram and room for 64 more, 2tb SSD (and room for another SSD) and 16tb of spinning rust, a corsair high-flow case (if it were turned off, the fans spin up high on boot only, then quiet right down, usually inaudible during gameplay even with 2 games running, plus browsers, etc. >But of course, the price was an issue. EVERYONE knows prebuilts are >more expensive. But you know what? Not necessarily. > >Oh sure, there are some boutique builders. Falcon Northwest's prices >are insane (about double anybody else) and throw in a lot unnecessary >'extras' (like being delivered in a heavy wooden crate). But I've >priced the stuff from some builders, then went out and searched for >the exact same price from retailers, and you know what? The builders >were competitive; sometimes a little more, and sometimes even a little >less than what I would pay if I bought all the components separately. > >[note: that is, of course, assuming you buy from RELIABLE retailers. I buy brand name parts from a local computer store that's about a block from me. Been buying there since about '93 (first purchases were putting together a 386 with 4MB of ram and a 1M video card, forget the HD size, both floppy sizes 3.5 and 5.25, case and 14" monitor.) >Yes, I could find the components for a lot cheaper if I relied on EBay >or from sold by some six-letter company on Amazon Marketplace or from >AliExpress. But then you're never sure you're going to get what you're >promised, and that's just not the sort of hassle I'm interested in. So >in my pricing experiment, I stuck to more reliable - and admittedly >more expensive - sources. YMMV may vary depending on what level of >risk you're happy with.] I have never ever bought components online, but I do realize not everyone has a good computer store near them to go physical shopping in. >And if you're not the sort who enjoys tinkering with hardware -mixing >and matching components, figuring out how many amps your PSU /really/ >needs, deciding what thermal paste is Right For You- then the value of >prebuilts absolutely skyrockets. I don't exactly enjoy it, but have been saying since 1993, that building a computer is about as hard as playing with LEGO. PSU more is always better, and I tend to just leave the CPU cooling at the default - whatever the company shipped with it. But I don't overclock so ... I can see why some might want to play around with that. Old computer's Phenom II still running on the default heat sink/fan that shipped with it, and it's been on constantly for around a decade now (I turn off my computer(s) when I'm upgrading a part (vid usually, but sometimes adding HD,) or when I move. It's still going strong with a dual boot system XP/7, neither of which has ever been reinstalled - it's amazing how stable a system can be once you turn off all the useless cruft MS insists on installing by default. Xocyll