Posts by ironridge352

I’m looking to put together a PC dedicated solely to running some more demanding titles—think things like Witcher 3, Watch Dogs 2, and similar heavy hitters $2667.
Ideally, I’d like to go with an Intel and NVIDIA combo, and I definitely want a 240GB SSD included in the build.
Just the tower itself, please... no need for any peripherals.

And when do you think the new graphics cards will actually hit the shelves here in the States?

ironridge352 said:A buddy of mine saved up some cash and decided it was finally time to pick up a new graphics card.
He's willing to spend up to $633.
His current setup is:
Intel i3 2100
4 GB RAM
Foxcon 2 ABF motherboard

Would an MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti work with that build?

A good friend of mine has finally scraped together some extra cash and decided it's time to pick up a new graphics card.
He's willing to shell out up to $633.
His current setup looks like this:
Intel Core i3 2100 Sandy Bridge 4 GB RAM Foxconn 2 ABF
4 GB RAM
Foxconn 2 ABF motherboard
I figured that should give you enough context to figure out what would be a good fit...

Here is one example for you to look at
With roughly $3000 budget, do you think it would be possible to put together a build that is similar—if not actually more powerful—but just using a single GeForce GTX 970?

I was chatting with a buddy the other day about the pros and cons of desktop setups versus laptops. We ended up going down a rabbit hole debating whether a custom gaming PC actually saves you money compared to a high-end gaming laptop once you factor everything in...
My question is: what kind of budget would I realistically need to build a full desktop rig, including all the peripherals, that matches the raw power and overall quality of a single Dell m18x?
I’m looking at component prices based on the US market, since an m18x would run me roughly $3,200 here. If anyone could break down a potential parts list, that would be great.
I’m honestly just asking out of pure curiosity, as I haven't been able to find a thread addressing this specific comparison online...

Honestly, I ran into a nearly identical issue with a PC I ordered for a buddy about a month ago from a local shop here. After spending way too much time swapping monitor inputs and eventually tearing the whole thing down, we realized the motherboard and GPU were both dead on arrival. We sent the rig back, and a replacement arrived after about a week. I had my suspicions when I didn't hear that initial POST beep during startup, and once I popped the case open, I saw the internal speaker hadn't even been plugged in. This happened with a build I ordered through Future Tech, and while the guys there should have run a quick diagnostic before shipping, you can't exactly plan for a simultaneous motherboard and graphics card failure... It was just bad luck. Ipal gave me some solid advice and really tried to make things right, so they're totally forgiven in my book.

Actually, this isn't really my thing. It’s more that my friends were asking me to reach out and get some answers from you all on their behalf.

👍 Thanks for the reply. I'll be back in touch this September when I'm ready to pull the trigger on my new build.
Anyway
By the way, Kimberly Gomez34, where did you grab this configuration from? Futura-IT doesn't even list a case for it...

I've put together a somewhat complex gaming build, so I wanted to run it by you all before I pull the trigger on the purchase just to make sure everything is compatible...
Feel free to suggest changes if anything looks off (maybe the GPU...), but I really can't go a single cent over this budget:
Intel Core i5-4440 - $446
Kingston DDR3 HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, 8GB - $205
Asus B85M-G - $181
Toshiba 1TB, 7200rpm, 32MB HDD - $143
LG GH24NS - $43
Zalman mid tower case black - $153
XFX Pro 450W, 80+ - $122
Gigabyte GF GTX750 OC, 1GB GDDR5, DVI, DP - $303
Spire Kepler Rev.2 - $38
Corsair SSD 120GB ForceSeries LS - $236
Total: $1887
Best Buy

Thanks to everyone for all the input 😍
I shared the thread with him so he could weigh all your builds against each other, and he's decided to go with yours, graniteharbor85

A buddy of mine reached out asking for some advice on a gaming rig within a budget of $2000. He’s looking for something that can handle HD movies, League of Legends, Minecraft, Call of Duty 2, and maybe a few other lighter titles. In my opinion, a GTX 650 should be more than enough for that kind of workload. He also wants something with decent upgrade potential—ideally, he could swap in a beefier processor, a better GPU, or more RAM in two or three years...
I’ve been browsing through a few different deals, and this one caught my eye:
What are your thoughts on this setup? If it isn't quite right, please feel free to suggest something else...

To round out the budget, he’ll need a solid Full HD monitor that the graphics card can actually make use of, since his current one is pretty terrible. Something around 20 inches would probably be ideal...
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.