Best PC for Steam Games

marienbad

I would appreciate some advice please

I am buying a new PC and one of its primary uses will be for my grandson to play steam games .

Right now we are using a Dell Inspiron 1545 and it has slowed to a crawl .

We are thinking of upgrading to one of the HP Pavillion series . An independent graphics card is a must I believe and the Pavillion series corresponds with that as far as I am aware .

Any help/advice much appreciated

Spear

Which particular Steam games? That encompasses almost every game in existence, from the most demanding and power hungry, to ancient 386 level games.

marienbad

Spear wrote: »

Which particular Steam games? That encompasses almost every game in existence, from the most demanding and power hungry, to ancient 386 level games.

Well we bought the Star wars bundle of 20 games or so over Christmas and that seems to have been just too much.

Other games on the PC include Resident Evil 2 ,Arma 2, The Wolf Among Us ,
Team Fortress 2 , Minecraft , etc etc

Digital Solitude

Building one is by far the best value for money you can do.

If you've a nearby boardsie I'm sure someone would be willing to help out if you're not confident enough to do it yourself, though it's very easy.

If it's a teenage boy, he might be interested in doing so if you mentioned it to him.

All the work picking parts and working out incompatiblities etc is done by us so you just need to buy it and click it together, and install the OS

marienbad

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Building one is by far the best value for money you can do.

If you've a nearby boardsie I'm sure someone would be willing to help out if you're not confident enough to do it yourself, though it's very easy.

If it's a teenage boy, he might be interested in doing so if you mentioned it to him.

All the work picking parts and working out incompatiblities etc is done by us so you just need to buy it and click it together, and install the OS

Being honest I would say that would be way beyond us , I am in my mid sixties and I can just about manage on a pc and he is 12 .

2Mad2BeMad

best grandad/nanny ever!

Spear

marienbad wrote: »

Being honest I would say that would be way beyond us , I am in my mid sixties and I can just about manage on a pc and he is 12 .

The PC building forum exists to help you with all this:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

including finding someone local to you to help.

marienbad

To be honest I would prefer just to buy the best PC I can afford that meets the task , not just for the convenience of it but for the mobility as well .

Any recommendations ?

martineatworld

marienbad wrote: »

To be honest I would prefer just to buy the best PC I can afford that meets the task , not just for the convenience of it but for the mobility as well .

Any recommendations ?

When you're referring to a pc, do you mean a laptop?

Noxin

What's your price range?

Nody

marienbad wrote: »

To be honest I would prefer just to buy the best PC I can afford that meets the task , not just for the convenience of it but for the mobility as well .

Any recommendations ?

Well the Inspirion 3650 will get you by but the graphic card is quite old (the card sells for 70 EUR). For the same money you can get this PC which is a significant upgrade or this one which has windows 10 activated already which has a graphic card for 220 EUR which is two generations newer.

I've used the store before to buy pre-built PCs and never had an issue with them; only problem is if you need to get something fixed it takes a bit longer as it needs to be sent back to Germany (very rare though).

challengemaster

marienbad wrote: »

Being honest I would say that would be way beyond us , I am in my mid sixties and I can just about manage on a pc and he is 12 .

I've been building my own PC's since I was 12/13. There really is nothing to it. It's very similar to lego, except each part only has one place you can put it. Watch a few youtube videos on building a PC and you'll see.

marienbad wrote: »

To be honest I would prefer just to buy the best PC I can afford that meets the task , not just for the convenience of it but for the mobility as well .

Any recommendations ?

Well PC's aren't really mobile anyway, so I don't know why you would consider that as a factor against building one. It'll be the exact same size as an equivalent Dell that you would buy anyway.

Maximus Alexander

The Inspiron 1545 is a very poor laptop for gaming, so if you're just looking for a significant upgrade on that, pretty much any modern laptop with a discrete graphics adapter will meet that requirement.

You don't mention a budget, but even something at the low end like this will be a substantial upgrade. If you can push the budget up to something like this, it should be more than sufficient for the games mentioned above, if not quite up to the task of the modern blockbusters.

Zillah

challengemaster wrote: »

I've been building my own PC's since I was 12/13. There really is nothing to it. It's very similar to lego, except each part only has one place you can put it. Watch a few youtube videos on building a PC and you'll see.

You are talking to a grandmother in her sixties who has already said it's beyond her. Is it really too hard to accept that building a PC isn't for everyone? Can you imagine your granny sitting down in front of Youtube and learning to build a PC?

You've been doing it since you were 12, of course it sounds easy to you.

Nody wrote: »

Well the Inspirion 3650 will get you by but the graphic card is quite old (the card sells for 70 EUR). For the same money you can get this PC which is a significant upgrade or this one which has windows 10 activated already which has a graphic card for 220 EUR which is two generations newer.

You can't just copy the url from hardwareversand, it doesn't work.

Shiminay

The biggest and most important question is always "how much can you throw at it?"

There are PCs coming simply called Steam Machines that are quite like the consoles (simple straightforward purchase, but built with playing Steam stuff in mind, so just plug it into a screen).

For the hardcore eejits like a lot of us here with more time and money than sense, they're a little bit basic, but they're no slouch and might just be the job for your needs. Entry level for these machines is around about the €700 mark which I personally think is a little steep, but you're mostly paying for the convenience and a full warranty which those of us who build never get

It's pricey, but it's a very neat solution for your needs I think.

marienbad

martineatworld wrote: »

When you're referring to a pc, do you mean a laptop?

Yes I do , and my price range is euro 1000.00 as my absolute limit , cheaper if it meets the job requirements

Thanks everybody for all the suggestions .

Skerries

unless you need the portability then I would not go with a laptop as you would pay a lot more for a gaming laptop to even halfway match a desktop

go best of both worlds and get a cheap 300 euro laptop and a 700 euro gaming desktop

Shiminay

Yea, whatever about the money you save building vs buying, you get about twice the computer for your money if you get a desktop and not a laptop. It'll probably last a year-18 months longer too.

Maximus Alexander

Shiminay wrote: »

Yea, whatever about the money you save building vs buying, you get about twice the computer for your money if you get a desktop and not a laptop. It'll probably last a year-18 months longer too.

Worth every cent to be like



I'd never go back to a desktop tbh, so I can understand the OP's situation.

Shiminay

Well good luck with the RSI/carpel tunnel and the more frequent need to upgrade

Maximus Alexander

I must have median nerves of steel.

challengemaster

Zillah wrote: »

You are talking to a grandmother in her sixties who has already said it's beyond her. Is it really too hard to accept that building a PC isn't for everyone? Can you imagine your granny sitting down in front of Youtube and learning to build a PC?

Sixty isn't old. My own father would have been that age too (a grandfather at that also) when I started into tinkering with PCs. Could I imagine him learning to build a PC from youtube? Yes - certainly in conjunction with a 12 year old I could. In fact he regularly looks up how to fix issues with cars using youtube...

Fair enough, building a PC isn't for everyone and that's fine. But people regularly say "I can't do that" without even knowing what it involves.

If you want to get your knickers in a twist about something, why don't you address your abhorrent ageist attitude. You don't suddenly become an invalid when you hit 60 like your post seems to imply.

You've been doing it since you were 12, of course it sounds easy to you.

Somehow it appears to have gone completely over your head - but her grandson is also 12. My point was if I at 12 could do it without youtube video guides .....

Skerries

fouro

Back on topic having looked around for you the best deal I've found on a dedicated gaming laptop is the MSI GP62 Leopard 031UK 15.6-Inch Laptop over on Amazon.co.uk - its marked down from £699 to £618.07 which at todays exchange rate works out at e795 delivered to Ireland. The same machine sells in Ireland for e919 on Komplett.ie so you will save e124 buying from Amazon. It was first released on August 2015 so its a current generation machine.

Lone Stone

If u go to Pc specialist.Co.UK go on the forum tell them you a mid range gaming Pc or laptop say how much u have to spend on it and they will do it all for you. But 1k could get you a nice gaming rig, especially if u already have a monitor.

tony1980

I thought i'd never own a desktop again, couldn't understand anyone considering them over a laptop. Then I became curious about pc gaming and very quickly realised the benefits a self build desktop had over a laptop through some basic research and from reading the pc building forum.
I watched some youtube videos and learned the basics and made the decision to build my own. Best thing I ever did! Yes, I will never forget that night building it, there was a lot of cursing but I look back at it now and realise it was very simple, I just had no patience :-)

Was a fun experience and learned a lot and it felt great when I turned it on the first time and it didn't go up in smoke :-)

It's not for everyone but this is definitely something a 12 year old could do especially if a boardsie is nearby to help but I can understand if they decide to get something like a laptop or steam machine but i'm glad I didn't!

fouro

While I would always advise someone to build over buy and a PC over a laptop for gaming what alot are missing on here is that the OPs 12 year old grandson wants something portable to bring with him when he comes to visit. There are not many 12 year olds able to lug a tower unit especially if they are using public transport.

Zillah

fouro wrote: »

While I would always advise someone to build over buy and a PC over a laptop for gaming what alot are missing on here is that the OPs 12 year old grandson wants something portable to bring with him when he comes to visit. There are not many 12 year olds able to lug a tower unit especially if they are using public transport.

I got the impression OP is buying a laptop for her house and the 12-year-old would be making use of it when he arrives. I don't think there was a suggestion he'd be taking it with him.

challengemaster wrote: »

If you want to get your knickers in a twist about something, why don't you address your abhorrent ageist attitude. You don't suddenly become an invalid when you hit 60 like your post seems to imply.

She told you herself that it's not something she'd be able for or interested in. And if you think age doesn't make it harder to learn new things then you're letting ideology override reason.

challengemaster wrote: »

Somehow it appears to have gone completely over your head - but her grandson is also 12. My point was if I at 12 could do it without youtube video guides .....

This is an interesting point, though.

Marie, do you think it would be possible that your grandson might like the idea of learning to build a computer as a project of sorts? Could be interesting for him, especially if someone else is paying for the components! I dare say it might be of more value to him than playing all the games in the world.

Riesen_Meal

Built a mini ITX for my lads, very portable, they bring it everywhere...

ancapailldorcha

challengemaster wrote: »

Fair enough, building a PC isn't for everyone and that's fine. But people regularly say "I can't do that" without even knowing what it involves.

This is very true, especially when you're dealing with hardware which comes with about a dozen different measurements (clock speed, size, socket type and so on). However, information is not only easier to access and decipher than ever before but a lot of enthusiasts will even do massive portions of the work pro bono. I'm quite looking forward to a day when I build my own machine but I understand completely why people are put off.

Back in the day, a much younger and dafter me went and bought a laptop for gaming priced at about €1,700. Never again. The thing lasted about a year. I like my laptop to have a decent graphics card though I only go for lower-mid range machines given the chance of theft and lack of longevity though my current one was able to run Mass Effect 3 at 60fps on a 1280x720. Not too bad.

marienbad

Though we would love to do it, but between failing eyesight arthritic fingers early dementia that leads to us repeating ourselves constantly ,realistically; my partner and I and the grandson building a PC isn't on

Though we would love to do it, but between failing eyesight arthritic fingers early dementia that leads to us repeating ourselves constantly ,realistically; my partner and I and the grandson building a PC isn't on.

We were hoping just to buy a laptop that would solve our needs as the Dell Inspiron did 4/5 years ago .

Mobility is a huge factor as we often have the grandson during the holidays and we take the laptop with us when we visit the other grandkids and he is thus completely self sufficient .

Thanks for all the help and advice ( and thanks to Zillah for sending me here ) , ye really are such a helpful bunch and it much appreciated .

Now to review all the suggestions once again , and one never knows

Shiminay

Sounds like you know exactly what you're at so marien, laptop definitely suits your needs better than anything else. Best of luck with it!

SterlingArcher

With the right advice you could pick up a deal on adverts. be glad to help

Skerries

marienbad wrote: »

Though we would love to do it, but between failing eyesight arthritic fingers early dementia that leads to us repeating ourselves constantly ,realistically; my partner and I and the grandson building a PC isn't on

Though we would love to do it, but between failing eyesight arthritic fingers early dementia that leads to us repeating ourselves constantly ,realistically; my partner and I and the grandson building a PC isn't on.

typo, dementia or trolling us?

marienbad

Skerries wrote: »

typo, dementia or trolling us?

A little bit of trolling of course