I needed to upgrade from my nine-year-old computer in order to play Starfield last year. The initial plan was to build a new one, but my IT buddy and I concluded that this:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...g446-gaming-pc

https://90a1c75758623581b3f8-5c119c3...front_zoom.jpg

was pretty much as good as anything we could build, would end up costing about the same as what I'd pay for components, and buying instead of building would cut down the pain in the ass factor by about 99%.

I've had it for several months now. Zero problems. :thumb:

Honestly building them can be as easy as following lego instructions and can be real rewarding. (For me anywyas)

Maybe it's easier now that it used to be, but the last time was a ****ing pain. Keep in mind, I'm not the brains of the operation, just the helper. Much like working on cars, if I get beyond doing basic stuff, I'm lost, and I've learned over the years that having a little knowledge is at times more dangerous than having none. A man's got to know his limitations, and I know mine. So I have to either haul my PC over to my buddy's house or get a window when he has the time to come to me - he's pretty much constantly on call (high level data storage guy with billion dollar clients) and can get sucked into a work issue at any time. Then there's the matter of component issues; sometimes RAM sticks don't work with a particular motherboard even though they should. And last time, one of the RAM sticks was defective, so we had to return it. Of course, all you know is that the goddamn thing doesn't work, so it's a trial and error process to determine the problem. Then factor in that the nearest store that sells the components is a half hour away, and boy, the time burns quickly and the PITA factor increases exponentially. We made three round trips to Fry's that day before we finally got everything we needed and he got the ****er up and running.

I really didn't want to go through that crap again. This worked out perfectly.

Accidentally downvoted. Looking at this Alienware M16 laptop. Usually 2700 but it's 600 off right now and it has that 4080 which everyone goes crazy over.

I'll find it in my heart to forgive you. :D

That sounds like a great deal. Personally I have no real need for a laptop.

building the pc becomes more of a game than playing the games. You build this badass pc then you are like welp now what. Guess I will run FPS tester

My mini-ITX build has been great.
https://i.imgur.com/WtETG8f.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/kBL6m4N.jpeg

Gigabyte A520I AC AMD AM4 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Zotac NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge Overclocked Dual-Fan 12GB GDDR6
Corsair CX650M 650 Watt 80 Plus Bronze ATX Semi-Modular Power Supply
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Matisse 3.6GHz 6-Core AM4 Boxed Processor - Wraith Stealth...
Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3600 PC4-28800 CL18 Dual Channel ...
Crucial P5 Plus 1TB SSD 3D NAND M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 Interface Internal Sol...
NZXT H210

About $800 all told.

Heh. Im using that same case right now.

Gonna go to MicroCenter tomorrow. Kind of have the more major components more or less locked in.

I tried making my own PC once, but I eventually gave up. Mining for all of those rare-earth metals in the Congo was too hard.

So is there any reason not to just buy this one?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...BoCBtwQAvD_BwE

Looks nearly identical specs-wise to mine - this one has an RTX 4080 video card, and mine has a 4070. Close in price as well. Sounds like a good deal.

Yeah, I was fiddling in MicroCenter and even just the processor equivalent and RTX 4080 would run about 1.5k.

That's a pretty good setup. The main components are solid. Looks like the keyboard and mouse are super cheap and you'd want to replace them right away. And you'd need another M.2 drive for storage eventually. But overall that's a good value for the price.

Here's a review I found with some benchmarks. Looks like it runs a bit warm due to the duel radiators, but still within safe limits.

<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rBpNwV71TZ8" title="2023 Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 Review - Watch BEFORE You Buy!" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Sick ass PC for a sick ass price, man. I love Microcenter so much.

Their bundles are also amazing deals and make no sense.