PC replacement

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by ptah, May 12, 2022.

  1. ptah Augur

    I have not made up my mind of yet, balance act of keep it around 500 700 soon ramps up to 1000 bucks. So im reading and playing around with pcbuilder apps.

    First plan had just upgrading cpu and little more RAM, possible an HD SSD, but after thing about how crappy my MB is, it appears im better off either waiting til the fall and dealing random crashes or just blow the money and replace.

    Look its not life changing money just judgement of value. Again I am not raiding much, content is pretty well do for what I do. And just not invested playing more than 5 or 6 hours a week. So I question myself shall I wait? or should I just do what needs do. Maybe revamp system revamps me back into playing more often?

    Fun and wild read, many thanks to EQ peeps.
  2. Windance Augur

    What kind of crashes are you getting?

    Entire computer crashing or just the game client?


    You might get lucky and have an easy fix.

    https://openhardwaremonitor.org/

    1 - Check your CPU temps. Its possible your machine is just over heating due to the heatsink + fan being caked with 8+ yrs of flurb. If you're CPU temps > 85/90 deg then that is likely an easy fix.

    2 - Sometimes the electrical connections can be loose or again caked with flurb causing poor signals. Clean out the RAM and graphics cards, clean them with compressed air, and put them back in.

    3 - More often the hardware is fine and its your OS and drivers that have been scrambled. Reinstalling your OS and starting 'fresh' can often resolve many problems. I'd suggest purchasing a new drive ($50-$70) and installing the 'fresh' OS to that. That way your data is safe.
  3. ptah Augur

    So I misread my notes, and prob will looking to just buy sometime
    Replacing the 2 core cpu with 8 core AMD one real time cost is about 108 bucks.
    Adding 2 8 sticks of RAM, its ddr3 2400 atm that 70 bucks more.
    Now just looking at popping EQ only HD, 100 here feels reasonable.

    Thanks again
  4. Whulfgar Augur

    I am curious. Can you keep eq on a separate mobile hard drive, then just plug it to a desktop and play (of course if the desktop can handle it)

    Or is that not an actual thing ?
  5. Windance Augur


    You can run EQ from an external drive.

    You would take a minor performance hit while loading the game/zoning.
  6. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Second this.

    M.2 NVMe SATA SSD Enclosure + WD 500GB Blue = ~$78

    Would be even less minor of a performance hit.
    Stymie likes this.
  7. Iven Antonius Bayle

    If you don't know why your computer does crash it does not make sense to replace parts. All of them are outdated anyway and have a higher failure rate. Cheap motherboards with bad capacitors and cooling do cease to work after a few years. It also does not make much sense to run Windows 10/11 64 bit on a dual core processor system. Better look for a used computer system at a local second hand hardware seller until you want to buy a new one. Should be 40-100 bucks for a quad core system and you might receive some guarantee. The used and more modern computer then can be your backup system so that the money will be a good investment.
  8. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    A new system with modern components can be had for as little as $747. Check it out.

    Also, what are condensators and how do I determine whether mine are bad? :p
    KermittheFroglok likes this.
  9. Tucoh Augur

  10. Iven Antonius Bayle

    Capacitors. For a non expert it is impossible to determine the quality difference. Its is pretty complicated. Japanese aluminium capacitors have a good reputability but there are many more factors. The price of a motherboard and its producer (brand) can only be a rough quality indicator.
  11. Iven Antonius Bayle

    Actually he is looking for an office PC. EverQuest does run well on any modern hardware. Maybe a refurbished desktop or mini tower is something. They can be pretty cheap. A tower will be the way better (case) solution if space and weight is not a problem.
    Stymie likes this.
  12. Svann2 The Magnificent

    SSD will definitely boot much quicker.
  13. Smak Augur

    A basic all in one pc should work fine, i found this at best buy just under 300 dollars

    HP - 20.7" All-In-One - AMD A4 - 4GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Snow White
    Model:21-b0024
    SKU:6454560
  14. Iven Antonius Bayle

    :rolleyes:
  15. Smak Augur


    Snake eyes, player craps out.
  16. KermittheFroglok Augur

    Definitely not, that's just about the worst dollar per performance recommendation possible. The OP mentioned wanting to play monster hunter (assuming Monster Hunter World), which needs at least 8bg and a discrete graphics card.

    That's why I recommended moving up market a couple hundred to an HP Pavilion with a basic discrete GPU.

    If the OP is willing to spend a bit more, I'd agree that Bandwidth's build suggestion is pretty solid recommendation. To be honest I didn't realize the RX 6600 was selling that low, to me that makes building more tempting than my original suggestion to just go with a Pavilion. (i.e., if I had the budget I'd go with Bandwidth's suggestion instead.)

  17. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Thanks! Now I dont feel so bad buying my wife an 8GB AIO to play gems on.
  18. Smak Augur

    If you want to do more than just eq and play more modern games then buy a one thousand dollar all in one rig. But that 300 dallar toy i listed will run eq no problem.
  19. KermittheFroglok Augur

    But even $1000 AIO's tend to only have integrated graphics instead of discrete. They aren't really designed for "modern gaming" at all. AIO are usually a bad value for a number of reasons.

    -if you have a monitor already, you're spending the a lot of your budget on the AIO's meh monitor
    -many AIO SKU actually use weaker laptop/mobile versions of the hardware to meet the compact design specifications.
    - AIO offer very little in terms of upgradability & repairs. Should expect to replace it in just a couple years, especially in the context of modern gaming where they'll generally offer ~30 fps performance on low/medium settings on modern games that can run on them.

    AIO over $1,000 make very little sense unless really want to pay a premium for a laptop that lacks practical mobility, or are willing to sacrifice $100's of dollars of performance for the cosmetic benefit of not having a tower in your setup.
  20. Smak Augur