This summer the fifth anniversary of the last computer I built for myself came and went without much of stir. It hardly seems like I’ve had it for five years, though it is also difficult for me to recall what my previous computer even looked like. I mean, I know I built that one too, but it has faded from memory.
As I am in an ongoing bout of nostalgia here, what with going through my work history and such, I am also reminded that there was a time when it seemed like an imperative, a desperate need, to get a new computer at least every other year. The pace of computing, of processors and video and connection speeds, was advancing so fast that the purchase of a new computer in just two years often felt like a giant leap forward.
I always use the Civilization series of titles as something of a benchmark, of how whatever computer I was using when a new version came out seemed barely able to cope with the burden of the game, that a Civilization title was only ever really playable once the next generation or two of processor upgrades had arrived.
I remember the length of a full end to end game of Civ II shrank by many hours just because the computer opponents were able to complete their turns faster.
Significant and tangible leaps in performance were normal and expected for many years.
Granted, when you started back in the day running on a 1 MHz 6502, it doesn’t take much to move up in performance.
Apple ][+ circa 1984
That kind of tapered off, for me at least, over the last decade or so. My current computer is past the five year mark and the last one made it to eight years. It is certainly possible that I am not in the key “need to upgrade” demographic anymore. I mean, not much of what I play really taxes my system. It is more a matter of how high I want to crank the world detail settings in something like WoW Classic or EVE Online.
Even then, even without the pressure to upgrade for performance reasons, I eventually hit a point when it is time to start thinking about a new computer. That is usually triggered by issues with the current rig, and I am just starting to hit that point now. There are occasional problems on boot or shut down. I had a couple of BSOD incidents in the last month.
It is time to start thinking about the next computer.
This drives my wife crazy. She has said half a dozen times in the last week, “just go buy a new one.” But I haven’t even gotten past the buy vs. build discussion in my head.
I have built the last few because, in the end, that is really the only way to get what you want within a specific budget. But to figure that out I need to go dig into the state of motherboards and processors (do the i7s really have 12 cores now?) and is RAM in some bizarre new format that requires a specific number of interleaved modules and are power supplies still using the same rating methodology?
Really, video cards are all I keep an eye on, and even those I’ve not watched too closely since crypto destroyed the market for them.
This is not undoable. I can read up some over at Tom’s Hardware… if that is still around… and get some basics as well as that site… I forget its name now… that lets you spec out a PC build and has some community recommended builds, and come up with something. That could take a year. And while I might enjoy that and even get a half a dozen blog posts out of the journey, it might annoy both you and my wife.
And our financial situation is such that I am not feeling quite so budget constrained. In May our daughter will graduate from college and, while there are still discussions about grad school, she plans to take a year off, so our largest monthly bill… bigger than our mortgage payment… will be gone. We’ll have made it through with hanging any crippling debt on ourselves or our daughter.
So I am open to spending the extra to buy a gaming PC. But who to buy one from?
I am not going down the HP or Dell route. Their machines are always loaded with excess garbage that eventually becomes problematic if you can’t yank it out by the roots early. And I am not enamored of the “cool” cases for Alienware and the like. I had an Alienware 20 years back, and a special case ends up being more of a hindrance than anything.
So I am digging around in the specialist builders, those who will put together a gaming build in a solid case and who won’t crapify the operation system with a bunch of digital blow-ins like dubious virus protection from untrustworthy vendors.
Recommendations for vendors are welcome.
My general vision of the new machine is something like:
- Windows 11 Pro (I hate the UI changes, but I am old and hate all UI changes)
- Latest generation Intel i7 processor
- nVidia 4070 series GPU (this is the one thing I will likely upgrade later)
- 32-64GB of RAM
- 2TB SSD for the operating system
- Space for 2 3.5″ HDD to be added (my archive drives of screenshots and spreadsheets)
- Mid-tower height, good cooling, water cooling okay for CPU
Anyway, those are my current thoughts on a new machine.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 