Want to get a Windows gaming PC but don’t know where to start
January 20, 2022 6:06 PM Subscribe
I’ve been exclusively a Mac user for over a decade and I’m barely a gamer. However, I’ve gotten into Crusader Kings 3 during the pandemic and I’d like to be able to play it on a more modern machine—and perhaps try other games. There’s so much advice and so many options for gaming PCs, though, that I don’t know where to begin.
I do know that I want something physically small, even if that comes at the expense of performance. I don’t expect to play the most hardcore games that require the latest and greatest technology, though I’m not sure where a game like CK3 falls in terms of hardware requirements. Of course, I don’t want to immediately lock myself out of options by getting something already or soon-to-be obsolete (always a conundrum).
I also don’t want to spend a ton, but I’m not sure what a plausible sum might be for someone like me. So, yeah, I’m pretty lost! Any advice you have, especially if you have a specific system to recommend, would be most welcome. Thank you!
I do know that I want something physically small, even if that comes at the expense of performance. I don’t expect to play the most hardcore games that require the latest and greatest technology, though I’m not sure where a game like CK3 falls in terms of hardware requirements. Of course, I don’t want to immediately lock myself out of options by getting something already or soon-to-be obsolete (always a conundrum).
I also don’t want to spend a ton, but I’m not sure what a plausible sum might be for someone like me. So, yeah, I’m pretty lost! Any advice you have, especially if you have a specific system to recommend, would be most welcome. Thank you!
Unfortunately it's a rather bad time for pc gaming. Video cards are in short supply and high demand for gaming... And cryptocurrency. Prices are 2x-4x what they should be, if you can find one.
I'm hearing prebuilt machines with video cards may sidestep some of the price markup, so that may be something to look into.
I've been a lifelong PC gamer who always built my own machines, but the current state of the market is causing me to limp my old machine along for another year or two. If you can wait, maybe give it a year or two as well to calm down.
If the type of gaming you can do can be done on a console, the pricing hasn't been affected at retail, although they are also in high demand and hard to get. I was able to get one by following Matt swider on Twitter, he posts when different online stores get stock. They are looking like a much better value for the money than pc's these days.
posted by TheAdamist at 9:08 PM on January 20, 2022
I'm hearing prebuilt machines with video cards may sidestep some of the price markup, so that may be something to look into.
I've been a lifelong PC gamer who always built my own machines, but the current state of the market is causing me to limp my old machine along for another year or two. If you can wait, maybe give it a year or two as well to calm down.
If the type of gaming you can do can be done on a console, the pricing hasn't been affected at retail, although they are also in high demand and hard to get. I was able to get one by following Matt swider on Twitter, he posts when different online stores get stock. They are looking like a much better value for the money than pc's these days.
posted by TheAdamist at 9:08 PM on January 20, 2022
Response by poster: Definitely not interested in building my own machine! Just want to get something off the shelf.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:23 PM on January 20, 2022
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:23 PM on January 20, 2022
I'm far from a Windows expert, but I'm a long-time Mac user who does a decent amount of Windows gaming in Bootcamp. I've started thinking about what my next system will be, and since modern M1 macs can't run Bootcamp, I've been investigating what my alternatives are.
One possibility is a game streaming service. The only one I've used personally is GeForce Now. It works pretty well, although it is very dependent on how my Internet connection feels like behaving at the moment. Also, for legal reasons, GeForce Now will only let you play a game if (a) you have bought it through Steam, Epic Games or the Ubisoft store; and (b) GeForce Now has specific permission from the publisher to stream it. In practice, this lets you play many games (including, as Wierdo notes, Crusader Kings III), but not all.
If you're not in a rush, you might wait until the Steamdeck ships, to see whether it lives up to the hype. It is supposed to start shipping next month, although the date has slipped before and may slip again. And even the February date is only for people who ordered well in advance. If you reserve one now, you'd get it "after Q2 2022."
It's basically a handheld gaming PC with a built-in screen and controls, and at least in theory, it should be able to do anything a PC can do. I expect it can run Crusader Kings III because that's exactly what it's doing in the demo video on the official Steamdeck website!
In addition to the built-in screen, you should be to plug the steamdeck into an external monitor and use it like any other computer. If you have an iMac, you may or may not be able to plug it in and use the iMac as a monitor-- I know I can't do that on my late 2015 iMac but I don't know about other models.
posted by yankeefog at 3:57 AM on January 21, 2022
One possibility is a game streaming service. The only one I've used personally is GeForce Now. It works pretty well, although it is very dependent on how my Internet connection feels like behaving at the moment. Also, for legal reasons, GeForce Now will only let you play a game if (a) you have bought it through Steam, Epic Games or the Ubisoft store; and (b) GeForce Now has specific permission from the publisher to stream it. In practice, this lets you play many games (including, as Wierdo notes, Crusader Kings III), but not all.
If you're not in a rush, you might wait until the Steamdeck ships, to see whether it lives up to the hype. It is supposed to start shipping next month, although the date has slipped before and may slip again. And even the February date is only for people who ordered well in advance. If you reserve one now, you'd get it "after Q2 2022."
It's basically a handheld gaming PC with a built-in screen and controls, and at least in theory, it should be able to do anything a PC can do. I expect it can run Crusader Kings III because that's exactly what it's doing in the demo video on the official Steamdeck website!
In addition to the built-in screen, you should be to plug the steamdeck into an external monitor and use it like any other computer. If you have an iMac, you may or may not be able to plug it in and use the iMac as a monitor-- I know I can't do that on my late 2015 iMac but I don't know about other models.
posted by yankeefog at 3:57 AM on January 21, 2022
CK3 does not require a lot of hardware to run. You can run it quite well with a gaming PC from... 5 years ago. It doesn't need latest and greatest 3D graphics and such.
On the other hand, I don't recommend you cheap out either. Buying a pre-owned is fine, but checkout GamingNexus' review of prebuilt-PCs. Some of them are HORRENDOUS. (the Dell PC they order through anon buyer, they specifically requested NO bundled ware and NO antivirus subscription, they got subscription ON TOP of another subscription hidden on the invoice, IIRC) Their cheap recommendation so far is about $1000 and should run CK properly.
posted by kschang at 4:38 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
On the other hand, I don't recommend you cheap out either. Buying a pre-owned is fine, but checkout GamingNexus' review of prebuilt-PCs. Some of them are HORRENDOUS. (the Dell PC they order through anon buyer, they specifically requested NO bundled ware and NO antivirus subscription, they got subscription ON TOP of another subscription hidden on the invoice, IIRC) Their cheap recommendation so far is about $1000 and should run CK properly.
posted by kschang at 4:38 AM on January 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've had a good experience with Shadow, which is another streaming option and supports mac. It has the advantage over GForce Now of letting you play theoretically anything, including CK3, since it's basically just a PC in the cloud with a nice GPU. I've had very good luck with Paradox titles among others.
posted by Alensin at 5:13 AM on January 21, 2022
posted by Alensin at 5:13 AM on January 21, 2022
The last time I bought a computer for gaming I poked around Steam and noted the recommended specs for the games I absolutely knew I would play, and the minimum required/recommend specs for newer released games that I might want to play. It lists out how much processor and graphics card you need (you can always up your own RAM yourself, it's trivial) to run the game.
Then I set those rec'd specs up on searches around various online stores (most places you can check these things off on a filter just like if you want to buy a blue sweater from a clothing retailer) until I found a list of computer models that met my needs on the specs. Then I price shopped on those specific computer models.
After maybe two-three days of clicking around in the hours after work I ended up getting a computer I was very pleased with, for a price that felt appropriate to me, that still several years later has run everything I've wanted to play just fine. And importantly I didn't have to learn one god damned thing. Sure, I could learn to build my own PC or become really knowledgeable in whatever the cryptotwats are doing right now, but I'd rather spend that time playing games.
posted by phunniemee at 5:54 AM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Then I set those rec'd specs up on searches around various online stores (most places you can check these things off on a filter just like if you want to buy a blue sweater from a clothing retailer) until I found a list of computer models that met my needs on the specs. Then I price shopped on those specific computer models.
After maybe two-three days of clicking around in the hours after work I ended up getting a computer I was very pleased with, for a price that felt appropriate to me, that still several years later has run everything I've wanted to play just fine. And importantly I didn't have to learn one god damned thing. Sure, I could learn to build my own PC or become really knowledgeable in whatever the cryptotwats are doing right now, but I'd rather spend that time playing games.
posted by phunniemee at 5:54 AM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
This is what steam has to say about your game, btw. (You can find this closeish to the bottom of every game listing on the steam store, you have to click to expand to see the full thing.)
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows® 8.1 64 bit / Windows® 10 Home 64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2120 / AMD® FX 6350
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 (1GB) / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7870 (2GB) / Intel® Iris Pro™ 580 / Intel® Iris® Plus G7 / AMD® Radeon™ Vega 11
Storage: 8 GB available space
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K / AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2400G
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 1650 (4GB) / AMD® Radeon™ R9 390X (8GB)
Storage: 8 GB available space
posted by phunniemee at 5:57 AM on January 21, 2022
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows® 8.1 64 bit / Windows® 10 Home 64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2120 / AMD® FX 6350
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 460 (1GB) / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7870 (2GB) / Intel® Iris Pro™ 580 / Intel® Iris® Plus G7 / AMD® Radeon™ Vega 11
Storage: 8 GB available space
RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K / AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2400G
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 1650 (4GB) / AMD® Radeon™ R9 390X (8GB)
Storage: 8 GB available space
posted by phunniemee at 5:57 AM on January 21, 2022
With the current market you might be better off just getting a gaming laptop. GPUs are very expensive and hard to find right now.
I've always been a "build your own PC" type of guy but last year I broke down and got an Asus gaming laptop (specifically this one) and it's been pretty great. The screen is trash on that particular model but I don't really care because I'm using it as a portable desktop. The RTX 3060 Mobile inside mostly crushes the graphically-intensive games I like, although it struggles with 4K resolution on modern games that don't have DLSS support. This probably isn't a concern for strategy games and the like.
(Specifically for Crusader Kings, I imagine you'll want a beefy CPU too. It's a pretty demanding game. The Ryzen 9 in the laptop is outrageously fast -- just blows away my custom-built i7 desktop from 5 years ago.)
posted by neckro23 at 7:31 AM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've always been a "build your own PC" type of guy but last year I broke down and got an Asus gaming laptop (specifically this one) and it's been pretty great. The screen is trash on that particular model but I don't really care because I'm using it as a portable desktop. The RTX 3060 Mobile inside mostly crushes the graphically-intensive games I like, although it struggles with 4K resolution on modern games that don't have DLSS support. This probably isn't a concern for strategy games and the like.
(Specifically for Crusader Kings, I imagine you'll want a beefy CPU too. It's a pretty demanding game. The Ryzen 9 in the laptop is outrageously fast -- just blows away my custom-built i7 desktop from 5 years ago.)
posted by neckro23 at 7:31 AM on January 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
For a relatively inexpensive but capable gaming system, you probably want a later generation i5 or i7 (12th gen is out now but not yet in a lot of prebuilt gaming systems; I would not go earlier than 11th gen) or a recent Ryzen 5 or 7, at least 16GB RAM, a NVMe SSD that is ideally at least 512GB, and something like an RTX 3060 (or nicer, if it works out) for your graphics card. I'd expect to pay in the $1200-1500 range, depending on the exact specs.
If you want something that doesn't take up a lot of space, definitely consider a laptop. I've seen really good reviews of the Asus ROG Zephyrus gaming laptops, and you can get a nice 14 inch one for $1300 at Best Buy or a somewhat more tricked out 15 inch model for $1700.
If you'd rather go for a desktop, I've had pretty good experiences with MSI Trident small (relatively) form factor systems. Here's one with an 11th gen i5, 16GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD and an RTX 3060 for $1350 on Amazon. If that's not small enough you could also look into a gaming NUC but at this point I kind of wouldn't because the 11th gen ones are about to get phased out and the 12th gen ones haven't dropped yet.
Also, if you liked CK3 I would suggest looking into the Total War games and Old World.
posted by implied_otter at 7:49 AM on January 21, 2022
If you want something that doesn't take up a lot of space, definitely consider a laptop. I've seen really good reviews of the Asus ROG Zephyrus gaming laptops, and you can get a nice 14 inch one for $1300 at Best Buy or a somewhat more tricked out 15 inch model for $1700.
If you'd rather go for a desktop, I've had pretty good experiences with MSI Trident small (relatively) form factor systems. Here's one with an 11th gen i5, 16GB RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD and an RTX 3060 for $1350 on Amazon. If that's not small enough you could also look into a gaming NUC but at this point I kind of wouldn't because the 11th gen ones are about to get phased out and the 12th gen ones haven't dropped yet.
Also, if you liked CK3 I would suggest looking into the Total War games and Old World.
posted by implied_otter at 7:49 AM on January 21, 2022
Yup, the Asus ROG Zephyrus 14" is the one I mention above. I'm pretty happy with it personally, aside from the screen having poor contrast and therefore being mostly unusable outdoors.
(also, having two GPUs is a bit of a pain, although if necessary you can completely disable the low-power one in Device Manager so apps don't try to use it)
posted by neckro23 at 8:50 AM on January 21, 2022
(also, having two GPUs is a bit of a pain, although if necessary you can completely disable the low-power one in Device Manager so apps don't try to use it)
posted by neckro23 at 8:50 AM on January 21, 2022
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You can try it for free (possibly with a long wait) with a limited session time and if it works I think they're charging $10 a month for paid accounts now. Eventually you'd be in the money buying a new computer, but it would take a while.
posted by wierdo at 7:48 PM on January 20, 2022