PC fettling and repairs thread

[Grant Fondo]

Please could someone recommend me a gaming PC? It's for my stepsons who previously had a home built £2000 machine but I can't afford that really.

Minimum spec would be to play Balders Gate 3, it says corei5, 8gb ram, gtx970 graphics card. Would any off the shelf (Amazon) gaming pc be ok in the 700/region? I want one that will handle gaming needs but don't want to pay for more than I need. I also not confident building my own.
Thanks in advance

Tough one if your stepson had a £2k gaming rig previously, no way he can upgrade that?, or is it ancient?

This one has got latest gen graphics (4060) from this year. Will play that game nicely unless he has a 4K monitor, then you need to spend more cash unfortunately.

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ADMI-Gaming-PC-3-6Ghz-Windows/dp/B07798R425/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=gaming+pc&qid=1693312267&refinements=p_36%3A9708209031&rnid=9708204031&s=computers&sr=1-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1


Don't buy the one you have seen with a GTX970, that card came out in 2014 and would really struggle.

Happy to advise if you see any other options, been building gaming pc's for 20 years!

*edit .... realised Baldurs Gate min spec is probably GTX970!

 

[Grant Fondo]

@Electric_Andy this one is slightly cheaper as last gen graphics, but is also slightly faster in games than pc posted above.

View: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GVMHXKA/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?pd_rd_i=B01GVMHXKA&pd_rd_w=fdQD9&content-id=amzn1.sym.84ea1bf1-65a8-4363-b8f5-f0df58cbb686&pf_rd_p=84ea1bf1-65a8-4363-b8f5-f0df58cbb686&pf_rd_r=KJW0MVDBNM14YT5TCZ6S&pd_rd_wg=TOVWs&pd_rd_r=6969a49e-2971-4064-a9db-708ac2fd0ac4&s=computers&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1

 

[Electric_Andy]

What is the spec of the old pc? Maybe you can get away with upgrading bits.

Complicated. They all chipped in to have one built with dad. Dad has now disowned one son so no more PC

 

[Electric_Andy]

Thanks all. Will ask them what the last one's spec was. I'm not spending out for like-for-like if I don't need to though. Also any problems with buying refurbed ones from ebay? They usually have a 1 year guarantee but new ones have 2 or 3...

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I use an iFixit toolkit, which has all the correct bits, makes it so much easier. Apple should be put out of business for the way they've turned planned obsolescence into an art form. Despite the Right to Repair movement, they are trying everything to profit from customers. The coding of parts requiring dealer intervention is another. Ask any Mercedes owner, same system.

Cheers man, I'll buy one of those, no doubt she'll break the darn thing again. Your right, terrible company..

 

[Grant Fondo]

Thanks all. Will ask them what the last one's spec was. I'm not spending out for like-for-like if I don't need to though. Also any problems with buying refurbed ones from ebay? They usually have a 1 year guarantee but new ones have 2 or 3...

Hi again. Yes, there is a problem with the Ebay ones, mostly a mish-mash of old (cpu's) and new bits, so not recommended. A current gaming graphics card will be severely hampered by a 7 or 8 year old 4 core processor, particularly in modern games. You want a 6 core from the last couple of years like those Amazon machines (Intel 12400 or AMD 5500), they are budget cpu's but will do the job.
Sky's the limit on graphics cards, below shows benchmarks ... look for 60 FPS or more for gaming.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Hi again. Yes, there is a problem with the Ebay ones, mostly a mish-mash of old (cpu's) and new bits, so not recommended. A current gaming graphics card will be severely hampered by a 7 or 8 year old 4 core processor, particularly in modern games. You want a 6 core from the last couple of years like those Amazon machines (Intel 12400 or AMD 5500), they are budget cpu's but will do the job.
Sky's the limit on graphics cards, below shows benchmarks ... look for 60 FPS or more for gaming.
View attachment 704532

Oooh I remember the days of running the FPS utility on Q3 or UT , to test out the gfx card ! Stuff was hood bang for buck back then ! I’m so far out of the loop these days with gaming PCs !

 

[Grant Fondo]

Oooh I remember the days of running the FPS utility on Q3 or UT , to test out the gfx card ! Stuff was hood bang for buck back then ! I’m so far out of the loop these days with gaming PCs !

Yes its a shame you can't build a half decent gaming pc for Playstation money anymore, which used to be the case until 3 or 4 years ago. I guess the alternative is to buy the bits secondhand and do some fettling

 

[DCBassman]

Fourth Mac, third iMac. This one is an i5-powered 21.5" from 2011, and will be my daily driver once upgraded and fettled. The Mac Pro and 20" 2008 iMac are already for sale.

 

[Proto]

Having keyboard problems with my 2012 iMac. Original wired Apple keyboard failed some years ago, and its replacement, an Apple Magic wireless keyboard, started misbehaving yesterday (possibly caused by me cleaning it ☹️ ), and I’m not inclined to buy another.

Not used for anything special, just general home office duties.

Anyone able to recommend an iMac compatible wireless keyboard of good quality? Would be nice if it was white and stylish (Shallow? Moi?) and would prefer a separate numeric keypad

Would be happy to ditch the Magic Mouse, too, so maybe a keyboard/mouse set?

Thanks all.

 

[DCBassman]

Having keyboard problems with my 2012 iMac. Original wired Apple keyboard failed some years ago, and its replacement, an Apple Magic wireless keyboard, started misbehaving yesterday (possibly caused by me cleaning it ☹️ ), and I’m not inclined to buy another.

Not used for anything special, just general home office duties.

Anyone able to recommend an iMac compatible wireless keyboard of good quality? Would be nice if it was white and stylish (Shallow? Moi?) and would prefer a separate numeric keypad

Would be happy to ditch the Magic Mouse, too, so maybe a keyboard/mouse set?

Thanks all.

Magic keyboards are...a pain. Fine when they work. Can't recommend anything particularly, try checking locally on Facebook Marketplace. In the meantime, any USB keyboard will be just fine. Quite like the Magic Mouse, however its predecessor, the Mighty Mouse, was horrible.
If you have a soft brush, try that on the Magic keyboard. As I suspect you've discovered, even isopropyl alcohol will kill these keyboards, and they are as close to unrepairable as makes no difference.

 

[GuyBoden]

Do you think was a good idea to upgrade from a 286 to a 386 chip?

 

[DCBassman]

Do you think was a good idea to upgrade from a 286 to a 386 chip?

With a bit of hindsight...yeah, not bad!

 

[DCBassman]

Oh dear, I'm writing this on my fifth Mac...
This one is an early 2011 MacBook Pro, usually one to be avoided, but...£20. Plus some screws and a charger. An expensive charger. It still needs a new battery, but once I'd given it a good going over, with much knowledge gleaned from Macrumors.com forums, I now have a rather beautiful laptop.
I haven't turned my "main" Windows machine on for nearly a week! The 27" Core 2 Duo iMac gets the main share of daily driver duties at the moment, while I decide what I'm going to do with the 21.5", which is a really nippy machine with 16GB of RAM in it. It currently runs Linux Mint, but I find myself increasingly going back to MacOS High Sierra, with Opera browser to keep the security on-line., So basic cost for five Apple Macs - £175. I can live with that. And it has taught me a whole new set of skills in terms of awkward disassembly!

 

[DCBassman]

An inventory of the venerable Macs accumulated in the last six months or so, in order of age, roughly:
Early 2008 - A1186 Mac Pro 3,1 dual 2.8GHz Harpertown X5462 Xeons - £20
Early 2008 - A1224 20" iMac 8,1 Core 2 Duo E8135 - £10
Late 2009 - A1312 iMac 10,1 Core 2 Duo E7600 3.06GHz £60
Early 2011 - A1286 MacBook Pro 8,2 Core i7-2635QM 2.00GHz £20
Mid-2011 - A1311 iMac 12,1 Core i5-2500S 2.7GHz £65

I'm still not at all convinced about MacOS, yet I find myself using it a lot. Hmmm...