My brother has offered to buy me a proper desktop computer. The catch is that I have to pick one out and I have only a hazy notion of what to look for or where.

I don't need/can't afford A Gaming PC , but I do want something robust enough to run some more modern games without choking.

I would rather stick with Win10 but if I have to upgrade, I have to

I’ve read some stuff that claims “gaming PC” is a marketing misnomer any more. A powerful comp is a powerful comp

I’m not super able to help suggest technical things, but i can offer that knowledge at least!

Well, a few things are coming back to me. I’d be wary of “good deals” at places like Best Buy... They often get tricky and use parts that sound legit but are one tiny letter or number off meaning they are more cheaply made.

I had a good experience ordering off XoticPC. You can build what you want and they’ll maker it and ship it to you i think

Pcpartpicker is good for looking up recommended builds or making one yourself, is my only advice--I built my desktop myself

Yeah, I am.... not savvy enough for that

maybe if I get him to look at these sites with me he'll cough up some opinions

thank you both!

if you can't get him to help, I had a local computer shop build my last gaming PC. Gave them a budget and what I wanted to be able to do with it, and they were able to recommend the best parts.

Not like, Best Buy, but an actual small business computer repair shop

Yeah, we do have a good one of those

thank god, because if I'd had to deal with the UBreakIFix people again there would have been carnage

A good computer shop will probably have good suggestions for parts and will probably be happy to build it for you and set everything up for cheaper than you could buy the PC at Best Buy

Definitely

fortunately, our local best buy closed like a year ago

so I Shall Not Be Doing That

Yeah, all good advice. If you don't have the local shop, XoticPC is basically that but online

But local shop is always best if you can get it. Then if you need repairs, you have them right there to go to

man this is complicated

you have to get a good this and a decent that and a good the other thing and they all have to be compatible with whatchamacallit

so many numbers!

i have no help to offer here but DANG you sure do come to understand why so many people just buy out of the box!

That’s why I like pcpartpicker, you can just click and it’ll search for things compatible with what you already selected so you don’t have to figure it out

mistakesweremade INORITE

Research research research

Haha I’m a total “just give a working thing in a box to me” person. Our local pc shop does just build cool pcs and sell them, which is probably what I’ll do when my laptop dies

Next best thing, it’s built but somebody else did it for me

Yep, that's what did. "I have $800 in tax refund and I want to play WoW better, can you help?"

Local shop 🫡

I'm a dork who actually really enjoys building computers, I've picked parts for and built two for myself and one for a friend

I like building computers so much I've even played pc building simulator >_>

maybe that would help!