I saw a couple of good deals on gaming computers online (Dell, Lenova and Best buy), that featured i7’s, 16GB ram, 2 hard drives (256GB SSD and 1TB-2TB), decent video cards and I could just get an external optical drive for ripping CD’s and DVD’s as needed. My current laptop, a gaming MSI, also has no optical drive. Prices are in the range of $1,499.00, plus tax. Well under $2K in Canuck Bucks.
what model(s) of i7 and GPU?
Can’t say, as I would have to go back and look.
I think I will just keep browsing. I have a rough idea of what I need/want. If I come close, I’ll come back for approval and critique. 
So I took a look on every online PC retailers that I know here in my place and guess what I saw:
Like Oh my god! What the fuck! the pricing from this RTX 3080Ti is just straight up extortion! I mean for the budget? I can buy a whole damn PC build with it! Php 136000 is equivalent to $ 2848.764!!
PC building is fucked and thank god I got a RTX 3080 before this shit, hell! mine cost cheaper than this shit! and it was a gift which I didn’t had any intentions of getting anyway! I am sorry for the new builders though
Last one! If a guy was looking to MAX his budget, would this be the one? I also included three years of next day/onsite service.
CAD $1,658.99
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10700F processor(8-Core, 16M Cache, 2.9GHz to 4.8GHz)
Windows 10 Home English
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 SUPER™ 6GB GDDR6
16GB, 1x16GB, DDR4, 2933MHz
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solild State Drive + 2TB 7200RPM Hard Drivel
500W Chassis with Bezel and Internal Lighting + Clear Door
Faster RAM, I give up on including the movie collection and I buy an external drive for ripping and movies/music, which could also work with my laptop.
What do you think? Above price is before tax. So, $2K landed.
since you don’t game, why are you after a gaming level system?
For the specs. Same reason I bought a gaming laptop. Fast and overkill for what I need. Should last several years without even breathing hard.
that is true…but it’s putting money where it does you no good that would be better spent on ensuring the important parts are a better and more reliable quality, such as that Lenovo ThinkStation P340 I shared with you earlier in pm’s.
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Not a Dell fan? I will go back and compare specs.
Here is a non-gaming equivalent:
CAD $1,638.99
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11700 processor(8-Core, 16M Cache, 2.5GHz to 4.9GHz)
Windows 10 Home English
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 SUPER™ 4GB GDDR6
16GB, 8Gx2, DDR4, 2933MHz
256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive + 4TB 5400 rpm 2.5" SATA Hard Drive
360W Mineral White Bezel Chassis including optical drive
I’d stay away from Dell if at all possible. Especially so if you plan on getting it directly from them. They are downright predatory when it comes to adding extras like warranties and support packages onto your bill even if you specifically tell them not to. Not to mention all of the bloatware they install onto all of their systems.
For your use case, an Intel CPU with integrated graphics or an AMD APU is all you will need. A dedicated GPU, while a nice to have, is just money that would be better spent elsewhere in the system.
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I’m okay with Dell, Lenovo and HP business grade desktops…and maybe their consumer focused products, if you buy the upgraded warranty coverage that the business products usually come with already, it’s not so bad…but for the matter you may have break downs. Lenovo / Dell / HP aren’t so bad…but Asus / Acer / MSI etc can be bad, especially if you buy from someone like BestBuy, as they don’t fix it. they ship it off to the mfr’s depot after you drop it off and then it can be gone for weeks or months, especially with the havoc COVID has caused with the supply chain.
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So, what do the “Geek Squad” do then?
The above model, with stepping back to an i5 is probably plenty for me:
CAD $1,538.99
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11600K processor (6-Core, 12M Cache, 3.9GHz to 4.9GHz)
Windows 10 Home English
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 SUPER™ 4GB GDDR6
16GB, 8Gx2, DDR4, 2933MHz
256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive + 4TB 5400 rpm 2.5" SATA Hard Drive
360W Mineral White Bezel Chassis including optical drive.
I am confused as to why Dell has three levels of support though? And (Michael) why do they recommend nice video cards with i5 and 17 processors? Just to pad the bill?
I like the small Lenova boxes, but they are not cheap when spec’d as above.
The response from local builders has been underwhelming to say the least. One guy demanded to speak to me on the phone before he would even write up a quote. When I said, “No thanks”, he wrote back and called me a scam artist!
It is like dealing with used car salesmen.
I agree 100%.
We have HW issues on weekly (sometimes daily) basis with Business grade Dell laptops and desktops… they just are bad. Only few Lenovos break here and there and some HP but the Dells is on another level.
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I don’t know that I’d call the 1650 or the 1660 nice, exactly? They are perfectly serviceable for low-to-mid 1080p gaming, but that’s about it. As for why, a dedicated GPU is almost always going to be better than the CPU’s onboard graphics, and with the way PC gaming has risen in popularity over the last few years it makes more sense to include them than not for most people. But as to whether they do it to pad the price? I wouldn’t think so. Even though most of the cards they use in those machines are the “Dell branded” model GPU’s from NVIDIA or AMD, profit margins are still probably going to be fairly low on them. I don’t know that for certain, but, current market conditions excluded, my understanding is that GPU board partners (ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, etc…) only make a few percent off each GPU they sell. Like 2-5%. I wouldn’t think that would be any different for Dell.
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Is the psu actually 360 watts? Many of Dell’s machines have very proprietary designs which I’d advise against.
I’m not sure which Dell you were looking at. But don’t buy from the G5 series.
Serious question, what’s the number 1 part of a computer that probably never gets cleaned as much as it should, in your mind?
Only 1 part? Most of my parts have been forgotten to get a clean from time to time due to my lazy ass. xD
Yep. That one part that you don’t clean for a while, and feel absolutely disgusted when you do. I’m including peripherals.
Personally… I may or may not be thinking about the keyboard thanks to having just pulled mine apart and deep cleaned it…
Any vents around fans, they can build up a lot of dust and dirt which can impede air flow.
While reading this question, I was reminded of roller ball mice which needed to be cleaned every so often as they gathered all the dirt from the mouse pad into the internals of the mouse tracking rods and caused the mouse to skip. Thankfully we don’t have to do that anymore. 
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power supply
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