I don't know anything about gaming. The last time I regularly played video games was on my Atari. Yes, a million years ago.

  1. Basic question: I'd like to get into gaming. What's better a console or a gaming PC? My PC is super old so I have to buy a new PC anyway.

  2. I'm considering buying a renewed PC from Amazon. From what little I know - it seems like a good deal. If I buy something like a renewed Dell XPS 8940 for - I dunno up to $1,500 is that good enough for gaming? I'd prefer a boring PC case.

  3. What's the minimum I'd need to spend to get a gaming PC that plays most games?

  4. What are common mistakes people make when buying a gaming PC?

  5. Can most games be torrented?

  6. What's easier to torrent? Games for consoles or PC games? Ideally torrents will be my gaming store.

I'm giving myself until the end of the month to buy a new PC. So it's time for me to decide.

Amazon example...

Dell XPS 8940 Tower Desktop PC)

There are two PC setups on the page. Both are $1,000. Here are the specs for one of them.

[Edit: It's missing a useful graphics cad. I know I'll need the best graphics card possible because without that I'm buying a brand new car with a puny, nearly useless engine.]

  • 10th Gen Octa-core Intel i7-10700 2.9GHz Processor

  • 32GB DDR4 Memory

  • 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD +1TB SATA 7200 RPM HDD

  • DVD-RW Drive

  • Windows 10 w/ Accessories (Renewed)

Edit

I'm not interested in building one. I'd screw something up. It's just the way I am.

  • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    When it comes to consoles, outside of the Nintendo Switch (thank u Nintendo) pirating games isn't a thing anymore, and with big triple A releases it seems to be less of a certainty on PC as well thanks to Denuvo. I think these days the frugal Xbox and PC gamer mostly relies on Game Pass (:disgost: )

    What’s the minimum I’d need to spend to get a gaming PC that plays most games?

    Define "most games". If you want to play the latest and biggest Triple A slop on PC on max settings, it's increasingly looking like you will need some kind of ludicrous monster machine. However, for someone like you there's decades and decades of excellent games (not to mention emulating older consoles) you can happily play on modest hardware, and the stuff from the past 10 or so years is still very technically impressive so you don't need to feel like some kind of Dickensian orphan forlornly peering into the window of a candy store.

    As for your the computer you linked, it seems to be missing a graphics card entirely. You could get a perfectly decent card for, I don't know, 200 bucks. I do love the optical media drive though. Very retro

    Most people would tell you to build your own system or get one prebuilt. I will tell you though that with 1500 bucks you can get yourself a very nice machine

    • berrytopylus [she/her,they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I still play modern games if you're willing for it to look 95% as beautiful as perfect instead of 99% as beautiful and my PC cost like 600 max.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Dickensian orphan forlornly peering into the window of a candy store.

      That would be bad but...

      However, for someone like you there’s decades and decades of excellent games

      That's what I figured. There must be 100s (1,000s?) of great games that will be brand new to me.