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Blingy
06-16-2020, 06:40 PM
Good afternoon everybody.

A few years ago my son and I built our own computers. It was pretty fun actually putting them together. However it really isn't something I want to do again.

A month ago my wife decided to get back into EQ. She started playing on a reasonably decent laptop. Portability is great but a small 15" screen just wasn't cutting it. She's now playing on a really old (i5-2500 processor old) Dell Optiplex.....and it's acting like it's about to die (fan bearings going out, almost overheating while playing in a cool room, etc.). The thing is pretty maxed out on upgrades. I'm going to order a new system as an anniversary present; something playable but not break the bank.

First I have a
Evga GTX 660 from an older build
https://www.evga.com/products/specs/gpu.aspx?pn=c46f9673-5403-4e55-b5ef-b587b2715d13

and a

Thermaltake spd-0500p
https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/smart-500w.html

plus in her current really old system there's a DVD player, 120 Gig SSD, 24" Viewsonic monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I'm leaning towards buying the following to complete a much better system than she has:

i3-9100f
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1514726-REG/intel_bx80684i39100f_core_i3_i3_9100f_quad_core.ht ml

Asus Prime B360M-A
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1398146-REG/asus_prime_b360m_a_lga_1151.html

Crucial 16GB Ballistix
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1548826-REG/crucial_bl2k8g26c16u4r_ballistix_16gb_8x2_2666_mhz .html

Fractal Design Focus G Mini Tower Case
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1561247-REG/fractal_design_fd_ca_focus_mini_bk_w_focus_g_mini_ window.html

I've considered dropping down to 8 gigs of ram in favor of something more suitable for her needs but am coming up blank. My hard budget is $350 including shipping and tax. The above purchase will put me right at that limit.

Any of you see a pitfall, trap or better set-up idea? This will primarily for EQ but also some light web surfing, youtube, etc.

mcoy
06-16-2020, 09:00 PM
I always recommend logical increments to builders:

https://www.logicalincrements.com/

That said, your choices are pretty good. Only hangups I see are only having 120GB of storage, and I don't see a Windows license (~$120) unless you're planning on using a different OS. With usage as you described I don't see a reason to have 16GB of ram, plus that's something you can easily increase later.

-Mcoy