Get the best choices from refurbished machines
Get the best choices from refurbished machines
I seek stable performance for over five years – just reliability, not sustained speed.
I need at least 30 fps in games such as Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Assassin Creed titles, GTA, RDR, etc.
I want no stuttering when moving the mouse or keyboard, and no sudden drops below 30 fps.
1080p High/Ultra settings are acceptable, but not too low.
I prefer not to overclock.
I currently own a Saphire 5600xt BE.
I might consider a 6700xt for 285 USD if it adds value compared to what I have.
Another choice could be a 6600xt for 145 USD.
Which of these options best fits my needs from what’s available?
a. HP Z440 + 2667v4 + 2x16GB DDR4 + 750W PSU = 145 USD
b. W-2135 + 4x8GB DDR4 + at least 625W PSU = 200 USD [possibly Dell T5820, HP Z4 G4 or Lenovo P520]
c. W-2145 + 4x8GB DDR4 + at least 625W PSU = 275 USD [possibly Dell T5820, HP Z4 G4 or Lenovo P520]
d. Ryzen 5600 + ASUS Prime B450M A II + 2x16GB DDR4 3200 + CX650 80 PLUS Bronze = 415 USD [all new items]
I think that's a fair point. From a budget perspective, a console seems like a solid choice. It’s unclear if you’ve encountered many benchmarks, but Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 at 1080p minimum with 30 FPS will need a significant upgrade. The 6700XT is a decent option for 1080p medium to high performance in that game. I’d recommend a minimum of 5700X3D to eliminate the low frame rates, so you replace all your existing components with newer ones, but opt for a more costly processor. Trying to make it last five years isn’t really feasible with older workstations—either they’ll become outdated too quickly or they’ll fail under constant gaming demands.
I know that you're specifically looking for someone to highlight the best of all the bad options, but I can't do it. Unless you have a need to cheat in games, you extensively pirate games, or you have a focus on games that do not play well with a controller (RTS, maybe FPS) then you should be seriously looking at a Playstation 5. They start at about $400 new, can play every one of the games you're interested in at 60fps on a 4k screen (except RDR2 which hasn't yet gotten a 60fps patch and is locked at 30fps), and are guaranteed to provide a minimum baseline of quality for as long as the generation lasts (you're five years late at this point, but I'd guess still have a few more years).
It's a better experience and here's why: you'll no longer waste precious time trying to optimize your game settings. Choose performance or quality and go. The platform is fully integrated, so you don't have to worry about installing a plethora of game launchers and junk on your PC where they can run ramshackle installing spyware. No anti-cheat or DRM phoning home with your precious data. Stuff just works, because your setup is exactly the same as everyone else's. And the thing is just way more efficient - games load faster because they can use factory-precompiled shaders where the same titles will locally compile shaders each run. Multiplayer games are more fun because there are demonstrably fewer cheaters, which to me more than makes up for having fewer control options. And, finally, if you own or buy a TV then you can play on a couch instead of at a desk and it's a wonderful change.
Video games have not historically maintained their prices well, so leaving behind a PC game library to start anew isn't as painful as it might seem at first blush. I recommend you start out with a PS+ sub to one of the higher tiers (both are available right now at a discounted $100/yr) as you build your library. They include pretty much every Ubisoft game and most Sony games (God of War Ragnarok, Horizon, TLoU 1 & 2, etc) - something like
800 games total
. Will be more games of high quality than you have time to play.
Otherwise, if you have good Internet then streaming games via something like Geforce Now is probably the play. IIRC, the baseline setup is about $10/mo and lets you continue using whatever machine you have now instead of dumping hundreds of dollars into outdated, crappy machines that are uniformly bad choices for the basis of a gaming rig. They are bad today, right now, with no upgrade path that lets you transition to something better over time short of a complete platform upgrade. And even as slow as the game market moves these days, it seems very likely that you will suffer severely by being locked out of AI capability within the five year range you are trying to span.
I agree somewhat on this. From a budget perspective, a console seems like a solid choice. I’m not sure if you’ve encountered many benchmarks, but Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 at 1080p minimum with 30 FPS will need a significant upgrade. The 6700XT is a decent option for 1080p medium to high performance in that game. I’d recommend at least a 5700X3D processor to eliminate the low frame rates, so you replace all your existing components with newer ones, but opt for a more costly processor. Aiming for five years of use isn’t really feasible with older workstations—either they’ll become outdated too quickly or they might fail under constant gaming demands.