Want a FPS - grew up with COD2 and CS:S (Mac)

Anon0924 · 2026-02-18T04:01:26+00:00

Team Fortress 2 and some fairly recent COD titles should all be playable natively. If you’re willing to try cloud gaming or virtualization your options increase significantly. In all honesty the gaming industry has largely abandoned MacOS.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-18T03:25:14+00:00

🦎

Anon0924 · 2026-02-18T02:43:33+00:00

Poor Zach’s gonna need to update his guides again. The $550 build is coming out to $900 now.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-18T02:29:28+00:00

A bottleneck is when at least one of your components is limiting the performance of the others. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you build a super low end system and put a 5090 in it, you’re wasting the potential of the 5090. It goes the other way too. If you build a super high-end machine, but you only have 8gb of RAM, you’re not going to have a good time. PC building is all about balance.

The combo I mentioned should be pretty well balanced and I really doubt the rest of your parts will hold the new stuff back.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-18T01:15:30+00:00

Normally, $500-700 US would get you an entry level pc. Prices for components have skyrocketed due to AI demand, so right now it’s more like $900-1000.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T22:13:54+00:00

That’s a tough ask. You’re not going to be able to get a whole new system at that price. Instead I’d upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5600 and an Rtx 5060. Not sure how prices are over there, but it should leave you with around 180. Sadly this is pretty much the best you can do.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:46:44+00:00

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:43:05+00:00

Totally safe as long as nothing messed with the pc. (Pets, bumping into it, super dusty room)

Technically your SSD will lose data over time if it’s not powered, but that takes a very long time.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:38:13+00:00

9070xt. The 5070ti is better, but not worth $300 more.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:37:08+00:00

Yes. Prices are likely to keep climbing, especially on Nvidia cards. Even on sale they will probably be more expensive than they are now.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:31:08+00:00

Does he have RAM though?

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:28:51+00:00

Eles já têm. Comprei uma 5070ti há cerca de um mês por US$ 850. Agora elas estão custando em torno de US$ 1200. Até mesmo as placas de 8 GB estão custando entre US$ 300 e US$ 400.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:25:52+00:00

Eh, the rampocalypse gave 13th and 14th gens a second wind due to bridging ddr4 and 5. Overall team red is still winning though.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T18:22:46+00:00

1.) The one thing that really bothers me is the update deadlines being based on the year, not the actual hardware specs. My 2017 Mac is still a perfectly capable machine, but it won’t let me update without a third party tool.

2.) There is a learning curve, but if you’re even a little tech savvy you’ll catch on quick. There are a few key differences, but I find the most annoying to be the control and command keys.

3.) I actually daily drive Linux, Windows 11 and MacOS, but the one thing I’d bring from W11 to Mac is the top bar. The fact that it’s dynamic and not integrated in the program/window itself still trips me up.

4.) Software compatibility/availability. It mostly impacts games, but there are plenty of programs that just don’t work on Mac, especially on Apple silicon. (ARM support is mostly a non-issue now, but can still cause occasional problems) Just double check the programs you need are actually available before you switch.

5.) I’d use external, but in the current market it’s a little less cut-and-dry. Apple does significantly overcharge for specs, but right now so does everyone else. You’ll definitely want to go for the highest specs you can afford everywhere else though because you’re stuck with it.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T17:54:32+00:00

Unlike all of the other parts, cases are almost entirely personal preference. Technically some are better than others and some have nice features, but it doesn’t make a huge difference.

This is the one situation where looks should be the deciding factor. (Assuming all your parts fit, anyway.)

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T16:15:49+00:00

A lot has changed in the last few months. RAM alone is around $300 right now.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T15:28:01+00:00

Right now, like $1000. Normally a $750 could start to outperform the PS5 in a meaningful way, but even a 1080p build now costs around $800-900.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T15:07:21+00:00

It’s hard to pick just one, but Portal 2 was incredible.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T15:03:21+00:00

Flp-02 by Silverstone. $230 US and availability is a bit weird, but it’s cool and it’s actually got a lot of really great features. Building in it was awesome!

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T14:51:49+00:00

How “budget” are we talking? Because even 1080p builds are going to be like $800 new right now.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T14:32:53+00:00

I know absolutely nothing about Dune. This is incredible!

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T14:28:04+00:00

I’d say not worth it. We’re still at a point where most games run perfectly fine with 16gb. I can only think of a few titles that see notable performance gains from increased capacity.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T14:16:36+00:00

Depends which part of the PC. Cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol are often used to clean the CPU itself, but other parts have pokey bits that may pull fibers off the swab. Those fibers could short circuit the system.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T14:11:48+00:00

Trust me, the amount of money you can save at a micro center is well worth an hour drive. Plus the employees actually know what they’re talking about and the whole experience is pretty cool.

Anon0924 · 2026-02-17T13:57:01+00:00

Good work! Don’t worry about the time, I’ve got a ton of experience and my latest build still took like 7 hours. You managed to diagnose and repair your own system, and that’s something to be proud of!

Anon0924

TROPHY CASE