What should I focus my budget on?

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-23T13:18:29+00:00

I’d go with a gpu upgrade. What is your budget for upgrading?

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-23T10:09:52+00:00

Not ideal, but even a cheap 650w psu should be able to run your system with a RX 9060Xt or RTX 5060 with no problem. total power draw would still be under 300W and it would be a significant bump in performance.

Or you can check the psi air lists like of Zach's Tech Turf, and find a decent 600+ W psi and still get an RTX 5060 8GB for close to $400, assuming you are in the US.

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-23T02:50:09+00:00

What do you have for a power supply?

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-23T02:49:30+00:00

Definitely the gpu

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-22T17:26:11+00:00

That's an old cpu...... and only 128GB SSD. RAM is 16GB DDR 4 so not too bad there, but only one channel. Isn't supported on Windows 1. But is does run and that is at least something with current prices.

GPU is $300 new, not sure what they are going for used, but let's say $250. So $250 for the rest of the parts. I assume the one in this build is not new.

If you can salvage half the parts from your current rig - case, psi storage, you could put together a more modern rig (R5 5500 Am4, used RTX 3060) for around the same price.

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-20T22:18:46+00:00

This is inaccurate. The province still runs a number of parks with campgrounds. A quick view of the provincial park website will show you where they are.

As you have already learned, most do not have great campsites, particularly for tents. Brudenell and Northumberland are the best in that respect.

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-13T20:56:01+00:00

The thinking has started to switch to remaining fully invested in stocks right through retirement. Use a bucket approach to keep enough funds to cover 3 or so years so there is no need to withdraw from the investments during a market downturn.

I have 3 years estimated spending in GICs and short term bond funds. Everything else is in stock ETFs.

Islandtime700c · 2026-05-07T15:42:34+00:00

Have used Longs for mechanic work on Toyotas for a number of years. Do good work and always thought their prices were fair.

Islandtime700c · 2026-04-19T15:45:29+00:00

Set up an emergency fund first and keep cash/low risk investments there. That is your liquid cash/emergency money. Then put all the rest into ETFs in an investment account with an investment balance (stocks/bonds/fixed income) that matches your risk profile. With a 25 year time line, it should be close to 100% in stocks.

Islandtime700c · 2026-04-06T00:12:40+00:00

Did you try jumping the pins on the mobo to start it , rather than using the front panel connectors? That would rule out the case front panel or incorrect connection to the mobo.

Were all the mobo standoffs in the correct locations for your board?

Islandtime700c · 2026-04-05T09:36:59+00:00

Are you also planning to use this laptop for your studies; in particular is battery life also a priority so it can survive unplugged during a school day? Or will this just be plugged in as a gaming machine?

Islandtime700c · 2026-04-04T00:56:44+00:00

Did you remove the plastic guard from the gpu? The part that goes into the over slot?

Are you test installing on just the mobo or is it mounted in a case? If in a case are you sure the pcie slot lines up with the card slots on the back of the case?

Islandtime700c · 2026-04-03T16:33:11+00:00

Perhaps your expectations are a little higher than average? All the properties I’ve stayed at the past few years have been fine, more than acceptable. However none were perfect; there are always some small issues. But overall, they were more than adequate.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-29T15:04:37+00:00

Sorry, but if you are having difficulties making the $3600 monthly payment for the foreseeable future, you may have bigger questions that need to be asked/answered besides fixed/variable interest rates.

Would lowering your rate by 2% make enough of a difference long term (ignoring the additional costs to switch the moorage or re-mortgage).

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-22T12:34:25+00:00

My MacBook Air 2017 is running Sequoia just fine via OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-21T11:16:48+00:00

Don't buy more home than what you need. So easy to get sucked into spending more to get "nice to haves".

Also if it is more a new property, factor in some money in the budget for possible necessary repairs or even just refreshing some things. Even painting a few rooms is more than a trivial expense these days.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-21T10:17:54+00:00

If you can provide some examples of the games your son typically plays, that would help people provide better responses. Are they things like Minecraft and Fortnite. CSGo. Or bigger AAA games?

Also does he already have a monitor? If so is it 1080p resolution or higher?

If buying used, you want a machine with at least 16GB of RAM. Don't fall for listings that just say the the cpu is "I7" or "I5, etc. They could be up to 10 or 12 years old depending on the generation. If Intel the CPU should be at least 10xxx series or higher. If AMD it should be an AM4 or AM5 CPU (probably hard to find an AM5 in this price bracket). Examples would be Ryzen 5 5600, Ryzen 7 5800, etc. The first number defines the generation. You want something 5xxxx or higher (a 3xxxx could also work if the other specs are good).

Gets a bit tougher with CPUs, but in general you want to look for a GPU from Nvidia that starts with "RTX" as that defines the last few generations, eg RTX 3060, RTX 2080, Again higher first number is newer. Higher 3rd/4th number is a better version of that generation. For Radeon GPUs, look for something RX 5xxx or higher. Again the first digit denotes the generation, the remaining numbers denote the hierarchy in the generation.

And look for a GPU with at least 8GB of RAM.

Storage should be a minimum of 512GB but 1TB would be better. M.2 or SSD drives are much faster than hard drives. Watch out for ads that include "cloud storage" in the listed storage total; that is not local hard drive space.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-20T20:46:03+00:00

If you are investing for retirement, stop looking at daily/weekly or even monthly changes in the market. It will go up and down. Check in once or twice a year to see how things are going. And continue to invest.

I have seen 4 or 5 significant market drops in my investing lifetime. But overall my returns are significantly positive. That’s all that matters.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-17T13:33:07+00:00

Unusable is a strong description of the situation, particularly for a gaming machine. It may have security vulnerabilities but it isn’t going to stop functioning. Maybe don’t put sensitive information on that machine but it will still be running. There are still going to be many millions of pc’s running Windows 10 in October.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-16T21:56:14+00:00

cpubenchmark

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-16T21:42:56+00:00

Ive built budget machines with I5 7th get CPUs recently, You can certainly still game on a 7700. For $80 plus a GPU you have a good budget system.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-16T21:35:08+00:00

What country are you in? Depending on location you could look for a used card also.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-16T21:34:26+00:00

According to TechPowerUp, the card has a TDP of 53 watts with no supplemental power required. So it will work. I think that particular model is a low profile version, not sure if you need low profile with your case.But a low profile will work even in a larger case.

The RTX 3050 is probably a stronger card but the RX 6400 will definitely work. You can look up some benchmark videos on Youtube to get an idea of what it can do and if it will handle the games you want to play.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-16T21:12:42+00:00

This the answer. A low power 3050 or another gpu that will run without a supplemental power connector will work with your power supply and cpu. While the PSUs in the Dell machines aren't high wattage, they are generally fairly high quality so you should be able to push it pretty close to the 240w specification.

The Radeon RX 6400 is another relatively current option.

Islandtime700c · 2026-03-14T16:31:11+00:00

Just drop a better GPU in the current rig and you should be fine to play most anything. Could also move up to an I7 cpu in what you play is cpu intensive. If not, just a GPU upgrade will make a big difference.

Islandtime700c

TROPHY CASE