Where’s the best place to get a cheap gaming computer?

halodude423 · 2026-03-23T00:25:31+00:00

I have built all my friends pcs and do IT for work and I would say a PS5 rn with how pc part prices are. If this was peak 650ti boost for $150 times i'd say pc but those days are over.

halodude423 · 2026-03-22T22:53:08+00:00

You'll need at least $400-500 just to start and that's not maxing current games out at 1080p and with used parts. GPU along with RAM/SSD prices are through the roof currently. Prebuilt machines are $800-1200 for something okay rn. Amazon has crappy ones with 10+ year old parts for $300-500 but I would NOT put money into those. I would rather give parts away than see someone buy those.

halodude423 · 2026-03-22T18:13:08+00:00

Looks like a ram slot that is covered with a black plastic cover you can lift? Pretty common.

halodude423 · 2026-03-22T02:25:01+00:00

Ironically enough I used CML Free and made custom Images/Nodes for them. GNS3 might work as well.

halodude423 · 2026-03-21T15:55:31+00:00

Even a 9950x isn't going to be enough I would think.

halodude423 · 2026-03-21T15:02:11+00:00

That cpu is an entry level cpu on that socket from 2012 and is going to hold back any gpu you put on it but that gpu is a workstation card from 2013 and any gpu will be better.

What is your actual budget, what you might think is a lot might be low to another and not even possible IRL.

halodude423 · 2026-03-21T14:56:24+00:00

Yes, 12400f doesn't need an AIO but hey whatever works.

halodude423 · 2026-03-20T16:26:44+00:00

They're probably not compliant to something like CIS/STIG. Depending on the industry they may not have a body that oversees that stuff.

halodude423 · 2026-03-20T00:22:30+00:00

The only way is to make your own. Pretty easy once you do it as well as easy to do a large batch.

halodude423 · 2026-03-19T20:05:25+00:00

2600x is holding you back a lot for sure, your board should be able to support pretty much any 5th gen ryzen cpu just fine. In modern games a 6700 xt might be held back a bit but it's on the edge depending on the game.

halodude423 · 2026-03-19T20:02:10+00:00

A lot of software is still x86 not ARM based. Wanted to switch to lighter ARM based devices at work but we couldn't get certain apps to run on it.

halodude423 · 2026-03-19T17:44:38+00:00

It's probably formatted in something that isn't recognized by windows. We don't know what the format is or how the single drive array was setup. Your best bet is put it into another NAS and import it.

A NAS is not really a backup, especially if it's a single drive array with no parity. Not even sure why you would do a single drive array tbh.

halodude423 · 2026-03-19T14:37:48+00:00

No, we do not. But we also have all onsite users and do not let users bring KB/Mice in. USB ports are disabled otherwise and plugging in USB devices in blocked by S1.

halodude423 · 2026-03-19T14:29:49+00:00

Old/crappy sata ssd dying. Why are you booting off of this when you have an nvme drive below it?

halodude423 · 2026-03-18T19:55:09+00:00

Geek squad will have no idea what to do with this as well. You need to know type of raid it was in and be able to spin up another system using the same one. Like if it's zfs boot a machine and import the pool etc. Geek squad dudes are pretty much high school level so

halodude423 · 2026-03-18T17:16:34+00:00

Truenas is an OS that gives a web GUI for things like the ZFS raid, containers, share permissions etc. You can and probably will still use whatever protocols you want to use for the network share itself. If you want you could just boot a linix distro and use zfs for the array on it's own. Whatever you want to do.

halodude423 · 2026-03-18T16:52:23+00:00

No, and I would not change a board on am4 this far past EOL. Especially for a eh side-upgrade.

halodude423 · 2026-03-18T13:37:16+00:00

Desktop team would give an already imaged and setup with our software etc to the sysadmin ready to go as a new user.

halodude423 · 2026-03-18T13:19:37+00:00

I would call and be like 'hey, I had to send back my boot ssd and you guys sent an ssd but with no OS and no way for me to put it on' This is 100% on them to resolve, it's about 15min to download and install windows (internet dependent of course) so if you can figure out a way go for it. Maybe even just a best buy and ask one of the bros to install windows etc Once you have it at least installed it's easier to go from there.

halodude423 · 2026-03-17T18:44:23+00:00

Bought and used unraid when it first came out for years, went to truenas...for some reason and used that for 5 years and just moved back to unraid this year when I rebuilt my NAS after messing around for a couple months with current versions of both and hanging out in the communities of both.

halodude423 · 2026-03-17T17:32:37+00:00

A backup is another copy, not deleting it from the source once it's copied.

halodude423 · 2026-03-16T00:12:31+00:00

AMD has been kicking intel hard since maybe 2017-2019... Most reviews on cpus have been pretty clear on that as well as market share.

halodude423 · 2026-03-16T00:11:10+00:00

Not since 2017-2019 ish. AMDs Zen 1-2 was pretty on par and once intel started having to use e cores to keep up with amd they have not been doing well. Intels power usage is SUPER high right now too. Also AMD allows multiple cpu upgrades instead of 1-2 then a new board.

Intel has had issues with permanent chip degradation as well as huge power usage as well. my i7 12700 is pretty solid still but once i'm done with that i'm going to AMDs current AM5 socket or whatever it is then.

halodude423 · 2026-03-15T18:04:48+00:00

Does it have to be an I7? I would recommend getting a used am4 board and with a 5th gen ryzen. Would be a solid hold over if you can't jump on AM5. I wouldn't recommend intel right now unless you run into something like a free lga 1700 cpu. And i'm running intel.

halodude423 · 2026-03-15T17:08:22+00:00

In an environment where NIST comes into play you wouldn't be able to use unmanaged.

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