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Tom's Hardware have a set of "best picks" guides that they update all the time, might be worth a look: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks
On top of what the others mentioned, GPU prices are going down slowly and we might see some decent low end offerings coming out later this year with Intel Arc GPUs also joining the fray.
Also, one thing not to cheap out on would be the PSU as an unbranded/unrated low end one could blow and it would be disastrous for the system... here's some tier lists as a reference. No need to buy a super high end one with very high wattage, but around 500-650W 80+ Bronze and above is what we'd usually go for in a budget build. The estimated system wattage on pcpartpicker is a useful reference, but having some additional headroom is always nice.
I've got until the end of September to finalize my (our) decision. So yeah, I'll wait until the last minute and thank you for bringing this to my attention.
One thing I can reccomend is that if you're up to the task it is very possible to get a commerical Nvidia graphics card and run two gaming VMs that can use the graphics card that they'll be able to connect to with their laptops (if they have them). Might save two birds with one stone if you're willing to be maintenance! Some videos on the topic here and here. I run this everyday and it works great for me. I will warn you though, Java Minecraft may not work. Idk if it's just my setup, but the only game I can't run on my server is Java Minecraft
Obvious biggest upside is they'll be able to play games together :) I reccomend good WiFi and Ethernet cables they can plug in at a desk though because the Ethernet cables make things way smoother
Steam Deck might be a decent option actually. It runs between 500~800 bucks. It is Linux based, but looks like a lot of Steam library runs well on it.
Can confirm. Many games run as if they were native ports. Those which not, will mostly run with simple tinkering. Some won't run, but given the amount of games there are, you could ignore them.
I find this website (https://www.logicalincrements.com/)and the likes very helpful answering that question.
Also the Steam Deck has great reviews as a powerful yet affordable computer for gaming. But you can't ignore the disclaimer that some popular games are not going to run with the given Operating System.
If you aren't in a rush I'd recommend waiting for a year. GPU prices are starting to go down but both AMD and Nvidia know they can still charge way more than they were in the past. With intel's new cards coming out on the low end they might be able to get AMD/Nvidia to release a more competitive lower end card to compete.
Also on the lower end and also weirder end the steam deck is also a full PC for $400, it would be playing new games reasonably well in 720p which looks good on its screen but it will also take a while to get into your hands, at least another year if you got into the queue now.
You could get them a build with a ryzen 5600g Should be enough to run anything from before 2016 at good enough graphics and struggle with newer ones, and you could eventually buy a graphics card in the future if you wanted to
Is it this one?
Yup, that is the one
I found this. What do you think? I could go higher in price if need be.
Oh wow that even has a dedicated GPU, the RX 5500 should be enough to play some e-sports titles and some modern games on lower settings.
I can't see the price since I'm from another country, but could be better: a 4gb vram card is good enough (I've got the 1650 super and it's really good for 1080p gaming), and the definitely not good enough specs are the ram and the drive space.
8gb is enough for gaming, but could get into problems with newer or more demanding games like Halo infinite or PUBG.
256gb drive is good enough for the OS and a few programs and maybe some games since newer ones get to be over 50 gigs.
If the price is good enough and you can afford an extra ram stick and an extra drive, go for it.
If you already have compatible ram or an unused drive, you can even save some cash.
I would strong recommend you get backup power supply for the PC. Hardware these days is ridiculously expensive and if you live in a place that has power surges, a UPS is worth every penny. Mine has saved my computer dozens of times.
Good call. It does happen a lot here. Thanks for the reminder.
I bought a $400 used machine that's about 5 years old. It's plenty powerful for what I'm throwing at it, though that's not that much.
Could you give me a little more information about how you went about that purchase? Where did you get it from, for example?
It was just Craigslist. I bought it off someone in my city.
OK. Thanks.
Given that most current PCs have around 16 Gb Ram and a 2 Gb GPU, they offer for a price of around $500, enough power to run almost all of the current games. I have a humble laptop for €350, AMD 8Gb and 2Gb GPU and almost all Steam games work reasonably well for me. Some games like The Dark Mod (OpenSource, Win, Linux, Mac) a beautiful first person stealth/adventure game, worked fine for me even on my old laptop with 4 Gb RAM and 1 Gb GPU without problems. The only thing that is recommended is that the PC has a separate graphics card, apart from the CPU. It can be perfectly from AMD, which is cheaper than an nVidia with similar features. I therefore think that a current mid-range PC for around $500-600 is enough.
The Dark Mod trailer