lwhy?

Is Lenovo a good brand? I've only owned HP computers recently. I'm tempted to go ahead and buy that one since it's $650.

kahuna

I been watching some of Lenovo Legion T5 26AMR5 videos on you tube. Since this was posted. Very positive on this Lenovo computer. Easy to upgrade components not like HP which is all proprietary components. Which is hell to upgrade. Seems like a great price.

I Bought A Gaming PC From Best Buy and it's a Beast! - This one comes with a AMD Ryzen 7.

Jay G.

I've owned a Lenovo K450 refurb since 2014. I've upgraded the RAM, added an SSD, replaced the power supply, and swapped in an RTX 2060, and it's still going strong.

I've also been dealing with Lenovo's business line of ThinkCentre desktops and ThinkPad laptops at work for years, and those are considered really well made business machines that mostly just work. Granted, their consumer "IdeaCentre" line isn't quite as well regarded due to aiming for a much cheaper price point, but they're at least as good as HP or Dell.

Also, I assembled this GPU benchmark comparison of the Legion's GTX 1660 SUPER to the two cards mentioned in the minimum requirements (GTS 450 & GTX 660), as well as with the integrated graphics in two of the Best Buy PCs. The GTX 1660 SUPER is at least 3x more powerful than any of the others.
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/c...adeon-Graphics

lwhy?

I went ahead and bought it. Thanks for your help Jay G. and kahuna. It also comes with free Game Pass for 3 months. I’m definitely going to try out Game Pass. Any suggestions for a monitor to go with it? Also, can I use a PS4 or PS5 controller or will I need to buy an Xbox controller for Game Pass?

Jay G.

I figured you'd start out with your existing monitor, since it's nominally a replacement PC for your existing.

However, a monitor recommendation depends a lot on the size you want/can fit on your desk, the resolution & refresh rate you want, and the price you can afford.

For deals, I typically start by checking Techbargains and Slickdeals. I've specifically filtered to show results only related to monitors:
https://www.techbargains.com/categories/monitors
https://slickdeals.net/forums/filter...order=desc&r=1

You'll need to install DS4Windows or DS5Windows use a DS4/DS5 controller on Windows to play games. It basically emulates an Xbox 360 controller.
https://ds4-windows.com/

Here's a guide on how to use DS4Windows:

lwhy?

I’m going to try to start out with my existing Samsung monitor, but it’s as old as my current PC (8 years) and it’s kind of buggy. It goes to black randomly and I have to restart my PC to be able to see anything. Weird thing is my Mom and Dad have the same HP PC and Samsung monitor that I have and their monitor doesn’t act up like mine does.

Jay G.

If you're rebooting the PC instead of power cycling the monitor to get it working again, it's likely the PC that's the problem, not the monitor.

One possible way to test is to swap monitors with your folks for a day or so and see if the problem follows the monitor, or stays with your PC.

If you do end up needing a new monitor, I would think 24" 1080p 75Hz is basically the minimum for a "gaming" monitor in this day and age. You can get one for around $100:

kahuna

Last week I picked up the 24" and 27" Samsung T350 Series IPS 1080p 75HZ LED Monitor. Both were purchased from Samsung.com. The 24" was $79.99 and the 27" was $99.99.

The 27" is still on sale at Samsung. Found it on Slickdeals.
(EDU] Samsung 27" LED IPS Monitor with Borderless Design $99.99 at Samsung
https://slickdeals.net/f/16289047-ed...at-samsung?v=1

kahuna

31.5" Samsung LS32AM702UNXZA 4K HDR VA Smart Monitor $190 at B&H Photo with free shipping.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._uhd_60hz.html

K&AJones

When I got my PS5 I had to think abot getting something else instead of keep using our 1080P Sony Projector. A friend said, "get a gaming monitor, it's better overall anyway".....so I looked into and started research for a week and ended up getting this ASUS 32 inch....
....so far I've overall satisfied, it fit what I was looking for though not providing a True 4K experience, PQ is solid along with 165Hz.



There were some others in the mix that overall had solid reviews but at the time this was on sale, had all the right inputs, reviews pretty good and I've liked ASUS products overall. The others in the mix were LG, Samsung, Gigabyte, Dell (yes Dell seems to always have some good monitors) and viewsonic. The LG one seemed the closest to ASUS, Samsung while high marks and reviews was also the more expensive. Gigabyte had one model that was good and Viewsonics have traditional had solid PQ.


This is the LG I was looking at and my second choice. Right now that's a steal at that price with those specs. Might be due to the newer model that came out at about $150 more....


The Dell was another that surprised me with the reviews but at the time wasn't on sale and it's a 34" widescreen which no benefit for PS5....`

lwhy?

I just received an email from Lenovo that my shipment is delayed and that it will ship in the next 30 days....

lwhy?

It shipped today after getting the shipping delay email yesterday. I should have it by this weekend.

K&AJones

great to hear...keep us informed on everything.

Just a side note....it doesn't matter by or made by who, there's plenty of stories of New PC arrived with issues like loose screws, case, bent parts, stuff not plugged in all the way like memory. Make sure to cover yourself take a video and/or pictures from when you start to unbox (not any damages to box), documentation, CDs, Cables, etc....take a picture of each side.....and picture of inside with side panel off.

lwhy?

Ok the PC comes with a full year of their best warranty, but I'll be sure to take photos just in case.

lwhy?

It arrived today. Fast shipping. I unfortunately won't be able to unbox it and set it up until Wednesday though. I have to work and won't have time until I'm off on Wednesday. I did set up a Steam account yesterday. Are there ever any deals on Steam gift cards? There's four games that I want to buy.

RichC2

Gift cards? Rarely. But Steam is well known for their sales.

Also check out the Humble Choice bundles (they're $12/month but you can just pick up random ones as they come along)

Edit: I dislike Epic Game Store because it's extra steps for me but they also give out free games regularly and have reusable 25% off coupons. Ie: GTA V is $11.25, God of War is $22.50.

T-bone22

https://isthereanydeal.com

This is a fantastic site for finding the lowest price on PC games.

K&AJones

Steam always has some good sales...another reason why I want a better PC. But they also have really good forums especially for the Games themselves. I often visit certain ones that I play on PS5 to get answers and look for help since there's not much on other forums. There's topics on about everything PC related

RocShemp

Thanks for this. Made a bookmark for it immediately.

lwhy?

I'm setting up my gaming PC today. First impressions are that it's heavier and seems to be made well. My first fail is it doesn't have a VGA port so I'm going to have to get a new monitor. I have a spare that works for the time being. I'm currently in windows update mode. It says it could take up to 30 minutes.

Noonan

Yeah, nothing modern will have a VGA out. It's all HDMI and DisplayPort. You could get an adapter for cheap if you didn't want to invest in a new monitor.

lwhy?

Any brand preference? I think I'll get an adapter for now. This one is $6.67 on Amazon.

Noonan

For an adapter? Nah. If you mean a monitor for gaming, I've always been a fan of Acer.

lwhy?

I meant for an adapter. I don't really want to spend another $200 on a monitor right now. I'm going to wait until February or March or later to get one.

Noonan

Any adapter should be fine. It's just re-directing the pins (and removing audio but that shouldn't be an issue for you since you were using VGA prior).