I was an avid single player gamer a long long time ago (15+ years) and the recent Quake II remaster sparked the nostalgia in me and now I want start playing all my favorite classic games (StarCraft, Diablo II, Quake 2 and 3, Battlefield 2, etc.) again.

The problem is I mostly have old hardware. My old HP laptop running Arch just died recently and my old MSI laptop running Mint that I use as a media player connected to my tv is too slow to run games properly.

So I was thinking of buying one of those mini PCs or compact desktops that run around $200-$250 to dual boot Windows (don’t wanna waste the free license if it comes with it) and Linux and use it as a gaming machine. I’m so behind with pc specs nowadays so I wanted to ask the community for recommendations. I’ll be playing mostly the classic games above and their remastered versions so I don’t really need a top of the line machine, just something decent that isn’t too far behind and can still run some current games if I ever find anything new interesting.

Any suggestions please? Thanks!

  • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Unless you are getting a good deal on a used model (which technically would not come with a license anyway), I strongly suggest avoiding windows at all at this price range. That is going to be a significant chunk of your 250 USD budget, even at OEM rates.

    I would also be rather shocked if you could find anything with even “last gen” gaming performance at the 250 USD range without getting a really good deal on a used office computer. Which isn’t bad (if you shop local, you can get decent specs for closer to 100 USD), but will still need a GPU. Because yes, you can “game” on integrated graphics. But even for older games, I strongly discourage it. it is a MASSIVE drop in performance (AMD’s APUs are only a large drop in performance) and, especially for older games, you may run into quirks of the drivers/OS that having a bit more power would have gotten past.

    So unless you really know what you are doing (and, no offense, your post doesn’t make it sound like that. And there is nothing wrong with that), I would really suggest saving up for another month or two and going more for the 400 USD range. Then just get a Steam Deck (optimally a refurb if any are in stock). Won’t have Windows without some (honestly not that bad) shenanigans and the upgrade potential is weak. But it can more than play “previous gen” games and most of the remasters are going to either be explicitly or implicitly targeting it. And if Windows is the priority, you might be able to get a GDP or Aya or ASUS equivalent on sale/used.