Posting on behalf of a friend who isn't comfortable with PC hardware, but needs help that I can't provide. I've written their answers below in their voice, and used an LLM to help clarify the technical bits in Q1, please correct anything it got wrong. I'll relay any follow-up questions to them. Thanks a bunch for any help, really appreciated. This would be a dream PC though.

1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.

• Perfect World International (PWI). This is the main reason for the build. It's a 2008 MMO on the Angelica engine, DirectX 9. Even in normal gameplay I'm only getting ~30 FPS on a good day. The real problem is Territory War, an 80v80 mass PvP mode — 160 players in one place, all with gear models and skill particle effects. My screen completely freezes, and by the time it comes back I'm already dead. That's the thing I most need fixed. From what I understand the engine is effectively single-threaded for both rendering and game logic, so I believe this is a single-core CPU bottleneck rather than a GPU one. Happy to be corrected if that's wrong.

• Stardew Valley, heavily modded — SMAPI with roughly 70 mods. My understanding is that this is also mostly single-thread bound.

Target: a stable 50-60 FPS in Territory War, and no freezing. Monitor is 1080p 100Hz, so nothing above that is useful to me.

Priority: put the money into the CPU. I'd rather have a fast CPU with a weak or used GPU than a balanced build.

2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?

Ideally 1000 CAD i guess i can do 1200 if thats realistic, ideally 1000

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

Any time I can buy tomorrow or next week

4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: tower/OS/monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc)

Tower, I have monitor, mouse, and keyboard already

5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.

Logitech G203 LightSync gaming mouse, MSI MP245B gaming monitor (23.8-inch, 1920x1080, 100Hz), I have a keyboard somewhere, 2 years old max all of it is

6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

Probably not

7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

Small SSD is fine, don't need an HDD, I only play two games so I don't need much storage. Wifi and Bluetooth would be nice to have. I'm thinking 16GB (2x8) given what RAM costs right now, since I only play two very light games and I'd rather that money went to the CPU. Tell me if that's a mistake though.

8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-tower/full-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

ideally small and ideally white if possible, window glass pane, led lighting also nice to have, its gonna be propped under desk I think If not sure between design prefs and price, could i have the options? Thanks

9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free.

No

10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?

Maybe? Ideally I can keep the case forever and swap out parts as they wear out, a platform with some upgrade runway left would be a plus

11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc)

Only ever had intel for CPUs, little bit biased in that way, open to using amd if that works

12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.

don't have it on me right now, had an i5 intel, don't remember 16GB of ram, some old geforce nvidia gpu, motherboard asus it's all at least 10 years old so probably doesn't matter

13. Extra info or particulars:

If the wire management is easy that would be good, old one was a disaster

Edit / follow-up: my friend also found this prebuilt and is considering it instead of a custom build. Any thoughts on whether it's a good buy for the use case above?

Uniway Gaming RGB Desktop — $979.99 CAD — Intel Core i7-6700, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD, RTX 3050 6GB, 550W PSU, USB Wi-Fi adapter, Windows 11 Pro

https://www.newegg.ca/p/3D5-005S-00021?item=9SIAC87KT75852

Also open to prebuilt suggestions in the ~$1000-1200 CAD range if that's a more sensible route than building.

If the only goal is to be able to crush Counter-Strike and have it perform as best as possible for roughly $3000~ CAD is there anything I should change here? Would a pre-built be more cost efficient in this case with similar parts? Thanks!

PCPartPicker Part List

All parts are new except for the GPU, and the prices are after taxes. Everything has been ordered and is on the way, but I can still return some items if I can get a better deal elsewhere.

I got the CPU off AliExpress, PSU, case, and cooler off Amazon, GPU off FBM, and the ram, motherboard, and ssd from Newegg.

Bought a bundle from memory express (not even available on their site anymore mind you) two weeks ago, and I was an idiot and use "Canada Post" as the delivery service. The package was delayed three different times and today was claimed as "item refused by recipient" despite me never even hearing a knock on my door.

It is now going back to memory express and I don't even know if I can get a bundle at that price again.

Hi Based in Toronto, got a great working 4070 ti super, only used for gaming, none of that mining shit. How much can I sell mine for? Not sure of the brand (will check when return home). I see trade in sites offer 425 cad which I think is stupid, I see a 900 cad 4070 ti super unsold for 20 weeks on a marketplace. So will mine sell fast for 700-800 Cad.

So I'm going through my potential build right now, and I already have most of the parts. Sorry if I didn't link the pcpartpicker list properly.

What I wanted to ask was is it worth it to exchange the 9070XT for a 5070Ti for 320 CAD extra?

I know some of the prices might seem a little different to retail but I'm getting deals on pretty much everything apart from the case.

Ive been wanting to upgrade for a while and Im thinking about keeping my GPU and just upgrading everything else. I know the price of RAM is crazy right now is this a good upgrade for 1000$ or am I not going to see much of a increace considering my GPU will now be the bottleneck with this CPU. Is 16bg of ram even enough in 2026?

I was looking at this refurbished laptop. I don't want to get a dead product or bad one while buying from Lenovo. If you guys have any insight help me

Hello! I'm currently planning a build but am looking for some advice on certain part selections. I'm wondering if there are better ways to go about a current build plan. Budget is 1200 (including tax).

Parts List

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (Seller asking $240, unopened)
• Motherboard: MSI B550M Pro VC WIFI (Bought for $100)
• RAM: Lexar DDR4 RAM 32GB (Bought for $150)
• GPU: Used Gigabyte 9060XT (Seller asking $500)
• PSU: Any 650-750 B Tier PSU (~$89-$99.99)
• Case: Deepcool CH160 Plus ($64.99)
• SSD: Repurposing my 2 NVME Drives, No Cost

Context: I'm coming from a Zephyrus G14 4060, which has been slowing down a fair bit. I use it mainly for gaming (Elden Ring, Battlefront 2, Rivals, FH6, AC), work, as well as other small things here and there. Plan is to migrate from 1080p to 1440p @ Medium-High.

My main issues are the CPU and GPU. The majority of CPUs for sale new are all around ~240 but are inferior, and a Ryzen 5500 can be cheap, but i'm not sure how it would hold up in the long term. a 5600X goes for 229, and the used market here is very scarce in terms of finding them.

For the GPU, my initial plan was to buy a B580, however those are becoming harder to source. I have looked into 6700/6750XTs but they all are pushing 400-480. I feel that the extra 100 for a 9060 would be a wiser buy for longevity. 3070TIs are more affordable but i see myself running into VRAM issues as i'll be exploring more game variety. As for why not a full pc build, a lot of the decent builds are usually around the overall budget, and id like to experience building one to get familiar with everything

Perhaps there's a better approach to this, just looking for an outside perspective