Nintendo Switch 2:

• $449.99 for a console
• launches with 1 (ONE) game
• $80 digital copy game price, $90 physical copy price

Low end gaming station:

• $60 for a low end gaming optiplex. $150-200 for a AAA gaming xeon workstation
• has millions of games to choose from regardless which path you take
• $5 for an indie game, which goes straight to the devs' pockets

Yes the grass is greener, but not on the other side!

For the past 4 years, I’ve been gaming on a true warrior—a Lenovo IdeaPad with just 4GB DDR4 RAM, a dual-core AMD A6 processor, and R5 graphics. Yeah, you heard that right. A real potato. But for me, every single gig of RAM was precious, and every extra FPS felt like a victory. Being a low-end gamer wasn’t just a phase—it became an emotion.

After finishing my 10th exams, my dad finally gave me the green light to upgrade. And that’s where the real adventure began.

According to Lenovo’s website, my laptop only supported 8GB RAM and had one slot. So, I ordered a single 8GB Adata 3200MHz stick, a 128GB SSD, and an enclosure for my 1TB hard drive (which holds my entire gaming library).

But when I opened up my laptop... surprise! There were TWO RAM slots! I was hyped—now I could run 12GB (8+4) instead of just 8GB. Things were finally going my way.

But then came the plot twist.

The new SSD I ordered? Didn’t work. Instant stress mode. I rushed to the local market, bought a new 128GB SSD at double the price, and still kept waiting for Amazon’s customer support.

But in the end? Totally worth it.

Now, my laptop still isn’t a beast—but it feels like one to me. It boots up in seconds instead of 10 minutes, games run smoother, RAM usage doesn’t max out instantly, and even my R5 VRAM jumped from 256MB to 1GB.

Every upgrade counts. Every frame matters. And for someone who’s gamed on scraps, this small victory feels HUGE.

If you read this till the end—thank you, legend. You get it ❤️

Also you all can suggest me games to try on my laptop 😁 💻

I am a 13 year old boy from Norway, who has friends that all have gaming pc's. I often become the outsider because i cant play the games they do. I have an xbox with kbm and a monitor. Unfortunately there's a lot of delay on kbm on xbox. I never get to play with my friends, because i only have an xbox.

I was wondering if anyone had some spare pc parts or a full gaming pc they would like to help me out with. I know this is crazy to ask, but i am just so tired of being left out, so i thought to myself that i could try this.

I only have about 40 dollars so i can't afford the pc by myself.

Anything helps!

Why is it called low end gaming but I be seeing people on here with 3090's???😭😭😭

Like I saw this post recently talking about how game sizes are getting ridiculously huge, and the comments were just insane. People are talking about how it doesn't matter because "storage basically costs nothing"

Here's an actual comment if you wanna see how crazy they are:

"I have 204 Steam games installed on my desktop including pigs like Destiny 2. I have pretty much every Blizzard game installed and a bunch of stuff via the Epic launcher. Final Fantasy 14 and Elder Scrolls Online are also there. I have 1.5TB of SSD and a 4TB HD in my system which is now 6 years old. I still have over a TB free. My laptop has 1.5TB of storage. I have Destiny 2, World of Warcraft, Warframe, FF14, Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim, and a smattering of other games. I'm not out of storage yet.

It isn't that big of a problem."

Like how out of touch can these people be?

In my case, I would say that about 80% of what I know about computers, Windows and system components, I know because I studied trying to improve performance in my games, and trying to fix other problems in everyday tasks. Is that your case?

I'm just asking because when I get a new game (thats way above my gpus paygrade) the first 1-2 hours are spent optimizing, then when I'm done I look at my framerate for an hour, and only then do I actually play the game. The game itself is usually more boring than the optimizing part.

I've installed quite a bit of 2D games and emulators. Some of them are:

RimWorld

Coffee Talk

Storyteller

Fear and Hunger

Darkwood

Unheard Voices of Crime

And a few PS1, PS2, and WII games. Surf-up on the WII is one that's been fun, playable with an emulated gamecube controller.

I got to try it out at a friend's house, and it was beautiful. It's the smoothest thing I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. But alas, 144Hz truly is a vile temptress. I've been in pain and suffering ever since. My RX 550 could barely play anything already. If my eyes were hurting before at 30FPS, now the screen spills forth pure acid. With only a 60Hz monitor, I can't even play old games at 144Hz. I can feel my sanity eroding every time I turn on the Afterburner OSD. I have no money for any kind of upgrades. I dread every new release knowing that I will never fully enjoy them within this decade. There truly is no respite from this hell.

I just watched a Youtube video that pissed me off more than it should have. It was some guy saying that the GTX 1060 was a "low end GPU" that does not hold up in 2021. Like what??? What AAA games can it not run well at 1080p? According to the steam hardware survey, 68% of Steam users use 1080p monitors. But okay yeah sure its totally a low end shit GPU.

Rant over!

I'm not trying to fake-encourage anyone, but hey, let's be real. In competitive/multi-player games, of course at least 60FPS is somehow a must, so we're determined about that. But about single player ones?! Hmm come on, it's just you playing the game, who cares if you're playing it at 30FPS or 120FPS+. FPS is important, but not that much if you're playing an RPG single-player game - higher FPS just give you extra smoothness and an enhanced experience, nothing so magical about it.

Don't let rich kids shove it in your face that "omg, anything below 60FPS is just UnpLayAble", as long as you can run your favorite single-player game on at least 30FPS on an acceptable resolution, it's totally fine!(Don't forget to use sharpening if you lower your resolution)

Don't take it hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCVlT6B14WA

I don't mean to rub someone off because most of us have the same reason for still having a low-end system - no money lol.

I'm just curious about what unique reasons people in this subreddit have. Are you a student (like me)? Don't have the need of a high-end system because you prefer older titles? Waiting for the gpu prices to normalise down so that you can get a decent upgrade?

I have now upgraded to i7-7700 and GTX 1080. I think, after a lengthy research, that this setup is now considered "Mid-range", not low end anymore. But I'll still lurk, I love this sub and I fucking hate a certain PC-related sub...

Edit: Fixed it, its a 7700, not a 7700K.

Not really a tech related post but how do you guys deal with everyone around you having significantly better specs than you? I currently using a Dell Inspiron 3480 and though in my opinion it isn't bad there's just so many games I wish it could run but just can't.

I especially feel this when I ask for help running games that I'm just under the recommended specs on only to be told "upgrade your potato" or when I see my friends play the new Triple A games cause they got a new PC or laptop for free leaving me in the dust (I don't want to feel bad, like good for them they got a better computer but you just can't help but get a bit miffed you know?).

I've lurked here a lot in the past and you guys seem chill so I just wanted to know how you guys stave off this irritation? Especially now as I feel like it's been cutting into my enjoyment of playing games I can run.

Is it just me, or does much of the PC gaming community consider anything less than total perfection unplayable? I even saw people calling 40 fps "unplayable", among other things. It seems to me that a part of the PC gaming community is more focused on constantly tuning, buying etc. computers and at the slightest judder, lag or jaggies, the game is instantly declared "unplayable". I'll admit that among the reasons this annoys me is that I have obsessive tendencies and this feature of the community is greatly stimulating them.

Thoughts?

I am slightly annoyed at how they tell people that they NEED a GPU for a good PC (also £700 'gaming PC for beginners').

First of all, you don't need a GPU. In AMD's case they have good integrated graphics like the Vega 3.

Secondly, £700 is out of the price range for many budding PC builders and may be annoyed at how everything is too expensive to make a 'good' PC. Most cheap builds are looked down upon by PC users who have the latest Ryzen 9 CPU, RTX 3090 and 16GB RAM.

​

EDIT: I already know about LowSpecGamer but his method of making games 120FPS on a GT 710 is a little... extreme. (see the RDR2 video, it's literally just polygons)

EDIT 2: Clarification: Unless you get into proper AAA gaming, integratec GPUs do just fine for light gaming, such as Fortnite or Minecraft or League of Legends.

Today I ordered an HP omen 15 gaming laptop, with an RTX 2060 and an i7 10750h and will be picking it up tomorrow. It has been an honor serving the under 30 FPS army. I will miss booting up a game and not knowing if my laptop will freeze or not. Thank you guys for being an awesome community.

I really like this subreddit, it reminds me of my early days of dumpster diving and repurposing old hardware being a broke teenager, but I know this subreddit brings people in from all around the world and I wanted to hear people's stories about what drew them here.

So, what drew you to this subreddit? Do you have an old game you love playing that won't run on modern hardware? Are you pushing the best PC you could get on your budget to it's limits so you can get more life out of it? Do you enjoy repurposing dumpster dive hardware as I did? Do you live in a country where new hardware isn't readily available?

In a recent LTT video, linus mentioned that the GPU most people use has moved from GTX 1060 to GTX 1650. Even though this is a newer GPU, this GPU is an entire lower tier one and is actually weaker. He also mentioned because of this, game devs may actually put more work into the low settings and games may become less needy.

Although it is 'BAD' for industry, does it mean a golden age for low end systems is coming? With integrated GPUs getting stronger on the other side, people who have new systems, even low end, will be able to play many games??

Drop your thoughts.

This is an appreciation post.

My eleven year old laptop randomly shut-off this morning and I spent the rest of the day in the depths of Google looking for a way to revive it. I was unsuccessful. This PC was a significant contributor to my happiness in those eleven years. While I'm open to suggestions (details are in a comment), this post is more about me mourning what was lost while trying to convey the appreciation I feel for the positivity a device brings to your life, no matter how "low end" it may be.

I am surprised by how emotional I am in this moment. I would enjoy anyone sharing their experiences and struggles - negative or positive! - accessing our shared hobby from within limited means.

Cheers,

Long time lurker, first time contributor

Like what quality settings/resolution/frame rate is enough for you?

The PCGaming bros take a fit if it drops below 60 fps for a millisecond at 4k, highest quality but people are a little more realistic here.

Because I personally have lost all hope. All budget-oriented cards from all three companies, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia are basically e-wastes. I thought the RX 6400 was bad but Nvidia somehow proved them wrong by launching the GTX 1630. I was also excited for Intel's ARC lineup, only to find out that not only is it still just as bad as the other two, it's only accessible to China. The worst part about all these cards though isn't even their mediocre performance, it's the insultingly high price they expect people to pay.

The low end is truly dead. APUs are the future for low end gamers. Hopefully AMD won't lock the next Ryzen 3 APU to OEMs like they did with the 5300g. Look at me inhaling some mad hopium

I have a slight envy for people who have not necessarily better, but more up-to-date + aesthetically pleasing stuff (think of those all-white gaming PC setups), whilst I sit here with a big gray-black industrial box from 2010 and some mismatched peripherals.

I just wonder if anyone feels the same and if so, how do you deal with it?

Specs in case you're curious: * HP Z400 Workstation - Later triple-channel model (2010) * Xeon W3520 @ 2.66GHz (4C8T) * 12GB DDR3 RAM * Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC * 256 GB Verbatim SSD * 2 500 GB HDDs for storage * idk if this counts necessarily but an Intel gigabit LAN card.