So very often, my computer has stopped turning on when I push the power button. It might be on again, randomly a few hours later, but doesn’t respond when the power supply is turned on. The graphics card’s fans aren’t spinning when the computer is on. On occasion, the motherboard’s VGA light is lit, even though the monitors are hooked up to the graphics card.

Originally I thought it might be my power supply, which I got, but didn’t end up putting in as the computer was on when I came home from work the one day. So I don’t think the power supply is the issue, plus the back lights that are always on, even when the computer was off, so I’m thinking that might not be the issue.

Given the graphics card’s fans aren’t spinning, I suspect the graphics card is dead or dying. This isn’t a cheap replacement. At the cheap end is the ASUS AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Dual Fan 16GB ($799, on sale at Amazon for $725.99, or available at MicroCenter near Cleveland for $789.99), though really if getting a new graphics card, probably should step up to at least an ASUS AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Prime ($1099.99, on sale at Amazon for $1051.37, or available at MicroCenter near Cleveland for $1079.99). That is still a deal compared to a near top of the line graphics card like the Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 WINDFORCE ($2079.99 at MicroCenter near Cleveland, and out of stock at Amazon), though that card will be more viable, that is able to keep up with current and future games, than the other two. Also, my current power supply might not have enough power for that 5080 anyhow.

If it is the Motherboard, which is also highly possible, I’m somewhat stuck as my current CPU is an older one that uses an older generation of socket. This GIGABYTE B550 AORUS Elite AX ($164.99 on Amazon) would probably be the best one to replace the one I currently have, while still being compatible.

Considering the cost of a graphics card, and not being sure that will fix the issue, one is almost better getting a whole new computer. The MicroCenter near Cleveland has this PowerSpec G764 Gaming PC for $2299.99 is far more future proofed, and would be the ideal solution. Laptops are discussed near the end here.

Now, if we don’t worry about PC gaming, we can move to Macs. I still have my Mac Wish List, but they have came out with some updates on Macs since then.

For example, the MacMini has been updated to an M6, and is still a great desktop computer, and probably the one I’d recommend for people needing a new computer, short of them needing a Windows PC for some reason. It starts at $899. However, for my use, I’d ideally need at least 24GB RAM, and I’d step up to 512GB for storage (can add more externally for far less than Apple prices), and would change the Ethernet to the 10 GB version, which brings it to $1399. Not very useful for some, if not much of the gaming I’d like to do, but a great setup for lots of the rest.

On the MacBook end, the MacBook Neo isn’t really useful to me, though again, it’s the thing I’d recommend to most people needing a decent computer for a very fair price (starts at $699). For me, the MacBook Air is probably the best starting point. A 15″ one with 24GB RAM, and 512GB storage is $1699. Not as powerful as the MacMini above, as it uses an older CPU, but gains the advantage of being portable. The MacBook Pro is now split between two models. One with a ProLED XDR display, which is touchscreen, but more important than the touchscreen, is the high end quality of the display itself, and how good it is with color and all that. Getting the 14″ ProLED XDR with the regular M5 Pro chip, and 24GB RAM, and a huge 1TB hard drive, is $2899, what would be the dream MacBook. Semi more reasonable is regular MacBook Pro, not as good of a display, but still better than say the MacBook Air. Getting the 14″ MacBook Pro with an M6, 24GB RAM, and a 1TB hard drive is only $2199, which would be the second best MacBook option, and probably 2nd best Mac option all together. Like the MacMini, much of the gaming I like to do, couldn’t be done on these. However, the advantage of these over the MacMini is portability.

There are decent Windows laptops too, but if sticking to Windows, I’d need a gaming level laptop. This means on a laptop end, looking at a few key stats. Hard drive (SDD), 1TB or more. Memory, 32GB or more. Video card, 5060 or better. Here’s a search list at MicroCenter near Cleveland, and a search list at NewEgg (an online retailer). Prices range from a bit less than $2000, to a bit more than $3000 for the more semi-reasonable ones. You can go over $4000, but that would be crazy for a laptop. I’d probably would prefer to go into MicroCenter for a gaming laptop. The advantage over the desktop from MicroCenter above, is portability, and technically the graphics card is better in those than the desktop, but they can’t be expanded like the desktop.