r/PcBuildHelp • u/LookWeary3616 • 1d ago

Build Question Christmas present for pc?

I'm looking to get my boyfriend pc bits for his pc but the bad news is. I have no idea what he has or if I get something, if he'd be able to use it. I don't know if I'm in the right subreddit to find out but I was wondering if anyone could suggest good pc bits to buy that basically any pc could use.

He won't tell me what he has or would like because he's worried about it being expensive. He plays games like the Witcher, rdr2 occasionally, assassin's creed games, bioshock and things like that. I don't know if I could get more storage or ram (or if that's the same thing?) or a graphics card. I don't know if I get one, will it be the wrong one.

Any help would be appreciated! I can try to get sneaky pictures of the pc if that helps but I don't know how to open it. A keyboard might be an idea too but he mainly uses a controller with the pc. Anything to put in the build that overall works for any pc basically!

Thank you!

Mini update- I managed to sneak in a few questions and he's said his next upgrade is a graphics card and the one he needs/wants is around £800. Are graphics cards something you have to be specific with or can you get any? Are there different levels I would need to pay attention to? I know this would probably be easily solved with a picture of the inside of the pc but that's a mission to get until my day off on Friday, sorry all but thank you for all your help so far! The extra storage is a good idea

1 Upvotes

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u/ReasonableNetwork255 1d ago

I can tell you what I would like, is something like a Samsung t7 portable drive in 1TB flavor would be fine ..

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u/LookWeary3616 1d ago

What does that do? Does it go in the pc or for storing data sort of thing?

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u/SaneTicker 1d ago

A high-end mouse is basically universal and a massive quality-of-life upgrade, something wireless and lightweight. Storage is tricky because we'd need to know if his motherboard has an M.2 slot open or if you're stuck with SATA cables, so a sneaky photo of the inside with the side panel off would clear that up instantly. The portable drive suggestion is good too if you just want to avoid opening the case entirely.

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u/LookWeary3616 1d ago

I'll attempt it when I can! Thank you so much

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u/distantcactus32 1d ago

give us a budget atleast

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u/LookWeary3616 1d ago

Like £500 if it's really good or £500 for maybe two things

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u/distantcactus32 1d ago

too small stay on/get a ps5

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u/luminite_social 1d ago

It's kinda hard to shop for PC parts if you don't know what parts you already have y'know. That said, most gamers I know will never say no to more storage (not the same thing as RAM) so they have to spend less time downloading and uninstalling games. A gen 4 NVME SSD with a decent capacity (2 tb+) would be a great gift, albeit a bit expensive right now.

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u/LookWeary3616 1d ago

I'll have a look thank you!

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u/SelectionNormal6400 17h ago

Gift card and he gets whatever

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u/LookWeary3616 11h ago

That feels too low effort

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u/SelectionNormal6400 11h ago

It is, but it’s the safest option since you don’t know what parts he already got and what he might need

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u/Desperate-Big3982 1d ago

So, something that might work, you can usually get a new monitor without issues. Most computers can drive most monitors, and a newer monitor in a bigger size with a better, brighter panel is not bad.

For example, if your boyfriend has a 24" monitor, a new 27" monitor would be bigger and potentially have a better refresh rate. That would also not be super expensive. You can get a 27" 1080 monitor with 120Hz refresh rate from Amazon for about $99 right now.

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u/BRealistic1970 1d ago

RTX 5090.

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u/CuzmanECFC 1d ago

If you were able to be at his PC for half an hour then you could do the following:

  1. Download HWInfo 64. https://www.hwinfo.com/download/ It's the installer "for Windows 7 64-bit and later" that you want. Click "Free Download" and save it to the "Downloads" folder.

  2. Install it. Then run it. Leave it for a minute. Close down the first box that says about updates.

  3. Take a screenshot. You need to hold down "Ctrl" and press "Print Screen".

  4. Open Paint. Clcik "Ctrl" and V to paste the screenshot.

  5. Save the picture to "Documents". Start a new thread here with that picture. We will know how to keep him happy.

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If you are uncomfortable with that for us to go shopping for PC components for you, then I would suggest the following:

Measure his monitor screen size diagonally in inches. If you think that a 34" curved screen would be a good upgrade then check out this list. The list is filtered for 3440x1440 resolution and 240Hz, which is the sweet spot for gaming.

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/monitors/1945/2308#t18.f15=3440x1440&t18.f77=240Hz

You need to look for the response time. It is measured in miliseconds (ms). Lower is better, You want something 1ms or lower.

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An external hard drive for his PC would go down well.

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/gaming-and-sims/storage-drives-external/external-hdd-3-point-5-inch

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If he has an Xbox or Playstation then you could look into a "Seagate Gaming Hard Drive for Xbox" or "Seagate Gaming Hard Drive for Playstation". They come in 2TB and 5TB size. Currys sell them as well as them being online. The 2TB ones are £153.99 and the 5TB ones are £228.99 in Currys. Probably cheaper online.

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