Acer Predator PO3-630G-UW91 gaming desktop 1660 Super $799.96

Decent deal for a PC with nice case lol. you also get costco warranty.
+1 OP

That's not how ram works. You're just inviting yourself to a party of BSODs by using mismatched pairs, and then countless hours of useless troubleshooting or data recovery with Acer support.

When you buy a kit of 2x8gb sticks of ram, the pairs are matched during factory QA for stability. If you just buy a random 8gb stick and add it to your existing one, it is sure to cause stability issues while gaming unless you turn the timings back to like 2400, which I am sure the target audience will not do.

undacova wrote: ↑ Holy smokes when did you get this?

Lady week I got Acer nitro with same specs but RTX 3060ti for $1049+ tax.

Would have loved to get yours for a cheaper price too lol

it was a few weeks ago. i swapped cards with my son as he games and i took his older GPU so he is a happy camper

BubbaSPX wrote: ↑ Do you have a link to the non discounted model on Best Buy?

all i did was do a search for open box gaming desktop:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/category/g ... eLowToHigh

but here is the reg item: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/as ... 1/15961320

hesp wrote: ↑ it was a few weeks ago. i swapped cards with my son as he games and i took his older GPU so he is a happy camper

Nice, did you get it randomly or you watch for them?

Yours this week was on sale for $1200 but it was oos which is why I went with the acer. I haven't received it yet so might wait and see if I can get a better one next time.

y2dave wrote: ↑ Nvidia GTX 1660 Super can't run much games. Can't do 4k. Outdated GPU

Ok there captain obvious, this is an $800 computer.

Got any other insights you'd like to share?

undacova wrote: ↑ Nice, did you get it randomly or you watch for them?

Yours this week was on sale for $1200 but it was oos which is why I went with the acer. I haven't received it yet so might wait and see if I can get a better one next time.

just random; my son was complaining his pc was lagging ( i dont blame him it was a i7-920 Acer which funny enough i got from Costco back in 2010) so i gave him my system which i got about 2 years ago so i was just randomly looking for a new PC . I was just checking LD, Staples, BB, amazon, the usual suspects. I did get the Acer Orion for $700 as well but i returned it.

Yeah just keep any eye on it and others. I figured with the holiday season over; there are more returns so there is a greater chance to score a certified open box

cheaper_than_cheap wrote: ↑ Just for fun I priced out a build with the same specs using lower end components. Came to $850 not including the OS.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/ttkHgb

Sure you could do better by waiting for sales, buying some parts used, etc. And of course anyone building a new system now would use newer parts. But this is a turnkey system with the Costco warranty. I don’t think you are the target market.

Simply swap that ultra low end version of $350 1660 super (lol) for a Radeon 6600 or better and you instantly have a superior gaming machine at that same price. Of course with some deal hunting and research the specs could be even better.

This prebuilt has value in one area: you dont have to build the system, however adding another 8GB is just about necessary. Also it's not quite as overpriced as usual.

Grandpa, no matter I try building with a 13600K, 7600X or 5x00X, pcpartpicker is warning me I might need to update the mainboard's BIOS. What a nightmare. Does grandma still have a Costco membership?

It's a pretty funky time to build a mid-tier system right now.

iveykun wrote: ↑ That's not how ram works. You're just inviting yourself to a party of BSODs by using mismatched pairs, and then countless hours of useless troubleshooting or data recovery with Acer support.

When you buy a kit of 2x8gb sticks of ram, the pairs are matched during factory QA for stability. If you just buy a random 8gb stick and add it to your existing one, it is sure to cause stability issues while gaming unless you turn the timings back to like 2400, which I am sure the target audience will not do.

No.
When buying RAM for a channel it gets bought matched, for all we know they stuck 2x4GB in there. Doesn't matter because that is where the second set of slots come in.
There is a second set of DIMM slots (according to Acer site), populate the second one and it will be fine.

podric wrote: ↑ No.
When buying RAM for a channel it gets bought matched, for all we know they stuck 2x4GB in there. Doesn't matter because that is where the second set of slots come in.
There is a second set of DIMM slots (according to Acer site), populate the second one and it will be fine.

well, it's been a long time since i've seen 2x4gb, it's not as cost effective as a single 8gb stick. Willing to bet it's a single stick. You can check reviews of this pc

Hmm...wondering if this is about as cheap as I can get to power a virtual pinball machine (Pinball FX3)...

iveykun wrote: ↑ well, it's been a long time since i've seen 2x4gb, it's not as cost effective as a single 8gb stick. Willing to bet it's a single stick. You can check reviews of this pc

Ok, instead of adding an 8gb unmatched stick for 16 total... PULL the original ram and add matched pair of 8 or 16. Then sell the original 8.

Solves the problem of unmatched timings.

iveykun wrote: ↑ If you just buy a random 8gb stick and add it to your existing one, it is sure to cause stability issues while gaming unless you turn the timings back to like 2400

Really, you are SURE that unmatched sticks will always cause stability issues. I'll give you there is a chance for issues but wouldn't say it's a sure thing.

According to this.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/lit_files/627687.pdf
Page 14. Use Acer approved DDR4 2666 Ram.
Which brand is Acer approved ?

Anyone happen to see this in Montreal region?

iveykun wrote: ↑ well, it's been a long time since i've seen 2x4gb, it's not as cost effective as a single 8gb stick. Willing to bet it's a single stick. You can check reviews of this pc

Or you can just add 8gb to the second set of dim slots. I don’t know why this is so hard for you.