Project JASPER: The Violet Beauregarde problem

To recap: I want to build a console-comparable PC for a reasonable price that will run SteamOS. So far, I picked out a CPU and a GPU. The price remains reasonable, but that's mostly because I don't actually have a computer yet.

We’re already past my dream of $500, and there’s a lot more to pick out. From here on out, I’m leaning heavily on pcpartpicker’s compatibility filter, sorting by cheapest, and taking the first reasonable hit (with some caveats).

Motherboard

Now that we’ve picked out a CPU and GPU, they need a home on a motherboard. The biggest thing to worry (or for the compatibility filter to worry) about is the socket — the part the processor plugs into. Or … sits on? I don’t actually know, but that’s not our problem right now. The processor we picked out last week is an AM4 socket shape.

Ultimately, all I care about is that there’s onboard WiFi and Bluetooth because I really don’t want to futz with adding more stuff.

And pcpartpicker says that an Asus Prime B550M-A WiFi II has me covered at $80, so that’s good enough for me. It's only now, adding this picture to the article, that I'm noticing that weird, shark fin WiFi(?) antenna. Do I really have to have that sticking off the top of the case?

Memory

Almost all of the games we looked at for recommendations last week want 16GB of (processing) RAM. Both the PS5 and the Xbox have 16GB of (shared processing and graphics) RAM. And the price makes it tempting to stick with 16. But the more recent games like Borderlands 4 and even Indiana Jones are calling for 32GB, and, as of writing this, Borderlands 4 is still getting some harsh reviews based on PC performance issues. Now, I don’t know if those problems are more processor- or graphics-side (and I can’t be bothered to figure that out), but it feels like a concern to address.