Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

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Balanthalus
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Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Balanthalus »

Hi all,

I am considering building a new desktop PC. I've built one before, but it was over a decade ago, so I'm coming at this remembering almost nothing from last time. Since I stopped using that desktop, Macbooks have been my main computer (and will probably continue to be except for gaming). Because it's been so long since I built one, I will probably go with someone else's recommended build and buy those exact parts without making a lot of independent decisions about what should go in the machine.

I'm not planning on getting a high-end monitor, so being able to play at the highest graphics settings is not terribly important to me. (The tower will probably sit next to my router and Steam Link, and most of the time I will probably be using my TV as the monitor or plug my MacBook into the router and stream the game to the laptop.) Longevity is more important - as new games come out and system requirements to run them at medium/low settings continue to creep up, I want to be able to go for a while without having to start upgrading components in order to play without crashes, slowdowns, etc., though obviously I can't avoid that issue forever. (Maybe there's no difference between these two concerns - maybe the advice in either case is to buy the best graphics card you can afford?)

I don't have a specific budget - I just don't want to spend more than I need to given I don't care that much about graphics other than for longevity purposes. Does anyone that's done something like this recently have any advice regarding the right price point to look at and/or any specific builds?
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Halicar
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Halicar »

Here are the two best resources on the web for this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/

https://pcpartpicker.com/
tj218
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by tj218 »

I don't think it's worth it too try to build to "future proof", you will fail. You pay an extra premium for top end gear that in 3-4 years will be running newer stuff at low/mid-range settings. Get something that plays the stuff you want now at the settings you want. Then in two-three years just rinse and repeat.

It is cheaper if you buy a motherboard that is the current Intel famiy line, that should get you at least one complete CPU upgrade w/o replacing the motherboard. I haven't bought many newer games this year, but as of this time last year most stuff wasn't even really fully utilizing an i5, an i7 was deemed not worth for the price/performance gain. Though that may have changed in the last 10 months.

The graphics cards for high-end are exorbitantly priced (thanks to mining), you may find you can get by easily on a $250/$350 card for several years vs, the $700-$800 for a high end for an extra year. It's stupidly easy to replace a graphics card and a mid-range in two-three years will be more powerful than a high-end purchased today.

tomshardware.com and their CPU and graphics Hierarchy charts are pretty useful when building a rig. Also use pcpartpicker.com to price out your parts.
aristotelian
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by aristotelian »

Somewhat dated, but Lifehacker periodically does some sample builds at different price points.

https://lifehacker.com/5840963/the-best ... 0-and-1200
brad.clarkston
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by brad.clarkston »

Halicar wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:29 pm Here are the two best resources on the web for this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/

https://pcpartpicker.com/
Almost complete, add https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace

I'm also bradclarkston on there as well (imagine that).

The budget is the important part that determines what range of cpu/gpu you will buy ... $500 - $800 - $1000 - $1500.

I'd probably start looking at the new AMD Ryzen 5 cpu, the R.5 1600 has the best bang for your dollar of anything on the current market and the motherboards for it are very cheap.

Here is a quick $800 build to reference, it's a very decent mid level desktop:
  • CPU : AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor = $189.89
    Motherboard : ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard = $ 64.99
    Memory : G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory = $193.99
    Storage : ADATA - Ultimate SU800 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive = $49.99
    Video Card : EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card = $259.99
    Case : Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case = $42.99
    Power Supply : EVGA - B3 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply = $49.99
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slayed
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by slayed »

I would just spend $300 and pick up a Playstation 4, unless there are specific games that you want to play that are not available on console. Otherwise a PC just for gaming doesn't make much sense.
brad.clarkston
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by brad.clarkston »

slayed wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:45 pm I would just spend $300 and pick up a Playstation 4, unless there are specific games that you want to play that are not available on console. Otherwise a PC just for gaming doesn't make much sense.
There's about a billion people that disagree with that statement, me included.
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dwickenh
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by dwickenh »

brad.clarkston wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:51 pm
slayed wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:45 pm I would just spend $300 and pick up a Playstation 4, unless there are specific games that you want to play that are not available on console. Otherwise a PC just for gaming doesn't make much sense.
There's about a billion people that disagree with that statement, me included.
+1
The market is the most efficient mechanism anywhere in the world for transferring wealth from impatient people to patient people.” | — Warren Buffett
lightheir
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by lightheir »

I was literally about to build a $1000 gaming PC (I asked the same question on this forum 2 months ago!) and then suddenly my old-school X360 died in the middle of Witcher 2. Red light of death.

I was surprised how much I missed it, so I ended up getting a Xbox S One 3 weeks ago. I gotta admit, that console is so powerful that I can't justify buying a gaming PC for awhile now, at least until after I've played through most of the core Xbox one top games. These consoles are impressively powerful now - Witcher 3 and Forza in 1080p on a large TV is really impressive.
lack_ey
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by lack_ey »

You can't spend more and get appreciably longer longevity. If you want a PC that can run games with the kind of expectations you seem to have, spend on the lower end and just upgrade the graphics card down the line, then get another cheapish system in 6-8 years or something like that, especially if you're not going to use this system for more general computing very much.

And if you're looking for a better value, just buy some tower and add a graphics card, or even just a full system, especially if you don't have access to cheap Windows licenses. It's not like you're going to need some flagship graphics card using 250W and 12" long that needs some decent cooling; a more modest card would work in most any tower you'd run across.

For example, there's some manufacturer refurb Asus desktop for $470 on eBay now with a Core i5-6400 and GTX 970:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-Desktop-P ... rmvSB=true

Okay, that's a two-generations-old CPU and a one-generation-old GPU, but per-core-and-per-clock CPU improvements come slowly these days, and a relatively modern Core i5 should do fine in games for a while. A GTX 970 is close to the performance level of this gen's GTX 1060 3GB, which costs about $210 or so by itself.
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mmmodem
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by mmmodem »

This video was a real eye opener for me. There is very little difference between a 6 year top of the line cpu versus today's top of the line Core i7 when running 1080p resolution.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMFd0aVhVKU

With that in mind, as a Boglehead, I purchased a Dell Optiplex 990 with an i7 2600, 8 GB of RAM on ebay. I also ensured the tower came with windows 7 installed. Microsoft still allows windows 10 upgrades for free. Pair that with the fastest graphics card that does not require a PCI Express power, a GTX1050 TI, and you have a $300 gaming machine that will play everything decently but not at the best settings.

$150 Dell Optiplex 990
$150 GTX 1050 TI
If you want better performance, you can add or substitute components per below:

$100 240 GB SSD
Any brand will do. This will significantly decrease load times.
$200 GTX 1060 3 GB
$30 450w power supply
You need to upgrade the PSU due to the power requirements of the 1060. I don't recommend buying more graphics power than this as the CPU starts bottlenecking performance.

For $480, you can play just about any of today's games at 1080p at 60 fps and high detail. In other words, few will be able to spot the difference between this computer and a $2000 performance gaming machine as viewed through your television. A high end monitor will show the difference but you're not using one so it's moot.

For longevity comparison, I had a GTX 460 1 gb. This was a mid tier graphics card 8 years ago and sold for the same $200 in 2010. It performed well at the beginning and I dialed down the graphics settings as time went on. It didn't bother me too much I didn't get the best visual eye candy as the ability to play the game was more important. Finally, in 2016 I encountered a game that refused to load due to my graphics card not meeting minimum requirements. That's why I upgraded to the Dell and an RX 460. So you're looking at 6 more years with the 1060 (it's already 1 year old) and something less than that with a 1050 TI.
Ragnoth
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Ragnoth »

brad.clarkston wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:43 pm
Halicar wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:29 pm Here are the two best resources on the web for this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/

https://pcpartpicker.com/
Almost complete, add https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace

I'm also bradclarkston on there as well (imagine that).

The budget is the important part that determines what range of cpu/gpu you will buy ... $500 - $800 - $1000 - $1500.

I'd probably start looking at the new AMD Ryzen 5 cpu, the R.5 1600 has the best bang for your dollar of anything on the current market and the motherboards for it are very cheap.

Here is a quick $800 build to reference, it's a very decent mid level desktop:
  • CPU : AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor = $189.89
    Motherboard : ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard = $ 64.99
    Memory : G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory = $193.99
    Storage : ADATA - Ultimate SU800 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive = $49.99
    Video Card : EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card = $259.99
    Case : Cooler Master - MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case = $42.99
    Power Supply : EVGA - B3 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply = $49.99
+1

This is a pretty good list of sites, and a decent reference build (although I would consider more storage). You can find other "recommendations" of what to buy, but it's all going to be about the same. In case you don't want to dig around too much, any of these are probably fine: https://www.reddit.com/r/PCMasterRace/wiki/builds

In my experience, somewhere between $700-1000 is the sweet spot in terms of bang for your buck. That gives you the "satisfaction" of having a moderately high end PC for the time being, and gives you decent performance 4-5 years in. If you want to put in a couple hundred dollars every few years, you can always upgrade the bits and pieces one-by-one, and keep it going indefinitely.

The big decisions really boil down to graphics card, processor, and whether to go for a solid state drive (which does wonders for boot/load times). If you are just going for gaming, anything with a decent amount of memory, a GTX 1060, and an i5 (or AMD equivalents) is going to be fine for your needs.

I'm personally a big believer in having both a solid-state drive + a disk drive, but some people don't care as much. I also think people underestimate how much enjoyment you can get from good peripherals (mechanical keyboard, headsets, multiple-monitors, etc.), but I wouldn't bother investing there unless you are a semi-dedicated PC gamer.
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Balanthalus
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Balanthalus »

Thanks everyone. It sounds like I should be targeting somewhere $1000 or under, OS included. I'll generate a list of components, and then compare the costs of buying all those separately with buying a pre-built or refurbished machine and swapping out one or two pieces (or none).
tigermilk
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by tigermilk »

What you would need to get is a function of the games you want to play. For myself, my favorite genre is racing. On my previous setup (i5-4670, 32gb RAM, GTX 770), I could play all the games I wanted with exceptional performance, even on my 3440x1440 monitor. But over the summer I picked up an Oculus Rift which completely changed how those racing games feel (for the better in a BIG way). For those games that support VR my computer's performance took a huge dive so I recently upgraded to a GTX 1080ti and it again hums along. That single graphics card was nearly the cost of my original system (before I had the GTX 770 and only 16gb RAM).

As long as you avoid VR or 4K gaming and strictly stick to 1920x1080, you likely won't have issues. The suggestions about pcpartpicker are good. I used that website heavily when building my now 3+ year old system.
alfaspider
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by alfaspider »

slayed wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:45 pm I would just spend $300 and pick up a Playstation 4, unless there are specific games that you want to play that are not available on console. Otherwise a PC just for gaming doesn't make much sense.
PC gaming is a very different experience, even playing the same games. For first person shooters, the mouse interface is VERY different from a controller and leads to different game play. It also tends to attract a different crowd for online play (usually more mature). PC is also the only real option if you are playing real time strategy games or many MMO RPGs.
Doug E. Dee
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Doug E. Dee »

I just researched video cards and like many posters above, chose the GTX 1060. It seems to be the sweet spot for GPU's. I spent the extra $50 for the 6GB model, hoping to add a little future proofing to it.
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Balanthalus
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Balanthalus »

Also curious whether folks generally agree with the Tom's Hardware hierarchies (for gaming, that is - I'm sure they are completely different for other use cases).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu ... ,4312.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu ... y,4388.htm

These suggest that the sweet spot for CPUs is to buy the cheapest one you can find from the top tier, such as a Ryzen 3. I was writing this post, I came across an article suggesting there are real performance differences between the two, but only with higher-tier graphics cards - with the tier I'm planning on getting, the GPU is going to be the bottleneck regardless of which Ryzen chip I were to get.

For most of the games I currently play, the "recommended" (not "minimum") settings call for a GPU that is fifth-tier (i.e. GTX 770, R9 380X) or below on the chart, but I might as well go third-tier because it looks like I can find better pricing on RX-series GPUs.

I'm also think I might splurge on a bigger SSD drive, since just Windows 10 plus the top couple games I play currently would take up nearly 200 GB, I don't feel like constantly moving games around from drive to drive based on how often I use them, and Amazon has the 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO on sale for $140.

So currently I'm thinking something like:

CPU/Motherboard: Ryzen 3 1200 + Gigabyte AB-AB350 motherboard - $125 after rebate (local, in-store only)
GPU: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB - $240 (Newegg)
Storage (bay 1): 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD - $140 (Amazon)
Storage (bay 2): Toshiba P300 T TB 7,200 PRM - $30 (local, in-store only)
PSU: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze, Semi-Modular ATX - $27 after rebate (Newegg)
Memory - Option 1: G.Skill Ripjaws V 8GB (2x4GB) DDR-3200 - $90 (Newegg) (Maybe more speed than I need, but slower speeds aren't much cheaper)
Memory - Option 2: Team Vulcan 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR-2400 - $130 (Newegg) (Not sure if I'll need 16GB, but this is a much better GB per $ deal)
Memory - Option 3: Corsair Vengeance LPX (1x8GB) DDR-2666 - $83 (Amazon) (only using 1 slot allows upgrading later if prices fall and/or 8GB isn't enough)
CPU Cooler: None (seems like the consensus is that the included cooler is sufficient for the Ryzen 3, even if overclocked, which I've never done but might try in the future)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 w/ window - $20 after rebate (Newegg)

This gets me to between $685 and $732, depending on the option I choose for memory. (I'm sure tomorrow half of the particular choices will have changed due to flash sales ending, few remaining items in stock, etc., but that's where things stand for now)
iamlucky13
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by iamlucky13 »

Tom's Hardware is generally pretty reliable. If in doubt, you can look up benchmark testing they or others have done for some of the hardware listed within a given tier to make sure they really are comparable.

I can't tell you much about the latest generation of processors, since I haven't been shopping recently and am more familiar with Intel's products anyways. In FPS games, the GPU usually ends up being the bottleneck anyways as long as the processor is mid-pack or so. Still, I'm a little hesitant to think a $125 CPU + Mobo combo will give you much future proofing. I'd probably check some benchmarks to see how the price/performance compares to a couple higher end options, and make sure the mobo isn't missing features like dual channel RAM support. Also confirm overclocking support if you're considering doing that.

I have been getting by with 8 GB of RAM so far (Win 7), but I did find if I have too many tabs open in my browser, I really do need to close it before playing my main game (Planetside 2 - huge maps).

At the price 500 GB SSD drives are at now, I think that's a pretty good size. I have a 256 and installed a couple games on my spinning HDD to save space, and the load times are terrible compared to those on the SSD.

I'm uncertain about that power supply. It looks like JonnyGuru rated a larger version of the same series pretty respectably - clean power within voltage spec even under load and in hot environments. I'm just unsure about the longevity of a $27 PSU. I do like semi-modular setups though. Most of us don't need full modular, but the ability to leave out unused cables is really nice for keeping the case clean.

Starting out with the stock cooler is fine. Once you're up and running, I'd download CPUID's Hardware Monitor or a similar program and see what maximum temperature it reports from a hard gaming session. If it's close to the rated limit, then you know that an aftermarket cooler might be wise. I personally found Intel's stock cooler badly undersized for an 85W i7 - temps were consistently exceeding the max rating, and I didn't have to spend much on an aftermarket cooler to fix that.
GulfCoast
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by GulfCoast »

For the original poster.

I've built PCs for myself, my son and friends. If I were to build a mid-range build this is what it would look like. I try to build with an eye to the future, looking for quality components and parts that will last for five years. The one thing that always needs upgraded more often is the Video Card. Most top end cards from five years ago would be outclassed by a 1050ti. My current build has lasted me since early 2011 - based around an intel i5 2500k.

For the CPU I picked the 6-Core Intel i5 8400. Base clock is low at 2.8Ghz, but it will usually run at it's turbo boost of 3.8 Ghz. For gaming this is better than the AMD Ryzen. You could probably get by without an aftermarket cooler, but I included one just in case you wanted one.

Motherboard - I picked a nice, low-frills, quality motherboard. Can't go wrong with ASRock.

Memory - 16 GBs (2x8GB sticks) will last you through the life of this build. If you wanted to save some money, you could get by with 8GB for now. In that case I would recomend getting 1x8GB stick, and then later as you need you can get a second. I think it's better getting a matched pair now however.

Storage - Went with a Solid State Drive (SSD) for you. 480GB can load windows and dozens of games. You can get ones with twice the capacity for around $260. You can also get a mechanical hard drive but I do not recommend those as it will be the slowest, bulkiest part of your system. I went full SSD last year and will not go back.

Video Card - Probably the biggest debate and shortest lived part of any PC build. Baseline should be a GTX 1060 3gb as I have listed here, but if you can afford more the 6gb version is a slight bump up (for aobut $50 more). The GTX 1070, even nicer and will last longer.



PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HCHBNN
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HCHBNN/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Pure Rock Slim 35.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($21.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($127.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card ($204.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar - MX500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($51.98 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Power Supply: EVGA - 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.59 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Lite-On - iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($10.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1042.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-01 13:57 EST-0500
tj218
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by tj218 »

I built a lot of systems in the 90s and 00's on AMD processors. I built my last rig (light gamer) with an i3-4130 (2014 build) for non high-end gaming. I can't speak for the Ryzen.

The Intel blew away the FX series of AMD chips even with more cores and higher clock speed. It's converted me to Intel from now on. Specifically Intel's FPU (floating point unit) speed and performance was multiples ahead of AMD at similar prices. FPU is very important for CPU calculations that you see in strategy games (X-Com, Civilization, EU IV, etc.).

I upgraded my graphics card last summer and I can do games like Witcher III and Fallout IV at nearly all of the high graphics settings (hairworks turned off on Witcher) on i3 from 2014.

Get an i5 and I think you are set CPU wise for 5+ years.
brad.clarkston
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by brad.clarkston »

Doug E. Dee wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:40 am I just researched video cards and like many posters above, chose the GTX 1060. It seems to be the sweet spot for GPU's. I spent the extra $50 for the 6GB model, hoping to add a little future proofing to it.
Not anymore it would be the GTX 1070ti-8gb - especially not the 1060-3gb it's just dying on the newer AAA games.
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brad.clarkston
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by brad.clarkston »

tj218 wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 5:59 pm I built a lot of systems in the 90s and 00's on AMD processors. I built my last rig (light gamer) with an i3-4130 (2014 build) for non high-end gaming. I can't speak for the Ryzen.

The Intel blew away the FX series of AMD chips even with more cores and higher clock speed. It's converted me to Intel from now on. Specifically Intel's FPU (floating point unit) speed and performance was multiples ahead of AMD at similar prices. FPU is very important for CPU calculations that you see in strategy games (X-Com, Civilization, EU IV, etc.).

I upgraded my graphics card last summer and I can do games like Witcher III and Fallout IV at nearly all of the high graphics settings (hairworks turned off on Witcher) on i3 from 2014.

Get an i5 and I think you are set CPU wise for 5+ years.
While a i5 wouldn't be a bad build the low to middle road (i3-i5) has been dominated this year by the AMD Ryzen line on price and performance. If you really want to blow it away for 5+ years with Intel you need to power up to the i7 or i9 lines and even then you can make a case for AMD beating out the lower end i7's.

Just pure bang for your buck is the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (k if you overclock, x if you have no idea what that is) as it will pair ok with a GTX 1080ti (not to much bottleneck).
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tj218
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by tj218 »

Does the Ryzen have similar heat issues that plagued the FX line?
gougou
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by gougou »

CyberPowerPC sells some pretty good PCs on Amazon.

$720 budget PC with spec:
i5 7400
AMD RX 580
8GB RAM
1TB HD
Wifi
Windows 10

$1599/$1799 Gaming PC with specs:
i7 8700K
GTX 1080 / GTX 1080Ti
16GB RAM
240GB SSD + 2TB HD
Wifi
Windows 10

I don't think you can build these PCs with these prices.
The sillier the market’s behavior, the greater the opportunity for the business like investor.
lightheir
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by lightheir »

gougou wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 7:15 pm CyberPowerPC sells some pretty good PCs on Amazon.

$720 budget PC with spec:
i5 7400
AMD RX 580
8GB RAM
1TB HD
Wifi
Windows 10

$1599/$1799 Gaming PC with specs:
i7 8700K
GTX 1080 / GTX 1080Ti
16GB RAM
240GB SSD + 2TB HD
Wifi
Windows 10

I don't think you can build these PCs with these prices.
Actually, you can readily beat the Cyberpower PC prices with the DIY method. Still, their prices are def very competitive, and for a busy person like myself, if I was just counting dollars for time (and ignoring the fun factor of building it yourself), it's def more worth it for me to buy the prebuilt CyberpowerPC rather than building it myself. Except I'd def prefer the learning, fun, and quality of doing it myself.
mxs
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by mxs »

http://www.logicalincrements.com

Great website for quick budgeting and spending money appropriately without over spending on one area. Personally, I prefer Intel CPUs. Video cards are pretty even between Nvidia and ATI/AMD, price point is what matters there. I like Tom's CPU and Graphics card hierarchy charts.

I have built three custom PC's. A Core2duo E-8500 (I think) with Windows XP, i5-3570k with Windows 7, and i3 something with Windows 7 for my brother.
ulrichw
Posts: 109
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:17 pm

Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by ulrichw »

You didn't say what kind of gaming.

I actually think it's a somewhat awkward time to buy a PC if you plan on making it last for another decade.

This is because I think VR is finally getting to the point where it's going to be viable & desirable for gaming (not so much the stand up and move around a room VR, but rather as a more immersive alternative to a screen for "sit-down" games). VR puts much larger demands on your video card than normal screens, and before it becomes mainstream VR needs to get even higher resolution (other stuff, too).

I'd guess in 2-3 years, things are going to be to the point where VR starts going mainstream - but today's machines may not be powerful enough to drive the new technology.

Otherwise - I think you've received good advice already. GPU (video card) is much more important than CPU for gaming. Get an SSD for your primary drive. Make sure you have enough RAM (RAM's cheap, so this is easy).
gougou
Posts: 1317
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:42 pm

Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by gougou »

$720 CyberPowerPC:

$180 -- i5 7400
$240 -- RX 580
$80 -- B250 Motherboard with WiFi
$90 -- 8G RAM
$40 -- 1TB HD
$40 -- PowerSupply
$40 -- Case
$30 -- Keyboard & Mouse
-------------
$740 subtotal
$90 -- Windows 10
-------------
$830 total

$1599 CyberPowerPC:

$415 -- i7 8700K
$40 -- liquid cooler
$545 -- GTX 1080
$135 -- Z370 MB with Wifi
$190 -- 16GB RAM
$75 -- 240GB SSD
$60 -- 2TB HD
$60 -- good power supply
$40 -- Case
$30 -- Keyboard & Mouse
---------------
$1590 subtotal
$90 --- Windows 10
--------------
$1680 total

I used the cheapest components that I can find on Neweggs/Amazons to produce the two lists above. The price is hard to beat just on the hardware, and they both come with Windows 10. And sometimes Amazon has sales on these PCs which make them killer deals. I bought one on Prime day.

Just want to clarify I'm not associated with CyberPowerPC in any ways but I do think their prices are very fair.
The sillier the market’s behavior, the greater the opportunity for the business like investor.
JDot
Posts: 372
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by JDot »

I always recommend "Digital Storm" because I've been so pleased with them. Specifically their Vanquish line. http://www.digitalstorm.com/vanquish-7.asp

I probably would NOT do this, but it's cool. And I trust the company enough to get it right. (computer and ultrawide monitor in 1)

http://www.digitalstorm.com/aura.asp


BTW- I work (when I can from home) and game on a curved 34 inch display with 3440x1440 display. Don't do it unless you want to be spoiled for life.
iamlucky13
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Location: Western Washington

Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by iamlucky13 »

brad.clarkston wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:08 pm
Doug E. Dee wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:40 am I just researched video cards and like many posters above, chose the GTX 1060. It seems to be the sweet spot for GPU's. I spent the extra $50 for the 6GB model, hoping to add a little future proofing to it.
Not anymore it would be the GTX 1070ti-8gb - especially not the 1060-3gb it's just dying on the newer AAA games.
It doesn't sound like the OP is planning on going above 1080 lines, or is even necessarily worried about turning all the other graphics settings up to their max. Most of the benchmarks I've seen for the GTX 1060 showing it pretty consistently providing 60+ FPS at 1080 with all settings maxed out.

A GTX 1070 absolutely can smoke a 1060 if pushing resolution up to 1440 or 2160 lines, but if the OP isn't doing that, why bother spending the extra $200+?
brad.clarkston wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:14 pm While a i5 wouldn't be a bad build the low to middle road (i3-i5) has been dominated this year by the AMD Ryzen line on price and performance. If you really want to blow it away for 5+ years with Intel you need to power up to the i7 or i9 lines and even then you can make a case for AMD beating out the lower end i7's.

Just pure bang for your buck is the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (k if you overclock, x if you have no idea what that is) as it will pair ok with a GTX 1080ti (not to much bottleneck).
From what I've seen, the i7's tend not to show remarkable gaming benefit over i5's of similar clock speed, because first of all, it's more common to end up GPU bound than CPU bound. Secondly, even if CPU bound, which I admit might be more likely a few years down the road after doing a mid-life graphics card upgrade, not many games seem to be able to take significant advantage of the extra parallelization the i7's offer over the i5's. Granted, I haven't checked to see if that still holds true for the latest generation of processors and games. Basically, if looking to save money on better performance than a standard i5, $30-40 more for an overclockable K variant seems like a better option than $100 more for a non-overclockable i7.

But it sounds like the OP is leaning towards Ryzen anyways, so pardon the digression.
brad.clarkston
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by brad.clarkston »

iamlucky13 wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 11:41 pm
brad.clarkston wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:08 pm
Doug E. Dee wrote: Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:40 am I just researched video cards and like many posters above, chose the GTX 1060. It seems to be the sweet spot for GPU's. I spent the extra $50 for the 6GB model, hoping to add a little future proofing to it.
Not anymore it would be the GTX 1070ti-8gb - especially not the 1060-3gb it's just dying on the newer AAA games.
It doesn't sound like the OP is planning on going above 1080 lines, or is even necessarily worried about turning all the other graphics settings up to their max. Most of the benchmarks I've seen for the GTX 1060 showing it pretty consistently providing 60+ FPS at 1080 with all settings maxed out.

A GTX 1070 absolutely can smoke a 1060 if pushing resolution up to 1440 or 2160 lines, but if the OP isn't doing that, why bother spending the extra $200+?
brad.clarkston wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:14 pm While a i5 wouldn't be a bad build the low to middle road (i3-i5) has been dominated this year by the AMD Ryzen line on price and performance. If you really want to blow it away for 5+ years with Intel you need to power up to the i7 or i9 lines and even then you can make a case for AMD beating out the lower end i7's.

Just pure bang for your buck is the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (k if you overclock, x if you have no idea what that is) as it will pair ok with a GTX 1080ti (not to much bottleneck).
From what I've seen, the i7's tend not to show remarkable gaming benefit over i5's of similar clock speed, because first of all, it's more common to end up GPU bound than CPU bound. Secondly, even if CPU bound, which I admit might be more likely a few years down the road after doing a mid-life graphics card upgrade, not many games seem to be able to take significant advantage of the extra parallelization the i7's offer over the i5's. Granted, I haven't checked to see if that still holds true for the latest generation of processors and games. Basically, if looking to save money on better performance than a standard i5, $30-40 more for an overclockable K variant seems like a better option than $100 more for a non-overclockable i7.

But it sounds like the OP is leaning towards Ryzen anyways, so pardon the digression.
We are talking about a $1k build there's no reason to go with a mildly budget gpu (1060) in something of that caliber. We are talking about a $150-$180 difference (on sale) for a 18 percentile performance boost. If you want a chance of not needing to buy a new GPU in 1.5 years I would go with a card with at least 8gb's of GDDR5 memory so that's the GTX 1070 or better cards.

Most of the new AAA games are stretching 3gb to 6gb pretty thin on very low settings and next years titles will hurt them even more. I'm not a fan of putting hours and hours into a game on very low graphic settings myself.

That's not even getting into the Intel vs Ryzen debate but that's an easy one unless the argument is with a very diehard Intel fan boy. When you look at comparable 6 core 12 thread cpu's Ryzen is anywhere from $120 to $150 cheaper. Intel will win the performance benchmarks on i7's but it's by less than 20%. I'm practical and will stick with Ryzen's until Intel can get the price point down. Hopefully a price war will break out next year and I can upgrade to a R.7 on the cheap.

I've got a parts list right now with a 1070 for $1033.00 or with a 1070ti for $1073.00 with a R.5 1600 cpu that will easily last 3+ years and within the price range.

There's being cheap and then there's being forward thinking cheap.
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Topic Author
Balanthalus
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:04 am

Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by Balanthalus »

OP here. At this point, everything has been ordered (and most of it has arrived, except for a few parts). It's fairly similar to what I posted above, but there were a few instances where something was out of stock or a sale had ended, so I had to make some adjustments. The final part list is:

CPU/Motherboard: Ryzen 3 1200 + Gigabyte AB-AB350 motherboard - $145 before rebate, $125 AR (local, in-store only)
GPU: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB - $230 (Craigslist - new in sealed box)
Storage (bay 1): 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD - $140 (Amazon)
Storage (bay 2): Toshiba P300 T TB 7,200 PRM - $30 (local, in-store only)
PSU: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze, Semi-Modular ATX - $47 before rebate/$27 AR (Newegg)
Memory: 16 GB (2x8) ADAPTA DDR4-3000 - $144 (Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 w/ window - $40 before rebate/$20 AR (Newegg)
Sales tax: $20

Final cost: $796 before rebates, $736 after rebates.

Based on my current needs, I decided on going with a $700 build, and potentially spending another $300-500 a few years down the road (on a new CPU/GPU, potentially also requiring a new PSU/cooler), versus going with a $1000 build now.
azanon
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:34 am

Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by azanon »

The last PC I built, I just paused/played a Cary Holtzman Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... y+holtzman) and bought (mostly) the exact same parts that was in the video. That method worked perfectly, and now I have a very nice system, complete with clean and efficient cable management.

I'm also strongly in the camp of doing it yourself vs. buying a prebuilt. You can get more for your money that way. I tend to buy most of my parts off of Newegg, and occasionally get a few from Amazon.

Good is all relative. Good for me was a 1080Ti, and Gsync, 27" 1440 P, 144hz monitor, and the entire storage on one large SSD drive. But I like high end systems, and the ease and speed of just one, super-fast partition.
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badbreath
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by badbreath »

The guys at MMO do a good job and give you different price point to pick from

http://www.mmo-champion.com/build-of-the-month/
“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” Groucho Marx
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curiouskitty
Posts: 261
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Re: Considering Building Gaming PC - Good Builds/Price Points?

Post by curiouskitty »

Just get the Nvidia 1080 and set it to mine some coins while you sleep :wink:
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