In market for a gaming PC...

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Kasey Chang
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In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

My laptop is no longer cutting it, as it's 5 years old. (It has a first gen Core i7 and NVIDIA GeForce 445m)

I have keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I basically just need a turn-key DESKTOP CPU and good video card, and there's a catch: it had to be available on Amazon, as I have a lot of gift certificates I can redeem there. I hope to keep it under $1000.

I've generally used NVIDIA video, but I'm not locked onto that franchise. If AMD has good CPU / Video, I'll take that, but if Intel / NVIDIA combo is better, I'll take that.

I'm a bit out of the scene when it comes to latest price / power ratios and whatnot. I haven't tweaked any hardware for a long while (last time was I put a SSD in my laptop like 2-3 years ago)

I want a desktop gaming PC capable of running 1080p games at a decent frame rate, dual monitor if possible. But I don't need any other fancy-shmancy stuff.

Any ideas?
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by hitbyambulance »

be sure to check out AMD's new Ryzen line of CPUs.
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DOS=HIGH
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by DOS=HIGH »

Apparently this is now greyed out and no longer available, wonder why.
You can pay via Amazon at CyberPower PC. Shouldn't be too hard to configure one of their systems for under $1k if you're only looking for 1080p. I'm not up to speed on current Intel/AMD and nVidia/AMD comparisons but I'm sure you would be more than fine with an i5 and a GeForce 1060. With CyberPower you just need to avoid generic power supplies.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

Their PCs are on Amazon... I can take a look.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

I saw this CyberTron (not CyberPower) PC that seem to have pretty good specs for $999
  • Intel Core i7 7700 Quad-Core 3.6GHz Processor
  • 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Graphics
  • 16GB DDR4-2133 Memory
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • DVD±RW Drive
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
  • Corsair mid-tower case
  • 600W generic P/S
CyberPower can sell me roughly the same system for $979 w/ Ryzen 5 CPU and extra 120GB SSD thrown in.

I can save $100+ if I go for GTX 1050 instead of 1060. How good is AMD RX580 w/ 4GB?

EDIT:

AMD RX580 3D mark 13980

NVIDIA GTX1060-3GB 3D Mark 12220

NVIDIA GTX1050 3D mark 6660 (!)

Guess I'm NOT going for a 1050.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Do not get a 3gb video card. Its not enough memory for jack shat. 4gb - 8gb.....Id really try for 8gb. 6gb is a possibility.

Man Amazon is such a ripoff. They have a GTX 1060 6gb lowest for $330 while at Newegg you can get a ASUS GTX 1060 TURBO 6gb for $279
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Here take a peek at these two....

https://www.amazon.com/CyberpowerPC-GXi ... berpowerPC

System: Intel i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core | Intel B250 Chipset | 16GB DDR4 | 120GB SSD | 1TB HDD | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB Video Card | 1x DVI | 1x HDMI | 1x Display Port
Connectivity: 6 x USB 3.0 | 4 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | Audio: 7.1 Channel | Keyboard and Mouse
Special Feature: Tempered Glass Side Case Panel | USB 7 Color Gaming Keyboard

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme GXi10200A Desktop Gaming PC (Intel i7-7700 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, 120GB SSD, Win 10 Home), White

1,075.00
Enlarge Image

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-Mas ... berpowerPC

System: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz Eight-Core | AMD B350 Chipset | 8GB DDR4 | 1TB HDD | 120GB SSD | 24X DVDRW Dual-Layer Drive | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB Video Card | 1x DVI | 1x HDMI | 1x DisplayPort
Connectivity: 2 x USB 3.1 | 4 x USB 3.0 | 4 x USB 2.0 | 1x RJ-45 Network Ethernet 10/100/1000 | Audio: 7.1 Channel | Keyboard and Mouse
Special Feature: Tempered Glass Side Case Panel | 10 Colors LED Case Light | RGB 7 Colors Gaming Keyboard

CYBERPOWERPC Gamer Master GMA2000A Desktop Gaming PC (AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz, NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB 7200RPM HDD, 120GB SSD, Win 10 Home), Black

$1,069.00
Enlarge Image

Both of these systems are just about $100 more than what you posted the quote on the crappier one for.
Last edited by Daehawk on Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Paingod »

Or, to put it better, be sure to shop around.

This website (PCPartPicker) was hugely useful in my last build. If you're looking for pre-built, I'm afraid I'm not much help as I'm completely out of that market.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Ya but he has Amazon gift cards.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Daehawk wrote:Ya but he has Amazon gift cards.
You can easily set PCPartPicker to only display items available from Amazon.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Didn't know that.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

I don't plan to do any 4K gaming. Heck, my dual monitor can't do more than 1080p :D so having more than 3GB is probably pointless. I'm running games fine with my 7 year old laptop with just 1.5 GB video RAM (but 12 GB of main RAM). :)

As I said, I'm considering my options. I can probably have about 700-800 Amazon credit saved by by 9/20. If I need 1000+ it'll have to wait till October.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

I have a 2gb card and Ive needed more for 3 years. Its not 4k gaming its textures. Some games require a min of 4gb for high detail because the textures take up so much room. Even Crysis 3 I think needed more than 2gb. My 2gb is what keeps me from running games at higher settings even though it will play them smoothly it wont load textures into memory so I cant.

Id check into it before I paid money for a 3gb card. Its why my next card will be 8gb. Because by the time I get that card Im guessing that soon afterwards the world will be moving to 12gb and 16gb min cards.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

I can get AMD RX580 4GB / Ryzen 5 1400 system for right about $820 that is very nicely equipped. On 3D mark that even edges out the GTX 1060. Maybe. (16 GB RAM, 2TB HD)

Or there's a AMD RX 580 4GB (could be 8?) / Ryzen 5 1500X system for $940 w/ 8 GB RAM and 3TB HD
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Theres no SSD on either of those. Mechanical hard drives are for nothing but storage these days. If you want a fast system you need the OS on a SSD and if you want to game you need them on a SSD also. I use a 250gb SSD for my OS drive. Could get by fine with a 120gb SSD for that. I use a 500gb SSD for my games and honestly I need a 1tb SSD for games.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

I can order parts but I can't get as good a deal on a finished system as the pre-built vendors can.

When I pieced together a similar system, I'm at their price level, WITHOUT the O/S.

I tried to create a Ryzen 5-1600 system w/ 16 GB RAM, 1TB HD, GTX 1060 3GB, and 550W p/s and I'm at $880 w/o OS, using only Amazon as parts source. I can trim off 60 here (go with 8 GB instead of 16) and maybe I can go with the stock cooler. But then I have to spend a few hours assembling it and set it up (and source the OS separately). Probably easier to buy a pre-assembled system.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

Dang, I got nickel and dimed to death by the time I added all the stuff I wanted. :-P

I went to check out a system on Cyberpower PC.

Ryzen 5 1500x / "free liquid cooling", ASROCK AB350 MB, 16 GB RAM, RX580 video, 128GB m.2 internal SSD, 1TB SATA HD, DVD writer, internal USB hub w/ BT and 802.11ac, Win 10 Home, and I'm at 1200! Eeek!

I picked a different config and left off some extra items and I managed to pare it down to 1024 by choosing regular SATA SSD instead of M.2 SSD, left out BT, just a PCI 802.11ac card. Doubt it'd go any lower if I want all these "required" items. Argh.

Basically, I must have

RX580 or GTX1060 (any lower is not worth it)
SSD + HD
16 GB of RAM (8GB is not really enough)
quad core or more

Quest continues!
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

Okay, found a decent cheap system, it's not I7, but it's not bad.

I5-7400 / RX 580 4GB, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 802.11AC, Win 10 Home $720 on Amazon. I can source a 120-128 GB SSD for about 50-60, and another 8GB RAM for $70. So that should be a system that works well enough.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Paingod »

Kasey Chang wrote:...it's not I7, but it's not bad...
When I built my last computer, I skipped the i7 because of cost and haven't missed it. I'm not sure what real, appreciable difference a faster processor would make for me at this point. Most people who recommended the i7 did so to 'future-proof' my gaming. I don't think my CPU is a bottleneck in any of my game yet. I think my biggest boost was adding in dual SSD drives in a RAID0 config - basically combining them to work as one larger, faster drive. My load times are pretty dang fast, and having 2TB of storage means never uninstalling a game. :D

My biggest worry is that one of the drives will fail and eliminate all of my data - but that's the same worry I'd have if I had a single drive. I do keep my essential data backed up to an encrypted flash drive that I generally carry in my pocket and internal drive on the PC. If the computer died, I'd basically lose all my non-Steam Cloud save games and 250+ installed games - but no "real" data. I've still got 450GB of storage left with all that in there.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

I don't want to scrap my laptop as it's running and it's got SSD, HD, and everything else running correctly. Indeed, I've been using it for a couple years. I doubt it's worth much, and I'd like a backup. OTOH, I'll bet that the modern i5 / quad should be at least as fast as my first gen i7 if not faster. And with a MUCH better video card, it should be quite good.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by linkeram »

If anyone is still looking for opinions and is in the same boat as the OP, I'd suggest going with a prebuilt pc that doesn't come with a crazy gpu like this one: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6883230369, or you could find similar cyberpower prebuilt pcs on amazon as well, Then you can get a used GPU from your ebay or you might be able to score a 1070 or 1060 brand new in your 1000$ budget. As for the output you cant go wrong with a Ryzen 5 2600 and 8gb of ram in that 550$ price tag. Just toss in a good GPU and you'll be good to go. Also for 2019 I'd suggest going with a 1070 instead of a 1060 as a lot of new AAA titles might not yield the perfect 60fps mark even on 1080p, So i'd suggest going with a 1070, it'll also give you a little bit of performance above the 1080p mark, giving you a wiggle room for future as well. I mean who likes to change GPUs all the time? Also if you're buying from ebay just don't skimp out on the variant of 1070 you'd be going for, https://appuals.com/best-gtx-1070-gpus/ these are some of the best gtx 1070 out there, take a brief overview and get one of them even if you're going for used locally. P.S if buying a used gpu make sure to benchmark the gpu properly usuing PCmark or timespy etc, a lot of people sell faulty gpus all the time so be careful. Good luck. :geek:
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

FWIW, in the other topic, I went all out and bought a i7-9700K / RTX2070 tower for 1600 and got it in 2 days. However, it was 5 days later (i.e. now ) that I have a chance to set it up. It's still downloading all the stuff, and Win10 is activated, and dropbox, OneDrive, and other stuff sync'ing. I think I'll still have to reboot it a couple more times for the cumulative updates. But it maybe usable later today.

Now, why doesn't 3DMark run on this... It just freezes...
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Pyperkub »

Here you go!
here’s an option to consider: the OrionX2 from OverclockersUK. It costs the equivalent of just over $43,000, or around 20 high-end gaming PCs.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by jztemple2 »

Pyperkub wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 3:38 pm Here you go!
here’s an option to consider: the OrionX2 from OverclockersUK. It costs the equivalent of just over $43,000, or around 20 high-end gaming PCs.
You know, that makes my Falcon Northwest purchases look quite reasonable :D
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by valentind25 »

Kasey Chang wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:25 pm I don't plan to do any 4K gaming. Heck, my dual monitor can't do more than 1080p :D so having more than 3GB is probably pointless. I'm running games fine with my 7 year old laptop with just 1.5 GB video RAM (but 12 GB of main RAM). :)

As I said, I'm considering my options. I can probably have about 700-800 Amazon credit saved by by 9/20. If I need 1000+ it'll have to wait till October.
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Kasey Chang »

FWIW, this is my battlestation at the moment:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3oGNrkMW7orV5m1x8

Yes, I know the two monitors are different brands. I had to add some spacers on the left one to raise it, and even then I think I need to add a little more. But it works well enough for the moment. The Acer was the G-sync 120 Hz monitor, and the one I game on. CPU's on the ground (GeForce RTX2070).
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Re: In market for a gaming PC...

Post by Daehawk »

Did you overclock your nature valley? :)

The left still looks a tad low.
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