Advice for buying a gaming PC!

gentlesailor43 said:Just running an Intel Core i5-4570, 3.20GHz, Haswell.
Just running a Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H on an Intel ® B85 chipset. Simple enough.
Just picked up a Gigabyte GTX960 WF2 Overclocked with 2GB of GDDR5. It’s got the usual DVI-I, DVI-D, and HDMI ports. Simple enough.
Just a single 1TB Seagate HDD, SATA III, spinning at 7200 rpm (ST1000DM003).
Just one stick of 4GB DDR3 Kingston RAM, running at 1600MHz with CL11 latency. It's the basic Value series.
Got a Fortron 500W unit here—specifically the HEXA plus 500—with a 12cm fan.
One Thermaltake V4 Black edition Middle Tower, weighing in at about 10 lbs.
1 x SCYTHE Slip Stream Slim 120mm 1200 rpm, 21.71 dBA / 24.03 CFM

$1870 AMD

I stretched my budget by about another $90 and managed to pull this build together. Now the big question: do I pull the trigger on this right now, or should I hold out and hope prices drop a bit?🤔

This is just brutal. $1,500? Seriously?$533 For a standard i5, you could have easily snagged an i5-4670k for that kind of cash at Best Buy or Micro Center just a few months back. As for the PSU, grab a Fortron Hyper 500W instead—it comes with a five-year warranty and is actually a step up from what you're looking at, even if it costs a bit more. $13You don't even have 8GB of RAM? That's pure chaos. Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't touch a single upgrade for at least five months. Just hold off.
I'll see what I can pull together in the Uzi.

Sean Garcia3 said:This is terrible. 1500-$533 For a standard i5, you could probably find an i5 4670k for that kind of money at Best Buy or Micro Center if you looked about 3 or 4 months ago. As for the power supply, I'd suggest grabbing a Fortron Hyper 500w. It comes with a five-year warranty and is a bit better, even if it does cost more. $13You don't even have 8GB of RAM, so it's just chaos. I guess if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't buy anything for at least five months.
I'll see what I can put together at Uzi.

I know it all. I really screwed myself by not buying everything when I had the chance late last year. Back then, my budget was... $1500Look, I already said just wait a bit, and it’ll eventually hit 5,000. Right now, I managed to push it up to 5,500, but there's always some kind of compromise or constant shifting around. I guess if I had handled that end of things differently last year, I might have actually gotten... 😵😵Damn dollar. 😠

I was actually over at ADM looking at the Gigabyte R7 280, and it was... $550Next day. $617.🤣

Look, you can actually put this all together in a Uzi case for even less than what you're seeing here:

1x Gainward GTX 960 Phantom 2GB DDR5

1x Intel Core i5-4440

1x Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H motherboard

2x Kingston Technology HyperX Fury Memory White 4GB 1866MHz DDR3

1x XFX Pro 450W

1x Seagate 1TB SATA HDD Barracuda, Serial ATA III, 1000 GB

1x Cooler Master N200

Total: 5 $211 UZI.shop, free assembly and shipping included!
If you sign up for the PC Expert forum, you get a 3% discount, which brings the total down to $1821.

Basically, for a lower price, you end up with the exact same rig but with 8GB of RAM. Don't bother paying extra for a better processor; all these non-K models are pretty much identical—they just have slightly higher clock speeds that won't actually make a noticeable difference in your games. I threw in a solid XFX power supply so you've got plenty of breathing room. Between the GPU and CPU, you're pulling about 200-210W, and with the rest of the components, you're looking at maybe 260W total. That leaves you with roughly 170W of headroom, so you can easily swap in a beefier graphics card down the road without everything melting.

beQuiet! system Power 7 400 w is probably a bit better than that XFX unit, and $20 it’s actually cheaper. I guess adding an extra $20 for the RAM is pretty unnecessary; you might see some difference in Winrar, but that's about it. If you want a real upgrade, maybe just grab the paliti super JetStream GTX 960.

crimsonstag84 said:The beQuiet! system Power 7 400w is actually a step up from that XFX unit, and $20 it’s cheaper too. Honestly, spending extra $20 on more RAM is overkill; you won't even notice a difference unless you're living in Winrar. You'd be better off putting that money toward a paliti super JetStream GTX 960.

My only concern is that with that power supply, you're basically hitting a wall if you ever want to upgrade to a beefier GPU. As for the RAM, I just threw it in because I think it looks better—personally, I prefer two sticks over one. Look, these are all minor details that don't really change much, but it's all about preference. Everyone should build their rig how they want. That said, if you decide to go with a single 8GB stick instead, you could pivot to a cheaper board like the Asrock h81 HDS which has two slots. From there, you could potentially grab an MSI GTX 960 or maybe put that cash toward a nicer case. At the end of the day, build it however you like.

Sean Garcia3 said:This is ridiculous. 1500—$533 For a standard i5, you could've easily snagged an i5 4670k at Best Buy or Micro Center for that kind of cash just a few months back. As for the power supply, grab a Fortron Hyper 500w instead; it comes with a 5-year warranty and it's actually better, even if it costs a bit more. $13You don't even have 8GB of RAM, it's a total mess. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't touch buying anything right now—not for at least five months.
I'll see what I can put together over at Uzi.

Here we go again with the predictions... what, you got a crystal ball or something that tells you exactly what prices will look like in six months?

gentlesailor43, don't just sit there waiting around. If you've got the cash, pull the trigger now. Who knows what prices will look like down the road? They might dip, or they might spike—nobody here has a crystal ball.

I'm here. $1833Just squeeze out whatever performance you can get from it for now.

Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H, Socket 1150, Intel ® B85.
Just one Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box.
Two sticks of 4GB DDR3 Crucial RAM, 1600MHz CL11.
Just a single Toshiba 1TB hard drive—7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB cache. Basic stuff.
One Fortron 500W Hyper power supply, PPA5005003, with a 12cm fan.
XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933M
Silverstone Redline RL04B Middle Tower, 1x ATX, 7 slots.

$1859
www.adm.com

Sean Garcia3 said:I guess the only real bottleneck when upgrading to a beefier graphics card will be that power supply.

Having 20W less on the 12V rail and only a 2x6+2-pin setup for the GPU feels like a massive bottleneck compared to the XFX model, which uses a 1x6-pin and a 1x8-pin. It's a pretty significant limitation, I guess. 😬

Sean Garcia3 said:I went with two sticks of RAM just because I think it looks better, plus I’ve always preferred having two modules instead of one. I guess those are just little things that don't really matter much.

😵

The show is getting underway 🍿

gentlesailor43 said:One Intel Core i5-4570, 3.20GHz, Haswell.
I have one Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H motherboard featuring the LGA 1150 socket and an Intel ® B85 chipset.
Here’s what I’ve got on hand: one Gigabyte GTX960 WF2 Overclocked featuring 2GB of GDDR5 memory, equipped with DVI-I, DVI-D, and HDMI outputs.
1 x Seagate 1TB HDD, SATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
I’ve got a single 4GB stick of Kingston DDR3 memory here—1600MHz with CL11 latency, part of their Value line.
Power Supply: FORTRON 500W, HEXA plus 500, featuring a 12cm fan.
Thermaltake V4 Black edition, VM30001W2Z, Middle Tower, 9.9 lbs
1 x SCYTHE Slip Stream Slim 120mm 1200 rpm, 21.71 dBA / 24.03 CFM

$1870 AMD

I stretched my budget by about $100 and pulled this build together. Now comes the big question: should I just pull the trigger right now, or wait it out and hope prices drop?🤔

Honestly, the i5-4570 just isn't worth the extra cash when you look at the i5-4440 or the i5-4460. It’s like paying a premium for a luxury sedan when a reliable mid-sized SUV gets you exactly where you need to go for much less. Save your money.
That graphics card isn't even worth two cents. You're much better off picking up an XFX R9-280A-TDFD for around $200.$100 It’s not exactly a weaker performer—not by any significant margin, anyway—it just pulls a bit more power from the outlet.
You might find that having 8 GB of RAM would be necessary for your needs.
Honestly, buying Thermaltake cases just isn't worth the money.

It’s way too easy to blow cash when it isn't yours. Honestly, we've seen this cycle play out for years—one minute everything is dirt cheap and accessible, then suddenly prices spike, and it just keeps looping. With the new series of AMD graphics likely dropping by May, there’s bound to be a much better way to spend that money, and current card prices will almost certainly take a hit. If he can't wait, he should just buy something now; if he's in no rush, tell him to hang tight.

crimsonstag84, with those weaker power supplies, even a 20w difference can actually mess with the whole build.

Sean Garcia3 said:It's easy to blow cash when it isn't yours. It’s always been a cycle—one minute components are dirt cheap, the next everything spikes. We'll probably see a new series of AMD cards drop within five months, which will definitely give him better options for his money once current prices tank. If he can't wait, let him buy now. If he's not in a rush, tell him to sit tight.

crimsonstag84, with weak power supplies like that, an extra 20W actually matters for the build.

Keep your mouth shut about wasting money... honestly, I won't even bring up those times you went over budget by hundreds of bucks just to justify yourself.

As for new GPUs coming out, they’ll either be more expensive than what's out now, or there's zero guarantee current prices will actually drop. Neither you nor I—nor anyone with half a brain—can predict that kind of thing.

And what, is he supposed to just sit there without a PC for the next 3-4 months?
He has the cash right now to grab a setup that handles everything at 1080p. In the end, he'll have a REAL new computer, not some piece of junk from a Craigslist ad or whatever.

There’s really no point in sitting around for four or five months waiting for prices to dip or for AMD to drop a new series of graphics cards—because by the time those six or seven months have actually passed, some brand-new technology will probably be announced, leaving you wondering if you should wait yet again. The answer? No. If someone feels like buying right now, they should just go for it. Honestly, the world moves so fast these days that you can't exactly have your cake and eat it too.

Larry Ortiz5 said:There’s really no point waiting 4 or 5 months for prices to drop or for AMD to launch a fresh line of graphics cards. If you wait 6 or 7 months, some brand-new technology will just be announced, and then you'll find yourself wondering if you should wait even longer! The answer is NO. If someone needs an upgrade, they should just grab it now. This world moves way too fast to try and play it safe and save money at the same time.

I totally get it... I'm NOT waiting six months for a price cut, I'm waiting because that's when my new PC finally arrives!😉

Look, man, just give me a shout whenever you're actually ready to pull the trigger on a purchase. Honestly, trying to spec out a build right now for something you won't be buying for a few months—it just doesn't make much sense, does it?

Larry Ortiz5 said:Look, buddy, just reach out once you're actually ready to pull the trigger. There’s really no point in building a parts list now if you aren't buying anything for a few months.

Oh, I know, but I am just so impatient... you guys probably know how that goes! 😉 😁

Well, I guess that's just how I roll 😛

Larry Ortiz5 said:I know the feeling, I'm the exact same way 😛

Nah, you just sell your GPU to buy a better one then blow all the cash at an Atlantic City casino instead.🍿🤣

Well, things didn't exactly go according to plan—I think I ended up having about three beers too many, so here we are. 😉

Larry Ortiz5 said:honestly, I was thinking differently before, but now? I’ve probably had three beers too many, so there you go. 😉

hold up, let's wait until something better hits the market. 🍿

hahaha 🤣