Advice for buying a gaming PC!

So, does that mean crimsonstag84's setup is the gold standard here?

Alright, my sincere thanks to everyone! 🙂

I mean, you probably shouldn't try to pull a fast one if you take it

Hey everyone, I've been lurking and reading quite a bit, but this is my first time actually jumping in to ask for help. 😁

My old desktop computer finally kicked the bucket—it's dead. Now I need something new, mostly just for web browsing, Word, Excel, Photoshop, and that whole category of "office work."

But I figured—since I'm buying anyway—why not throw together a budget gaming build? Something I can use to play a newer game every now and then. It doesn't need to run everything on Ultra settings; I just want something that holds up for gaming for the next year or two... before I eventually upgrade to something much more powerful.

I've done some reading through your posts, so I’ve put together a potential budget gaming PC. If anyone could offer a comment or a suggestion, I'd really appreciate it. 👍

Intel Pentium G4560 (3MB Cache, 3.5GHz), s1151 $166
MSI B250M Pro-VD motherboard, s1151, 7A74-002R $180
500W NaviaTec ML500W power supply, NVT-ML500W $50
DDR4 8GB (1x8GB) PC4-1700 2133MHz CL15 Kingston Value, KVR21N15D8/8, KVR21N15S8/8 $172
MSI GTX1050Ti Aero ITX 4G OC graphics card, 4GB GDDR5, 128-bit, 1455/1750MHz, V809-2454R $408
1TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, SATA3, HDWD110UZSVA $128
MS Cyclops II case, midi tower $72

Total: $1.25 (USD)

I'd like to keep the total around $1.25, maybe stretching to $1.25 at most.

Thanks in advance.

Personally, I’d rather just cut corners on the motherboard and grab an H110 instead. You could probably save about $5 or so by opting for a cheaper case and some budget RAM, all so you can afford to drop money on a decent power supply, like a Hex 400W.

If they claim you can push it up to 4000, then by all means, try stretching it to $50 3700. Then just grab a Hex or one of those Gigabyte boards crimsonstag84 keeps posting about and call it a day.

Adding an SSD would be a pretty great upgrade...

Thanks for all the advice, everyone! 🙏

I'm just stuck on the GPU choice—it looks like the Radeon RX 570 crushes the 1050 Ti in performance, and since the price gap is only about $133, I'm seriously leaning toward that route.

I don't think you'll see any Radeon RX 570s available until at least late August. I guess everything just got swept up in this whole crypto mining craze.

crimsonstag84 said:The RX 570 isn't going to be anywhere to be found until at least late August—if ever. Everything got wiped out because of the absolute madness surrounding crypto mining.

If I hold off a bit for that 570, what do you think about this setup for a budget gaming rig?

Intel Core i3-6100 3.50GHz Socket 1151 $163
ASRock H110M-DGS, s.1151, D4, S3, U3, mATX $123
Patriot Signature DDR4, 2400Mhz, 8GB, CL15 $145
Gigabyte RX 570 AORUS, 4GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI $551
Seagate Barracuda 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm HDWD110UZSVA $122
NaviaTec ATX Tower PC Case, No PSU, NVT-939B $31
EVGA 500 W Power Supply, 80+ Bronze, Japanese capacitors, 120mm smart control fan, US plug $139

TOTAL: $1.25 (Best Buy)

So, you're probably gonna be waiting a long time before that RX570 actually shows up...

Randall Flagg, you aren't even looking at the availability icon...

And when they finally show up, they’ll be marked up by several hundred dollars... https://www.nabava.net/out.php?enc=p...eaef704180cdbe

Honestly, just forget about using an Intel GPU for gaming as long as this whole crypto mining mess continues.

If things had stayed normal, the 570 would have kept dropping in price below $467 after the 470 (1400-$500), instead of jumping up by 50-60%.

The GTX 1060 isn't going to be anywhere to be found, at least not until the end of August. Everything just went to hell because of this absolute madness surrounding crypto mining.

Can someone please enlighten me here? Why is everyone obsessed with the GTX 1060 specifically when it comes to mining crypto compared to everything else?
I've overheard some chatter about how there are supposedly these special cards built just for that kind of work, and that you can only get them through certain middlemen.
Thanks.

It’s probably got the best ROI for mining and pays itself off the fastest, I guess.

GPU manufacturers tried to grab a bigger slice of the pie, but they jacked up prices so high you can't even use them for gaming anymore. Plus, their warranty is only three months 😁. Not sure how many people would actually jump on that, doesn't sound too great to me.

Hey everyone, I'm looking to build a new PC for $2667 😁. I came across this setup:

ASUS ROG Strix X370-E motherboard, sAM4, ATX
MSI B350 Gaming Pro motherboard, sAM4, ATX

Which one is the better choice?

Intel Core i5-7600K processor
Corsair 16 GB DDR4 2666MHz Vengeance Black (2x8GB kit), CMK16GX4M2A2666C16
550W Corsair CX Series power supply, 80+ Bronze
Seagate IronWolf Pro 1TB hard drive
Sama Vanguard high-end ATX-III full-tower case

Any suggestions for changes? Also, which GPU would pair well with this?

First off, what's the primary use case for this PC? Are you looking for a monitor and peripherals too, or just the tower?

The Intel Core i5-7600K isn't really worth the extra premium over the standard model. Also, unless you're planning on running heavy multi-GPU setups, most people don't actually need the extra connectivity that comes with an X370 motherboard.

Timothy Kim60 said:First, what’s the primary use case? Are you looking for a monitor and peripherals as well?

The Intel Core i5-7600K isn't worth the premium over the standard model. You only really need an X370 if you require full SLI/Crossfire support or extra connectivity—things most users won't touch.

It's for gaming. 😁I'll probably just grab a monitor on Craigslist. I want to know what I can get for $8,000 that actually performs well for gaming. I picked this MSI B350 Gaming Pro because it looked solid enough.🙂

techcrunch.com

You can definitely cut costs in a few spots—for instance, you could swap out the power supply (though honestly, I’d stick with this one just for that 7-year warranty), or go with 8GB of RAM (but keep in mind that won't let you push for a higher-tier graphics card later).

As for a monitor, just make sure it has at least a DVI or HDMI port and hits Full HD resolution (1920x1080).

Timothy Kim60 said:

PCPartPicker

I know where to find parts; I just need to know which components actually perform well. I’ve put together a preliminary build that seems decent, so I’m asking what would offer the best value for this budget.

I just caught sight of the image. If I cut the SSD from the list, is there anything else worth upgrading elsewhere?

Thoughts on this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/example-pc-listing-link

Mainly curious about the build quality since it's used, and if the price is actually fair (feels a little steep to me).
Looking for some secondhand gear to run the Adobe suite and some 3D animation; won't be doing much gaming.

Thanks.

rapidpanther2 said:Can I get an opinion on this:
http://www.craigslist.org/cs/pc-computers/23615178

I'm mostly worried about the build quality since it's used, and if the price is fair (it feels slightly overpriced to me).
I'm looking for something secondhand to run the Adobe suite and some 3D animation, though I won't be gaming much.

Thanks.

Honestly, you could probably buy something brand new and better for the same money. Plus, you won't have any upgrade path in a year or two. It's got an old AMD processor and DDR3 memory.