Quick question?

So, I'm looking to pick up a PC or a tower for about $1833 that's mainly intended for gaming. I was given an offer, but I have my doubts. Since I don't know much about hardware components myself, my question is: is this a decent deal, or can I find something better for roughly the same amount of money?

CPU Intel Core i5-3570K, 3.5 GHz, LGA 1155 $298
MBO ASRock 970 PRO3, AM3 $166
MEM DDR3 4GB 1866, FURY, Kingston X2 $179
SSD 240 Patriot BLAST R560.530 $233
CASE DRAGON MSI GAMING BEZ-NAP $84
NAP 600W FORTRON 80+, HYPER.ACT $153
OPT.DVD.RW 24X GH24NS95 $40
GRAPH SAPH R7 360OC, 2GB.DDR5 $302
DIF COOLER KLEPER V2- SPIRE $38
.................................................. .........................................
$500.00 including tax

Thanks for the help

That doesn't look great to me. The GPU is way too weak, and honestly, those prices seem astronomical unless you're paying in installments.

Corsair DDR3 1600, C11, 8GB, KVR16N11/8
Patriot SSD Blast R560/W530, 240GB, 7mm, 2.5"
Cooler Master Case, Cooler Master Case
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, XFX-R9-280A-TDFD
Optical drive LG GH24NSC0 SATA Bulk Black 24x
Dell OptiPlex Desktop
Intel Core i7-3770K
LC Power CPU Cooler LC-CC-120 - 120mm Intel/AMD
EVGA 500W Gold

Total: $1804 Centro

Everything here is just better—for instance, the graphics card is more than twice as powerful.

Nathan Thomas2 said:So, I'm looking to pick up a PC or a tower for about $1833 that's mainly intended for gaming. I was given an offer, but I have my doubts. Since I don't know much about hardware components myself, my question is: is this a decent deal, or can I find something better for roughly the same amount of money?

CPU Intel Core i5-3570K, 3.5 GHz, LGA 1155 $298
MBO ASRock 970 PRO3, AM3 $166
MEM DDR3 4GB 1866, FURY, Kingston X2 $179
SSD 240 Patriot BLAST R560.530 $233
CASE DRAGON MSI GAMING BEZ-NAP $84
NAP 600W FORTRON 80+, HYPER.ACT $153
OPT.DVD.RW 24X GH24NS95 $40
GRAPH SAPH R7 360OC, 2GB.DDR5 $302
DIF COOLER KLEPER V2- SPIRE $38
.................................................. .........................................
$500.00 including tax

Thanks for the help

Are you sticking strictly to a budget of $1.75, or just using this offer as a baseline?
Honestly, you can find way better deals than this almost anywhere for that kind of cash. It looks like those individual component prices don't include sales tax, which is already baked into the total. Every single one of them is overpriced by about the amount of the sales tax, because if you check any online retailer, those are the standard prices *after* tax. For example, over at Best Buy (they don't carry Patriot Memory, so I used Kingston), your setup would cost around $1.50, which means this offer is about 20% more expensive.

Lately, people feel forced into these kinds of deals because they're stuck with specific payment terms, certain credit cards, or monthly installment plans. That’s why, if you have the cash ready to go, @crimsonstag84 has a solution for you. If things are different for you, just let us know what your payment options look like...

Michael Jackson10 said:Are you sticking strictly to a budget of $1.75, or just using this offer as a baseline?
Honestly, you can find way better deals than this almost anywhere for that kind of cash. It looks like those individual component prices don't include sales tax, which is already baked into the total. Every single one of them is overpriced by about the amount of the sales tax, because if you check any online retailer, those are the standard prices *after* tax. For example, over at Best Buy (they don't carry Patriot Memory, so I used Kingston), your setup would cost around $1.50, which means this offer is about 20% more expensive.

Lately, people feel forced into these kinds of deals because they're stuck with specific payment terms, certain credit cards, or monthly installment plans. That’s why, if you have the cash ready to go, @crimsonstag84 has a solution for you. If things are different for you, just let us know what your payment options look like...

I am not basing my decisions on this offer. My budget is around $1833—it's in dollars now—so if I can spend an extra 200-$100 to get something significantly better, that is fine. Payment will be cash 😁. I received this quote from a local PC shop, so I assumed the prices were inflated. What do you suggest instead?

Thanks for the help.

Are you looking for an HDD? I feel like 240GB just wouldn't be enough space for me, so I'd probably go with a 120GB SSD paired with a 1TB HDD instead.

1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, 2GB 128 bit GDDR5
1 x Toshiba HDD 1TB, 7200rpm, 32MB
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider ST50F-ESB 500W, 80+ Bronze
1 x Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3-1866 CL10 Blue
1 x OCZ SSD ARC 100, 120GB Sata3
1 x AMD FX X8 8300 (3.3GHz, 16MB, 95W, AM3+) box
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+, 125W CPU
1 x LG GH24NSC0 sat Bulk Black 24x
1 x Zalman Z1, USB3.0 black, 2x120mm
1 x CPU Cooler LC-CC-95, Intel/AMD, 90mm 4-pin

$1915
futura-it

Honestly, I’d rather skip the SSD and just try to overclock the R9 290 instead.

But it feels like nobody’s going to agree with me—everyone is obsessed with those SSDs.

There’s just no way to make that work for around $75. Trying to stretch a budget that far to reach an R9 290 is a losing battle, especially since he'd need a beefier power supply too. Honestly, his budget is already blown as it is.

1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8300 Processor 3.3GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8300WMHK
1 x 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 Kingston, 1866MHz, CL10, HyperX Fury
1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933 m 1 x
1 x Zalman Z3 mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. MB standard
1 x FORTRON 550W Raider Power Supply, RA550, 12cm fan
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x SCYTHE Katana 3 SCKTN-3000A White Box, 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G

$1873
www.adm.com

No way an R9 290 fits in this budget. Even if you ditch the SSD, it's not happening.

Can those previous 2-3 builds actually handle games like The Witcher 3 or Far Cry 4 on decent settings?

Thanks

Nathan Thomas2 said:Can those previous 2-3 builds actually handle games like The Witcher 3 or Far Cry 4 on decent settings?

Thanks

Yeah, they can...

Of course you can. Just search for the game title plus the GPU model and "benchmark." Or just head over to YouTube and look it up.

Just make sure you install the latest updates. A lot of games launch feeling like half-finished products, but they usually patch them later to fix bugs and boost performance.




In the context of this specific game and those particular graphics cards, the processor doesn't really matter—there won't be any noticeable difference.

Both GPUs are in the same tier, so you can't go wrong either way. The Witcher 3 tends to run slightly better on NVIDIA, while Far Cry 4 performs better on an AMD card of the same level.

I have another question. Is it possible to pair an i5 processor with the configuration mentioned above, and would that be a better move while keeping the budget roughly the same?

Thanks for the response

I wouldn't touch an i5. Between the CPU and the GPU, you're already halfway through your budget. If the chip is $150 and the card is $170, you'll be cutting corners on everything else.
1 x ASUS B85M-G, s1150
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz,1MB,6MB,84 W,1150) Box
1 x DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston, 1866MHz, CL10, HyperX Fury
1 x HyperX Fury 1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933 m 1 x
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x FORTRON 550W Raider, RA550, 12cm ventilator
1 x HDD WD 1TB, Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3,64 MB, 3,5", 24mj

$1810
It fits, sure, but you lose the SSD that way.
And honestly, that fx 8300 holds its own just fine against the i5.

Hey everyone, I figured I’d post this here instead of starting a whole new thread. I’m running into a bit of a headache and could really use some advice from anyone who's dealt with something similar. A few days ago, I was cleaning out my room and unplugged my PC. When I tried to power it back up that evening, it was completely dead. I took it down to a local repair shop, and the technician had no trouble getting it to boot right up. He told me the issue was just a massive buildup of dust inside the case and insisted I clean it out more often. So, I bring the rig home, try to flip the switch, and... nothing. Still dead. 😢
There's definitely an underlying issue here. I'm wondering if it might be the power cable, since the tech used his own cord rather than my original one to test it. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

The only thing you can actually do is swap out the cable and try a different outlet. Give that a shot and let me know if anything changes...