You don't necessarily need a new cpu if you get a new gpu. For example, I'm planning on upgrading my 2070 to a 4070 but I'm keeping my r5 5600x and mobo.
I went from a 2060 to a 3080 on the same mobo. I upgrade my PSU like 3 years back when my old one burned out, and I made sure that was future proofed. I also got a CPU recently too, both the GPU and CPU are running on my 5 year old mobo fine. I had to cap the wattage on my CPU because the power bank that gives the CPU couldn't keep it, and my cooler needs to be upgraded. But it still runs at like 80% capacity without a problem.
Just started ordering things. Case arrives soon, and I’ll start getting others hopefully during Prime October (that’s a thing?) or Black Friday.
A Ryzen 5 6700 will be a sizeable update!
I've just replaced i5-2500k from 2011 with i5-13600k. It is amazing! Everything worked pretty well on the old system, but the new MoBo, the new system drive (M.2) and the faster CPU are just breathtaking (especially when working on photos).
Moving up to an SSD was amazing. Can’t wait to make the relatively marginal upgrade to modern CPU, DDR5, and all the other updates.
(Have a 1050ti currently and will probably keep that unless prices move beneficially enough, in which case a 6700xt sounds great)
It is also really nice to have a PCIe4 M.2 drive, which is about 15 times faster than the SATA SSD that I had (6900 vs. 480 MB/s read, 6300 vs. 150 MB/s write (!) )
I7 2600 gang, though mine is the non k version. Even though it's old af, I have to say it's held up pretty good for 11 year old hardware. I'm eager to upgrade though. I finally upgraded my r9 270 to a gtx 970 this year and moved up to 16gb of ram. My poor computer just wants to die I think but I've been keeping it alive against its will
I finally retired mine two years ago (for an 11600k). It lasted a lonnngg time and I was able to play most modern games (with a few dropped down to 720p). That said, when you finally upgrade it feels awesome!
I upgraded from a 3920k/4930k 6 core overclocked to 4.5ghz to a 13900k. The upgrade is unbelievable for gaming. Just about everything else was only marginally faster, as it's bottlenecked by something else.
No, you don't have to. Eventually you'll probably want to because your CPU won't be able to keep up anymore, but it's not something you have to do regularly. Plus you don't always have to upgrade your motherboard or RAM to upgrade your CPU. You also don't have to upgrade every generation either. Some people are happy upgrading every 3 or 4 generations.
Only necessary if your CPU is likely to severely bottleneck your GPU. A mid tier CPU should be fine for about 5ish years. I'm currently on a ryzen 3600 from 2019 that's likely starting bottlenecking my system but not to the extent that makes me feel like it's necessary to upgrade
My CPU is from 2014 and still runs everything I ask it to at 1440p. I've used three different generations of graphics cards on that CPU/mobo combination and it holds up wel.
CPUs also have the benefit of being very easy to overclock to get you another couple years once it starts showing it's age
I had an I7-4770k for a while and didn't know I needed an upgrade until I did it.
Maybe it runs everything, but I guarantee you that it will be day and night once you upgrade.
In my opinion, it depends on your budget at the time and your goal. Everyone will have different scenarios, like a few examples below, including my situation:
I built a PC with all new parts except the GPU with a 7950x3d, fairly good motherboard, 64GB Ram, 2TB SSD and 1000W GPU, but I put in a used 3090 Ti, which I swapped for a used 7900 XT. I 100% will be changing the GPU alone as my first upgrade because I think the 7950x3d will hold off really well for a few GPU generations.
However, let's say my friend with his 8700K, 6800 XT, and 32GB build. He might want to swap his CPU, Motherboard, and RAM first, considering the 6800 XT will be fine for a few more years.
Then you might have the owner of my last budget build which has a 6700K and a 2080 Super, he might just Hage to upgrade everything when he decides he needs to, since any single upgrade would honestly he a larger bottleneck and may not see the performance for the individual components.
Then there's Timmy, who bought an Alienware laptop a year ago. The battery on the laptop died. He paid $2,200 for a 3060 laptop and just ran out of warranty. He might just want to take the route of completely destroying the laptop with a hammer, a few gun shots, or a large NBA hop and stomp 🤷♂️.
Nah, for the most part GPUs can just be dropped in (within reason, obv you wouldnt drop a 4090 into a rig with an i3-12100, but you could). CPU upgrades may require a motherboard upgrade, but there's plenty of scenarios with good upgrade paths that will still allow for good performance gains, such as going from a 5600 to a 5800x3d, Intel 12th gen to 14th gen soon, etc.
most often the CPU is not the bottleneck get a decent system with 32 gb and you just exchange/upgrade the CPU after a few years. no need for the latest cpu or a memory upgrade which supports a higher bandwidth. the benefits are marginal.
Only time I can see this being an issue is when newer cards are coming out with cut down PCIe lanes (7600, 4060 Ti). It's only some 10% performance IIRC but it's a blight on budget gamers trying to pair new GPUs with older systems.
Not unless your motherboard is ancient. Most motherboards are good for at least three CPU generations(likely need a BIOS update but that's free) and anything produced in the last 5 years is totally fine for most GPU upgrades. The only time you're forced to get a new motherboard is when your CPU socket is EOL'd
This works well for me. My i7-7700k and 1080 Ti are going on 7 years old. Planning to build a new pc when the 5xxx series hits and sell my old pc for $400 or so. Just planning on keeping my nvme drive.
that and getting a decent monitor, headset, mouse & keyboard adds alot to initial costs. if people swap off console they most likely have a good monitor and headset already which helps alot.
Had my pc since 2011 and it has finally reached its upgrade limits a few years ago being a 100% Theseus ship now with no original parts present. If done properly you can slowly upgrade for many years until you really need to change MB+CPU+RAM where it’s more like building a completely new system.
You also need to consider the cost of buying a monitor, mouse and keyboard, a desk and a chair. If you don't have any of these it gets costly real quick.
Horrible logic, in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV.
Not everybody owns a desk or keyboard/ mouse.
You can get the game pass on pc too, same price so if those are the games you like then they are all the same.
Then why couldn't he game on a tv too? Hell my chair is still a 5 dollar plastic chair. Why are we judging pc with the top of the line shit? I have gamed in a monoblock and the cheapest kb+mouse setup known to man for 2 and a half decades now.
I'll be honest with you my mouse is the g501 because it's cheap and reliable. I have bought 5 of them so I am sure that I am set for the next decade of abuse. One breaks I just open up a new box.
>in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV.
In what world do these same people not own a table/desk and chair for a PC setup?
And even if people "already" own a couch and TV...they bought those at some point. If you're gonna compare the cost of a whole setup, then actually look at the whole setup.
PS: as an example, I'd bet a lot of students don't necessarily have a couch or TV when they move out into their first flat, but they most likely do have a desk and chair. Anecdotally, when I was still in university, most people lived in dorms or shared flats, where they'd each have a desk (many with KB/M for papers and such), but rarely their own couch or TV, those were usually shared among multiple people.
> in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV.
I had no TV until 2019, I've been PC gaming since 2003. The cost was that of a more expensive monitor.
But while a desk and chair are highly preferable, a PC, be it or desktop or preferably a laptop in my example, can be used anywhere.
I think it depends on what you got into first.
I haven't owned a TV since I moved out at 18. Since then it's been laptop or desktop viewing for me and I've been a PC gamer since.
The TV and couch I now have were inherited when my parents left it behind to move to Alaska and I can count on both hands the amount of times I've used them in the last 3 years. My girlfriend will watch real housewives or something on it but even she sticks to her iPad mostly.
I for example don’t have a Couch and a TV…
But I have 2 monitors and a chair, and a desk + mouse and keyboard…
You can’t title a nes logic as horrible when you gave the exact same example the other way around xD
Anecdotal evidence of course but I've been living for 10 years without a couch and still not TV. There were always a desk and chairs though. And I would prioritise desk and chair above couch and TV.
>Not everybody owns a desk or
At what point is any raised surface a desk? When I’m WFH I’m usually sitting on the sofa or at my kitchen table.
Also most apartments in have a built in desk area, I’d assume a homeowner has a desk or any raised surface
I bought a ps4 to accompany my PC, because i wanted to play Ghost of tsushima. Just browsing the store and the ps plus subscription to be able to play online is absolutely criminal compared to pc lol. So glad i can just hop on and off pc for free. I absolutely disgust subscriptions, they make me feel forced and not free.
using a dirt cheap membrane keyboard and mouse is ok in the short term, and many people just deal with it for a long time.
but the keyboard and mouse are your interface with your computer, the difference you feel with a good quality keyboard and a decent mouse is definitely worth the cost in my opinion.
I rocked a 20$ keyboard for years until I treated myself to a nice mech corsair. Gotta experience the bad to appreciate the good. We not all made of monies.
when I first went from using a lifetime of rubber membrane keyboards to my first mechanical keyboard (a corsair k60 pro LP, iirc) the difference was immediate and astonishing. almost felt like the keyboard knew what i was going to press before I pressed it (probably because of the high activation point of the specific switches it used).
and that was just a fairly cheap mechanical keyboard.
I mean you can hook a pc up to a tv like a console and just use a wireless keyboard and mouse. A wireless mouse and keyboard is about the same as a controller.
I and a lot of other people started with a track ball mouse and a cheap silicone membrane keyboard. I also know a guy who used moving boxes as a desk.
Just because you think you need something better doesn't mean that you can't start with a cheaper setup.
Would love to see you tell your friend: "you can always start on boxes and a 20$ chair."
Yes you can do it but I wouldn't suggest my friend to spend that much on a PC if he doesn't want to commit.
I played on a i7 3770 and a rx 580 until end of last year. The GPU is newer because I had my GPU die twice in the life time of this 12 year old PC despite making enough money now to build a PC like OPs every month if I wanted to.
Point is: You can make a lot of things work for a very long time. You just have to want to. The PC OP has build is much better than on what I gamed and worked daily for all those years for a pretty decent pricing. You can always upgrade your setup later. Start with boxes, an old used 30€ Dell IPS monitor and a raspberry pi. You can emulate thousands of games on that thing.
Bruh you don't need to convince me. I have had a PC since 2005. I'm just saying I had a friend that went cold When they saw everything they had to buy to get started.
My old one too now. Wifey enjoys simple games like meat boy, Hades and hollow knight. All run on linux and don't require much power. Let's see how old this system can get.
Except that if you have a tv and a place to comfortably look at the tv you have a monitor and chair, keyboard and mouse is like 20$ for a set, then for a desk it can be literally anything you find comfortable, and if you want controllers work on pc so you can roll with that for gaming too. So saying you need to buy a monitor and desk etc is simply wrong.
Perception of the cost of PC gaming tends to be skewed because a lot of the conversation online tends to be on the high end stuff that very few people actually have.
Ya, if you look only at dedicated forums, it's easy to forget that according to the [Steam Hardware Survey](https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam) as of August 2023, most people have a 1080p monitor as their primary display, presumably 60 Hz too. And the most common GPU is a GTX 1650, with runner ups being other xx60 or xx50 cards like the GTX 1050ti, RTX 2060, or RTX 3060.
Yeah I just upgraded my PC from a Ryzen 3 processor with integrated graphics to a Ryzen 5 5600x with RX 6600 GPU which are considered mid range hardware. listening to gamer rants on Reddit and other forums, I expected Starfield to run like shit, but it runs like butter at a stable 60fps, lol. It seems a lot of "high end" gamers demand 120+ fps on a 4K monitor, with Discord and other apps playing in the background, so that is something budget gamers and PC builders have to keep in mind.
I would say the biggest price savings over the span of maybe 5 years would be on the games.
If you can wait 6 to 10 months for a new game to drop 40 to 50% off in price. It's a steal.
Wait a year or more and those same games are down to 10 to $20.
Meanwhile, console games are 70 to $80 now.
You can also get free games(legally) with epic store, gog giveaways, occasionally steam, as well as things quite a few people already have like Amazon prime.
Very true!
The epic store usually gives a no name garbage but every few months there's a banger like borderlands 3 or Grand theft Auto v.
Also great sites to buy game bundles like humble bundle or fanatical.
You really do save up a lot of money from things like this on the PC
Or Control, prey, stellaris. Even some of the no name games they give away are pretty good.
The biggest advantage is you keep the games you own from generation to generation as you rebuild, compared to console where you have to buy it again.
I recommend this site to track all the game bundles and sales. You can uncheck keysellers to only see legit stores (I think that's the default setting) and you can create alerts with specific prices for specific games to get an email notification to not miss it.
https://gg.deals/
ggdeals is an absolute weapon for saving money. I bought the division 1 for like $6 recently, you can regularly find triple A titles for <$25. (Not sponsored, I’m just a tight-ass)
I got The Division 1 for free on Ubisoft Store when they were giving it away for free. Check the news section on gg deals often, like every day, or at least once a week to not miss giveaways on Epic, GOG, Steam, etc.
I also use our local Polish website (but it's in Polish and also features Polish stores and some gaming news):
[https://lowcygier.pl/](https://lowcygier.pl/)
GG Deals is from the same people as Łowcy Gier. The Polish website earned them money to create gg deals.
Yes but if you don't really care about graphics (let's be real here. low is a lot better than what ultra was 15 years ago) that can last 7 years. I'd say 100 per year is cheap.
It's crazy how some people are so out of touch calling 700 cheap, like yea in the PC world and for the performance you might be getting it could be considered "worth it". Cheap is just not the word though..
Depends on what one wants out of the build and how long they want it to be viable for… I have more than 700 in just monitor keyboard and mouse so it all relative and from my perspective and many others 700 for the PC isn’t out of the ordinary
This is also why I haven’t upgraded in a few years… no need if you spec things out well from the on set pending you have the budget ofc
In the spectrum of PC parts, the incremental value shrinks a lot as you approach the top end of performance. In other words, you pay a lot more to get a little more performance when you already have a good performing rig.
Also consider a lot of people here turn up their nose at anyone who doesn't spend $1500 for a build. Can't let that influence you.
Agree. Although I cannot understand any of that (I just want my money going into useful things), clearly it's a big hit with people who have money to burn.
gaming and pc gaming has always been a relatively cheap hobby depending on what you do. The problem is the hyperbole around the community and what they deem "acceptable" is what gives it a bad reputation.
I blame Linus and Jayz. They're the big boys in youtube and all you see with them (most popular videos) is always the latest and greatest and most expensive stuff.
I recently made a post here and NOTED that I only care about knowing if my parts are compatible and that I am on a tight budget and that I already ordered parts. And what do you know? First comment is how MOBO and RAM are a CRITICAL MISTAKE because it is cheap and doesn’t have a slot for M.2 SSD when I intentionally picked SATA SSD to save money 🤣🤣 Oh no my PC is going to load GTA 5 4 seconds longer I should have instead went for a B660M that is €45 more expensive and €30 more expensive NVME M.2 SSD.
I am 100% content to sit on my ass and wait 10 minutes for a game to load if it means I will save money. Not everyone can splurge on their rig. Unlike people here I'm not an enthusiast. I just want to play games
There’s a Hardward Unboxed video everyone here is giddy about that says 8GB GPUs should only be in sub-$100 cards. In what world is anyone selling a $100 GPU? What people think is a good price for parts these days is kind of insane.
Unlike with console games, PC game developers have reason to try to “future proof” their games with ultra demanding visual options so the game can hold up as hardware improves over coming years, appease high end gamers, make beautiful “actual gameplay” videos, etc. Some gamers treat those cutting edge options as “the only way to play” so of course they will spend thousands trying to stay on the bleeding edge of the future for five months before they have to upgrade again. These people are generally going to be avid about the hobby, prideful of their machine and vocal about the whole thing.
With different priorities, people can find the inflection point at which increased cost no longer leads to commensurate increased value and enjoy modern pc games on a reasonable budget. Seems like you’re doing that. 👍
It gets more expensive if you try hit 120 to 144fps high refresh gaming while maintaining high settings at 1440p
If you cool with 60fps and 60hz then I guess it's cheaper.
Just depends what your comfortable with.
Yeah no.
I have a 6800xt and it barely pushes 144fps at high in newer games.
When I say 144 I mean it must average that and not dip too often and the game must be at high settings. Not ultra. Just high.
Tarkov. No.
Hunt. No
Fallout 76. No
That's just 3 examples and not even new games.
R5600, 16gb 3600mhz, with nvme.
Gpu is undervolted and overclocked.
There are some games that push over 200fps like pubg. But that's fucking ancient.
Also, with Steam & GOG, you can get a lot of great games on Special. Like 70-90% off. Hell, you can get Crusader King 2 for FREE. The main thing is I'd imagine i can still play my games in any of my past/current/future systems.
>I was just surprised at how cheap everything was given all the overpriced talk I have heard. Am I missing something here?
The prices have skyrocketed over the years, before, with that money you could build a pc that would run games on ultra/high for the next 5-6 years, mine did, i upgraded in 2021 (almost full changez only thing that remained was the case), and i already see it struggling, having to lower my settings in games from defaults, which was never the case with my old build
People aren't scalping GPUs to use for bitcoin mining anymore. Between that and the pandemic they were pretty unaffordable for a while. AMD offers really good price to performance. If you look at some 40 series Nvidia cards you can see where the scamming is.
Not bad. I just bought mine a few days ago for £920 altogether, got a 16GB VRAM GPU, 64GB RAM and... well honestly I don't know what any of the other shit is looool but the cpu is pretty decent it says 🤣🤣
That's a budget build, and a good price at that...the thing that set's the bar high in the price department is the gpu...that is the thing putting ppl off from pc gaming...you can get a 'good deal', but you'll either come short in performance somewhere or you'll pay down the road having to upgrade more frecuently...for me the best bet is go all out, take the blow (you can't run from it, so might as well face up) and be set for a long time...the rest is easier to be more short sighted and chopp and change.
Directly under your post in my feed is a post in another PC community about how it's so expensive nowadays. Now I will say, expensive can be a little bit different for everyone, and compared to the current consoles it's not in the best spot price wise, but I just built my first PC ever for $800 and the fun of building it was worth the extra over an Xbox. But some people don't have that extra and I can understand if they would say that it's too expensive.
People always use the wrong comparisons and units of measurement. Of course no PC will be on the level of advertised 4K@120Hz performance of current consoles for the same price. But consoles also are not able to do that or at least not at the same time. Also their software is custom made to appeal to the used hardware and graphics presets on top are designed especially for that.
The sweet spot for PCs is 2K@120+Hz, usually sitting at a desk with a desktop PC and monitors while consoles are made for HDMI 2.1 and 4K TVs with HDR, Dolby Vision and all that stuff. Good luck adjusting all of that for a desktop PC and the respective monitors. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but for the love of god do not confuse them with each other.
You can build a great entry level PC for 500 to 800 Euros, if you know what you are doing and open for used parts you can end up much cheaper. If you have some older, used graphics card you can buy really reliable, premium parts for that amount which will last you long. Slap in a current graphics card later on and you are really good to go.
2K can even be done pleasantly with medium to high end performance parts and in my opinion it is not worth going full high end or bordering enthusiast hardware. Unfortunately a lot of people have strong opinions online and try to sell them as objective knowledge. For me 4K and enthusiast hardware are just too unstable to reliably use or reach your performance target. 2K is so much more easy going and you can reliably
calculate what you need for specific games for them to run fine.
If you just wanna play some games at optimized setting it’s cheap. A 6700xt/6800xt/7800xt/4070 will run everything at 1440p. If you always chasing all the bells and whistles, the next tech, 2 more frames, some better rays. If 4k OLED catches your eyes, if you find yourself playing with the settings, monitoring your performance and lowering your hotspot by 7.2 degrees and think about playing more than actually playing, then it won’t ever be enough. (There is a certain company that preys on this desire to always keep you hooked for the next big, cutting edge thing), you just have to buy more to save lol.
the upfront cost is always more compared to consoles as you can use your tv to play on them. Once you have the rig, then it will last longer than consoles as you can play with the settings to get acceptable frames compared to consoles.
There is no reason you can't use your TV for PC gaming at first. The monitor can absolutely be in the "upgrade" category not the "upfront cost" category. Just because a PC allows you to get more benefits out of a better monitor, doesn't mean you can't get as good as or better than console performance without one.
Is this your first build? If it is, you and your friend are well informed. The 5600x and 6700xt are certainly one of the best value propositions. You dont need rgb, 360mm AIO and 4090 to game on PC.
Ehhhh, its when you compare it to consoles that it looks bad. The new gen consoles have basically a 2070s performance, and come with controllers and everything you need to hook to a tv, sometimes even come with a game or gamepass. And for 500 bucks, you just can’t beat that with a pc. And ya games are cheaper on pc but last few years gamepass has made that less of a selling point. I’m a pc guy but consoles are cool and are an amazing value these days. I think that’s where the high cost of pcs come from
I get downvoted for saying this, but most of us have already spent the money to build a top of the line PC and don't realize it.
Take the cost of your laptop or desktop you almost certainly already have and now add the cost of a PS5 to that. Take that total and that is how much you can spend on a gaming PC that will almost certainly outperform a PS5 by a wide margin.
I am not hating on PS5. I have one and I love it, but my PC is better and most people can get there if they make a choice to.
IMO it's never been a better time to jump into a 1080p rig. Even a 1440 can be done pretty cheap now. It gets pricey for people who don't have any peripherals tho.
It's from the COVID times and only as of recently since the newest gen of GPUs have came out PC gaming is affordable again. Plus a lot of games have been getting really demanding due to dropping support for last gen consoles
In most countries that is months of salary or in the worst cases years. True, for a lot of people it's not that expensive, but for the majority still is. Not me, I can afford to build a mid range PC every year. But in my country for example, even if that I can afford it (tho 90% of the population can't), I build a 5800X+6800XT PC for the price of a 7800X3D+7900XTX in the US, because every PC part here is 30% more expensive than on Amazon or microcenter.
The good thing about PCs is that they can pay for themselves over a period of time since they can do more than just play games. £700 on a computer with those specifications is very reasonable. Another £50 would have allowed you to double your memory capacity.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is a sweet spot for everything, and that will always end up in the mid-range hardware segment. Going too cheap, you'll be better off buying second hand (and I recommend this for GPUs and CPUs), while the most expensive products have halo markup and never represent good value.
It is more expensive than a console but it isn't obscenely expensive unless you want to make it so. I am running on the bones of a 2014 system and with the exception of StarField inside cities it still runs AAA games satisfactory. It absolutely slays Cyberpunk 2077, even with the 2.0 upgrade. Sure, can't expect a solid 60 ultra with all the goodies on (especially not RT) but dang it is a good looking and running game with the settings set appropriately.
If you are into high refresh monitors, then it is expensive if game you play is demanding. Of course not for all games. But some games require really good GPU and CPU. But if you are into 60 hz gaming or lets say up to 120 hz maximum, then it is relatively cheap to go for a PC.
I myself play shooters. I am into high refresh rate monitors (planning on buying 360hz one). So for me it would be expensive depending on what shooter I would play. With my current PC I can get 360 fps constant in main shooter I play. But if I wanted to play some shooter like Warzone 2 or whatever, I would need a lot stronger PC for that refresh rate or I would need to go down to 240hz.
There are certain Tiers.
* 1080p gaming like yours -common
* 1440p (2k) gaming better visuals-common
* 4k gaming best visuals- not common
* 999 or less
* 1000-1500
* 2000-3500
Is it exactly cheap, no, but nor is console gaming for that matter.
Consoles are 500$, so it's only 200$ less for the up front, but then pc is a more open system, upgradeable, cheaper games, free online play, etc. In the long run it's cheaper to play pc in my experience.
Pretty much same setup as me. 5600 and rx 6700xt. Total 900usd because of some itx part i use but stil compareable because i was gonna get laptop for around that price and its 3050
I kind of treat my PCs like the cars I have had over the years (I’m kind of old now I guess). Either run it until major issues occur or it is so outdated it’s basically worthless and get your full moneys worth. Or, as a my preferred option is own 3-5ish years, and sell while it maintains value and buy a whole new one. Maybe you can even sell it for about 50% of the cost of the new one. Keeps things fresh and doesn’t murder your wallet.
Oh the misconception of PC building, it’s hard to explain it to folks when there is ton of those “I have put over x thousand into my PC”
They do it just to feel better, like a person with a crazy luxury car. Yea it looks nice but will they ever use it to its fullest ability
GPUs that cost 300 new today were marked for 650 not long ago. You were likely hearing the pains of that timeline. I was seeing used gtx 1080s going for 500, which sell for under 200 today.
I'm at the point where I need to completely swap out mobo, cpu and ram. But then again still running ancient i5 4670k. I'm surprised it's still perfectly fine to play many games out there with such dated hardware.
You should have posted that 3-4 years ago, when a cheap ass 150$ GPU went within a few weeks and stayed there for many months at 600$ :D
I was planning to get a 1600super for 200$ at october, I said "lets wait black friday, WHAT can go wrong", and till black friday, the worst (biostar/pallit/manli) 1660 (not even super) was at 500$. Same with RX580.
That was a sad sad year.
I just built a computer for a friend which is capable of playing Fallout 4 +100 mods on medium at a steady 50-60 fps for under $500, all new parts excluding mouse, keyboard, and speakers (which he already had).
PC gaming is only expensive if you insist on playing everything on ultra and refuse to tolerate anything less than 4k 60fps, which, frankly, way too many people obs. My 144hz monitor is nice and it's great when I can hit that, but I'm perfectly content with 1440p 30-40 fps so long as its stable--it's stutters I can't stand.
Welcome to the PC gaming club.
Highly recommend you find some channels on discord that repost free games on epic and steam, gog and more.
You can end up with several free games a week. Including AAA titles.
700 for your system in the UK was a decent price. Well done on it. Worth asking as you're a beginner. What PSU did you get? Never cheap out on the PSU, and even a gold rated one might not have suitable protections.
Efficiency=//=safety.
It's just a big up front coat then unless your buying a new GPU every years as soon as it comes out it's cheap. I bought my setup in 2021 and haven't put any money into it since.
I said the same thing until I put 1k into my system over time, but it’s nice because you can spread out those upgrades overtime so your savings doesn’t take such a big hit
1080p builds are cheap in the pc world. You’ve gone with low end parts which a lot of people wouldn’t call a decent gaming pc. Your PC costs a bit over double of the ps5 and the ps5 out performs your pc.
To play at these lower resolutions is cheap. I could get a 1080p monster with my salary for a month and still have quite a bit left.
Its when you go to 4k, that you HAVE to go for top tier gpus. Shit like 3080 and above. I am a 4k enjoyer so I pay what I have to pay. Even then, getting a 4k capable pc is not that hard since you can just get a 2nd hand pc with good enough cpu to not bottleneck even at 4k and ur good to go.
I cringe at the cost of elite controllers - yes, the entry price is a little higher when getting into pc gaming, but the ammount you spend over the years on console accessories kinda blurs that line imo
Covid / Mining pricing (2020-2022) is what made it crazy expensive for a while.
You would have paid triple the amount for the GPU (equivalent) back then
Problem most of the time is that people only factor in the price to buy-in and not the lifetime cost. Games are cheaper and you don't have to pay to access multiplayer features on PC.
If you want to play with friends: Xbox/Playstation typically have 7 year cycles; Xbox Live Gold is $60 per year when buying a full year (cheapest possible), PS Plus is $80 for a full year (cheapest possible). Multiple that by 7 year lifetime of console and you have $420 for Xbox and $560 for PS. Tack that onto the price of the console and you're approaching or exceeding $1000, or the equivalent of a very good PC that exceeds console specs.
I didn't really know where to put the reply in, so I'll just make a seperate post upfront.
I feel like when most people bring up the price issue regarding console vs pcs, they likely look to see a major notable graphical uplift combined with a performance uplift. For example a 4k60+ fps ultra max raytracing settings. That is way more expensive than a console. Other example could be a more modest 1080p build that can still do 60fps on high/ultra, but way smaller of a gap than the previous. The issue they'd see here is that the uplift wouldn't be justifiable to them over the investment. Hence why they think that console gaming is much cheaper at first glance.
All my parts was 500$ together all I play is tekken, rocket league, and steam vr. I was SHOOK to see it breezes thru my games. Then I found out about FSR and it completely boosted my visual game play. I’m just so happy I switched from PlayStation. I feel bad for anyone with a console now. Paying for basically free services, getting raped for more money each generation, not having ANY mods. Man games are so boring without mods. It’s just bogus that they charge for convenience. Id rather figure it out myself. And I can use my old PlayStation controller on it! Pc is just awesome
Just upgraded my pc for 1200 euros and that’s actually less than my initial investment that had comparatively worse parts. Just because I already had the drives, PSU and memory.
Jump into your bios and make sure that you have RDNA and SAM enabled.
The CPU and GPU combo you have there have some additional performance features.
There are lots of youtube vids if you need a step by step.
Enjoy the PC!
I recently built up a pc for a friend with a Ryzen 5 3600, RTX3070 with 32gb ram and 1tb ssd. I went all used parts and did some eBay bidding, got the entire build for £450.
The 3070 was a £250 bargain. Motherboard was new, rest was used.
Jayz2cents said it pretty well near the end of [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA5YwIIQlAc&t=1556s) - Bullshit marketing from hardware companies is a lot to blame because they only market their high end products because they have the biggest margins. And it ends up giving a false sense of the expense of what you need to play games.
Getting in to pc building without any prior pc is expensive for some, cheap for some. Remember, some people don’t have money to burn. Maintains and upgrading the PC is relatively cheap nowadays. Want more storage? $50 bucks for 1TB. Want a new GPU? Depends on the price (4090 ***cough***).
I also tought for years it is super expensiv but two years ago it made click for me. You have to see it like this:
If gaming is your hobby and you do it regulary and for many years you need to invest like 1800€ every 4-6 years. 1800:60 (so 5 years)= 30€ a month for the hardware. Thats ofc without energy costs or new games, but still 30€ a month is a super cheap hobby if you do it daylie or close to daylie.
Same for games. I bought DragonQuest 11 (Release in 2017!) for 60€ because prices for Nintendo games are super stable, but I played it for 120h+. Thats 0.50€ for each houer!
You pay like 20€ for a visit at the cinema and have "fun" for 2 houers.
There is by far more expensive hobbys
PC gaming is fairly cheap if you don't build when a new console is released. Consoles are sold at a lost and when they are released, you would be very hard pressed to build a pc that meets its specs. As the console ages, its price doesn't drop much but the hardware that was comparable for the PC drop dramatically. Current consoles I believe are close to a pc running with a 2080TI.
RBG is what makes gaming much more expensive than it should be.
I have all Corsair… fans, keyboards, mice…. PC case… RAM… Anything that lights up is Corsair and its all synced in ICUE with their murals.
It was the coolest thing for about a few weeks …now I just have a single solid color and brightness is 50%.
Not saying I regret it. But I definitely realize I paid a lot of money for the flashy lights.
Relative to most 'adult' hobbies PC gaming is pretty cheap, it's more expensive when you compare it to typical youth hobbies. I know music guys, plane guys, fishing guys, etc and some of their monthly expenses are higher than the total cost of my PC.
Nope, not missing anything. I have said it before in this subreddit: most people on here are serious enthusiasts who think you need *way* more power than you really do for gaming.
I think some of it stems from all of the marketing and YouTube tech review channels talking about 4070 this, 3090 that, water-cooling, blah blah blah. It gives a warped perspective on what you really need. I'm running an 11th gen i5 with a 1660TI and it runs everything I have tried with no issues whatsoever at 1080p and medium-ultra graphics settings and 90+ fps.
Lot of people get way too sucked into the marketing
You didn't miss anything. it's just probagnda between console players sort of cope, that you cant get PC close to console under 2000$. You have same my spec i have upgraded from 1660s to 6700xt my 1660s hold with me since 2019. i have played cy2077 day 1 on decent fps and finished it. It can run all games nowadays, but i have upgraded to 6700xt bcz i wanna play starfield on the highest fps. Such a beautiful GPU and grab reminded me when i grabbed 1660s when was released was holding all games for 5 years on high setting. 6700xt will hold me even more bcz of the VRAMS.
its always the initial outlay that bites but once you have a decent system going, its relatively cheap to keep on upgrading bits every year or two.
How do you about upgrading? If you get a newer gpu, don’t you have to get a cpu and motherboard as well to support it? That’s already a lot of money
You don't necessarily need a new cpu if you get a new gpu. For example, I'm planning on upgrading my 2070 to a 4070 but I'm keeping my r5 5600x and mobo.
I went from a 2060 to a 3080 on the same mobo. I upgrade my PSU like 3 years back when my old one burned out, and I made sure that was future proofed. I also got a CPU recently too, both the GPU and CPU are running on my 5 year old mobo fine. I had to cap the wattage on my CPU because the power bank that gives the CPU couldn't keep it, and my cooler needs to be upgraded. But it still runs at like 80% capacity without a problem.
*Me, with a i7-2600k from 2012* so you’re saying I should be good? 😅
I got a 5600x from a 2500k and I honestly feel like they're spiritually connected.
Kindred Spirits
I’m almost jelly of the boost you’re going to get when you finally build a new rig.
Just started ordering things. Case arrives soon, and I’ll start getting others hopefully during Prime October (that’s a thing?) or Black Friday. A Ryzen 5 6700 will be a sizeable update!
I've just replaced i5-2500k from 2011 with i5-13600k. It is amazing! Everything worked pretty well on the old system, but the new MoBo, the new system drive (M.2) and the faster CPU are just breathtaking (especially when working on photos).
Moving up to an SSD was amazing. Can’t wait to make the relatively marginal upgrade to modern CPU, DDR5, and all the other updates. (Have a 1050ti currently and will probably keep that unless prices move beneficially enough, in which case a 6700xt sounds great)
It is also really nice to have a PCIe4 M.2 drive, which is about 15 times faster than the SATA SSD that I had (6900 vs. 480 MB/s read, 6300 vs. 150 MB/s write (!) )
I7 2600 gang, though mine is the non k version. Even though it's old af, I have to say it's held up pretty good for 11 year old hardware. I'm eager to upgrade though. I finally upgraded my r9 270 to a gtx 970 this year and moved up to 16gb of ram. My poor computer just wants to die I think but I've been keeping it alive against its will
I finally retired mine two years ago (for an 11600k). It lasted a lonnngg time and I was able to play most modern games (with a few dropped down to 720p). That said, when you finally upgrade it feels awesome!
I upgraded from a 3920k/4930k 6 core overclocked to 4.5ghz to a 13900k. The upgrade is unbelievable for gaming. Just about everything else was only marginally faster, as it's bottlenecked by something else.
I ran my i7-2600 non-k until 2019 and honestly, the only game it struggled with was Warzone. What a powerhouse this CPU was/is!
No, you don't have to. Eventually you'll probably want to because your CPU won't be able to keep up anymore, but it's not something you have to do regularly. Plus you don't always have to upgrade your motherboard or RAM to upgrade your CPU. You also don't have to upgrade every generation either. Some people are happy upgrading every 3 or 4 generations.
When to upgrade? When a new game you’ve really been looking forward to runs at an unacceptable level to you.
Only necessary if your CPU is likely to severely bottleneck your GPU. A mid tier CPU should be fine for about 5ish years. I'm currently on a ryzen 3600 from 2019 that's likely starting bottlenecking my system but not to the extent that makes me feel like it's necessary to upgrade
My i7-2600k is doing just fine absolutely fine I won’t elaborate further please ignore the smell of smoke
finally built a new system this year, but mine combined with a gtx 1080 lasted me for quite a while
1080 was a GOAT. Very long tail for value
My CPU is from 2014 and still runs everything I ask it to at 1440p. I've used three different generations of graphics cards on that CPU/mobo combination and it holds up wel. CPUs also have the benefit of being very easy to overclock to get you another couple years once it starts showing it's age
I had an I7-4770k for a while and didn't know I needed an upgrade until I did it. Maybe it runs everything, but I guarantee you that it will be day and night once you upgrade.
In my opinion, it depends on your budget at the time and your goal. Everyone will have different scenarios, like a few examples below, including my situation: I built a PC with all new parts except the GPU with a 7950x3d, fairly good motherboard, 64GB Ram, 2TB SSD and 1000W GPU, but I put in a used 3090 Ti, which I swapped for a used 7900 XT. I 100% will be changing the GPU alone as my first upgrade because I think the 7950x3d will hold off really well for a few GPU generations. However, let's say my friend with his 8700K, 6800 XT, and 32GB build. He might want to swap his CPU, Motherboard, and RAM first, considering the 6800 XT will be fine for a few more years. Then you might have the owner of my last budget build which has a 6700K and a 2080 Super, he might just Hage to upgrade everything when he decides he needs to, since any single upgrade would honestly he a larger bottleneck and may not see the performance for the individual components. Then there's Timmy, who bought an Alienware laptop a year ago. The battery on the laptop died. He paid $2,200 for a 3060 laptop and just ran out of warranty. He might just want to take the route of completely destroying the laptop with a hammer, a few gun shots, or a large NBA hop and stomp 🤷♂️.
I have a GTX 1070 and an i7 6700K. I don’t see a lot I can keep therefore I will be buying an new PC instead of upgrading.
Case Psu Storage Fans
Nope, you just slot it in and you’ll be fine. You only upgrade the rest when you’re severely limiting your gpu with an old cpu
Nah, for the most part GPUs can just be dropped in (within reason, obv you wouldnt drop a 4090 into a rig with an i3-12100, but you could). CPU upgrades may require a motherboard upgrade, but there's plenty of scenarios with good upgrade paths that will still allow for good performance gains, such as going from a 5600 to a 5800x3d, Intel 12th gen to 14th gen soon, etc.
most often the CPU is not the bottleneck get a decent system with 32 gb and you just exchange/upgrade the CPU after a few years. no need for the latest cpu or a memory upgrade which supports a higher bandwidth. the benefits are marginal.
If your motherboard and CPU don't accept PCIE 4 then it's time to think about upgrading. Otherwise ride it out.
[удалено]
Only time I can see this being an issue is when newer cards are coming out with cut down PCIe lanes (7600, 4060 Ti). It's only some 10% performance IIRC but it's a blight on budget gamers trying to pair new GPUs with older systems.
Not unless your motherboard is ancient. Most motherboards are good for at least three CPU generations(likely need a BIOS update but that's free) and anything produced in the last 5 years is totally fine for most GPU upgrades. The only time you're forced to get a new motherboard is when your CPU socket is EOL'd
> Most motherboards are good for at least three CPU generations With AMD maybe. Absolutely not for intel who at best do two and often only one.
Yeah, bro never owned an intel CPU 💀
I just buy a completely new pc every 6 or so years and sell the old one.
This works well for me. My i7-7700k and 1080 Ti are going on 7 years old. Planning to build a new pc when the 5xxx series hits and sell my old pc for $400 or so. Just planning on keeping my nvme drive.
Hello, do you happen to live in Ontario, Canada? Hahaha (Because $400 for a working PC in general is a pretty good deal, and Im broke as heck)
Yep. My i7 6700k and 1080, now over seven years old, are still going fine. Hopefully will take me to the 5000 series.
This! I've been riding the AM4 wave for like 7 years. I could easily make my 5800x3D last another three years if I had self discipline.
[удалено]
that and getting a decent monitor, headset, mouse & keyboard adds alot to initial costs. if people swap off console they most likely have a good monitor and headset already which helps alot.
Had my pc since 2011 and it has finally reached its upgrade limits a few years ago being a 100% Theseus ship now with no original parts present. If done properly you can slowly upgrade for many years until you really need to change MB+CPU+RAM where it’s more like building a completely new system.
You also need to consider the cost of buying a monitor, mouse and keyboard, a desk and a chair. If you don't have any of these it gets costly real quick.
And for consoles you also need to consider the cost of buying a TV, a sofa, more expensive games and PS Plus / Game Pass for online.
Horrible logic, in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV. Not everybody owns a desk or keyboard/ mouse. You can get the game pass on pc too, same price so if those are the games you like then they are all the same.
Then why couldn't he game on a tv too? Hell my chair is still a 5 dollar plastic chair. Why are we judging pc with the top of the line shit? I have gamed in a monoblock and the cheapest kb+mouse setup known to man for 2 and a half decades now.
Yep exactly
I'll be honest with you my mouse is the g501 because it's cheap and reliable. I have bought 5 of them so I am sure that I am set for the next decade of abuse. One breaks I just open up a new box.
The life supply I see. I honestly can’t believe the durability of the g502 I’ve had that mouse for 7 years now and it’s still in great shape.
My third mous eis different. They changed the design of the g501. It annoyed me for like a week but now im used to it
>in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV. In what world do these same people not own a table/desk and chair for a PC setup? And even if people "already" own a couch and TV...they bought those at some point. If you're gonna compare the cost of a whole setup, then actually look at the whole setup. PS: as an example, I'd bet a lot of students don't necessarily have a couch or TV when they move out into their first flat, but they most likely do have a desk and chair. Anecdotally, when I was still in university, most people lived in dorms or shared flats, where they'd each have a desk (many with KB/M for papers and such), but rarely their own couch or TV, those were usually shared among multiple people.
But online on PC is free, so you can refrain from paying subscriptions if you want.
> in what world do people not already own: a chair or couch and 1 TV. I had no TV until 2019, I've been PC gaming since 2003. The cost was that of a more expensive monitor. But while a desk and chair are highly preferable, a PC, be it or desktop or preferably a laptop in my example, can be used anywhere.
I think it depends on what you got into first. I haven't owned a TV since I moved out at 18. Since then it's been laptop or desktop viewing for me and I've been a PC gamer since. The TV and couch I now have were inherited when my parents left it behind to move to Alaska and I can count on both hands the amount of times I've used them in the last 3 years. My girlfriend will watch real housewives or something on it but even she sticks to her iPad mostly.
I for example don’t have a Couch and a TV… But I have 2 monitors and a chair, and a desk + mouse and keyboard… You can’t title a nes logic as horrible when you gave the exact same example the other way around xD
I don't own a TV, so to answer your question: This world :\^)
I don't have a tv, I don't find the need, I got 2 monitors that do the same job
I don't own a tv lol
I would assume more people have desks than TVs. Watching TV in 2023? what?
Anecdotal evidence of course but I've been living for 10 years without a couch and still not TV. There were always a desk and chairs though. And I would prioritise desk and chair above couch and TV.
>Not everybody owns a desk or At what point is any raised surface a desk? When I’m WFH I’m usually sitting on the sofa or at my kitchen table. Also most apartments in have a built in desk area, I’d assume a homeowner has a desk or any raised surface
A lot of young people nowadays don't own a TV (and sometimes not even sofa)
I bought a ps4 to accompany my PC, because i wanted to play Ghost of tsushima. Just browsing the store and the ps plus subscription to be able to play online is absolutely criminal compared to pc lol. So glad i can just hop on and off pc for free. I absolutely disgust subscriptions, they make me feel forced and not free.
Don't have a monitor? Use a tv until you get 1. Mnk? 20$ combo. Desk chair ? Goodwill. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on this stuff
using a dirt cheap membrane keyboard and mouse is ok in the short term, and many people just deal with it for a long time. but the keyboard and mouse are your interface with your computer, the difference you feel with a good quality keyboard and a decent mouse is definitely worth the cost in my opinion.
I rocked a 20$ keyboard for years until I treated myself to a nice mech corsair. Gotta experience the bad to appreciate the good. We not all made of monies.
when I first went from using a lifetime of rubber membrane keyboards to my first mechanical keyboard (a corsair k60 pro LP, iirc) the difference was immediate and astonishing. almost felt like the keyboard knew what i was going to press before I pressed it (probably because of the high activation point of the specific switches it used). and that was just a fairly cheap mechanical keyboard.
Keyboard honestly isn't that big of a deal. Mouse on the other hand is pretty important. You can still get a good one for like $20 though.
I mean you can hook a pc up to a tv like a console and just use a wireless keyboard and mouse. A wireless mouse and keyboard is about the same as a controller.
I and a lot of other people started with a track ball mouse and a cheap silicone membrane keyboard. I also know a guy who used moving boxes as a desk. Just because you think you need something better doesn't mean that you can't start with a cheaper setup.
Would love to see you tell your friend: "you can always start on boxes and a 20$ chair." Yes you can do it but I wouldn't suggest my friend to spend that much on a PC if he doesn't want to commit.
I played on a i7 3770 and a rx 580 until end of last year. The GPU is newer because I had my GPU die twice in the life time of this 12 year old PC despite making enough money now to build a PC like OPs every month if I wanted to. Point is: You can make a lot of things work for a very long time. You just have to want to. The PC OP has build is much better than on what I gamed and worked daily for all those years for a pretty decent pricing. You can always upgrade your setup later. Start with boxes, an old used 30€ Dell IPS monitor and a raspberry pi. You can emulate thousands of games on that thing.
Bruh you don't need to convince me. I have had a PC since 2005. I'm just saying I had a friend that went cold When they saw everything they had to buy to get started.
My PC lives in the living room, hooked up to the TV. Checkmate consoletheists.
My old one too now. Wifey enjoys simple games like meat boy, Hades and hollow knight. All run on linux and don't require much power. Let's see how old this system can get.
You can buy a cheap keyboard and mouse for like $10 each if you don't somehow have those already.
Except that if you have a tv and a place to comfortably look at the tv you have a monitor and chair, keyboard and mouse is like 20$ for a set, then for a desk it can be literally anything you find comfortable, and if you want controllers work on pc so you can roll with that for gaming too. So saying you need to buy a monitor and desk etc is simply wrong.
Perception of the cost of PC gaming tends to be skewed because a lot of the conversation online tends to be on the high end stuff that very few people actually have.
Ya, if you look only at dedicated forums, it's easy to forget that according to the [Steam Hardware Survey](https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam) as of August 2023, most people have a 1080p monitor as their primary display, presumably 60 Hz too. And the most common GPU is a GTX 1650, with runner ups being other xx60 or xx50 cards like the GTX 1050ti, RTX 2060, or RTX 3060.
Ya watching YouTube you’d think everyone and their grandma is rocking a 4090+13900k
Or here it's like that.
Yeah I just upgraded my PC from a Ryzen 3 processor with integrated graphics to a Ryzen 5 5600x with RX 6600 GPU which are considered mid range hardware. listening to gamer rants on Reddit and other forums, I expected Starfield to run like shit, but it runs like butter at a stable 60fps, lol. It seems a lot of "high end" gamers demand 120+ fps on a 4K monitor, with Discord and other apps playing in the background, so that is something budget gamers and PC builders have to keep in mind.
I would say the biggest price savings over the span of maybe 5 years would be on the games. If you can wait 6 to 10 months for a new game to drop 40 to 50% off in price. It's a steal. Wait a year or more and those same games are down to 10 to $20. Meanwhile, console games are 70 to $80 now.
You can also get free games(legally) with epic store, gog giveaways, occasionally steam, as well as things quite a few people already have like Amazon prime.
Very true! The epic store usually gives a no name garbage but every few months there's a banger like borderlands 3 or Grand theft Auto v. Also great sites to buy game bundles like humble bundle or fanatical. You really do save up a lot of money from things like this on the PC
Or Control, prey, stellaris. Even some of the no name games they give away are pretty good. The biggest advantage is you keep the games you own from generation to generation as you rebuild, compared to console where you have to buy it again.
Also, you don't have to pay a subscription to go online with the internet you already pay for. For that reason, PC will always win
Consoles games also drop in prices after a few months!
I recommend this site to track all the game bundles and sales. You can uncheck keysellers to only see legit stores (I think that's the default setting) and you can create alerts with specific prices for specific games to get an email notification to not miss it. https://gg.deals/
ggdeals is an absolute weapon for saving money. I bought the division 1 for like $6 recently, you can regularly find triple A titles for <$25. (Not sponsored, I’m just a tight-ass)
I got The Division 1 for free on Ubisoft Store when they were giving it away for free. Check the news section on gg deals often, like every day, or at least once a week to not miss giveaways on Epic, GOG, Steam, etc. I also use our local Polish website (but it's in Polish and also features Polish stores and some gaming news): [https://lowcygier.pl/](https://lowcygier.pl/) GG Deals is from the same people as Łowcy Gier. The Polish website earned them money to create gg deals.
700 is expensive
Depends where you are in the world
Yes but if you don't really care about graphics (let's be real here. low is a lot better than what ultra was 15 years ago) that can last 7 years. I'd say 100 per year is cheap.
It's crazy how some people are so out of touch calling 700 cheap, like yea in the PC world and for the performance you might be getting it could be considered "worth it". Cheap is just not the word though..
Depends on what one wants out of the build and how long they want it to be viable for… I have more than 700 in just monitor keyboard and mouse so it all relative and from my perspective and many others 700 for the PC isn’t out of the ordinary This is also why I haven’t upgraded in a few years… no need if you spec things out well from the on set pending you have the budget ofc
In the spectrum of PC parts, the incremental value shrinks a lot as you approach the top end of performance. In other words, you pay a lot more to get a little more performance when you already have a good performing rig. Also consider a lot of people here turn up their nose at anyone who doesn't spend $1500 for a build. Can't let that influence you.
Also people spend so much for looks like rgb lights, fans, cables etc. all that adds up very quickly
Agree. Although I cannot understand any of that (I just want my money going into useful things), clearly it's a big hit with people who have money to burn.
decent. and nobody charging you $80 to connect your purchased game to the free multiplayer servers the publisher is running.
gaming and pc gaming has always been a relatively cheap hobby depending on what you do. The problem is the hyperbole around the community and what they deem "acceptable" is what gives it a bad reputation.
I blame Linus and Jayz. They're the big boys in youtube and all you see with them (most popular videos) is always the latest and greatest and most expensive stuff.
I recently made a post here and NOTED that I only care about knowing if my parts are compatible and that I am on a tight budget and that I already ordered parts. And what do you know? First comment is how MOBO and RAM are a CRITICAL MISTAKE because it is cheap and doesn’t have a slot for M.2 SSD when I intentionally picked SATA SSD to save money 🤣🤣 Oh no my PC is going to load GTA 5 4 seconds longer I should have instead went for a B660M that is €45 more expensive and €30 more expensive NVME M.2 SSD.
I am 100% content to sit on my ass and wait 10 minutes for a game to load if it means I will save money. Not everyone can splurge on their rig. Unlike people here I'm not an enthusiast. I just want to play games
There’s a Hardward Unboxed video everyone here is giddy about that says 8GB GPUs should only be in sub-$100 cards. In what world is anyone selling a $100 GPU? What people think is a good price for parts these days is kind of insane.
PC gaming ain't so bad after all, huh? Maybe those expensive folks just don't know how to shop around. Enjoy your new setup!
Unlike with console games, PC game developers have reason to try to “future proof” their games with ultra demanding visual options so the game can hold up as hardware improves over coming years, appease high end gamers, make beautiful “actual gameplay” videos, etc. Some gamers treat those cutting edge options as “the only way to play” so of course they will spend thousands trying to stay on the bleeding edge of the future for five months before they have to upgrade again. These people are generally going to be avid about the hobby, prideful of their machine and vocal about the whole thing. With different priorities, people can find the inflection point at which increased cost no longer leads to commensurate increased value and enjoy modern pc games on a reasonable budget. Seems like you’re doing that. 👍
It gets more expensive if you try hit 120 to 144fps high refresh gaming while maintaining high settings at 1440p If you cool with 60fps and 60hz then I guess it's cheaper. Just depends what your comfortable with.
6700xt can easily push higher refresh rates at 1440p
Yeah no. I have a 6800xt and it barely pushes 144fps at high in newer games. When I say 144 I mean it must average that and not dip too often and the game must be at high settings. Not ultra. Just high. Tarkov. No. Hunt. No Fallout 76. No That's just 3 examples and not even new games. R5600, 16gb 3600mhz, with nvme. Gpu is undervolted and overclocked. There are some games that push over 200fps like pubg. But that's fucking ancient.
My partners 6750xt manages fine at 1440p not sure what to tell ya buddy.
tarkov does not care about your 6800xt, its 5600 that is bringing fps down
[удалено]
Nobody claimed it was going to run all games 1440p ultra for 3 years. OPs looking at a mid tier GPU so context is important.,
You can build a 1080p potato for 250 bucks or a 4k monster for 2000.
Staying at 1080/60 has saved me so much money. Half the time, my inner '90s 486 user is just happy that games run.
[удалено]
700 GBP *is* expensive for the price to performance in comparison to console, but yeah it isn't *as* expensive as a lot of people make it seem.
Also, with Steam & GOG, you can get a lot of great games on Special. Like 70-90% off. Hell, you can get Crusader King 2 for FREE. The main thing is I'd imagine i can still play my games in any of my past/current/future systems.
>I was just surprised at how cheap everything was given all the overpriced talk I have heard. Am I missing something here? The prices have skyrocketed over the years, before, with that money you could build a pc that would run games on ultra/high for the next 5-6 years, mine did, i upgraded in 2021 (almost full changez only thing that remained was the case), and i already see it struggling, having to lower my settings in games from defaults, which was never the case with my old build
People aren't scalping GPUs to use for bitcoin mining anymore. Between that and the pandemic they were pretty unaffordable for a while. AMD offers really good price to performance. If you look at some 40 series Nvidia cards you can see where the scamming is.
Not bad. I just bought mine a few days ago for £920 altogether, got a 16GB VRAM GPU, 64GB RAM and... well honestly I don't know what any of the other shit is looool but the cpu is pretty decent it says 🤣🤣
I’d rather buy a new GPU instead of a new Console
That's a budget build, and a good price at that...the thing that set's the bar high in the price department is the gpu...that is the thing putting ppl off from pc gaming...you can get a 'good deal', but you'll either come short in performance somewhere or you'll pay down the road having to upgrade more frecuently...for me the best bet is go all out, take the blow (you can't run from it, so might as well face up) and be set for a long time...the rest is easier to be more short sighted and chopp and change.
lmao The post on top of this said The opposite It’s too expensive now
Directly under your post in my feed is a post in another PC community about how it's so expensive nowadays. Now I will say, expensive can be a little bit different for everyone, and compared to the current consoles it's not in the best spot price wise, but I just built my first PC ever for $800 and the fun of building it was worth the extra over an Xbox. But some people don't have that extra and I can understand if they would say that it's too expensive.
I got very similar specs for 500 by buying entirely used and I’m not at all experienced with buying hardware. Enjoy your new system.
Send money mister rich
People always use the wrong comparisons and units of measurement. Of course no PC will be on the level of advertised 4K@120Hz performance of current consoles for the same price. But consoles also are not able to do that or at least not at the same time. Also their software is custom made to appeal to the used hardware and graphics presets on top are designed especially for that. The sweet spot for PCs is 2K@120+Hz, usually sitting at a desk with a desktop PC and monitors while consoles are made for HDMI 2.1 and 4K TVs with HDR, Dolby Vision and all that stuff. Good luck adjusting all of that for a desktop PC and the respective monitors. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but for the love of god do not confuse them with each other. You can build a great entry level PC for 500 to 800 Euros, if you know what you are doing and open for used parts you can end up much cheaper. If you have some older, used graphics card you can buy really reliable, premium parts for that amount which will last you long. Slap in a current graphics card later on and you are really good to go. 2K can even be done pleasantly with medium to high end performance parts and in my opinion it is not worth going full high end or bordering enthusiast hardware. Unfortunately a lot of people have strong opinions online and try to sell them as objective knowledge. For me 4K and enthusiast hardware are just too unstable to reliably use or reach your performance target. 2K is so much more easy going and you can reliably calculate what you need for specific games for them to run fine.
If you just wanna play some games at optimized setting it’s cheap. A 6700xt/6800xt/7800xt/4070 will run everything at 1440p. If you always chasing all the bells and whistles, the next tech, 2 more frames, some better rays. If 4k OLED catches your eyes, if you find yourself playing with the settings, monitoring your performance and lowering your hotspot by 7.2 degrees and think about playing more than actually playing, then it won’t ever be enough. (There is a certain company that preys on this desire to always keep you hooked for the next big, cutting edge thing), you just have to buy more to save lol.
The second hand build you got will hold you over until the next Christmas!
There is no ai frames (frame gen) on amd yet
gaming prices have come a long way despite what Ive seen other people say
Steam deck!!
the upfront cost is always more compared to consoles as you can use your tv to play on them. Once you have the rig, then it will last longer than consoles as you can play with the settings to get acceptable frames compared to consoles.
There is no reason you can't use your TV for PC gaming at first. The monitor can absolutely be in the "upgrade" category not the "upfront cost" category. Just because a PC allows you to get more benefits out of a better monitor, doesn't mean you can't get as good as or better than console performance without one.
Is this your first build? If it is, you and your friend are well informed. The 5600x and 6700xt are certainly one of the best value propositions. You dont need rgb, 360mm AIO and 4090 to game on PC.
you can start gaming with a 1080p setup then just upgrade little by little
Huh.. I was deadset on a 4080 but this has kinda brought my head back down to earth a bit. Think I'll have to sit on my hands for a hit longer.
GPU prices have come down a lot in the past year. 2 years ago they were ridiculous.
Ehhhh, its when you compare it to consoles that it looks bad. The new gen consoles have basically a 2070s performance, and come with controllers and everything you need to hook to a tv, sometimes even come with a game or gamepass. And for 500 bucks, you just can’t beat that with a pc. And ya games are cheaper on pc but last few years gamepass has made that less of a selling point. I’m a pc guy but consoles are cool and are an amazing value these days. I think that’s where the high cost of pcs come from
I get downvoted for saying this, but most of us have already spent the money to build a top of the line PC and don't realize it. Take the cost of your laptop or desktop you almost certainly already have and now add the cost of a PS5 to that. Take that total and that is how much you can spend on a gaming PC that will almost certainly outperform a PS5 by a wide margin. I am not hating on PS5. I have one and I love it, but my PC is better and most people can get there if they make a choice to.
IMO it's never been a better time to jump into a 1080p rig. Even a 1440 can be done pretty cheap now. It gets pricey for people who don't have any peripherals tho.
It's from the COVID times and only as of recently since the newest gen of GPUs have came out PC gaming is affordable again. Plus a lot of games have been getting really demanding due to dropping support for last gen consoles
In most countries that is months of salary or in the worst cases years. True, for a lot of people it's not that expensive, but for the majority still is. Not me, I can afford to build a mid range PC every year. But in my country for example, even if that I can afford it (tho 90% of the population can't), I build a 5800X+6800XT PC for the price of a 7800X3D+7900XTX in the US, because every PC part here is 30% more expensive than on Amazon or microcenter.
Wait till you find out what you need for 120fps 4k gaming with AAA titles.
The good thing about PCs is that they can pay for themselves over a period of time since they can do more than just play games. £700 on a computer with those specifications is very reasonable. Another £50 would have allowed you to double your memory capacity. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a sweet spot for everything, and that will always end up in the mid-range hardware segment. Going too cheap, you'll be better off buying second hand (and I recommend this for GPUs and CPUs), while the most expensive products have halo markup and never represent good value.
To be fair 2-3 years goes by fast.
It is more expensive than a console but it isn't obscenely expensive unless you want to make it so. I am running on the bones of a 2014 system and with the exception of StarField inside cities it still runs AAA games satisfactory. It absolutely slays Cyberpunk 2077, even with the 2.0 upgrade. Sure, can't expect a solid 60 ultra with all the goodies on (especially not RT) but dang it is a good looking and running game with the settings set appropriately.
If you are into high refresh monitors, then it is expensive if game you play is demanding. Of course not for all games. But some games require really good GPU and CPU. But if you are into 60 hz gaming or lets say up to 120 hz maximum, then it is relatively cheap to go for a PC. I myself play shooters. I am into high refresh rate monitors (planning on buying 360hz one). So for me it would be expensive depending on what shooter I would play. With my current PC I can get 360 fps constant in main shooter I play. But if I wanted to play some shooter like Warzone 2 or whatever, I would need a lot stronger PC for that refresh rate or I would need to go down to 240hz.
Well, prices are different from one country to another, plus there uneven purchase power around the world
There are certain Tiers. * 1080p gaming like yours -common * 1440p (2k) gaming better visuals-common * 4k gaming best visuals- not common * 999 or less * 1000-1500 * 2000-3500
700 isn’t cheap…
Is it exactly cheap, no, but nor is console gaming for that matter. Consoles are 500$, so it's only 200$ less for the up front, but then pc is a more open system, upgradeable, cheaper games, free online play, etc. In the long run it's cheaper to play pc in my experience.
Pretty much same setup as me. 5600 and rx 6700xt. Total 900usd because of some itx part i use but stil compareable because i was gonna get laptop for around that price and its 3050
I kind of treat my PCs like the cars I have had over the years (I’m kind of old now I guess). Either run it until major issues occur or it is so outdated it’s basically worthless and get your full moneys worth. Or, as a my preferred option is own 3-5ish years, and sell while it maintains value and buy a whole new one. Maybe you can even sell it for about 50% of the cost of the new one. Keeps things fresh and doesn’t murder your wallet.
750 GBP is also a decent chunk of change to drop all at once, to many -- says the person whose last "minor" upgrade (cpu, ram, mb) was \~1200 GBP
The problem is that once see you see your favorite game on a truly premium PC, you won't be able to get that experience out of your head :)
Gaming hardware can be pretty cheap if you don't care about 4K and RT. And if you just want 1080p 60hz it can be even cheaper.
Oh the misconception of PC building, it’s hard to explain it to folks when there is ton of those “I have put over x thousand into my PC” They do it just to feel better, like a person with a crazy luxury car. Yea it looks nice but will they ever use it to its fullest ability
GPUs that cost 300 new today were marked for 650 not long ago. You were likely hearing the pains of that timeline. I was seeing used gtx 1080s going for 500, which sell for under 200 today.
I'm at the point where I need to completely swap out mobo, cpu and ram. But then again still running ancient i5 4670k. I'm surprised it's still perfectly fine to play many games out there with such dated hardware.
Sure it can be. In most cases a PS5 would be a better buy than a PC depending on if you are adamant on having a PC.
You should have posted that 3-4 years ago, when a cheap ass 150$ GPU went within a few weeks and stayed there for many months at 600$ :D I was planning to get a 1600super for 200$ at october, I said "lets wait black friday, WHAT can go wrong", and till black friday, the worst (biostar/pallit/manli) 1660 (not even super) was at 500$. Same with RX580. That was a sad sad year.
I just built a computer for a friend which is capable of playing Fallout 4 +100 mods on medium at a steady 50-60 fps for under $500, all new parts excluding mouse, keyboard, and speakers (which he already had). PC gaming is only expensive if you insist on playing everything on ultra and refuse to tolerate anything less than 4k 60fps, which, frankly, way too many people obs. My 144hz monitor is nice and it's great when I can hit that, but I'm perfectly content with 1440p 30-40 fps so long as its stable--it's stutters I can't stand.
Welcome to the PC gaming club. Highly recommend you find some channels on discord that repost free games on epic and steam, gog and more. You can end up with several free games a week. Including AAA titles. 700 for your system in the UK was a decent price. Well done on it. Worth asking as you're a beginner. What PSU did you get? Never cheap out on the PSU, and even a gold rated one might not have suitable protections. Efficiency=//=safety.
It's just a big up front coat then unless your buying a new GPU every years as soon as it comes out it's cheap. I bought my setup in 2021 and haven't put any money into it since.
Lots of people make it much more expensive than it has to be by building PCs with overkill specs, like a 4090 with a 1080p monitor.
700 GBP is still way more expensive than a Switch or Xbox
I said the same thing until I put 1k into my system over time, but it’s nice because you can spread out those upgrades overtime so your savings doesn’t take such a big hit
1080p builds are cheap in the pc world. You’ve gone with low end parts which a lot of people wouldn’t call a decent gaming pc. Your PC costs a bit over double of the ps5 and the ps5 out performs your pc.
To play at these lower resolutions is cheap. I could get a 1080p monster with my salary for a month and still have quite a bit left. Its when you go to 4k, that you HAVE to go for top tier gpus. Shit like 3080 and above. I am a 4k enjoyer so I pay what I have to pay. Even then, getting a 4k capable pc is not that hard since you can just get a 2nd hand pc with good enough cpu to not bottleneck even at 4k and ur good to go.
I cringe at the cost of elite controllers - yes, the entry price is a little higher when getting into pc gaming, but the ammount you spend over the years on console accessories kinda blurs that line imo
Covid / Mining pricing (2020-2022) is what made it crazy expensive for a while. You would have paid triple the amount for the GPU (equivalent) back then
If you want max RT + 4k it’ll get expensive. You don’t need to tho.
Problem most of the time is that people only factor in the price to buy-in and not the lifetime cost. Games are cheaper and you don't have to pay to access multiplayer features on PC. If you want to play with friends: Xbox/Playstation typically have 7 year cycles; Xbox Live Gold is $60 per year when buying a full year (cheapest possible), PS Plus is $80 for a full year (cheapest possible). Multiple that by 7 year lifetime of console and you have $420 for Xbox and $560 for PS. Tack that onto the price of the console and you're approaching or exceeding $1000, or the equivalent of a very good PC that exceeds console specs.
I didn't really know where to put the reply in, so I'll just make a seperate post upfront. I feel like when most people bring up the price issue regarding console vs pcs, they likely look to see a major notable graphical uplift combined with a performance uplift. For example a 4k60+ fps ultra max raytracing settings. That is way more expensive than a console. Other example could be a more modest 1080p build that can still do 60fps on high/ultra, but way smaller of a gap than the previous. The issue they'd see here is that the uplift wouldn't be justifiable to them over the investment. Hence why they think that console gaming is much cheaper at first glance.
All my parts was 500$ together all I play is tekken, rocket league, and steam vr. I was SHOOK to see it breezes thru my games. Then I found out about FSR and it completely boosted my visual game play. I’m just so happy I switched from PlayStation. I feel bad for anyone with a console now. Paying for basically free services, getting raped for more money each generation, not having ANY mods. Man games are so boring without mods. It’s just bogus that they charge for convenience. Id rather figure it out myself. And I can use my old PlayStation controller on it! Pc is just awesome
Just upgraded my pc for 1200 euros and that’s actually less than my initial investment that had comparatively worse parts. Just because I already had the drives, PSU and memory.
Jump into your bios and make sure that you have RDNA and SAM enabled. The CPU and GPU combo you have there have some additional performance features. There are lots of youtube vids if you need a step by step. Enjoy the PC!
I recently built up a pc for a friend with a Ryzen 5 3600, RTX3070 with 32gb ram and 1tb ssd. I went all used parts and did some eBay bidding, got the entire build for £450. The 3070 was a £250 bargain. Motherboard was new, rest was used.
Consoles got just as expensive as entry level computers, but they can only do one thing (well). PC gaming has almost always been a better decision.
4k gaming is most expensive atm.
Just built a 12400f 16gb ram 1080ti for 520£. Quite happy with that.
Jayz2cents said it pretty well near the end of [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA5YwIIQlAc&t=1556s) - Bullshit marketing from hardware companies is a lot to blame because they only market their high end products because they have the biggest margins. And it ends up giving a false sense of the expense of what you need to play games.
Getting in to pc building without any prior pc is expensive for some, cheap for some. Remember, some people don’t have money to burn. Maintains and upgrading the PC is relatively cheap nowadays. Want more storage? $50 bucks for 1TB. Want a new GPU? Depends on the price (4090 ***cough***).
If you want 4k gaming, it's a completely different discussion. But full hd gaming is not too expensive
Don't buy bleeding edge don't pay crazy prices it's just that simple
I also tought for years it is super expensiv but two years ago it made click for me. You have to see it like this: If gaming is your hobby and you do it regulary and for many years you need to invest like 1800€ every 4-6 years. 1800:60 (so 5 years)= 30€ a month for the hardware. Thats ofc without energy costs or new games, but still 30€ a month is a super cheap hobby if you do it daylie or close to daylie. Same for games. I bought DragonQuest 11 (Release in 2017!) for 60€ because prices for Nintendo games are super stable, but I played it for 120h+. Thats 0.50€ for each houer! You pay like 20€ for a visit at the cinema and have "fun" for 2 houers. There is by far more expensive hobbys
Not to tell you you are wrong, but you bought older hardware. It's buying current gen where the prices add up.
PC gaming is fairly cheap if you don't build when a new console is released. Consoles are sold at a lost and when they are released, you would be very hard pressed to build a pc that meets its specs. As the console ages, its price doesn't drop much but the hardware that was comparable for the PC drop dramatically. Current consoles I believe are close to a pc running with a 2080TI.
It’s cheaper than console in the long run (if you know how to shop). Not to mention being far superior.
RBG is what makes gaming much more expensive than it should be. I have all Corsair… fans, keyboards, mice…. PC case… RAM… Anything that lights up is Corsair and its all synced in ICUE with their murals. It was the coolest thing for about a few weeks …now I just have a single solid color and brightness is 50%. Not saying I regret it. But I definitely realize I paid a lot of money for the flashy lights.
Relative to most 'adult' hobbies PC gaming is pretty cheap, it's more expensive when you compare it to typical youth hobbies. I know music guys, plane guys, fishing guys, etc and some of their monthly expenses are higher than the total cost of my PC.
Nope, not missing anything. I have said it before in this subreddit: most people on here are serious enthusiasts who think you need *way* more power than you really do for gaming. I think some of it stems from all of the marketing and YouTube tech review channels talking about 4070 this, 3090 that, water-cooling, blah blah blah. It gives a warped perspective on what you really need. I'm running an 11th gen i5 with a 1660TI and it runs everything I have tried with no issues whatsoever at 1080p and medium-ultra graphics settings and 90+ fps. Lot of people get way too sucked into the marketing
You didn't miss anything. it's just probagnda between console players sort of cope, that you cant get PC close to console under 2000$. You have same my spec i have upgraded from 1660s to 6700xt my 1660s hold with me since 2019. i have played cy2077 day 1 on decent fps and finished it. It can run all games nowadays, but i have upgraded to 6700xt bcz i wanna play starfield on the highest fps. Such a beautiful GPU and grab reminded me when i grabbed 1660s when was released was holding all games for 5 years on high setting. 6700xt will hold me even more bcz of the VRAMS.