My wife will be purchasing me a new gaming setup for my 30th, but I simply do not know where to begin.
My current computer is a prebuilt that I purchased back in 2010. Aside from adding an SSD to it, everything else has remained untouched. With that being said, while it currently still fits my gaming needs (I only play classic WoW and Old School Runescape), it has shown its age when I’ve tried to play Shadowlands. As I may begin to play some newer games, I am looking to update my gaming setup completely… my desktop, monitors, keyboard, mouse, etc… However, I have no idea where to begin/what is actually good in terms of specs anymore.
My budget for this new setup is $3K, though I can go as high as $4K. Like I said, I only play classic WoW (soon to be TBC) and Old School Runescape, but I will most likely be playing some newer games in the coming year. With my budget, I would not only like to play the newest games on decent settings, but I would also like to future proof this thing for the next 5 or so years. I am a bit scared of building my own at that price range (i.e., I have a basic understanding of building and updating a computer, though I do not want to be the one to break a $1K+ graphics card), so I’ve been looking at NZXT’s prebuilt desktops (I’ve been reading that there is a graphics card shortage, so getting a decent card at a decent price is difficult outside of a prebuilt). From what I can see, their prebuilt’s pricing looks to be okay, but I feel completely lost in terms of what I need/what is actually good. I am hoping someone can assist!
My current setup + what needs to be updated:
My prebuilt desktop from 2010.
3 24 inch Dell monitors from 2007 (I need 3 for work, so I am looking to upgrade all of them + get larger screens).
My Logitech G510 gaming keyboard. I am looking to finally make the switch to a mechanical keyboard.
My Steelseries headset. Honestly, I don’t even know what the model is, but it is time for a change. I bought my current headset right before WoTLK launched. It has served me well, but it to must be updated.
As for a mouse… I love my Razer Deathadder. My current one has been with me since 2009, though it too is beginning to show its age. I will most likely buy another one.
Do a custom build through cyberpc.com or ibuypower.com it’s the only way you’re going to get a graphics card or a good cpu.
Do a 10900k build or a 5800x or 5900x build.
Id recomend a 5900x build.
If you haven’t kept up the market the problem with trying to do your own build right now is it nearly impossible to get the CPU or GPU you want. There’s a shortage on both and it is expected to continue until mid 2022 and they are also expecting hard drive shortages soon on SSDs.
Most people who are not in desperate need to do a PC build are holding off till 2023. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about I just sold my RTX 2080 OC on ebay for $800. It’s sold 10 minutes after listing it. INSANE!
Thanks! I know Alienware gets some hate from the build-it-yourself community, but I personally love their products. I bought a gaming laptop from there back in 2015 for when I travel, and it is still going strong to this day! I will have to check them out.
You can cut cost if your monitor runs at lower resolution.
1920 X 1080 = RTX 3060 Ti (RTX 3070 if you wanna push Ray Tracing)
2560 X 1440 = RTX 3070 (RTX 3080 if you wanna push Ray Tracing)
3840 X 2160 = RTX 3080 (RTX 3090 is overpriced)
Ray Tracing taxes the GPU. Sometimes up to the point it starts stuttering.
Rythalia my buddy wound up buying that b550 motherboard.
The ROG Stix B550-XE is actually quite insane I found out some unique things about it from him it has better memory overclocking capabilities than the x570 Hero! It also has the exact same vrm set up as the dark hero!
This motherboard is insane for a b550. It’s basically a b550 that thinks it’s an x570. You really should take a gander at the motherboard
I’m talking about I’m Blown Away by the specs and he loves it. He does not tweak at all. But when the motherboard came in I told him I wanted to look at it. I saw it today and I was blown away by it if I ever wind up back on AMD I may very well get that motherboard
Well he’s not really losing anything on connectivity because it comes with a pcie card that holds up to 4 M.2s
Yeah that’s going to split your graphics card Lanes but unless you’re on a 3090 you won’t notice. Even then it’s debatable. That’s why I’m saying take a look at it
I’m going to just use my X570 and deal with the problems. Its no longer my daily driver due to high idle power usage measured from the wall. Using 9900K for daily use, 5900X when gaming.
I like it well I looked into the Auros master motherboard. It truly is a work of art but once I got into the BIOS. That hill was a very fast-moving downward slope lol.
Id use the b550 my buddy bot over the gigabyte x570 any day of the week. I know you didn’t have a choice because you already had the motherboard I’m talking for someone who is doing a new-build
The board isn’t exactly cheap. Wanted to jump into Rocket but its a letdown. 10900K gives me little boost as well. I don’t see any point switching to Intel from 5900X at the moment. Maybe wait another generation. Oh, F33i BIOS broke PBO. It doesn’t work.
I already got my SFF rig converted into ATX as everyday use PC anyway.
Well this is true and untrue. I’m speaking from personal experience here having personally tested the 5900x. My 10900k @ stock loses to the 5900x in most games. However once I All Core OC it to 5.2 and Push Ram to 4200mhz it wins in every single game. Obviously now that I’m at 5.2 and 4400mhz CL17 it just dominates. But that’s only due to the fact that it has an unfair advantage
Yes, by how much? A few percent? It doesn’t make sense changing CPU, RAM and mobo for it. And I’ll lose my PCIE 4.0 going 10900K as well. You know how much they cost.
In wow? 25+ FPS @1080p and MUCH better 1% lows in areas with mass players like weekly boss. At 1440p same store but its 15+ FPS. So I agree with you it’s not worth switching price wise.
With that said it’s quite a testament to AMD the fact that all you have to do is plug in the 5900x. My 10900k took a lot of work in overclocking to get there on both the RAM and CPU. The 5900x perfomed that well out of the box doing nothing
If you were to do it now and get a chip as good as mine it would be a 5%-10% across-the-board depending on the game and I fully agree with you it’s just not worth it until next gen
I actually have a family member that has a birthday coming up that I’m going to do a build for. Maybe you can give me some advice because I’m torn on going with my exact build or doing a 5800x and the B550-XE Strix. I could also get him the x570 Auros Master. He probably won’t do any tinkering. So any tinkering would be me beforehand.