PC gaming as a hobby can be as expensive or as cheap as you’ll like. While consoles are often pointed to as the cheap and cheerful options, it’s certainly possible to buy or build a PC for $250 and have access to a library of thousands of classics stretching across decades of gaming history. If you want to play the latest AAA blockbusters there are clearly going to be some extra costs involved but in terms of getting in and getting a PC up and running, PC gaming can be dirt cheap.
On the flip-side, there really is no upper limit on how insane you want your PC build to be. The only barrier between you and near-unlimited performance is the size of your wallet. Admittedly, that’s quite a problematic barrier but it’s this level of flexibility and choice what makes PC gaming what it is. To borrow an over-used idiom, you get what you pay for.
From using integrated graphics to experience the wonder of Baldur’s Gate, Half-Life, or Mass Effect, through to cramming in four GeForce RTX 2080 Ti’s with a 16-core CPU and enjoying Resident Evil 2 Remake at 5K, the choice really is yours.
But, whether you have deep pockets or not, we’ve probably all got our limits in terms of how much we’re willing to spend. Basically, how much it’s worth to us to keep pushing for higher frame rates and higher resolutions. Everyone’s got a point where they’ll think ‘ehh, I’m not spending more than $400 on a graphics card”, or gaming beyond 1440p just isn’t worth the extra cost.
So, and I know this is pretty difficult considering different global currencies and price fluctuations and whatnot, but if you were to do a new PC build, what is the upper limit you’d be comfortable with? The point at which any extra spending feels unnecessary.
For me, I sort of cap out at around £1400 including tax ($1698) although that’s right on the edge. Ideally, I’d be looking at £1000-1200, prioritising the CPU as that’s the component I’d hope would be on their longest.
Over to you then, what’s the upper price you’d be willing to splash out on a brand new PC build? Get voting and let us know why below!
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i only buy used parts
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Considering that Amazon is not the best place to buy, and the prices listed are all amazon
Core i7-8700K 371 €
Noctua NH-U12S 59 €
Asus PRIME Z370-P II 124 €
Crucial MX500 66 €
TOSHIBA DT01ACA300 HDD 3TB, 7200 84 €
PNY GeForce GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 501 €
Corsair RM750x 108 €
Corsair Vengeance LPX 2 x 8 gb tot 101 €
Case as you prefer
1414€ or 1550 all included, meaning 1200 € if you know where to look, this is a rig that can hold for a very long time, so if you did pay more that 1400 and you got less than this, you may go in a zoo and ask a bonobo to teach you how to build a rig.
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Damn bro way to burn them.
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As we all know prices are universal across all countries LOL. Not to mention that motherboard is minimum to get a cpu to work at stock what a waste to stick an i7 into it it probably wont even turbo correctly without overheating the VRM plus you cant buy new 1080ti's only used ones but he didnt mention that either
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I'd rather get a r5 2600 for 120 euro or r5 3600 for 220 euro and a b450 board and get the same or slightly lower performance and save money from the CPU, cooler and motherboard.
I'd stay away from Corsair PSUs, overpriced for what they are, much better cheaper alternatives out there. And that overall will save you quite a bit of money, especially if you go with the r5 2600, it alone will save you 250 euro and will give you excellent performance.
Also try to avoid TLC SSDs like the crucial MX500, go for MLC if it's not NVME PCI-E M.2
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TLC vs MLC doesn't really matter crucial mx500 SSD's just dont perform aswell as samsung ones (not that this really matters) and have a much lower lifespan and the 860 evo is only 10€ more why bother. Also that corsair RM 750 is made by CWT so it depends whether its good or not apperently they atleast use
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Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con capacitors in it but how it actually holds up to something at the same price bracket like a Seasonic Focus Plus 750W at 100€ idont know. I imagine CWT cut costs on some components for sure they have made some quality midrange units but its rare with them they either suck or are just meh
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The problem is that just because the capacitors are Japanese it doesn't guarantee the quality, because Japan makes capacitors for different price ranges too, yes their best capacitors are some of the best in the world, but they too have low-end capacitors and mid-range capacitors, which if used for the correct application are fantastic, but not in this case.
The RM series are quite better than the VS series, but not so much that they are worth the cash.
Also the 860 is MLC and the CX500 is TLC, which is why the 860 has both better performance and more importantly longer life span.
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Really i thought the 860 evo was tlc and only the pro versions of samsungs ssd's are MLC which is why they're so expensive? I could be wrong and yeah about the japanese capacitors CWT is questionable maybe someone stripped and tested it but Nippon Chemi-Con are high quality but it depends whether they're the real deal
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or fake "knock off ones" testing will show that of course. With corsair PSU's it's always a gamble if it's made by Seasonic it's probably great and worth the money if it's CWT its a risk yeah theyve made some good units but a lot arent very good. Like the 1000+ units are Seasonic but below that even the 850 ones r CWT
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I think when it comes to SSD's and PSU it's worth paying a little extra for a high quality parts since longevity is important with both components. Trusting a single brand isn't always the best idea but it's easier to make a choice when someone has a proven track record like SS or samsung. overpaying for worse quality
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is never a good idea that's what makes buying PSU's from corsair or cooler master or whichever manufacturer doesn't make their own risky a lot of the times. If you cant find the info on the maker or the individual components its hard to judge just by reviews even if they can sometimes indicate a good product.
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Never buy brand, always buy product.
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And I find that 99.9% of modern day reviewers are not even fully qualified if at all to do those reviews... and I'm not talking authoritarian achievements like certificates and diplomas, I'm talking raw knowledge.
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if i need to completely swap everything out then i would spend 2k max. But my next upgrade will be Mobo/CPU and case.
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if you want 5 years of 100% gaming 0 worries go for a K
if you wanna go 3 years n switch -700$
if you rich just get what you want but dont get fooled
money has 0 relation with quality when it comes to building a pc
:)
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Probably between £800-£1200 depending on prices at the time. However I should hopefully get at least another 3-5 years out of this rig with a ram, cpu and graphics card upgrade in that time period.
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Don't really have a spending limit, I'll pay what I can afford at the time to get me started, but will upgrade until it's maxed out over time. My current machine started off with buying new motherboard, processor, case and AIO Watercooler and reused everything else from previous build. Overtime I replace the generic PSU to a modular Corsair, Upgraded from a GTX 770 to a GTX 1080. Replaced RAM with 32GB that matched color scheme, and recently replaced all the fans. I don't think I would like to have the perfect build right from jump. I like my system evolving over time.
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I'll just keep swapping GPUs until I feel my CPU is the limiting factor...
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Just keep upping the resolution your CPU will last a decade :P
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Well.... I did switch 1080p to 1440p for SotTR benchmark and saw an increase of gpu bound. from 50-ish to 80-ish %.
Guess imma run games at 1440p on my native 1080p monitor from now on.
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how about some technologies, like NVME, Thunderbolt3, H.265 hardware acceleration etc.. which may be better/wider implemented in newer series? those aren't major factor for you?
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all these things you mentioned are not needed for casual Joe.
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XQ ain't casual Joe tho
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His mobo does have 1x nvme x4 gen 3.0 so basically the latest samsung 970 evo plus can go into it which is the fastest ssd for pcie 3.0 or whichever other one. thunderbolt3 and h.265 are both pretty situational honestly.
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1k for me (i7 current gen 2 8gb sticks ddr 4, a mobo and a ssd) i will keep my gtx 1060 till i find a game i cant run on 1080p low settings 30 fps xD
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I believe 1.5K for a build from scratch is the sweet spot if u can spare the cash
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True, not much to gain for the extra money for gaming once you go beyond something like R5 3600 & 2060S/5700XT/2070 or even 2070S.
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I never buy new whole build so it doesnt feel as bad comapared to price as upgrading part by part, however im at around 2k euro mark if im correct.
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Just did a whole build, still choosing the monitor, but the total cost would be $2500 AUD ($1700 USD).
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Since I dont earn money probably around 1.2k for full build from scratch (like this built). But once I start earning money and saving up I will probably go for high end pc build which will cost probably around 1.5k-2k$. But depends how many years will pass after I earned the money to do it or months. Probably my next build is going to be from scratch again but with my own money.
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And probably I will sell this PC afterwards.
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1200E W/out monitor, HDD and peripherals
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I wish they were more clear if they mean with or without a monitor.
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1,930€ in total with a 144hz monitor a bit expensive but without VAT it probably would have been 1,5k :) I think i will add 16GB more RAM possibly and a 1440p 144Hz monitor making it a 2,5K build or 2K without VAT. That would be my limit although i can't say i have a hard cap on how much i would be willing to spend.
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1,5k - 2k
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1800E-ish for a complete build incl. 75hz monitor and non K intel.
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It was quite a while since I did last complete build for myself. Usually I split what I am upgrading, so I do CPU one year, graphic card other year,... which allows me to spend more on the component without worrying if I will have enough money. But as it is, up to 1500EUR for whole build would still be acceptable, provided it is justified and I can't shave some cost off for minimal loss.
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But as it is, currently only original things I got with PC I have are PSU, case and SATA SSD. First I replaced graphic card, second were motherboard, CPU and cooler, third upgrade was faster RAM and bigger SSD as 2nd SSD. And here we are. And only reason why I bought it originally as full build was that my old build was so wholesomely outdated, almost everything had to go.
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got mine for 1k new months ago
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1000€ is fine if you buy everything new except the gpu. For example ryzen 5 3600 with a -100€ board, 2x 8gb 3200mhz, and a bargain of a 1080ti for about a 450€. I have been having the itx itch for a while and itx anything costs a premium :P . I did build my current build as the i7 7700k launched so its a bit early to start thinking about a new build(5y a build for gaming is fine with a gpu upgrade down the line)
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Depeds on what build I'm doing. For my very first build $600 was my absolute limit and was able to get a pretty build together. But for my next build I'm planning on it being at least $1200-1500.