Thinking of building a decent gaming desktop setup.

[Metalhead]

My ASUS ROG laptop died a couple of years after the warranty expired, almost as if that was by design.

I have decided that after my vacation, I am going to set aside some cash to build a kickass desktop gaming setup I could easily upgrade. A couple of pieces at a time.

My payee is on board with this idea, and I have a couple of friends who know where to find the best tech deals in Pierce and King County.

What should I avoid and what should I look for?

I want maximum bang for my buck here.

 

[Outdated]

Hi Metalhead, for what you want you don't need a huge processor, just a decent graphics card.

The biggest problem computers have is dumping heat. This is usually the death of laptops, the case is too small and tight and doesn't allow enough air flow. You can end up with the same problem in a desktop if you go for one of those tiny slimline cases. Don't do it, get a full sized computer case that allows decent cooling. This also makes it easier when you want to upgrade parts, simply being physically able to get your hands in there.

Below is the parts list for my current computer, and it's probably very similar to what you want. you probably only need 16 gig of RAM though, I went for 32 because I often work with some very large files - photo editing and database manipulation.

You'll also notice I have two different types of drives in there, a decent fast SSD for my operating system and an older type hard disk drive for file storage - movies and music.

And you can save yourself an extra $100 if you don't want a copy of Windows. (who would?) Get your friends to help you with a Linux operating system instead. Can't be hacked and completely immune to viruses, a system that never plays up on you.

Cost: AU$2500 - That's Australian dollars, probably about US$1700.

1 Intel 12th Gen Core i3-12100F LGA1700 Processor
2 ThermalTake Toughair 310 CPU Cooler
3 MSI PRO H610M-B DDR4 Intel LGA 1700 mATX Motherboard
4 G.Skill 32GB (2x16GB) F4-3200CL16D-32GVK Ripjaws V 3200MHz DDR4 RAM-Black
5 Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 500GB (2280) NVMe Solid State Drive
6 Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5in HDD SATA 6GB/s 7200RPM 256MB Cache
7 MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Mech 2x 12GB Video Card
8 Gigabyte Gc-WBAX200 WiFi 6 PCIe Adapter 2400Mbps 160MHz Dual Band Wireless + Bluetooth 5 Mu-Mimo TX/Rx
9 ThermalTake V100 Mid Tower Case
10 ThermalTake Toughfan 14 PWM High Static Pressure (Up To 2000RPM) Radiator Fan-1-Pack
11 Thermaltake Smart BM2 Series 750W 80+ Bronze Semi-Modular Power Supply
12 24 Months Parts Warranty - System Build - Hardware Assembly + Operating System installation (Updates and Drivers)
+ SSD Profile Redirection To HDD If Required.
13 AOC G2790VX 27in 144Hz Full HD 1M Freesync VA Gaming Monitor
14 Logitech MK120 Keyboard and Mouse
15 Logitech Z200 Multimedia Speakers-MidNight Black

 

[Slime_Punk]

If I were to 'build' a gaming PC, I'd probably just upgrade some old junk with a few sticks of ram and a better GPU with plenty of VRAM. As @Outdated mentioned, I'm not even sure if any of the games in my library require an excess of 16GB, and mostly everything runs great on medium specs with about 12. If you're going for maxing out graphics and getting the best experience of all, by all means go for it, but usually beefing up a system (even a second-hand one) will do the trick if you want to save some money and don't care about cutting-edge hype.

You can also just check out other peoples' builds online to get some inspiration, but I find that PC building is a lot like car culture; most of these people don't really need 6 cars sitting in their garage to get to work everyday, but dopamine is a hell of a drug!

 

[Misery]

I'm not even sure if any of the games in my library require an excess of 16GB

Yeah, this is something to keep in mind, I think.

Before making decisions on what to buy, consider what exactly you'll be doing with it. What do the sorts of games you're after ACTUALLY require? Same with any other programs and such you might use.

I use a high-end rig myself, 95% of the games I play (mostly indie stuff) dont come anywhere near using all that power (with Minecraft actually being the main one that tries to eat the whole machine), but this machine was also chosen for VR and fractal rendering (which will bring the thing to its knees, so to speak), not just gaming. I think without those two things, I'd have gone for something a bit less intense.

A lot of games overall these days, even the big AAA ones, dont truly require as much power as some might have you believe.

Also consider how much effect specific things actually have. Like you hear people talk about things like raytracing or 4k whatever. Those sorts of things are often factored into this, but think about it from where you're coming from: do the sorts of games you like actually potentially USE those functions, and if they do have the option to use those functions (it's rarely a direct requirement, just an option), how much of a difference is it REALLY going to have? Dont go for something super expensive because it has !!!BLAST PROCESSING!!! on the label if that isnt even going to come into play most of the time, or have much of an effect when it IS used.

And remember just how much pure hype there is floating around this subject in general. Dont let it make decisions for you. It's easy to get sucked into that.

 

[WiffingWaffles]

I know you said you wanted to build one, but if you don't wanna go through the hassle of it, here are some custom prebuilders i've seen.

Also everyone else, feel free to use this list if ya want.

List
https://www.dell.com/en-us/gaming/alienwarehttps://www.digitalstorm.com/https://ironsidecomputers.com/https://www.xidax.com/https://www.falcon-nw.com/https://www.originpc.com/
Here's what i would do if i wanted complete help in building one - https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx

As far as i know, they will help you build it in store.


If you'd like, i can let you know of my specs.

 

[Outdated]

I know you said you wanted to build one, but if you don't wanna go through the hassle of it, here are some custom prebuilders i've seen.

I did this with my last 2 computers, both still running. I built my own for 20 years but it doesn't seem as exciting as it did when I was first learning about them and these days I'd prefer someone else to sort out any issues before I start playing with it.

My local shop won't sell a custom computer without testing it first, so if you don't want Windows they'll install any Linux you please. So I got exactly what I wanted all ready to go, my user name and password already in it and everything.