Thinking of getting back into PC gaming. Suggestions?
- Thread starter Vyse
- Start date
diffusionx
Gold Member
Don’t
Topher
Identifies as young
Do you want to build or buy? What's your budget?
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Schmendrick
Member
Target resolution and fps plus budget would be the bare minimum of necessary information
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Zathalus
Member
9070 XT, 32GB RAM, and a 7700x/7800x3d/9700x/9800x3D CPU would be an excellent buy right now. The only difficulty would be getting a 9070XT near MSRP. What country are you in, and what budget are you looking at? Are you fine with building it yourself, or would you prefer a prebuilt?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
My strategy has always been to buy it part by part as prices fluctuate favorably. If I were you I would try to find 9070XT at a good price first then start buying the rest. Or just buy a prebuilt.
Xdrive05
Member
The experiences PC gaming can offer you have never been better than right now, but at the same time there's all kinds of shit going on in the economy and hardware markets that makes the buy-in unusually expensive and complicated compared to prior decades.
All the big and exciting hardware and feature advancements for a while now are only happening in the Nvidia GPU space, which means Nvidia enjoys a lopsided monopoly that makes their GPUs way more expensive than they should be, and hard to find. Their only real competitor right now, AMD, have recently released their first real stab at a "me-too!" product that does some of the same bells and whistles, which seems pretty decent all things considered. But it is and will continue to be be lagging far behind in game support as Nvidia has like a 7 year head start.
If you really don't care about the latest features like ray tracing and fancy pants AI based upscaling, then AMD is the way to go for bang for your buck. And their new 9070 and 9070 XT make a pretty compelling choice for the money, and still have their own decent version of AI upscaling which should grow in support over time.
But if you want to get deep into the new tech and get the most out of ray tracing and AI upscaling, then Nvidia is your only choice so prepare to grab ankle for those benefits.
On the CPU side, AMD has a slam-dunk approach in 3d V-cache for their gaming-centric CPUs. Even old AM4 fogies like me have viable options because of that. You would want to build on AM5 if starting now though. Intel has some good but controversial CPU products too right now.
All the big and exciting hardware and feature advancements for a while now are only happening in the Nvidia GPU space, which means Nvidia enjoys a lopsided monopoly that makes their GPUs way more expensive than they should be, and hard to find. Their only real competitor right now, AMD, have recently released their first real stab at a "me-too!" product that does some of the same bells and whistles, which seems pretty decent all things considered. But it is and will continue to be be lagging far behind in game support as Nvidia has like a 7 year head start.
If you really don't care about the latest features like ray tracing and fancy pants AI based upscaling, then AMD is the way to go for bang for your buck. And their new 9070 and 9070 XT make a pretty compelling choice for the money, and still have their own decent version of AI upscaling which should grow in support over time.
But if you want to get deep into the new tech and get the most out of ray tracing and AI upscaling, then Nvidia is your only choice so prepare to grab ankle for those benefits.
On the CPU side, AMD has a slam-dunk approach in 3d V-cache for their gaming-centric CPUs. Even old AM4 fogies like me have viable options because of that. You would want to build on AM5 if starting now though. Intel has some good but controversial CPU products too right now.
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Vyse
Gold Member
I would prefer to buy. Budget around 1,500.
Vyse
Gold Member
US. Would prefer prebuilt.
XXL
Gold Member
Be sure to save $100 to buy Baldur's Gate 3, Xcom 2, Wasteland 3 and Prey.
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Crayon
Member
Right now, you're better off focusing on just picking and acquiring a gpu.
You can readily get an older gpu on par with a regular ps5 for around $200. That's a reasonable deal as long as you aren't trying to beat a ps5. If you want anything better, just forget about the rest of the system and find a card first.
You can readily get an older gpu on par with a regular ps5 for around $200. That's a reasonable deal as long as you aren't trying to beat a ps5. If you want anything better, just forget about the rest of the system and find a card first.
Topher
Identifies as young
The options are not great right now either way. You are probably looking at a 4060 gpu based on what I'm seeing. You might be better off waiting a few weeks and see if things normalize a little.
Vyse
Gold Member
Will do. Thanks so much!
jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Costco has some great prebuilts (I just bought one about a month ago!) if you're looking for a good budget PC.
Their deals rotate every month... this month is pretty slim pickings:
If you have a warehouse near you, they might have better deals in-store. Also, these have an amazing warranty that goes above and beyond the manufacturers warranty.
Lenovo has this deal. The RTX 5700 isn't much better than the 4070 Super.
Normal sales price is $1,500, but coupons bring it down to $1,354
https://slickdeals.net/f/18193699-l...7700-rtx-4070-super-16gb-ddr5-1tb-ssd-1353-74
Normal sales price is $1,500, but coupons bring it down to $1,354
https://slickdeals.net/f/18193699-l...7700-rtx-4070-super-16gb-ddr5-1tb-ssd-1353-74
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
First don't listen to this guy.
Second - I would hang on the sidelines for a little bit if you can, don't pay significantly over MSRP.
Bojji
Member
If this was in stock it would be the best:
I wouldn't recommend 4060 to anyone...
Outside of prebuilds something like this can be build:
Ridiculous prices of GPUs right now are not helping. 7500f on AM5 could have similar performance but of course some higher cost (but platform would be future proof).
Jigsaah
Gold Member
I've heard good things about Meta PC. I think, Starforge is pretty decent too.
Careful when buying prebuilt. The devil's in the details. Make sure you know the model of your motherboard and especially RAM this go around. G. SKill Flare X5 6000 speed ram is known to have stability issues when updating BIOS.
Do you live by a major retail store like Microcenter?
Careful when buying prebuilt. The devil's in the details. Make sure you know the model of your motherboard and especially RAM this go around. G. SKill Flare X5 6000 speed ram is known to have stability issues when updating BIOS.
Do you live by a major retail store like Microcenter?
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Blitzkrieg!
Member
Don’t. Terrible time to get back into it.
CompleteGlobalSaturation
Member
I think the best bang for your buck will be the 9070 XT.
What resolution are you aiming for?
Topher
Identifies as young
If this was in stock it would be the best:
I wouldn't recommend 4060 to anyone...
Outside of prebuilds something like this can be build:
Ridiculous prices of GPUs right now are not helping. 7500f on AM5 could have similar performance but of course some higher cost (but platform would be future proof).
Hard to make recommendations right now because of it. That deal S SScorpio found above looks pretty good if it is still available.
balls of snow
Gold Member
I purchase mine from a vendor at around 1800 usd when converted. Its a beast with a 5070 ti (overprice right now but whatever the entire floor is raised on the 50 series) and a cpu just below a 9800x3d.
My thought process is that I want a pc to enjoy AAA games at 1440p /60 with moderate ray tracing but has enough juice to last until Witcher 4 comes out (my guess 2028-29) where I will upgrade again. Thats a good 4 years investment I hope.
You want a pc where its relevent for x number of years and can game at an image quality you are comfortable with. Some people I know still game on a 1080 p monitor with a 5 year old gpu.
My thought process is that I want a pc to enjoy AAA games at 1440p /60 with moderate ray tracing but has enough juice to last until Witcher 4 comes out (my guess 2028-29) where I will upgrade again. Thats a good 4 years investment I hope.
You want a pc where its relevent for x number of years and can game at an image quality you are comfortable with. Some people I know still game on a 1080 p monitor with a 5 year old gpu.
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NomenNescio
Dual Sense Edger and Blower
5080 bare minimum. Otherwise just get the PS5 Pro.
Ogbert
Member
Topher
Identifies as young
That isn't a good recommendation.
Wilhelm_85
Gold Member
Lots of decent deals on prebuilts out there. I would recommend going that route, especially with how awful the GPU market is right now.
NomenNescio
Dual Sense Edger and Blower
Lel it was obviously sarcasm. That card alone surpasses his entire budget.
I personally don't consider low-end PC gaming worth dealing with, but I guess you can always upgrade in the future without losing your games. Your current experience will suck ass, though.
Ogbert
Member
I actually think you’re best off either going really budget, or going all in.
Pick up a cheapish gaming PC and enjoy rts games and the huge back catalogue of Steam titles without breaking the bank. Or, if you really want to push AAA titles, save and buy yourself a rig that will see you into the next gen.
It’s the hinterland in between where you waste money. Especially considering the unoptomised stuff that gets churned out.
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Mister Wolf
Member
Go for the 9070XT.
Topher
Identifies as young
I've seen worse recommendations that were completely serious so not as obvious as you might think.
His budget is squarely in the above mid range under normal circumstances. This time last year it would be easy to find a solid PC for that amount. Supply is just incredibly dry right now.
reinking
Gold Member
David B
An Idiot
To me consoles are overall better than PCs. I find it that way because of two reasons. #1. I have 44 Steam games, only about 25 of them actually work, the rest of them never launch. PC games are tortured with the no launch issue and it really sucks. #2. Controller support. If you love controller as much as I do, than stay on consoles. Now yes more and more PC games are going controller indeed. Which is great. However there's tons of games from the early 2000s, the 90s, the 80s, which are just way too old and only work with keyboard and mouse. #3. Games tend to just work on consoles. Which goes with number 1, I know. But Windows overall along with games is a lot of work sometimes and you still can't get that one game to work that you really want to play.
Chukhopops
Member
The first thing to consider is your target resolution as it will impact everything down the line - going from 1080p to 1440p to 4k will dramatically increase the price you'll have to shell. A lot of people recommend high-end GPUs but that's completely unnecessary if you don't intend to build a 4K configuration.
The biggest issue is the GPU situation is so bad it might even be worth finding a cheap second-hand 30xx GPU and upgrade later when things are less ridiculous. Do not buy a first-hand 8GB GPU today, especially at the current prices.
In a couple months it should be possible to find AMD stock at MSRP, which will be unbeatable price/performance ratio.
The biggest issue is the GPU situation is so bad it might even be worth finding a cheap second-hand 30xx GPU and upgrade later when things are less ridiculous. Do not buy a first-hand 8GB GPU today, especially at the current prices.
In a couple months it should be possible to find AMD stock at MSRP, which will be unbeatable price/performance ratio.
XXL
Gold Member
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Depends on what you mean by low end PC gaming - I have a 6900XT and a 5800x and everything is great as long as I don't go crazy with the RT.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Great post. Stretch for a 7800x3d id say and 32gb ddr6000 cl30 and a 9070xt. Nice gen 4 nvme X 2. One system drive. One game drive.
Schmendrick
Member
holy shit, the nickname subtext seriously checks out. That must be the most retarded blatantly made up nonsense I´ve read today.
David B
An Idiot
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Wilhelm_85
Gold Member
Depends on what you’re looking to do, but yeah, if you just want to enjoy the latest AAA games, you’re probably better off getting a PS5 Pro unless you’re going with a high-end PC (like 4070 Ti Super or better at minimum). So probably like $2K or more to make it worth it.
Hohenheim
Member
For real? I have shitloads of Steam games and have never experienced a game not launching. A very few old ones needs some (easy) configs, but this sounds very strange.
Schmendrick
Member
wut? That gen where Nvidia first adapted the scalper prices from the crypto boom era as the new norm?
Do people`s memories seriously not even go as far back as 2020 before/when Ampere launched?
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