You aren’t getting a “pretty good” gaming PC for $600-$700, be serious now. That doesn’t invalidate most of your other points, but your exaggerations weaken your message.
This matches my $2,000+ build from 6 years ago. I still use it today, and I have no plans to upgrade still. It runs modern games at at least 50-80 fps at 4k.
This build is $652.99. It doesn’t include windows, but I paid $19 for windows pro, and Linux is free.
That’s very impressive for that price, though I am highly skeptical of those framerates since my PC has better specs and doesn’t get that without some serious compromises in settings. How are you getting a Windows Pro license for $19? I use linux 99% of the time, but I’d love to have a pro license on the cheap.
It depends on the title. Obviously it’ll run terraria at 4k but Cyberpunk obviously won’t. Consoles do the same thing though and just lower the resolution for difficult titles.
Cyberpunk runs at something like 50-70 fps, if memory serves. It’s high enough that it doesn’t bother me, but it could be better for sure.
I am running that on very high settings, too. That’s a game where you want everything way up. I don’t know if I used the literal highest, but the hdr (after a lot of manual tinkering) looks fanatastic.
They are very real framerates, I assure you. It really depends on the game, though. Most recently, Palworld has been flowing at around 70fps or higher, but I’m using the second highest settings, not the very highest.
I purchased the windows pro key off a third party website last Black Friday. I already had a license, and I just wanted the encryption! I just googled it, and ostensibly found another one for $35. They are a thing, oddly enough. Just be sure to research where you’re buying it so you don’t get scammed.
I’m serious. You won’t have ray tracing shenanigans or whatnot, but you’ll run everything 1080p at max settings smoothly. You just need to wait for components to be on sale (especially the gpu and the cpu). Like I said, it doesn’t include peripherals. That’s what I did, it totally can be done.
Since you’re serious, I’d be very curious to see the part list for this if you have the time. I am quite aware of current prices and GPU prices are currently still rather bonkers, even with sales.
I’ve double checked and while I think it’s still perfectly reasonable, it would be more something between $700 and $800. I’ve made two mistakes: I slightly overestimated the conversion rate from CAD to USD and I didn’t factor in the fact that I didn’t have to buy a pc case and a power supply.
Ryzen 5 ($140) on amazon
Radeon 6650xt ($229) on canadacomputers
Msi B550-A Pro ($111) on canadacomputers
T-Force Vulcan [8gb x 4] ($80) one pair on amazon another one on canadacomputers
I checked quickly and I was able to fit the rest (SSD, case, power supply) for something around $760ish.
The cpu and the gpu were bought during a Christmas sale and the rest was bought later. This was bought about two years ago (a bit after the time gpus were insanely overpriced).
I’m going to second this, with a couple asterisks. $800 for the computer is probably about where you get the most bang for your buck in terms of AA/AAA gaming, but you will still need peripherals - keyboard/mouse, speakers/headset, and a monitor, that can tack another $1-200 on the price (notwithstanding that even if the controllers come with the console, you still need a TV.) Logical Increments puts their “good” tier at about $761, suitable for 1080p 60FPS with medium settings.
Arguably the bigger value here is not being locked into a platform - if you find yourself with a little more budget down the road, you can piecemeal out your old PC with newer parts for a lower cost than a new console (with the possible exception of the GPU) and you can get more utility out of a PC than a console.
While I definitely agree for desktop situation. The landscape for PC gaming has changed dramatically, there are some sub ~$1000 laptops that are not bad entry points. Same with the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, both are decent entry points for someone interested in PC gaming with not a massive budget.
Any “game” that takes a PC over $600 (or even that) to run isn’t a good game, it’s a garbage barely interactive movie with vaguely game-like elements that unlock new parts of the story.
The more power required to run something, the more garbage it is. Sell only lowish-end PCs and make good games. Then kill off consoles like they should have years and years ago.
Also, anything over 1080/60hz (also, VR) is a scam made to suck more money out of your pocket for fucking nothing.
Wow that is certainly a hot take. Sounds like sour grapes to me, as someone who is very frugal and does quite enjoy VR gaming and my nice 34" widescreen 144Hz monitor with all its millions of pixels.
Sure you can enjoy games at 1080p and low framerates, but I definitely enjoy them more in 3D versus 2D and with more pixels and frames. It’s simply better to have more detail and smoother performance.
I mean, that was what mine cost back in like 2014, and I would’ve kept it that way for a while if not for my growing interest in VR, which admittedly had me shelling out another $200 for a GPU in around 2016. It trchnically wasn’t a gaming PC, sure, but it’s kept up pretty well in recent time. I still don’t see myself having to replace any parts for a while now - I’m consistently still able to play current games on medium-high settings, occasionally having to turn things down a bit for games like Darktide.
I mean, technically it referred to itself as an office PC and not a gaming PC, but that’s just pedantics when it works all the same.
You aren’t getting a “pretty good” gaming PC for $600-$700, be serious now. That doesn’t invalidate most of your other points, but your exaggerations weaken your message.
Here you go, bud. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/N3cVgB
This matches my $2,000+ build from 6 years ago. I still use it today, and I have no plans to upgrade still. It runs modern games at at least 50-80 fps at 4k.
This build is $652.99. It doesn’t include windows, but I paid $19 for windows pro, and Linux is free.
That’s very impressive for that price, though I am highly skeptical of those framerates since my PC has better specs and doesn’t get that without some serious compromises in settings. How are you getting a Windows Pro license for $19? I use linux 99% of the time, but I’d love to have a pro license on the cheap.
It depends on the title. Obviously it’ll run terraria at 4k but Cyberpunk obviously won’t. Consoles do the same thing though and just lower the resolution for difficult titles.
Cyberpunk runs at something like 50-70 fps, if memory serves. It’s high enough that it doesn’t bother me, but it could be better for sure.
I am running that on very high settings, too. That’s a game where you want everything way up. I don’t know if I used the literal highest, but the hdr (after a lot of manual tinkering) looks fanatastic.
If you aren’t going to use Win Pro for anything important, you could always run massgrave and unlock it for free.
They are very real framerates, I assure you. It really depends on the game, though. Most recently, Palworld has been flowing at around 70fps or higher, but I’m using the second highest settings, not the very highest.
I purchased the windows pro key off a third party website last Black Friday. I already had a license, and I just wanted the encryption! I just googled it, and ostensibly found another one for $35. They are a thing, oddly enough. Just be sure to research where you’re buying it so you don’t get scammed.
I’m serious. You won’t have ray tracing shenanigans or whatnot, but you’ll run everything 1080p at max settings smoothly. You just need to wait for components to be on sale (especially the gpu and the cpu). Like I said, it doesn’t include peripherals. That’s what I did, it totally can be done.
Since you’re serious, I’d be very curious to see the part list for this if you have the time. I am quite aware of current prices and GPU prices are currently still rather bonkers, even with sales.
I’ve double checked and while I think it’s still perfectly reasonable, it would be more something between $700 and $800. I’ve made two mistakes: I slightly overestimated the conversion rate from CAD to USD and I didn’t factor in the fact that I didn’t have to buy a pc case and a power supply.
Ryzen 5 ($140) on amazon
Radeon 6650xt ($229) on canadacomputers
Msi B550-A Pro ($111) on canadacomputers
T-Force Vulcan [8gb x 4] ($80) one pair on amazon another one on canadacomputers
I checked quickly and I was able to fit the rest (SSD, case, power supply) for something around $760ish.
The cpu and the gpu were bought during a Christmas sale and the rest was bought later. This was bought about two years ago (a bit after the time gpus were insanely overpriced).
I’m going to second this, with a couple asterisks. $800 for the computer is probably about where you get the most bang for your buck in terms of AA/AAA gaming, but you will still need peripherals - keyboard/mouse, speakers/headset, and a monitor, that can tack another $1-200 on the price (notwithstanding that even if the controllers come with the console, you still need a TV.) Logical Increments puts their “good” tier at about $761, suitable for 1080p 60FPS with medium settings.
Arguably the bigger value here is not being locked into a platform - if you find yourself with a little more budget down the road, you can piecemeal out your old PC with newer parts for a lower cost than a new console (with the possible exception of the GPU) and you can get more utility out of a PC than a console.
You can if you buy used, but yeah, I think $1000 is about the minimum for a complete build, new.
While I definitely agree for desktop situation. The landscape for PC gaming has changed dramatically, there are some sub ~$1000 laptops that are not bad entry points. Same with the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, both are decent entry points for someone interested in PC gaming with not a massive budget.
Any “game” that takes a PC over $600 (or even that) to run isn’t a good game, it’s a garbage barely interactive movie with vaguely game-like elements that unlock new parts of the story.
The more power required to run something, the more garbage it is. Sell only lowish-end PCs and make good games. Then kill off consoles like they should have years and years ago.
Also, anything over 1080/60hz (also, VR) is a scam made to suck more money out of your pocket for fucking nothing.
Wow that is certainly a hot take. Sounds like sour grapes to me, as someone who is very frugal and does quite enjoy VR gaming and my nice 34" widescreen 144Hz monitor with all its millions of pixels.
Sure you can enjoy games at 1080p and low framerates, but I definitely enjoy them more in 3D versus 2D and with more pixels and frames. It’s simply better to have more detail and smoother performance.
I mean, that was what mine cost back in like 2014, and I would’ve kept it that way for a while if not for my growing interest in VR, which admittedly had me shelling out another $200 for a GPU in around 2016. It trchnically wasn’t a gaming PC, sure, but it’s kept up pretty well in recent time. I still don’t see myself having to replace any parts for a while now - I’m consistently still able to play current games on medium-high settings, occasionally having to turn things down a bit for games like Darktide.
I mean, technically it referred to itself as an office PC and not a gaming PC, but that’s just pedantics when it works all the same.