How much should someone spend on a PC build before it becomes wasteful?

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Gonna let you know now, not sure how much this post will help you in current climate.

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AmphibianSecure177@reddit

What would you say is a reasonable budget in April 2026 though???? Please help I want to build a PC

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Sorry man, I really can't. You would be better off asking this community or another. Since both RAM and SSD's taken a major hike since I built my PC, I would imagine adding an extra $500-$1000 for just something similar.

I'd probably say $1500~ but that is me.

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MeringueNo85@reddit

Is a 800$ one good

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littman28@reddit

3000$ basically top of the line for a tower rn in terms of gaming. Anything more is pretty much brand preference and aesthetics. Here’s a little example.

PCPartPicker Part List

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digitalsmear@reddit

$149.99 @ Newegg Memory | TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory

What do you think of the Lexar memory with slightly tighter timings?

I haven't been able to find much for reviews or benchmarks on it.

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littman28@reddit

I guess Lexar is fine, never really looked into it. As for the psu a good quality 850w would be fine with a 4080s. Check the psu tier list before buying.

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digitalsmear@reddit

Is the tier list you're talking about in the side bar?

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littman28@reddit

https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

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digitalsmear@reddit

Thanks!

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dripless_cactus@reddit

Yup, I was exactly going to say you can get the best gaming CPU and GPU on the market, with reasonable supportive other parts for about $2800 haha. Everything else is just pretty lights and branding. And you can save $800 by "settling" for the second best GPU.

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RedLimes@reddit

The best graphics card you can buy is $2k on its own so $4k is not THAT crazy of a budget plus a nice monitor is another $1k. Best gaming CPU is something like $600 for the CPU + mobo + RAM, more if you want an R9 for video editing. Then you pick a case, fans, PSU, storage. Yeah $4k for a top of the line machine is not crazy in my opinion. It's only crazy if you are a not aiming for the top

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

I would say 4k on a gaming PC is insane for most people though, especially with diminishing price returns.

A used 3080 and a 7700x build will do very well, 70-80 percent of a 4k build, for 1k-1200. If you have a very large disposable income sure, otherwise insane.

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RedLimes@reddit

I'm rocking a 5800X3D/7900XT and couldn't imagine spending $4k, but some people want a 4090 so idk what to tell you

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

And if you're wealthy sure! But people making 50k or less, so standard US average? Insane.

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digitalsmear@reddit

Depends on whether or not they're getting income from the video editing. My rig is used for work more than half the time, so I can write it off on my taxes. 🤷‍♀️

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

True! If it's actually for work I agree, but 95 percent of people are getting this stuff for gaming with a "I also do this other thing a little" on this sub.

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Great point.

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Naerven@reddit

For the most part if you drop the whole 'games must be run on ultra idea' then you do everything on a $650 computer at 1080p using optimized high type settings.

I generally game at 1440p and so going much over $1500 can be wasteful depending on the games you are wanting to play.

Some new games are setting new benchmarks on what is considered minimum. Both Black Myth Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws are made with upscaling and frame generation being considered mandatory for many current builds.

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

I can see this. I've just never had a PC that enthusiasts rave about and always wondered how the PC and games feel with the top of the line PC.

Since you say going over $1500 can be wasteful (dependent on the games), what would a list from you look like at that price point? Going under the assumption I drop gaming at Ultra mantra.

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Ok_Psychology_504@reddit

Lol gaming at ultra mantra is just marketing for insecure people with money to throw away. Spend 1k ok a decent 4k 120hz and the rest ok whatever. You can play 1080 and enjoy a far better view than a puny 27"

Why drop 1500 on a rig that will now be able to do ultra 60fps on the next game?

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OnlyPainZeroGain@reddit

Cope lmao

The $4200 rig was absolutely worth it for me and I would regret any single downgrade.

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Ok_Psychology_504@reddit

Sure Nvidia sales rep, and then everyone clapped in the marketing meeting.

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Mysterious_Tutor_388@reddit

If that is the case then you are a large monitor sales rep. Having over 25" has a negative impact on gaming performance. Bigger is not better, bigger is worse.

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Ok_Psychology_504@reddit

Lol 0.00000000000001% of gamers are competing. The rest are cosplaying as "competitive gamers" paying for overpriced gear and end up renting cheats.

and they wouldn't be able to qualify even if the other competitors where playing with punch card computers.

Bigger is better because you don't strain your eyesight trying to shoot a pixel.

Invoquing "cOmPeTiTiVe gAmErS" is a blatant Reduction ad absurdum.

Have you seen them 2 inches from a 24 1080p? Their user case is irrelevant. 99% of gamers don't have the dedicated optic fiber internet to use 360Hz much less the ability to use it.

They are just marketing pay to win to dummies.

You can buy $1k 4k 120 FPS OLED, with a micro ATX Ryzen 7 8700g, no GPU, stay cool, stay silent, and stay 6 foot away and have better definition, better posture, higher stamina, 100% less eye strain and wildly gorgeous response times.

Why spend 2k to be looking at a 24" from a feet away and have posture problems. Nearly all comp gamers struggle with an array of health issues because this.

In a 24' you are shooting a 0.2 mm target while in a 50+ screen you are shooting at a 10 mm target. Much less strain plus you can also see movies that don't look like you watching them in you smart phone.

Just saying these salesmen just want number high better because they make 2 dollars more on their affiliate link.

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Mysterious_Tutor_388@reddit

You don't have to be a pro player on a team to want a competitive advantage by using a smaller monitor. And yes i do have fiber internet. Nintendo doesn't make any games i like. you don't have to have posture problems, some people just choose to sit poorly. A good monitor mount or arm can bring the monitor to you instead of leaning in. Higher hz makes the image smoother which is more important for strain.

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Ok_Psychology_504@reddit

Agree 👍

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Drink_noS@reddit

If you can buy a 7800x3d and 4080 super, the people saying its a waste is because they buy new pc parts whenever amd and nvidia come out with them, buy the best product you can afford now a delay upgrading for years.

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BasonPiano@reddit

I would include a monitor that costs as much as your gpu as well. It's essential for a good gaming experience. It's literally the thing you're staring at the entire time.

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DryDragonfruit179@reddit

That's definitely not true. Monitors are another thing that have strong points of diminishing returns. Sure don't get a 4070 and put a 60hz 1080p monitor on it, but for 2-300 bucks you can get a quality 144+ hz 1440p monitor that will be basically indistinguishable from a thousand dollar Samsung for gaming

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BasonPiano@reddit

After getting an LG 34" UW IPS 144 hz monitor, I can't agree.

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Mysterious_Tutor_388@reddit

A 300$ monitor is no where near the same thing as a 1000$ one. You would be looking at IPS or VA panels at 300 and oleds at 1000. It is very easy to tell what kind if panel you are looking at.

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StockCasinoMember@reddit

This is the answer.

My last computer, I spent about $2400 on it. I gamed on it for 7 years and never upgraded anything. I now have it hooked up next to my new computer. Essentially payed $342.85 a year for that computer and it’s still being used.

I now use my old CPU as a 3rd monitor for stock trading, for low level email/internet browsing to save my new cpu some effort, and might use it some if I start streaming.

My new CPU with monitor was about $5500.

I trade stocks on 3 screens using both CPUs, and run all games on ultra settings with 0 skip, it’s awesome.

Hopefully get another 8 years out of the new CPU.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

You can have your ultra settings in every category.

For example for 1080p ultra - ryzen 5 7600 + Rx 7700xt/ 4060ti/4070

1440p (2k) ultra - ryzen 5 7600/x/ ryzen 7 7800x3d + Rx 7800 xt/Rx 7900 gre/7900 xt/ 4070 ti/ super/ 4070 ti super

2160 (4k) ultra - ryzen 7 7800x3d/ryzen 9 7900x3d (if needed for multitasking) + Rx 7900 xtx/4070ti super/4080/ 4080super/4090

It's just a general view. So you know at every rez you can achieve ultra based on your hardware

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OnlyPainZeroGain@reddit

So you know at every rez you can achieve ultra based on your hardware

Not with VR streaming from PC...

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Of course not. Anyways no one is speaking about them here so.... Kinda point less.

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OnlyPainZeroGain@reddit

They should be. Other than cyberpunk photo mode, the 4090 has no purpose in gaming. It doesn't really hit any other walls anywhere. Except in chasing VR perf.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Well they don't know about pc parts and what is used for what so.... Btw how is vr scene now a days?

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OnlyPainZeroGain@reddit

It's absolutely wild

A few years ago it was so frustrating to take hours to set things up. Today with quest 3 and steam VR it takes minutes on the first go, and seconds going forward

The cost for a worthwhile experience is hefty. The quest 3 is mobile game quality by itself, and not worth it. I would not want to engage with this without the build I am using, which to my surprise, included buying and setting up a wifi 6 router lol. I did it as a local network because my ISP locked their shitty modem/router, but it works fine, I'm just glad I had a spare USB-Ethernet port.

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Mysterious_Tutor_388@reddit

I assure you there are monitors the 4090 can not provided enough power to fill out their frame rate.

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OnlyPainZeroGain@reddit

I see the other guys telling you that the ultra is over rated. I have the $4k PC. I just hooked up a heavily modded Skyrim VR meta quest 3 to my PC, first time doing VR, tonight.

It isn't over rated. They're insane or coping, I don't care. I'm having the best goddamn time of my life because every pixel and frame counts in VR. My 4090 and 7800x3D can-and-will hit a wall when chasing VR perfection.

Even with a regular 4k 144hz monitor I hit walls in cyberpunk and star citizens photo modes, to name a few.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

The whole reason why people sometimes over spend especially the "pc enthusiasts" Is they build a pc which should last at least 4 to 5 years especially people who have known what it is like to not have money. They will always want to get the best value out of it.

But there are also people who would buy the top end card and a year later if something else comes up they would run to the next cause of fomo.

Also there are people who need the latest and greatest just so their work gets done better and faster not everyone buys pc to game on. So it's more about longevity and upgradeblity of the components which makes people who have money to go all out.

None of these scenarios are either right or wrong. It's just user preference.

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Aggravating-Ebb6923@reddit

That's a fair point.But I have a 4k 32" oled monitor

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dbraun31@reddit

Which GPU are you using for a good 1440p experience at a $1500 budget?

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

If you want Nvidia, a 4070 super is a great value for 1440 and can keep you well within your budget unless you need peripherals too

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dukeofpizza@reddit

I have a 3070 and play at 1440p on a 32 inch curved 165 hz monitor. Sure I don't hit 165 fps on every game at ultra but it plays every game I throw at it and looks beautiful

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No-Reputation72@reddit

Same here. Usually get around 100fps 1440p with nearly highest graphics settings in most games I play.

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

I have a 3060ti in my other rig, which is close. Still holds up great but for more demanding AAA titles the 4070 super is definitely a great value and the extra frames help a lot

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kasperary@reddit

3060ti still a beast. It can easily feed the 32" 1440p monitor

Don't think I need anything new for a couple of years, and that thing is already 3 years old.

So the question if a newer card can run anything at high ultra settings feels always so Irrelevant

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beirch@reddit

I just got a 3060Ti for my media center PC which powers a 4K TV, specifically because upscaling is a thing. 4K with upscaling looks miles better than 1080p native on that TV, even on performance.

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

That's exactly what I use mine for lol. Works great on the couch pc

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nikilization@reddit

I use a 6800 for this! Lol. Upscaling is only going to get better

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

Mine couldn't max everything with consistent 144 frames at 1440, but for less demanding games and with RT off it still does a great job. It really depends on what you're playing. But it absolutely still holds its own

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ItsAllNavyBlue@reddit

An extra $200 wrapped into a $1k+ PC for getting perfect performance on a few fringe titles usually isn’t practical to most people.

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

It's a decent performance bump that scales with the price and it's noticable on pretty much any modern title, so I think it's very worth it on a $1500ish PC, especially to help future proof a little. But if someone is spending 1k, yeah, it's not really doable

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joshhinchey@reddit

Same. I hardly ever go under 75 fps on aaa single player games.

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MissionClue7506@reddit

I have a 3070 and play 1080P @ 120Hz and I never get the damn FPS pinned to 120. Ultra???? aaaagh

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Yergason@reddit

He must be playing non-demanding games or esports games that can run even on potatoes.

I was struggling to maintain 60-80 fps on high settings in my 27" 1440p monitor in new AAA games before I upgraded to an rx 7800xt from my 3070 2 weeks ago

1440p 32" on ultra settings that's gotta be a MOBA like Dota 2 or LoL or fps games like CS2

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Sammand72@reddit

Hey just curious how much did your PC cost total?

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Yergason@reddit

I played Horizon Forbidden West on 1440p (27" only) on high settings and it was around 60-80fps with DLSS on performance but in safezones, areas with the red decay/snow, my rig was dying and dropping to 30 fps.

Switched to a 7800xt 2 weeks ago. FSR off and even undervolted it's stable and smooth af at 90-100fps

Retired my 3070 to my fiance who exclusively plays Genshin impact and Honkai Star Rail on 1080p. That GPU will live 4-5 more years on her rig lol

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Electro_Bird@reddit

I’ve a 3060 and play fine in 1440

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tsourced@reddit

Can confirm the 4070 super absolutely rocks at 1440

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dbraun31@reddit

Here's one I'm in the process of building (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/dbraun31/saved/69Zp3C). I am buying a $200 1440p monitor, but even without that, I'm curious how you'd change this build to include the 4070 super for under $1.5k

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arafella@reddit

Got it down to $1600 with a 4070 Super without changing the CPU: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qdpLt7

Less RAM, cheaper mobo, 750w psu

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dbraun31@reddit

I like this A LOT. I think I'm gonna do it (see my edited comment above).

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Owlface@reddit

I'm using that monitor right now and while I'm enjoying it there are way better offerings on the market at the same price point these days.

Costco has the MSI G274QP for $150, Dell G2724D is around $180, and if you don't mind gambling on the Chinese offerings they can usually offer 1440p/240hz slightly north of the $200 mark.

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dbraun31@reddit

Huge thank you for this tip. Think I'll return the LG for this MSI at Costco!

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millermix456@reddit

I mean, you can pick up a refurb PC with a 12700/3070 for a hair over $700. Can get two and still be less than the one you put together.

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TheKitler@reddit

Is it purely for gaming?

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dbraun31@reddit

Nah I mostly do a lot of CPU intensive data analysis. I'd like to get into rendering in Blender and ideally be able to play games like this (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1712350/Riven/) in 1440p on max settings. Although this benchmark (https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/riven-remake-benchmarks-pc-performance-analysis/) suggests I'd need at least a 3080 for that. I figure GPU is just the piece I'll upgrade \~1-2 years down the road but wondering whether I can make any good adjustments now before building.

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TheKitler@reddit

The best you're going to get with that cpu would be a 4060 ti. You could try to find a used 3080 instead. You have $450 to spend on a GPU. Also, you're missing storage. Do you already have a SSD?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qTWdsh

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dbraun31@reddit

Wow! This is really tempting. Yea I have a couple 1 TB SSDs, and I'm a bit too spooked to buy used. But I'm a bit swayed by this thread saying the 4060ti isn't worth it (https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/155se4t/is_the_rtx_4060_4060_ti_worth_it/). idk it feels like either settle for something limiting or make a huge jump for a $600 card.

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Trylena@reddit

Used GPUs are usually fine. I got a used RX 570 in 2019 and this year upgraded to a used 3070. Both work great.

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TheKitler@reddit

That's unfortunately how Nvidia cards are right now. Both 4060 and 4060ti aren't great value compared to AMD options in that price range for gaming. So if you need a Nvidia card for work and you can't afford a 4070, you're kinda just out of luck.

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l453rl453r@reddit

well if you want any great value card you're just out of luck. amd is way too overpriced too, especially when compared to the nvidia and their superior features.

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Mrcod1997@reddit

Yeah definitely overkill for the cpu if it was only a gaming rig (which 90% of the people on here are making). In your case it sounds pretty valid to go heavy on the cpu.

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gear7ththedawn@reddit

Lmao. That build is just bad.

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Mrcod1997@reddit

Sounds like he's actually doing some cpu intensive shit. So not horrible for that.

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gear7ththedawn@reddit

Yeah I figured that out. I just recently built my own 1440 and I can't say I know a ton but I got away with a much more balanced build and it is insanely good imo. I have a asus rog strix b550-f board, ryzen 7 5700g chip, and a asus dual amd Radeon rx7800xt w 16gb vram and only 32 gb ram. It's absolutely fantastic and I'm pretty sure I paid less than 1500 for the tower.

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Mrcod1997@reddit

Any particular reason you went with the g variant for the cpu?

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gear7ththedawn@reddit

Rookie mistake when ordering. I saw a bundle for mobo and chip and bought it. Next day I did a little more research and realized the x was a better choice.

I went with ryzen 7 because my prebuilt pc I bought a few years ago had a ryzen 5 w a 3070 and it was pretty solid. I figured a small upgrade and another 3070 would be great. Then while researching gpus endlessly(the chip experience made me take way more time on gpu buying), I found the 7800 for 450.

Honestly, I absolutely love this pc. Outside of some ethernet port issues, it has been absolutely outstanding and I've barely scratched the surface on how to actually utilize it properly.

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Siliconfrustration@reddit

I usually have something to add - and I tried but if you need those cores and you need that much memory I can't do any better so you're stuck with the 4060 on Nvidia.

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bassgoonist@reddit

Do not get a 7900x for gaming, you want single ccd, 7700x or 7800x3d

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

Id sub the CPU for a 5800x3d and downgrade the mobo and drop to 2x16gb sticks of memory if it meant getting a better GPU but the only issue would be you couldn't upgrade the CPU as easily in the future.

Could also go AMD for GPU if purely for gaming and you don't care about NVIDIA features

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dbraun31@reddit

Oh true, I could see it being possible by going down to AM4. But yea this build will be mostly for CPU intensive work and I think I can be content to just upgrade GPU down the line. Appreciate those suggestions though.

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wasdmovedme@reddit

My 7900GRE paired with my 7800X3D makes for that budgeted experience and it’s awesome.

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Clockwork385@reddit

Probably a 1.5k setup? Isn't that gpu 550 by itself?

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wasdmovedme@reddit

Mine was $638 total from Newegg, but I did buy an extra two year warranty with it for another….$30 I think it was.

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BeefSupreme__@reddit

Yeah if you can keep that in budget that's a great setup!

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Ninjazoule@reddit

Yeah the 12gb is pretty much essential for 1440p on high settings for any type of future proofing considering my (recently replaced) 8gb was constantly maxing

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Athos_AlThor@reddit

4070S, 7900XT, 7900GRE, and maybe the 7800XT all would provide a more than adequate 1440p experience.

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BigoldW@reddit

Ryzen 7900gre is my gpu rn, and it's been great.

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errorsniper@reddit

1500$ budget I but a 7800x3d, 7800xt, 32 gigs of ddr5@6000 b650 mobo. I did reuse storage and no os though.

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MrMadman33@reddit

7900gre

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LilBramwell@reddit

6800 Core is like $350 in the US and can get you a great 1440p experience with a budget of like $1250.

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innerfrei@reddit

4070 + AM4 build with a 5800X3D

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JJJBLKRose@reddit

I have a 120hz 1440p monitor and game with a 3070, haven’t found I game that didn’t run on good-great settings and at least get 80-100fps. I’m not a huge FPS snob, as long as it’s over 60 and has no jitters or dips I’m happy! My gaming skills aren’t good enough to be affected by sub 100fps frame rates.

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trapped_in_florida@reddit

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/thQD4D

\~$1300, Asus 7800XT, 1440p pew pew pew pew

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Xpli@reddit

I play in 1440p on a 1660 super and Ryzen 3600. Built it for $700 like 5 years ago or something. Granted the games I play are esport titles they’re super optimized and easy to run. But I also get along just fine in some pretty games if I settle for lower graphics settings. Battlefield I can play at 120+ fps on low / medium.

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Brownie_Badger@reddit

I use a 6700xt and hit 165 consistently, on higher+ optimized settings. I know from my benchmark scores that my CPU actually causes some problems in certain situations for gaming, so I keep those settings lower. With FSR and Trixx being options for upscaling, the more rpg or sightseeing games I can crank to the max and still hit 165.

If you can nab an AM5 microcenter AMD special, you'll have an even better experience than me.

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Allstr53190@reddit

6950XT

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Xirious@reddit

So I have a 21:9 UW screen. It's default resolution is 3440*1440. I know it is not 1440p but its also not 4k... It's somewhere between, I think closer to 1440p than 4k (by total pixels). Is that the correct way of looking at it?

I'm going from a 1080ti on a 7700k to a 4070ti super on a 7800x3D and my hope is that the new rig will serve me well at the Ultra wide resolution.

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LilBramwell@reddit

1440p Ultrawide will use as much power as you are willing to pay to throw at it. My 7900XTX gets loaded at 100% on some games and it fights to stay above 90FPS.

I do follow the whole (stupid) "I will never lower my settings below fully maxed out" though.

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skunkboy72@reddit

I will never drop the "games must be run on ultra idea".

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TheVisceralCanvas@reddit

Just to give an example of modern games setting new benchmarks: Final Fantasy XVI requires an RTX 2080 just to run the game at 1080p/60fps.

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yankeeboi144@reddit

The frame generation irks me because I don’t wanna play with input lag

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ComprehensiveBoss815@reddit

4k has been around for years, i'm not going back to 1080p it's horrible.

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

Outlaws looks like hot dog water Ubisoft garbage though.

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Immediate-Bath196@reddit

I dropped $1100 on a 4090 and $350 on a 7900X with 32 GB of ram included that were returned but not opened with the whole setup, desk, dual monitors, speakers, dual headsets, dual controllers, dual keyboard, and mouse, I spent less than 3K and I game in 1440P and and my wife games in 4K on the same Rig with 65 Gigs of storage before the price of storage jumped. If you shop around you can find great deals at local stores.

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Stonesneakers@reddit

2k is enough,

4080 super = 1100$ 7800x3D = 400$

Everything else around 500$

Mobo : 150-200 Good air cooling : 40 32gb ddr5 6000 : 100 2to SSD : 100 Case : 100

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Own-Lemon8708@reddit

Its all about budget. I built a high end PC because it didn't stress my budget at all, and I wanted to treat myself. 7800x3d 4090 77" OLED

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Vinny_The_Blade@reddit

That's a question that demands a philosophical answer, rather than the empirical answer you seem to want...

It all depends on how much disposable income you have to begin with and what you want to do with the PC:

If you've got £2k in the bank, then buying a 4k PC on credit is wasteful... If you've got 200k in the bank, then 4k isn't nearly enough 😅

If you're buying top end hardware to mostly browse Reddit, then 4k is too much... But if you're a competitive gamer streamer, then it's reasonable.

However, yes there are points of diminishing gains so a 4k PC will be 5% faster than a 2k pc, not 100% faster. But if you have 4k burning a hole in your pocket and you're an infant in an adults body that gets off from system boasting, then whatever, go for it...

To be honest, high end PC is in the realm of the enthusiast, building it because it's their hobby, and everyone spends too much on their hobby, no matter whether it's PCs, cars, boats, travel, or collecting porcelain cats.

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Aggravating-Ebb6923@reddit

I spent $2200 . I got a 4080 super msi suprim. It was $1200 it was $200 more than the average price but the suprim is such a good card I'm happy with it. The 4090 suprim is like 2k. I also got a 7800x3d cpu and 32gb of ddr5. I love my build. I wouldn't worry too much about being wasteful build the pc you want to. Save up money or whatever

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Replica90_@reddit

I mean, it’s my hobby … I guess others would look at it as wasteful? Considering I spent over 1000€ on a custom loop speaks for itself, right? Tbh I don’t care what other people would think about it … it‘s my money and as long as I‘m happy with that decision it’s fine.

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najadranu@reddit

At the risk of stating the obvious, wasteful is relative to the value you get from it. There's a lot of great advice already re: price & resolution, realistic fps expectations, etc. The harder thing to quantify IMO is... are you in a position to really enjoy it? Put another way, assuming you have the means to afford la crème de la crème... do you have the time & capacity to enjoy it? If the answer is yes, then I wouldn't give it too much thought and go for it.

For me, personally, I had to think about it a bit. I have four young kiddos and am also in the process of building out a new PC. I know the time I have to actually game is limited, but that time is also sacred, and having the best experience possible really means a lot to me. I'm in a similar boat w/ a lg c2 48" and opted for a 4090 (as ridiculous as prices are now) to make the most of it. In case it's helpful, here's the parts list I just purchased for a high end build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yvBdsh

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TincanTurtle@reddit

CPU- 300-450$ 7800x3d or 7900x3d or 7950x3d

GPU- 1k$ AMD 7900 XTX or RTX 4080 Super

MOBO - 200$ DDR5 Compatible

PSU - 200$ modern high quality PSU

RAM - 200$ DDR5 RAM

Case - 200$

Fans and coolers - 200$

= 2k+$ a 4090 would add +800$

peripherals- 500$

monitor - 1k$

Anyways since you're being productive you cant skimp out on the CPU and RAM

it just depends if you want to go AMD or NVDA with your set up

If you want to spend 4k and dont want to get the 4090 just spend the money on a good monitor

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Rad_YT@reddit

Where (or why) are you dropping 1K on a monitor? I got a 27” 1440p 165hz for 300CAD like 2 weeks ago

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unfeelingsalmon@reddit

Theres far more that goes into a nice monitor than just refresh rate and resolution. Oled monitors give an entirely different type of gaming experience. I just upgraded from a 27” 1440 to a 34” ultrawide oled for 800 usd. Expensive as it is, man the change is drastic! I actually enjoy playing single player games on my new monitor because it just looks THAT incredible where i can appreciate it now. I feel like im actually utilizing my 4080 super and 7800x3D, where as before it was wasted potential

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JasurbekDevv@reddit

I'm planning on building my first PC with combination of 7800x3d and 4080 super like yours. Can you share your full specs?

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P-sychotic@reddit

That’s wild saying you’re actually enjoying single player games due to a monitor change

So you just didn’t enjoy single player games at all beforehand? I just find that so strange, I love playing single player and all I’ve got is 1440p 😂

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Baatu@reddit

I think they just didn't give single player games a chance before. With the new monitor they could've felt obligated to at least try a "cinematic" single player game and were positively suprised.

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Upset-Ear-9485@reddit

oled makes way more of a difference to me than any refresh rate over 60. steam deck oled i play most games at 45 fps and enjoy the better colors way more than i would having lcd at 60

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SupermotoArchitect@reddit

Because yours is likely a VA panel which is great for some applications but the black smear really bothers some people, for my uses IPS was really the only option

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SjettepetJR@reddit

There is a good chance it is an IPS panel. I recently got a similar panel (HyperX Armada 27) for €200. Which is almost exactly $300 CAD.

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SjettepetJR@reddit

I do agree that 27" 120Hz+ 1440p IPS displays are the absolute sweetspot right now for pretty much any usecase. I have two 165Hz models myself.

However, it is pretty clear that you are not even near top-of-the-line specs. There are a ton of monitors available that are better in literally every spec; refreshrate, resolution and panel type (OLED).

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Citizen_Snip@reddit

I got an Alienware OLED from bestbuy open box in excellent condition with their warranty for four years for $950. It’s new for $1200. 100% worth it, the monitor is incredible.

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RareSiren292@reddit

Samsung 49" g9 OLED is right around 1000

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nicky94@reddit

OLED monitors are expensive. OLED is incredible.

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Nicolello_iiiii@reddit

On a monitor? With that much money, you better buy two, or even three

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ComprehensiveBoss815@reddit

why are you living in the past. 4k is so old now.

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SuperPork1@reddit

Exactly, 32k is the new golden standard

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olgnolgnall@reddit

If you hunt, sure there are 27inch 1440p, 1ms, 144-165hz for less than $200, doesn’t mean the quality is going to be good tho.

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ThatOnePerson@reddit

I personally have a 27" 1440p 240hz because it's OLED. Once you go OLED you don't want to go back because the colours are just that much better.

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/best/by-usage/gaming

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andre_green@reddit

There’s not point having a high end build if you don’t have a high end monitor to pair it with

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Mean_Cartoonist9908@reddit

SAME but 32” for 280 USD idk what kinda 4K monitor they got but it’s not $1k average 😅

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Throwawaymytrash77@reddit

200 on a case and 200 more on fans is actually insane ngl

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martinus@reddit

I spent more than that, but that included an Noctua NH-D15 with offset plate and the better cooling paste...

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Throwawaymytrash77@reddit

I spent 100 on a case already full of fans and 40 bucks on a noctua cooler. 140 vs 400

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martinus@reddit

The Noctua NH-D15 €110, cooling past €15, be quiet! Pure Base 500 FX (comes with fans) €125. That's €250 which should be about $276.

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SimonSuparn@reddit

he did say fans and coolers, so i assume hes including cpu cooler

its still a lot though

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SjettepetJR@reddit

It is a lot, but honestly a 4090 is arguably more of a waste of money than $400 worth of high quality enclosure and cooling. High-quality cases can easily cost upwards of $200. And good quality fans (Noctua) can cost $20-$25.

Build quality is so often underrated by people building PCs because they are just looking at specs and performance. When you're spending $4000 you are right to care a bit more about also having it 'feel' premium.

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pmerritt10@reddit

what is this? the i'm going to throw my money away build?

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Qwiso@reddit

Yeah I'm confused af... This budget breakdown is insane. Are we on buildapc still? No one would suggest ranges like this

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Stargate_1@reddit

200 for RAM? Maybe in Australia

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

White tax... If they go for the white components

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Eastern-Professor490@reddit

64gb probably

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Vltor_@reddit

The 7900X3D is such a weird chip, I wouldn’t really recommend it for any build and especially not for a high-end build :S

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Thanks my man. An answer that gets at the meat of the question!

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Responsible_River_44@reddit

Ultra settings are overrated

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copperhead39@reddit

2000$ including screen,mouse is maximum, more is just envy and useless More money is a waste in my opinion, unless you require the best from a specific work

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NumaSexyOw@reddit

I would say its all down to how much money you make. Then just buy what you want (within your budget) because compromises made on large purchases can easily lead to regret. So just get the parts that you want and can afford.

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MehImages@reddit

depends on whether you use it to play minesweeper or do global scale environmental simulation
somewhere between $10 and $10B probably

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justa-Possibility@reddit

Well, that's kinda a dumb question. That depends on a few factors.

BUDGET (DO YOU HAVE ONE)
NEEDS (ANYTHING SPECIAL)
WHAT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
DO YOU NEED THE BEST OF EVERYTHING
WHAT DO YOU PLAN ON USING IT FOR
NEW OR UPGRADE
HOW GOOD IS WHAT YOU HAVE

There may be a few more factors to you.

Myself. I didn't have the budget for a new build. To me, that's waste since I have a working pc that played games. I just needed a better gaming experience with more AAA games.

I had an: ASROCK B450M Pro4 R2.0 mobo Ryzen 5 2600x (bios 2.7) 2×8 2667 Ram Nvidia GTX1660TI Corsair Cx650M

Well, what I had kinda sucked. It played games but at very low settings and couldn't play some games at all. New build put of the question. Can't afford that. I wish I could. But I just bought a 4 bedroom house with a 2 car garage and making payments on a new Ford F-150 King Ranch. I decided to upgrade because budget wise, it would be best for me. Didn't need anything special. I just us wanted to play more games and have better performance. I don't need the best good value and decent price that play well decent performance and would allow upgrade room later if needed.

Upgraded to Ryzen 5 5600x - $95 (bios 7.40) 2x16 3200 cl16 +OC - $60 (with XMP 3600) AMD Radeon Asrock RX6750XT Challenger Pro 12Gig - $325 (I tried the 6650,6700 and returned them for the 6750) $15 PCIE cable added for PSU power requirements.

It runs so much better. Now I could have gone with the Ryzen 5 5700x3d ($360) Corsair CX850M ($125) 2x16 3600 Ram ($150) RX6950XT ($700)

To me, that would have been a waste. All of it. I didn't need any of it. I can always do incremental upgrades later, which I feel is the best most economical way to go anyway. I don't need to show anybody what I got or brag about my $1500 in upgraded when $500 was just fine for me.

Heck, even if you buy the best in 3 years it's still needs to be upgraded. That's the way the electronics game is. They force you to need more and more so you just keep buying and buying. Wasting money !!!

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RoxoRoxo@reddit

i dont like this question lol sorry. heres my take on answering that..... you should spend whatevers in your budget up to the point where the cost makes you unhappy........ if you get that $2000 lian li desk that is the case of the pc and spend 3k-4k on 2 4090s to run a dual setup for streaming or rendering and then water cool the whole system and you love it and you can afford it then fuck whatever other people say. building a pc, spending a decent amount of money on something like a computer you should love it. spend no more than the amount that you wont regret spending. if youre an "entusiast" and want a singularity case so that you can have a showpiece that you want to display and look at and you can afford it and itll make you happy man go crazy!

anything visual is wasteful financially. your system can perform just as well in a 50$ case as it does in a 2000$ case

so if that 4000$ pc makes you happy dont let someone shame you for that

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Difficult_Pirate_782@reddit

$1-2k will build a nice PC

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P-D-S-A098@reddit

Depends on what you are using it for if your just gaming look at what you play and specs needed for your current setup (like monitor and stuff)

If your are modelling or developing then you would need more like with photoshop the More ram the better

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fuzzynyanko@reddit

It depends on your income. Some people can spend $4000 and not feel it

Going above a 7800X3D and an RTX 4090 and maybe 64GB of RAM starts being extremely wasteful for a gaming rig. Storage also has reason like 2-4TB SSD for most people is more than enough (the premium for 64GB of RAM isn't too insane compared to other things)

One thing you'll get hit with in the PC world: that hardware will eventually be beat. It won't be beat by the shiny new thing. It'll eventually be beat by a mid-tier offering. It'll be eventually beat by a budget part. Of course, the more you pay, the longer you can go without opening your PC case.

That RTX 4090? Will the RTX 5080 be the same performance? Honestly, the 4090 is so ridiculous that it may take the RTX 6800 to match it. Still, let's do the 5080 scenario. You spent $2100 on the 4090, and now the 5080 is around the same speed at something like $1200. The higher you go, the more the hardware depreciates in terms of equivalent performance in the future. This is why I rather not get a GPU more than $400-500

I have a Ryzen 5900X, one of the best gaming CPUs at one time. Its position on the tier list has dropped significantly. It was during Covid, I had the motherboard already, and the 5900X on preorder. I could not switch to the 5600X without risking waiting a very long time. It was full release. It was also during Covid, so prices were generally ridiculous

For video editing, how much video editing will you be doing? For the home user, the gaming rig is enough. For a pro, a Threadripper system might be worth it. Another factor is "is it better to have a 4k PC, or a 1.5k PC and a $700 gaming laptop in tandem for streaming?"

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

This is a great way to look at it. Thank you.

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tamarockstar@reddit

It really depends on the graphics card you get. 4090? Around a $2,800 build. A 4070 Ti Super? Around $2,000. The performance gap is like 20-40% depending on the resolution and game.

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TheSpiderDungeon@reddit

I've dumped over $12k into my rig over its lifetime and I still haven't considered it wasteful.

I suppose it depends on where your personal limit is!

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

If I am not prying, how do you get to $12K into a rig? I am struggling to see what can get you that far.

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TheSpiderDungeon@reddit

Well it started as a stock Dell Optiplex MT, and has gradually upgraded piece by piece into a completely over the top monstrosity. Dual 4070s, three monitors, Level 20 XT chassis, Ryzen 9 5950x, 1kW PSU, two gigantic 200mm fans, a whole XLR audio setup, blah blah yada yada

It's just a whole bunch of little upgrades that spiralled out of control over time into something absolutely absurd. 12 grand is a conservative estimate.

Not trying to brag, I just thought it was too over the top to not be funny and wanted to share the absurdity of it all lol

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Well shit! That'll do it lmao

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ToThePillory@reddit

Totally depends on your own financial situation, for some people an extra $2000 is worth it because it's not much money to them.

I know a millionaire who just buys the ultra-top end of everything, because the money is close to meaningless for him, he's an older guy too so he doesn't really need to worry too much about saving for the future.

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SnooDoughnuts9361@reddit

I disagree. Just because you have the financial means to throw more money into a budget, doesn't mean you should.

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SnooDoughnuts9361@reddit

I always question people new to PC building who want to spend 2k on a new build because I think they are missing an appreciation factor of upgrading the quality of gaming over time, and they don't know how committed to PC gaming they will be just with a first build. Building a 2k rig and playing your favorite games from 2010 is wasteful, or ending up using it solely for web browsing and streaming is wasteful.

I'd recommend the sweet spot for new gamers at 1080P 144hz gaming, with medium-high settings. You can build that for $600-$1000 dollars. Beyond that budget is for enthusiasts and hobbyists.

1440p 144hz gaming is the next tier that I only recommend to those who can appreciate the step up, but you won't get that if your first PC is already achieving this. But your next build should be this once you know you like the hobby.

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urimaginaryfiend@reddit

Built mine 4 years ago for 3500 with the 3090 Kingpin being most of the budget.

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Unhappy_Hamster_4296@reddit

It is really just personal preference. I have a 4k pc, only because I found it on marketplace for 3k with a TON of free peripherals. After I sell everything including my old pc it will only cost me 2-300 for a huge upgrade.

Performance wise you'll get plenty of people spouting off about how x y z hardware runs everything you need. The thing they won't mention, is there is a difference between running everything at 1440, and running everything at 1440 with ease, or 4k if you want it, or vr, or triple screens. There is literally nothing I could throw at this PC that will bother it.

The same thing can not be said for systems at 2k and below. My last build was about 2800 and it failed to deliver what I would consider an acceptable experience in VR Sim racing. There are others here who will say "mine runs x y z in vr just fine." But my version of just fine is different. I want ZERO issues. No frame drops, no cooling issues. Others may be fine with those things, and there's nothing wrong with that.

At the end of the day it really just depends on you, what you play, and how picky you are about the minutia of it all.

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government--agent@reddit

You could get away with a $500 PC or a $5000 PC... either one could be used to its full capacity. It really just depends on your use case.

I would assume most people here are gamers. They don't need to spend too much on high end motherboards, RAM, drives, coolers, cases, fans, etc. The most important thing is the GPU and second in the CPU. Everything else is just extra (for the most part).

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AmazingSugar1@reddit

around $2500

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KsDizzy@reddit

$2000 I bought a pricey case so that may have attributed to my extra cost, but for $2000 and under you can make a great gaming rig with focus on performance, even things like mnk mouse pad, headset, after $2000 I see it as a loss in return

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stormdelta@reddit

In my experience, "ultra" settings on most games offer such minimal diminishing returns relative to the power requirements that it's basically pointless.

There can be some value to buying higher end to not upgrade for longer, but again, there are serious diminishing returns as you go up the price scale in a given generation to factor in.

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Cheetah_Links@reddit

As someone who used to build computers for a living. I actually found it hard to go over 2k without just getting things that may look nicer or if I'm on a weird color scheme like blue (no idea why it's so hard to find blue PC things) my most expensive build ever was a little over $5000 but that was the full setup including a table, chair, etc when the gpu market was still in the clouds

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Caspid@reddit

Yeah, unless you have a specialized use case, I think there are vastly diminishing returns after the $2000 mark. I spent $1600 on mine and it's incredibly capable, and that includes the SFF tax and a $300 case and custom cables.

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ApplicationFederal14@reddit

My PC cost me about 1700 or so if I’m remembering right. I would say 2000 is probably the threshold for where things start to get silly if you’re just gaming. I would definitely stick around 2k for the rig itself and then spend the rest on peripherals.

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HappyBengal@reddit

First of all, it depends on how rich you are and how much money you can spend for your hobbies without that to have a negative impact on your current lifestyle or even emergency savings.

Second, it depends on what you want to do / play on your PC, to determine if a certain budget is not enough, just right or way too much.

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

That makes sense. Assuming I had $3K-$4K (that I could safely spend) and I wanted a PC that could play games on Ultra but be able to do suite of things (photo editing, editing videos, maybe some stuff relating to 3D printing, and streaming) what budget should I expect to pay? What parts are gonna be mandatory?

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

If you are willing to pay about 4k then this is how your pc should look like including the monitor.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2HcvTY

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DiggingNoMore@reddit

Four thousand dollars and you only end up with 2TB of storage and 32GB of RAM?

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

It's based on usability. 32 is enough for now. 2tb is just a demo thing. If you read the title it says something like this and not exactly like this. If they need more storage they can just get a 4tb Or more.

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laffer1@reddit

For content creation, I'd go for a bigger drive and 64GB RAM.

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theSkareqro@reddit

This is kind of a unoptimized build.

Expensive PSU for no reason

Sn850x is cheaper by 20$ for almost the same thing

There are white 4090 like the aero

Expensive case

Monitor could be better

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hwBHwg

Here's a better one with full white while being cheaper and has a OLED monitor. PSU doesn't matter cause it's hidden behind. You can change the AIO to air cooler if you want.

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laffer1@reddit

Samsung is worth it for the longevity and better firmware on the SSD. Several WD black models have firmware bugs that cause hangs/crashes with heavy read and content creation could trigger it. SN770 is far worse, but there are many other brands that are safer than WD at this point.

Write endurance is often better on samsung as they tend to go past their TBW/DWPD values on their drives. WD/sandisk usually hits theirs as does micron/crucial. I'd even consider a firecuda for this workload because it has crazy high TBW.

Writing video files is somewhat optimal for a SSD compared to small writes that tend to kill them faster, but it's still better to consider write endurance when purchasing for this. Gamers don't tend to use that much write capacity even though games are big because it's mostly reads once installed. For game only workloads, that's not such a concern and a crucial drive would be more than adequate. One could also look at SK Hynix drives.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Rather not waste money on an oled cause of burn in. Samsung's Mini led is good enough. And there is no need for a 4090 as I said 50 series is around the corner and once they drop 4090's price will crash faster than rolling down the land slide. No need for aio. But that's just me not wanting anything water related near the pc. If you have faith in it it's cool. But people with fussy kids should stay away.

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Antheoss@reddit

But you're OK wasting money on a useless "rog" psu because? At least the oled monitor is strictly better than what you chose.

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MultiColorSheep@reddit

Useless is a bit strong wording for extra 20 dollars :D i am sure it would work just fine

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Another day of unnecessary hate on reddit. You boys need to learn how to speak to people before learning to build a pc.

Mike was right..... The Internet has made people say anything without facing the consequences. Seriously man.

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Antheoss@reddit

What part of my comment did you perceive as hate? I'm trying to understand your reasoning for not wanting to spend extra money on a better monitor, but paying twice as much for a psu without any real benefits for that extra money.

You need to learn how to give pc building advice before you "spend" other people's money.

And who the fuck is Mike lmao.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Read the damn thing it says it should look something like this and not exactly like this. It's a demo piece.

You should learn how to read before running your mouth child.

Just shows how young you are boy. Mike Tyson.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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buildapc-ModTeam@reddit

Hello, your comment has been removed. Please note the following from our subreddit rules:

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Remember, there's a human being behind the other keyboard. Be considerate of others even if you disagree on something - treat others as you'd wish to be treated. Personal attacks and flame wars will not be tolerated.

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michoken@reddit

Yeah, if you’re willing to spend as much on a PSU, the be quiet! Dark Power 13 1000 W 80+ Titanium is a much better option compared to just a Gold rated ROG. I mean it’s not white but…

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digitalsmear@reddit

Might as well upgrade the cooler to an Arctic Liquid Freezer III - they've got white options I believe.

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Succmyspace@reddit

THERES A WHITE TAX?!? God damnit why did I have to choose white with magenta LEDs as ultimate gamer setup dream theme.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

It means it just costs more than the regular black case. Like if you are going for a white case you'd wanna get a good one and not a cheap case for the namesake. But sometimes it could be the reverse that the black is more costly. Atleast that's what I have been noticing. I built a 4080s + 7800x3d and at first I used all black but she wanted white with magenta/purple leds. The price went up like 300 to 350 more. Their total setup including Odyssey neo 75 and msi 4k 144hz dual monitor set up cost around 3.6k

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CookieRanger@reddit

Great list, but the 7900x3d is really never worth it. The only upgrade for a hybrid build that is realistically worth considering is the 7950x3D.

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Ah gotcha thanks!

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Oh and watch Linus tech tips for how to build a pc like your life depends on it just so you are comfortable when you have all the parts. Better watch build videos based on your choice of case.

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playingwithfire@reddit

If you can put up with subtitles I genuinely think https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST65L4pG_6w is the best guide now.

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

You could also get a used 3080 with a 7700x3d for around 1k and have a great time without obliterating your budget. Play at 1440p ultra.

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skyfishgoo@reddit

a rig > $2k is overkill.

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SeafoodDuder@reddit

For a build that can stream, video edit, create and game at the same time is probably $1800 give/take.

It's important that you focus on your needs in a build, I'll be building in December and I've been trying to figure some things out:

Needs

-$1000 give/take, preferably less.

-Case that's small enough to travel with me to my girlfriend's house, sister/brother-in-laws.

-Motherboard with good built-in Wi-Fi when I can't directly connect to ethernet.

-Video card for games like WoW or League of Legends at 60 FPS/1080p.

-Top of the line SSD and RAM to be extra snappy. I want to be more generous here because I don't plan on overclocking my CPU, I don't need some big beefy $300+ video card.

Wants

-Possibly an Intel CPU for Intel Quicksync. I'd love to give Plex/Jellyfin/etc a try but I know being directly connected to ethernet would be 1000 times better for this. It's difficult at my girlfriend's because the modem/router is in my girlfriend's sisters room downstairs. My brother-in-law doesn't have the easiest setup for this either. If I'm at my house, I don't really need transcoding since it's all local?

-I want my PC Rig to have some color, if it's all black then maybe I'll paint or spray paint it. Some yellow, blues, orange. Stencil work? If it doesn't work out then I'll just buy ARGB lights (set the color yourself).

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sailedtoclosetodasun@reddit

Depends on your income and usage. Obviously a teen who makes 14/hr shouldn't spend 4k on a gaming PC as there are better uses for that money in life. An adult who has a good income where he can drop 4k cash for high end stuff, why not. A hobby is a hobby and as far as adult hobbies go PC gaming isn't expensive.

Another factor is if you actually use it for real work, if a beast of a PC makes it so you can work faster and more efficiently, the sky can be the limit.

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timemoose@reddit

Really depends on the resolution you are gaming at and how much you spend on peripherals (2 monitors? 3?).

I'd say for the average person, somewhere between 1.5k and 2k is where the cost curve starts experiencing diminishing returns.

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KnightofAshley@reddit

I spent so much its all wasteful, but its wonderful at the same time.

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gatornatortater@reddit

It is entirely dependent on the individual spending the money.

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chaosthebomb@reddit

As others have mentioned, everyone has their own budget and available cash, savings and if you can afford to spend more on your hobbies who am I to stop or judge you for it.

Assuming you can afford whatever, there's nothing wrong with getting something like a 4090 especially at 4k as no other card comes close to it. Now if you only game at 1080, that changes things since tons of cards today so exceptionally well at 1080.

Now let's say you are at 1080. Instead of getting that 4090, you could get a 4080 and a new 1440p monitor, which would be a much better use of your money because as I already covered the card is sort of wasted for that resolution. The card itself isn't bad, it's the usecase is the problem.

Cpu is a similar thing. If you're strictly a gamer the 7800x3d is the way to go. "But the 7950/x3d has more cores and is more expensive so it must be better". But benchmarks don't lie, and for gaming workloads it doesn't matter. But maybe you do 3d modelling or video rendering on the side, then the bigger cpu makes more sense.

Let's say you're on a rigger budget but you really want a $200 aio cooler. Why are you wasting money on this unnecessary part when a $35 cooler will perform as good as it? Same goes for things like ram and fans. Filter on 6000 c30 ram and you'll get lots of options but there is almost no value to spending significantly more for the same product. Noctua fans are great and I'd recommend them, but if you're on a tight budget spending that money on premium fans when you could have a better cpu/GPU is pretty wasteful.

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keblin86@reddit

Define "Wasteful".
Also, not enough info. Ultra what, 1080p, 2k, 4k? High Refresh?

Wasteful is very much per person basis and subject to opinion!

Nothing is a waste if it meets your requirements and you are happy with it. Granted yes some people spend too much on a card they don't need due to lack of research and understanding but you could argue if it does the job, that's good enough for them even if they did waste money buying card too good for their "needs" but ultimately if you want ultra everything 4k you're going to need the best of the best!

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fliesenschieber@reddit

The answer to this question entirely depends on personal income.

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MarsupialFrequent685@reddit

Depends on the purpose and budget. If you are aiming for triple A games within a set budget usually around $2500 should be more than enough to get you a mid-high end pc with good fps around 150. But if you're trying to achieve unrealistic fps like 240+ what those crazy pc enthusiasts do then that's not good way to build a pc. There will always be new things coming out and you cannot really "future proof" anything.

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kroboz@reddit

I have a really simple SFFPC setup and can play games on Ultra at 1440p.

Ryzen 5800x (just got this for $180 after my 5600 died after less than 2 years of light use)
NVidia 3070 TI (bought used from a rich kid for $300, was originally using an RX580 I had around that I bought for $120)
Gigabyte B550i Motherboard (Got for $180)
16GB RAM (Silicon Power Value Gaming Ram for $45, simple with no RGB)
Corsair 650W PSU (Reburb for $87)
GPU riser cable ($40)
Case (SGPC K49 Steel case for $99)
WD Blue 500GB m.2 SSD ($40)
2TB Samsung 980 pro m.2 SSD ($160 on sale, secondary drive)
Noctua Fan ($54)

The most expensive part was the display, an LG C2 42" I got from OfferUp for $600.

Grand total before taxes is $1185 for a fun, portable machine that plays everything I want at 60fps or higher. To be honest, I thought I was only in for $600 until I added it all up lol

Unless you're doing professional streaming or video editing, I don't know why you'd need a more powerful/expensive PC. Maybe I'm just comparing with my previous experience playing new games on low settings with the RX 580. I guess if you want a bunch of water cooling or slightly better performance, or 4k gaming? IMO 4k vs 1440p gaming isn't really worth the exponentially higher cost for a slight bump based on the viewing distance between me and my display.

[-]

BinaryJay@reddit

Depends entirely on your financial situation. That's it. Nothing else is relevant.

[-]

flexcrush420@reddit

I'm still on a 3060 playing most games above my monitors refresh rate of 170 hz at 1440p.
The only game I don't max out is CS2, but for multiplayer FPS's I always tend to drop every setting to the lowest settings anyways, so while a 3070 would've been sweet I honestly don't regret the buy at all.
Next pc I'll save up a little more and get whatever xx70 it is at the time but honestly, for a three year old Newegg PC it's still performing great.

[-]

utimagus@reddit

It really depends on how often you build a new pc. 4k per hardware cycle (2-3 years) is 2-300$ a month plus electric (0.14/kwh where I live, assume 2 hours a day at a 800watt system load, so 4$ a month). That’s excessive in cost for me.

Now if you spend 4k and upgrade in 3 hardware cycles (6-9 years), that’s 60-100$ a month. Much easier to justify.

The reality is that gaming requirements haven’t meaningfully changed in the last 8 years except for ray tracing. So spending 2-4k on a decently high end pc, isn’t terrible if you treat it as an appliance you only change out as needed.

[-]

rainbow-1@reddit

When the benefits from more powerful hardware aren’t something you’re able to use

[-]

Accomplished_Emu_658@reddit

Depends you see some people spend 4k then only play much older games at 1440p or less or buy all high end workstation like components but don’t do any workstation type tasks, then it is kind of wasteful. Someone i knew bought the threadripper 64 core and dual high end graphics card build at the time to play games and wondered why it wasn’t being utilized or performing any better.

4k is a really ultimate gaming pc money if you aren’t high end custom water cooling. But remember than it is only for now and quickly something better comes around.

[-]

SeafoodDuder@reddit

For a PC that can stream, video edit, etc would probably be around the $1800 give/take if I had to guess. It's only because streaming while gaming needs that little extra 'umph', so you have to step up on the CPU, RAM and Video Card.

I think a lot of people go all out on their PCs, but if you wanted to or had to save money, going used isn't a bad idea. Parts that are 2 to 3 years old can still be great, people just love to upgrade/have the next best thing (like in any hobby).

I think when it comes to buying a PC in general, it's most important to figure out your needs and to be realistic about it. Don't buy just 'thinking' you're going to do something. Plan on it! :)

I plan on building in December. Some of my needs for my next computer are:

-$1000 give/take or less.

-It needs to be small enough to travel with me, I often travel between my parents, girlfriend and my sister/brother-in-laws. I really dislike laptops.

-I think it needs to be an Intel CPU for Encoding. I'd like my dad to be able to watch things through Plex/Jellyfin/etc when I'm not at home. It's just something I find interesting and want to mess around with more.

-It needs to have a decent video card. I'm not saying it has to be $300+ but it does have to handle WoW, League of Legends, etc. at 1080p.

Now, I'm not 100% happy with this yet. I don't know if I need such a beefy card. I don't really know the 'Silicon Power' brand, the case/fans are super bland with no color, I don't think I'll need the 750W so I'll likely go 600W to save some money. It's a rough draft:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor	$159.00 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$35.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B760M C Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$119.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory	$90.97 @ Amazon
Storage	Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$103.97 @ B&H
Video Card	XFX Speedster QICK 319 Core Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB Video Card	$309.99 @ B&H
Case	Lian Li A3-mATX MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$69.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	NZXT C750 (2022) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan	Thermalright TL-C12 PRO 82 CFM 120 mm Fan	$6.19 @ Amazon
Case Fan	Thermalright TL-C12C X3 66.17 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack	$13.19 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$989.16
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-30 08:48 EDT-0400

[-]

BuckyDog@reddit

IMO - $1,500 unless you are adding extra Hard Drives for work, etc.

My computers usually cost more because I need the extra hard drive storage.

This does not include the monitor, mouse, or keyboard.

[-]

Masteries@reddit

If you earn enough and gaming is your hooby - when not spend 5k on your PC?

Others spend more on their hobbys......

[-]

notislant@reddit

I mean 4k on a pc sounds crazy unless you're running a higher resolution and play a lot of EA/unoptimized games.

2-3k on a pc (good GPU) seems decent on a 1440 for even some EA games that arent optimized well.

"much should a consumer who plans to do games on ultra settings and also have a PC that can stream, video edit, and some other forms of content creation be ready to spend?"

If the person is getting crazy streamer/YT money from it? Spend whatever the hell you want and make it into a video if you want to pay for it.

2-3k should be more than enough to stream unless you're running a crazy resolution. Throwing more money at a pc or hardware won't make a channel suddenly popular, so I would advise against just going crazy there.

[-]

UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Lmao a good part of the reason for the question. I just assumed $4K would be the cutoff point where spending more on it would cost significantly more for lower numbers aka "diminishing returns". Plus browsing PCpartpicker and other parts of the web, $3K-$4K is the point where a lot of top of the line builds reside. Only thing that made me consider differently was that thread where the kid had his grandma match what he had and everybody basically saying $2K is the most he should spend on a gaming PC. You are correct though that throwing money at hardware for content creation and the like is not a good recipe.

[-]

snipeceli@reddit

Takeaway a whole lot less than 2k to get into 1440 gaming, shit you can do it for less than $1000

[-]

MarcTheCreator@reddit

My friend spent $7000 on his (i9-14900KS and 4080 Super).

A lot of it was on the fans and AIO cooling, and that everything is RGB. I think it is definitely wasteful but he makes insanely good money so it's not like he had to make financial decisions to build it. However, he uses his PC for both work and gaming.

I spent $1700 on my most recent build and it feels amazing (going from an i5-6500 + 1060 6gb to 7800X3D + 4070 Ti Super) but my PC is purely for gaming so my purchase can easily be seen as wasteful. Just depends on what you want (not need) and can afford.

[-]

Citizen_Snip@reddit

Is this USD? I just built a new rig for $2200 splurging on some notorious of the line parts not as well as getting a 7800x3d and a 4080s. How the fuck did he spend 7k? Gold parts?

[-]

CigarsAndFastCars@reddit

I put >$8,000 into my setup, but it's... unusual, over the top, and the technology didn't exist to correct implement it fully. Don't get me wrong, I L O V E it, but it doesn't work like I intended. It's an 8k array made up of six 165hz monitors run off dual Red Devil GPUs (6950+6900) for sim racing (array is 7ft across, 4ft high, all curved, etc.)

When the DisplayPort daisychain friendly GPUs and monitors get more affordable, I'll remake my setup or swap to a 3x1 lower row and a single extra wide above it.

[-]

MultiColorSheep@reddit

Broke people saying stuff. It's diminishing returns but 4k pc will be better...

[-]

Laevend@reddit

I'd place a soft cap on 3k Anything beyond that is diminishing returns

[-]

Zatchillac@reddit

I built someone a $4000+ computer a couple of years ago and he already wants a new one because his 3080ti apparently won't max out his 240hz 1440p monitor on ultra settings on the games he plays 🤷‍♂️

[-]

Captcha_Imagination@reddit

A 4090 rig all kitted out is around 4 grand. So the question is do you want this or not. Do you want the best or do you want to be reasonable?

[-]

Agitated-Print-5876@reddit

The most wasteful part about gaming is the time you spend.

So the price of the computer is really just personal preference.

[-]

Matasa89@reddit

My build was over the top, but even then it didn't break 3000 USD. You can totally get a great PC for around 1500-2000 USD.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor	$413.00 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$34.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock B650 LiveMixer ATX AM5 Motherboard	$149.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws M5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory	$106.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$149.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	PNY VERTO GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card	$899.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case	$109.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.85 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1974.70
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-30 06:50 EDT-0400

For example, here's what should be a pretty top end build. With just components and no accessories.

[-]

RevTurk@reddit

You only need a powerful PC if it's part of your job. If your using programs like photoshop, davinci, CAD, to make money then you can justify spending the extra money to make you PC more responsive, you can justify those cost because time is money. If spending another €300 will save you an hour of waiting around every week it's worth it.

Gaming is entirely about what your willing to spend. I've found the the difference between mid level graphics and ultra graphics isn't huge, a lot of the time I wouldn't even notice the differences. You gain nothing of value from pushing those sliders an extra step.

[-]

Existing-Network-267@reddit

1k

[-]

evwhatevs@reddit

I think the term you are looking for is 'diminishing returns', where the quality and performance etc no longer increases at the same rate as the cost. i.e. between $1,000 and $2,000, you are doubling your performance. Another thousand, and you only add a 50% increase. Another thousand for mebbe 25% increase.

But if you got the cash, get this.

https://www.aftershockpc.com.au/pc-models/hyperfocus-workstation?tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=20551548412&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw28W2BhC7ARIsAPerrcJqL00DmiufoHkbm3fv-GxZV7MxjACeDVYc6b900VRtfkbdDgmWrIIaAsOGEALw_wcB

[-]

evwhatevs@reddit

Hmmmm, it shot up to almost $80k by selecting a 96 core CPU and 1TB RAM.

[-]

Moocows4@reddit

IMO a certain point it could be a bigger investment now to future proof longer, top of the line commericial GFX card enabling faster consumer ran self hosted generative ai, intense video processing workstation also used for gaming, so many things.

[-]

Lion12341@reddit

About $2k? Would personally avoid going over $1.5k even if I had the money.

[-]

Brownie_Badger@reddit

I'm honestly in the camp of are you looking for a do it all. Or a targeted build.

You mentioned gaming and productivity. Unfortunately, they both take advantage of different aspects of the same components.

Is this for work that you are getting paid for and games on the side?

You can build extreme work setups that do crazy gaming but hit 10k+ USD

[-]

UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Oh god nowhere near that. Kinda a do it all type of thing. Not getting paid for the work nor the games but more personal projects.

[-]

FaitaRyuu@reddit

For personal side projects a decent gaming pc will do most of the things you'll throw at it.

Productivity focused pcs make sense if you're using them for work and saving those few minutes per project actually makes you money because you're able to do more work and get paid more.

[-]

UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

I see. Thanks for the insight.

[-]

elliotborst@reddit

Completely subjective, there is no one dollar range that applies to everyone.

For some people a $500 PC would be their entire savings and leave them empty, for others $4000 is a quarter of their yearly bonus.

[-]

Broeder_biltong@reddit

But there is a performance per dollar range and in that regard 4090's are a joke

[-]

processedchicken@reddit

This completely.

Even if I had money to burn the urge to build some contraption from random components that cost pennies on ebay just for fun/pain will always be there.

[-]

User1382@reddit

To put it into perspective, I work in tech and $4k is less than 10% of my yearly bonus and there’s a lot of people making a shit ton more (like double) than I do.

[-]

Broeder_biltong@reddit

Buy one or two tiers below max and you're way better of for performance per dollar. Buying a 4090 for 2k dollars is a meme of an investment for 99% of users.

[-]

greenmachinexxii@reddit

Anything more than 1500 is a waste

[-]

ghx1910@reddit

Decide what monitor you're gonna be playing the game on(primarily it's resolution and refresh rate) and build the pc around that

[-]

saxovtsmike@reddit

my 50 cents on where wasting money starts by :

spending more on the cpu than a 7800x3d in a gaming focused build, which is still no cripple for any video editing as your income does not depend on it

Spending more on a Mainboard than a good b650e

Spending more on bling bling ram, >32gb and speeds faster than 6000 cl30 with expo

Gen 5 pcie ssd´s for games storage, imho any qvl ssd is fast enough to write downloaded games onto, becuase Ethernet or ISP is your write limit in 99%

Spending on OC Models of any GPU

rgb

PSU >1kw becuase its more than enough for a hypotetically 600w 4090 and a cpu of your choice

Huge ass cases with 100 fans and 50l of unused space, 95% probably will have enough with a matx mainboard and a ap201 which can house a 360 aio for the cpu and enough intakefaans or a aio for the gpu too

[-]

Chrisf1bcn@reddit

I built my rig from used parts spent around $750 in total and she runs like a dream at 4K (3080 r5/3600,16gb ddr4)

[-]

ketaminiacOS@reddit

2000$ gets you literally every best component for performance other than the 4090. And if you do want to spend the obscene amount of money the 4090 costs you can build a pc with it for under 3000$.

Nobody in their right mind should spend 4k on a gaming pc.

Here's an example build. This will have amazing gaming performance even in 4k.

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6jWLt7)

Type|Item|Price

:----|:----|:----

**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3hyH99/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-42-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000910wof) | $413.00 @ B&H

**CPU Cooler** | [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hYxRsY/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-d3) | $34.90 @ Amazon

**Motherboard** | [ASRock B650 PG LIGHTNING ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jN3gXL/asrock-b650-pg-lightning-atx-am5-motherboard-b650-pg-lightning) | $149.99 @ Newegg

**Memory** | [Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/cCKscf/silicon-power-value-gaming-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-sp032gxlwu60afdeae) | $90.97 @ Amazon

**Storage** | [Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/f4cG3C/silicon-power-ud90-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-sp02kgbp44ud9005) | $103.97 @ B&H

**Video Card** | [PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/BMgrxr/pny-verto-oc-geforce-rtx-4080-super-16-gb-video-card-vcg4080s16tfxpb1-o) | $959.99 @ Amazon

**Case** | [Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bCYQzy/corsair-4000d-airflow-atx-mid-tower-case-cc-9011200-ww) | $92.15 @ Amazon

**Power Supply** | [Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/DMbTwP/super-flower-leadex-platinum-se-1000-w-80-platinum-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-sf-1000f14mp-v2) | $139.99 @ Newegg

| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |

| **Total** | **$1984.96**

| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-08-30 04:14 EDT-0400 |

[-]

Junkers4@reddit

I think after around 1500 it’s diminishing returns

[-]

DangerMouse111111@reddit

You should spend enough so that it does what you need it to do - it's as simple as that.

[-]

itsapotatosalad@reddit

Think my pc would be about $7k it’s a 4090, 7800x3d, strix x670 board, 8tb nvme, full custom loop and external rad, all the corsair dans and rgb etc. it’s even more if you add my 4k 144hz screens and other peripherals. It’s stupid, overkill, and seen by most to be a waste of money. But I fucking love it. It’s great to know I can run whatever I want. I remember when I was younger and had to check minimum specs and just couldn’t play some games at all, I tried to play assassins creed 3 when it first released and couldn’t get past 15fps and was determined from then to work hard enough to afford a no holds barred top spec pc and I achieved that this year. So to me, not one bit of a waste.

[-]

BrownBananaDK@reddit

What games are you playing? What resolution do you want. How many fps do you want?

If you want modded cyberpunk in 4k with path tracing and +120 fps you have to spend all the money.

It all depends.

[-]

xabrol@reddit

Wasteful is subjective, depends on what you use it for.

Ive got $1800 just in my momitor, another $5k in my pc, I have 4 * 4Tb m.2 drives, 3090 ti, 7950x, 192 gb of ram.... And im actually thinking about a 2nd 3090ti... But im a developer and I build AI models and train models on my rig.

[-]

serenetomato@reddit

It depends on what you want and can afford. Personally I am running a PC which does well exceed 10k with peripherals and monitors but it makes sense to me since it's a tax write off as well and I use it for my job as well as some occasional gaming. Yet, I wouldn't consider it wasteful since I made choices the average user wouldn't make (7970X and 128GB of RAM, 4090..). For your purposes specifically, some info is missing. Ultra..in which resolution? Do you want 120fps or are 70+ enough? Which software do you use for cutting? Do you process 4K content or 8K?

[-]

KingOfCotadiellu@reddit

If you don't know what you need and why, every dollar you spend is wasteful.

Anyway, yes 2000-2500 buys you the best consumer parts on the market, but I already consider that wasteful. If you don't know any better you wouldn't be able to notice the difference with a system that's 1000 cheaper. Besides, I bet that on 4K you can't even tell the difference between high and ultra settings.

[-]

Complex-Place-6378@reddit

Im running a gaming pc for approximately 3000€ (about 3,3k$). Gotta say it runs even the most demanding games super well on highest settings. I feel like at the point where I am, theres not much that would be actually worth it to improve.

[-]

Complex-Place-6378@reddit

But I think in reality, everything over 2k is already really god damn good.

[-]

Carjak17@reddit

F it we ball, I went all out with the best computer one could feasibly make (without being a business or movie making or AI) $4700 😂 only do this if you have money to spare, I may run everything this gen and the next 5 gens and never have to buy anything new 😂

[-]

zhafsan@reddit

This is such a subjective question. I think it’s based on what you want to do with the system and what your economic situation.

For example if you have not game on the pc and get a R9 7950x3D that can be considered wasteful because the best cpu that will give you the most fps is a cheaper cpu. But if you want to do 3D renders and also game then I’d not consider it wasteful.

Or if you’re rich and dropping 4k on a system because you don’t want to spend time thinking about the best valued parts is not wasteful. Because time is more valuable to you than the extra money you pay.

And there can be personal bias. For example I personally think paying extra for esthetics is wasteful since it doesn’t contribute to the performance of the PC.

Taken into account all games. If you want to be able to play any game at max settings and stream and video edit. You’d ideally have to build 2 PCs. One dedicated to gaming box with 7800x3D and 4090 and the other pc dedicated to stream/editing with R9 7950x, Intel Arc GPU, 128GB+ of ram, ideally 3 separate nvmes for a balanced load while editing. Even with all that you can still run into performance problems while editing and gaming. I have a 7800x3d and 4090 and I can’t run the most demanding games at max setting and get 60fps while streaming with OBS open on the same machine.

[-]

jkteddy77@reddit

It used to be i5/R5 cpu + x80/x900 gpu.

With rising costs since i9 and RTX, it's more like i7/R7 + xx70/x800 GPU.

[-]

Thelawtman1986@reddit

I know it depends a lot on where you live. If you are looking at a top of the line 4090 it's 2500-3k here in Canada. A top end cpu is 700 so you could almost be at 4k without even getting the rest of the parts.

[-]

zublits@reddit

This is just subjective as hell. It's not wasteful if you can afford it. It's easy to spend 3k on a PC, and you don't have to do it all at once. My build is probably well into the 4k range with the screens, but I didn't buy it all at once.

[-]

Infamous-Lab-8136@reddit

So the last time I built I had a bit of a cash influx and was able to build what I wanted vs. sticking to a budget. Even with splurging on an intel processor and more RAM than I needed because along with gaming I do other things I still managed to come in at $2200 since I didn't want a GPU more intense than a 4070 super ti. That's with a really good liquid cooler and most any QOL feature like a modular PSU you'd pay extra for.

Even being free to spend more I felt like I was hitting a point where my ROI just wasn't worth it. I usually can't even tell the difference between high and ultra on the games where I can't run ultra settings anyway.

[-]

craigmorris78@reddit

£2.5k

[-]

mastershow05@reddit

A lot of people forget to add this into the budget. Buy a good quality chair

[-]

trieticus@reddit

As much as you feel like spending tbh, it’s your money

[-]

Imahich69@reddit

1.5 to 2k pc will last you 4 years maybe 6 and if you get a 3k plus pc it'll last a few more that is if you build it your self

[-]

kipha01@reddit

A minimal pc will set you back under 1k anything above that becomes wasteful.

[-]

FortniteIsFuckingMid@reddit

People kinda go overkill. A pc in the 800-1200 dollar range will do everything you want it to nowadays and more. I’m talking 1440p 144 in most games or 4k 60 in some titles.

[-]

the_jester@reddit

The $2000 estimate comes from consideration of what is often called "diminishing returns" or, similarly, a price/performance curve.

For example, if you compare a $300 and a $600 gaming PC is the $600 "twice as good" as the $300? We'll hand-wave what exactly "good" means, but in many measures it is. So the efficiency of each additional dollar is the same as the dollars that came before it.

Now compare a $2000 and $4000 PC. Is the $4k PC twice as good? Certainly not. You'd be extremely lucky if it was even 25% faster than the $2k PC in any meaningful dimension. So each additional dollar is now worth 25% (or less) compared to before.

So it goes with basically all physical goods. The $250,000 super car is not three times as fast as the $80k sports car.

What is up to you, however, is how much you personally value going higher on that efficiency curve. If you absolutely get $4,000 worth of joy out of having a monster high-end PC, don't let anyone say no. However, if you are looking to efficiently buy tangible metrics like FPS at a given resolution, going higher than $2,000 has very diminishing returns.

For this kind of price-bracket comparison, I also like Logical Increments.

[-]

dj-boefmans@reddit

This cannot answer this question with a number. What is usefull to spend: - how much money you have - the fun you get out of building the thing - the fun you get out of using the thing - the number of hours that fun gonna last.

So, if you build it in one hour, play games 30 minutes a month for half a year and then won't touch it, even a 1000 dollar pc is too expensive.

It's true that performance wise, the higher you get, the less performance or quality boost you get. Same with audio, cars, well everything.

I once (in a few steps) spend about 6k euros on a pc. Water-cooling and high end cards and Overclocking mobo etc. I could have improved more but then I was done with it.

[-]

Kadeda_RPG@reddit

With frame gen and dlss out... you can pretty much play anything atleast at 1080p with a 3060 12vram and a 5700x3d... that's about an $700-800 rig.

[-]

Lycaniz@reddit

'should' is really not viable to bring up here

but i would say if you spend more than 2000 it starts to become wasteful

[-]

nacari0@reddit

Imo i make a beast pc around 2000-2500, anything over is overkill, esp if u upgr again around 4 5 yrs

[-]

Normal_Win_4391@reddit

Get a 7800x3d and a 4070. 6000mhz ram and a z790 MB. It will play anything for around 2k AUD. You really don't need much more.

[-]

Overall-Tailor8949@reddit

What would be wasteful spending on a gaming rig isn't the same between you or me and (for example) Malia or Sasha Obama. Yes, there IS a point of diminishing returns even if you want to play the latest AAA games at absolute maximum settings but even if you wanted to play at 4k 240hz you could PROBABLY do it for around $3-4k minus monitor and other accessories

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ihatepoliticsreee@reddit

It would be like saying a £1million car is wasteful over a £500,000 car because the gains you're getting are so minimal and only really noticeable in niche situations. The difference is, is that the £1million car will be £500,000 in a few years time.

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psynl84@reddit

Last year I've spend €5K on a new build, no ragrets!

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Snobben90@reddit

I own a pc for 4k.

It's overkill. Stay between 2000-3000 and you won't have neither a beast or a problem with any game.

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Ch33kyMnk3y@reddit

Who cares? If you got the money spend whatever you want. I just dropped 500 on 128gb of ram. Overkill for gaming for sure, but I also run a lot of VMs for work. With a 7900X3D, 3 SSDs, AIO cooler, and my Samsung Odyssey G9 (if you count that as part of the build) and other crap I've spent maybe $3500 total with everything. But I'm still running a $500 dollar video card that plays just about everything I throw at it with no problems. I could go spend another $1500 on some fancy GPU, but I don't get any value out of that personally. I don't play cyberpunk at max settings or anything demanding like that.

My point is, spend on whatever you feel like you get the most value out of with how you use the thing.

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supercamlabs@reddit

you're spending money on it, it's already wasteful

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bloodfued@reddit

I bought Lian Li Strimer cables, and two Corsair dummy sticks to fill my two empty memory slots solely for aesthetics. Some may call that wasteful.

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LoveIsPeace82736@reddit

It’s up to you, what you can afford and how much you use it.

I feel like if you get £1 ($1) per hour of use then it’s worth it.

I just spent £3000 on a top of the range PC and I expect to meet that £1 point in less than 2 years. I certainly won’t need to upgrade it in that time, so for me it’s worth the money.

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AMLRoss@reddit

Way I see it, the cost of the parts is what a PC should cost. By that I mean no over spending on fancy water blocks or led lights. People over spend just to show off.

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Naus1987@reddit

Wasteful is incredibly contextual.

The short answer of life is that money exists to be converted into happiness.

Does investing in a computer produce more happiness than the competition? If yes, then it's a good investment. If no, then it's a bad investment.

Most games will run on reasonably priced hardware. And even then, you can expand on the value concept by comparing games. If you're having a blast playing FreeCell for 2 hours and then spend the rest of your time with the wife -- you can honestly get away with a simple laptop or even playing on your phone.

My low-resource game of choice is Age of Empires 2. That game is old as balls, and probably runs on anything. And I probably put in 10 hours week in it.

My recommendation is find the best 'value' buy, where you get that golden bang for your buck. The best performance per dollar balance. It's typically in the middle somewhere. As you get on the higher end things cost more and you get diminishing returns. Find that sweet spot before things start to balloon up.

And then LIVE at that spot for a year or so, and if you feel you need more -- invest more.

If I'm ever unsure, I like to go middle of the road, and then invest where I think I need more. And if you don't need more, be thankful you didn't go all out.

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Icy_Conference9095@reddit

I have always played games on 1080. It my newest build can do 1440.

I spent about $2150 across two computers, I got a deal on both CPUs, and built a pretty strong server using an older AMD 5600x CPU, and utilizing my old 1070 from my old gaming rig. And ended up getting a 4060 on sale, and put in a 13700k I was able to get from a buddy who had just gotten back from an RMA for the Intel clownfoolery.

All in all, Im really happy with the results. Gaming PC was a major upgrade from the 6700k/1070, and my server was a huge gain from the Xeon 1220v5/quadro m4000.

I got a steal on two sama cases, 64GB DDR4 for my server, 32GB ddr5 for the gaming rig, and a 2TB nvme for gaming rig, and utilized an older 1TB spinny disk and a 500GB nvme for my server. (I have 30TB in hard drives I purchased from a buddy who was swapping out his NAS drives a year ago, but the 1TB will be an extra backup for important photos/personal documents)

My brothers recent build was just under 4k, and it was his first time going that high on a budget, he said it was an extreme waste and could have had the same satisfaction for $2500.

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Patient_Chart_3318@reddit

I used a 4060 and play on 4k, Games like Diablo 4 high settings COD mw3 high settings Overwatch high settings Lies of p medium-high settings Most older titles ASA on 1440p medium settings

I came from Xbox so 40-60 fps is fine with me tho. But if you want more drop to 1440 and still looks good.

Ps. Ark is crazy unoptimized so even at 1440 I only get like 40 fps

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JonWood007@reddit

These days? Probably $2k. Maybe $2500. Say a 7800X3D with a 4080 tops.

I'd personally go for more like $1k personally.

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Jackmoved@reddit

Everything has a bottle neck. So even if you have a $4000 computer, but for some reason only have a 1080p/60 monitor. Your whole computer will only output 1080/60 on that monitor, making everything a waste.

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SilverKnightOfMagic@reddit

I think 1500 to 1600 for like 90 perfect of ppl is more than enough. Some can justify for work. But yeah over 1500 you're just being wasteful but it's whatever. 2k is when I might start judging for just a tower. But if that I close monitors, mouses, keyboards, or desk it makes sense.

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The_Boz_Guy@reddit

First of all advice, you do you, and look at alot builds, even pre builds. See what you get for dollars spent. I set my budget at 1.5k, ended up boosting it to 2k after a lot of comparisons. If your building it yourself, good for you, but do your homework. I went with a I9 12700, with 3 fan AIO. 13 and 14s were just hitting the market. Enough said with that being a great decision. Lol. 32 Gig of 5 ddr, 1470 12 Gig, Z690-wifi MB, 1TB ssd for os, added 2 TB for games. System boots in 1 min and runs great. Average 16 core temps run 28 c, 45c on heavy loads, tests, benchmarking. Good luck!

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Darkfire66@reddit

Like everything, it depends. A lot of high end parts are victim of diminished returns...parts cost 2-3x more for 5-10% more performance in some cases.

I like to build something that will last me 5 years and run the games I want to play.

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YouShitMyPants@reddit

It’s all about application and its return on value. If it’s just for school then maybe like 500$ on a used MacBook. But if for professional use then find a balance between scalability and function.

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FennelOpen3243@reddit

It's only wasteful if you're not using it. Build can last for a long long time before any consideration of an upgrade comes to mind.

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qohhana@reddit

it depends on what your perspective is, if you are content with 1080p/1440p then around $1400 give or take but if you want the best available then no budget is really wasteful to that end.

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Spacesheisse@reddit

For most people, get a GPU at around 40% of your total budget, 32Gb RAM, 1000w PSU, whatever size NVMe SSD, and a case you like will more than suffice.

For gaming, it's "all" about the GPU. Get the newest generation GPU that is closest to your budget, from either nvidia or amd. You can't go very wrong.

If your requirements are different, you likely already know what to buy and won't ask this question. 🤷‍♂️

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MisterBaku@reddit

Paying for anything you don't need is wasteful.

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ItsAllNavyBlue@reddit

3060 or equivalent, 7700 or equivalent, SSD, 16gigs ram, and most people play at high quality graphics and high FPS. That’s what 95% of people want out of a PC. That’s like $1500 at most I’d guess.

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RunalldayHI@reddit

Most people should be able to happily get away with a $1600 budget, anything more than 3k imo is getting into diminishing returns.

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ShatterSide@reddit

This is highly personal.

You have a a few variables that are up to you.

Hours you would use your PC per day (assuming it wouldn't change with different levels of a PC build)

Amount of enjoyment you would get out of a cheap one, vs an expensive one.

How many years until you would upgrade.

If you would spend $1832.00 dollars, and keep it for 5 years, that's $1.00 per day. If you used it on average of 1 hour per day, that's $1 per hour.

Then, would $0.50 per hour give you as much enjoyment? Would $2.00?

Again, this is extremely personal.

You can gauge it by FPS per dollar which is a common metric from reviewers. As others have mentioned, much hardware has diminishing returns after a certain cost.

Many people recommend just hitting the max fps per dollar and then upgrading sooner (and selling your old stuff), but that has it's own annoyances.

If you used that same PC for 4 hours per day average, then your cost per hour drops to $0.25.

This is really honestly nothing in the relevance to hobbies in general. Also, if most of what you do is web surfing, then your experience wouldn't change between nearly any computer anyway.

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

I have never seen a formula like this so thanks for showing me this.

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Relative-Pin-9762@reddit

Only the GPU and CPU the most.

MB, unless u getting the lowest end model, is mostly the same for normal consumers not looking to overclock. PSU is the same, just don't go for bottom tier models and go for reputable brand with the relevant power ratings. Ram, nvme drives...soon u will just be bother but your storage size, not the top speed of your transfers (for normal users, not doing much large file transers). However some user will use ther Ram RGB as part of their light show....( 4 Ram layout looks way better than a 2 ram layout and have cooler rgb light show)

AIO/Coolers, fans and cases are very visually subjective and it affects the mood of the users as these are very prominent, so it's important for the user to get what he likes. A Artic Liquid Freezer III may be same performance at fraction of the cost but a Hyte Thicc Q60 may bring a smile to the user everytime they look at it....

So if u are all about performance, GPU and CPU is the key (and AIO if u using intel CPU)

If u want a nightly rainbow lightshow, the sky is the limit....(the Trye panorama AIO looks really cool,..price enough to buy a good GPU!!!)

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Thelgow@reddit

Its a trick question. Some parts arent much more expensive, but last longer, like a case. Others not so much. Diminishing returns, etc. But if you got the money, who cares.

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The_Funderos@reddit

full setup? as in, the monitor, keyboard, headphones, etc are flowing into the price?

**2500$** indeed (including the rig prices from bellow)

just the rig?

**1800$** or so would be it in my opinion, this is just enough to equip yourself with the best current gaming processor on the market as well as the best card, get a great board, ram, the works along with a modular case, rgb, the works

**1000$-1200$** for best value/everything above is honestly diminishing returns for dollar spent since this is the combo that can net you some great combos like 7900GRE + r7 5800x3D, or 4070Ti + same processor and 32 gigs of ram at decent speeds, 5000 and above if we're looking at a good board as opposed to something budget like B450's

**TL;DR:** As a person that builds, troubleshoots and overall upgrades configurations and writes software for a living, i would really not recommend any builds past the 1200$ mark, i derived to this conclusion as parts now adays dont hold value for more than half a decade max, a.k.a upgrading every half a decade is a lot better than splurging for max parts when they're released...

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mighty1993@reddit

Around 1500, absolute maximum 2000 dollars for only the PC. That of course implies that you are in a region where PC parts are easily available and not taxed to space so US, central Europe etc.

With that budget you can build a quality, high end PC around reliable and long lasting parts that are upgradeable. Focus on 1440p ultra and high FPS performance for the best bang for the buck. With that budget it will be 4K ready but it's a waste of money, time and nerves because most studios still do not care about 4K optimization and everything below is much easier to achieve and more reliable to maintain. You can tinker around with it here and there and even play around with ultrawide but 1440p is the target.

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EDanials@reddit

Depends on what you want.

I wanted 4k 144fps it costed me about $4000, however most my other comps were in the $1500 range I built and I could nearly do everything at 60fps 2k for the last 10 years.

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AnnieBruce@reddit

I spent about 3k on this thing and if it wasn't for playing around with virtual machines it would have been very excessive.

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tron_crawdaddy@reddit

Depends on the use case. I have a computer that has probably cost about 2000 over the course of 4 years of upgrades; it’s built very nicely, has maybe 12 TB of solid state/nvme storage, a pretty nice motherboard with VRM/power delivery I trust, and a sick PSU. It’s AM4, 5800x3d and a 3080ti 2x8pin.

That guy doesn’t really play everything at 4k 120fps though, so

Caught a $1700 USD sale on the suprim liquid 4090, got a microcenter bundle with a 7700x, ddr5 ram, some gigabyte mobo. It’s fast as fuck and maybe has 3 TB of storage. The case is fine. I use a shitty razer wireless keyboard and usually a controller, as this is my living room PC. I use this computer sometimes, to play shit like Hellblade 2 or Darktide or (heavily modded) starfield at 4k. Heavy games, etc

Where I’m going with this is that to spend $4k you are probably splurging on peripherals, bleeding edge tech, high refresh OLED displays, nice speakers, “nice to haves” like an AIO cooler, or RGB bullshit.

The machine depends on what you need it for, and honestly, I spent more on my TV and speakers/preamps/headphones than I did on core components for the first build. $4k is wasteful if you’re upgrading or only playing fortnite, but if you need a beast of a machine, don’t forget about the costs of the other devices you need to make yourself happy while using it all. Everyone else in this thread seems to have the right idea. Sorry for the rambling, this was a long poo I’ve been taking

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VinylJitsu@reddit

A hobby is something you think "want" instead or "should". I wouldn't, on any ocasion, whatsoever, buy a RTX 4080. I don't even think I'd build a whole setup that costs as much as a 4080. I, however, have a turntable + speaker set that cost far more than a 4080, and let's not mention how much I spent on records. Should I? Probably not. I could have 80% of the benefit for half the price. But I wanted to.

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FrewdWoad@reddit

What you're friend is saying is that a $2000 PC performs very similarly to a $4000 PC. It's twice as much money, but is a LOT less than twice as fast.

Before GPU prices doubled in the last few years (COVID/Crypto crisis and NVIDIA/AMD doing their "I'm the scalper now") you'd literally get about 95% of a $4000 PC's performance for $2000.

It's a bit less now, but we're also in an era where top performance doesn't really change the experience as much as it used to. Going from 120FPS to 240 is not anything like going from 30FPS to 60,

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UltimateLifeform@reddit (OP)

Man, you're telling me. When I made my PC it was during the cryptocurrency mining craze where all the mid tier GPUs were as expensive as high tier. Also SSD's and NVME were new tech so those were expensive just to get 500 GB. What a time.

I gotta ask what are the main things I should be concerned about if I did do a build for $2K?

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Beneficial_Net8661@reddit

Motherboard features you don't explicitly need is the big one. For like 99% of users, $200 is going to buy you a MOBO with basically everything you'll need, decent VRMs, plenty of PCIE lanes, and enough USB ports for every device you own and then some. The $4-500 boards are either for looks or for people with specific use cases like tons of M.2 slots for storage or chipset features to support looney tunes overclocking.

Same with PSUs. Again, the majority of systems, even in the enthusiast space, will hardly break 900W and that number is assuming you've filled every drive slot, every SATA port, every fan header, etc and those components are running at 100%. Even for my $2k build, it has an 850W unit, and it barely scratches 600 in total wattage via PCPartPicker.

And the most obvious one is RGB. I could have gotten a non-RGB AIO, RAM, and case fans and saved maybe 300 bucks for my system, but I wanted everything to be as seamless as possible so I'm using all Corsair for my AIO and case fan setup. It's not required and does not help performance. But I like having pretty lights to look at.

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likkachi@reddit

you can make a build with the best parts now for $2k. with a monitor, kb, mouse, and decent speakers it’s just over $3k (at time of writing)

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op3l@reddit

When money is spent on aesthetic of a build it becomes wasteful from pure performance POV.

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Shi_thevoid@reddit

Although I suggested a 4090 bear in mind that 50 series is right around the corner and usually it's not advisable to buy the top of the chain gpu cause in few months this will drop in price which makes your eyes pop. 4080s is a 900-1000 bucks card and can still do great numbers at 4k.

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logicbound@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/s/osYpGLunbI

That's my build from this year. Only changes for you would be upgrading to 4080 Super, and maybe a different monitor.

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scriminal@reddit

Depends on your level of disposable income

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ChemicalStatement858@reddit

I think you need to specifically mention what will be the pc used for.

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Emmystra@reddit

The real reason is that a maximum PC today costs about $2400-2800 tops. You don’t get any more performance out of flashing lights or glass panels, and a $4000 PC is spending at least $1000 on just that. $1600 for a 4090, then $800-1000 for the rest of the PC including a 7800X3D gets you the strongest system available. Going down to the 4080S instead of the 4090 saves you $600ish and you are still very close to 4090 performance and can play every game that exists at 1440p on maximum graphics, including ones with path tracing. It doesn’t make much sense to spend an additional $600 on 20 more fps in games you were already playing at 200+ fps, or 10 more fps in a game you were already able to play with path tracing on at 70-100 fps.

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cuddly_degenerate@reddit

I've never paid over 1k.

Got my current 4070 Ryzen 7 7700 system for 700 on marketplace.

If you're not making 6 figures or need it for work and buying a 4090 or some such new you are a silly goose.