PC Building Is Horrible right now and I don’t know what to do.

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VersaceUpholstery@reddit

Buying a prebuilt, or somebody’s old full build, is likely your way to go depending on the budget

The link to the actual list, instead of individual parts, would be helpful to see the total budget or to modify it

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JamesMCC17@reddit

Very much this, prebuilts are the way to go right now, they get parts cheaper than you or I ever could (at least right now).

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Would you still consider it worth it for just an upgrade? For example, I'm looking to upgrade my CPU, which also means the motherboard and RAM. I have an RTX3070 and all the extras needed. (I'm still rocking an i5-3750K...)

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Suspicious-Paint8730@reddit

"Honestly an i5-3750K in 2026 is severely holding back that 3070 — you're leaving a lot of performance on the table. AM4 is the sweet spot right now. Something like a Ryzen 5 5600 or 5700X with a B550 board is a lot cheaper than AM5 right now and will unleash that 3070 properly. DDR4 prices are also still reasonable compared to the DDR5 shortage situation. You'd spend maybe $150-200 total on CPU + motherboard + RAM and feel like you have a completely new machine. The 3070 still has plenty of life left in it at 1080p and even 1440p. What's your budget for the upgrade?

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OvergrownGnome@reddit

I don't really have much of a budget for one at the moment, but due to a small windfall and some debts getting cleared I'll have a better idea after that. I know there is a bottle eck, but I had the chance for an upgrade and a good deal, so I grabbed it while I could. I'm just trying to see what options are out there for me and trying to determine if I should go with a pre built and utilize the 3070 in the new case or buy the parts for an upgrade (CPU, RAM, and motherboard). I am worried about getting a pre built from the likes of HP or Dell since I know they use proprietary boards, but they seem like they be the cheapest option, but also getting a pre built would mean I can repurpose this desktop as a lightweight Linux desktop my kids can use. Which I can probably do anyway.

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mikeymike831@reddit

I went the Microcenter 3 in 1 combo to upgrade from an 11700k to a 7800x3d with 32gb of RAM and a new MOBO for just under 600. The ram itself was listed as 400.

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OvergrownGnome@reddit

I don't live anywhere near a microcenter and have always been jealous of those who do

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mikeymike831@reddit

I wish I would've realized how close I was sooner, I could've spent way less money on a lot of things. I'm in the middle of 2 of them, an hour south and an hour east.

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PeeB4uGoToBed@reddit

Microcenter still has crazy combo deals going on even after all the price hikes! They dont have the bundle that i bought last year anymore but they have others VERY similar and similarly priced. Like you said, RAM alone to double what i have cost about the same as the bundle itself lol

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MacroTiny@reddit

They definitely do, I messed up my old build and got a prebuilt from them. With the ram crap going on, they changed it from 64GB to 32GB, same price. I got lucky buying it before the change happened 😅

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Financial-Spare-779@reddit

I personally would go pre built in today’s market if you don’t have the spare cash on hand. You can always raid it and transplant it into a different case. I was debating on upgrading but I don’t play enough to justify upgrading from my i7-7700k and 1080ti to something modern lol.

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Malkiot@reddit

At least in Europe prebuilts are even more expensive than buying components and building AND they try to sell you 2-3 gen old components.

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slyfox279@reddit

unfortunately theres reasons for that and parts can be too cheap or I've read sometimes even dangerous.

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Exciting-Ad-5705@reddit

Just swap the PSU if it's poorly rated. You can get an A tier 850w PSU for $90

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slyfox279@reddit

Some people have gotten bad motherboards(why they so cheap) that have fried the cpu

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Silver-End9570@reddit

Can second this. My very first rig was a prebuild during the pandemic because it would have cost at least twice what I paid for it to get all the parts. 3060 12GB, 11700K, 16GB Ram and like 1TB SSD. The RAM is pretty much the only part of that rig I have anymore in my current one. I upgraded my CPU and GPU last year so almost everything is new now.

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Massive-Exercise4474@reddit

Got a prebuilt a year ago and stuck a 5060 ti 16gb in it. Feel like I i just lucked out seeing current prices.

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sobelowtriplefo@reddit

Get an ssd and ram aftermarket buy everything else brand new and youll be fine, i just bought a ddr5 32 gb (2x16) corsair ram sticks 6000 mts for 250 brand new sealed by some guy on offer up yesterday cant tell you how happy i am i got such a good deal. I happen to have a 2tb on my old ps5 i got 2 years ago that ima use for my build, only thing that sucks is that new egg had a good deal on all the rest of the parts i need, 7800x3d, 9070xt, msi am5 mobo, psu750 comes free with the cpu and and a aio cooler came out to 1300 ish they had a good deal if u use the pc builder with quialified items they give u 10 percent off each item so basically 150 bucks off but i misunderstood the deadline was 8hours ahead what i thought it would be and missed out on that deal i found that deal the day before it expired so yea. Now all of it is 1500 bucks which still isnt bad i plan on using an open air set up hehe so all in im spending about 1800 for everything yeah i dont have to pay for an ssd but i know u can find a cheap one if u keep looking pretty excited to get it all together its gunna be a 1440p monster.

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LaurentiusLV@reddit

Indeed Ryzen 3xxx-5xxx good enough for most gaming tasks, mixed with RTX20xx-30xx something, and it will be able to play most of the games 60fps 1080p quite close to high/max. On marketplace these pop up quite often. With older cards he might need to replace thermalpads and pastes

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Glittering_Sweet3353@reddit

Just did this to jump from a 2080ti (2020 budget build) to a 5080 build ( just built 5 months ago from a guy on FB marketplace) 2700$ later and i can say worth it for what this thing has in it and the massive jump to finally play in 4k on an OLED (dont judge life had me by the balls for 5 years and can finally say im debt free and beginning to feel happy with myself and life ahead) love yall!

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xThereon@reddit

Honestly it might be worth it for OP to check local listings for PC parts or a new PC altogether. Things like marketplace or craigslist have had some good listings for PC parts and pre-built PCs people are willing to sell.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

Ill fix it now thanks

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MurphyBinkings@reddit

Are you in the states? I would hunt Costco for a pre built for now.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

nah I’m in Canada:(

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Puzzleheaded-Lion-26@reddit

Since you said you live in canada, canada computers do sell open box parts I saved a bunch on my gx-850 vertex its normaly like 300$ cad + tx but i bought it for 230 +tx

The used market is a gem, bought my b850 asus rog strix f gaming for 100$ less than retail price; the guy only used it for benchmark like 10 times, it still smelled like new.
As others said, you can either : Ago to costco or their online store -buy used on marketplace, ebay… -open box (canada computer, best buy) if you live in quebec its even better to get open box because of « protection du consommateur »
-just by them one by one like a lot do and look for sales.
And as for the ssd, idk if you need a 400$ one maybe you could go for one cheaper but it sure gonna last longer and especially gonna be faster if you go with ethernet instead of wifi Good luck :)

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Yingfa93@reddit

I thought they had Costco in Canada? Not sure how good the deals there are though

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gmoneygangster3@reddit

Yeah Costco is no joke no matter what specs your looking for

Got a stupid deal on a 9900X/5080 MSI

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MurphyBinkings@reddit

I see prebuilt at Costco right now for the same as your build and it has a 5070 and a 9800X3D

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xepion@reddit

Yea. I got one. Arc raiders at max settings on 1440p. Avg 180fps

All games run amazing. Get it. Even star citizen runs great

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easzypeazym8@reddit

180fps at 1440 with a 5070? What settings are you using to get that?

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Nebe197@reddit

FG possibly

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easzypeazym8@reddit

So actually 80fps? That just sounds too low for a 5070...

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xepion@reddit

The msi board had some learning function. But I adjusted it so it runs over clicked a bit for the gpu. The sensors and adaptive.

Also the mobo bios setting had some features off. And the ram was set to a lower clock setting. But it runs everything great right now. Enough imo to get by u til next year. The 9800x3d I think is what makes the difference over the 9900x.

Costco had only the 9800x3d in stock. I’d have gone for the 5080 one if they had it. Even if it was paired with the 9900x

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

that pc is a steal for the type of beast it is

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Encouragedissent@reddit

This is the exact prebuild I bought. its been discontinued at warehouses but it looks like maybe you can still get it online. I bought the last one at my warehouse(floor model) for $1700. When you price out the components its a good PC for the price, $2200 in pc part picker at the time of purchase however RAM has started to drop in price over the last couple weeks.

However you have a lot of the issues with brand/quality of components that need to be considered and this is common when you are purchasing a prebuilt. The RAM is pretty entry level DDR5, an odd brand called Apacer Panther at its at only 5200 clock speed and 40CL. You do get an 4 lane 2TB M.2 SSD but its some odd brand ive never heard of, so thats where Im trusting the data of my primary drive. The AIO is proprietary to ibuypower and has some pretty poor feedback. Mine makes a flushing noise every once in a while, while temps are all great it doesnt inspire confidence.

Stuff like that where if I had just built my own PC again I would have picked better parts. Time will tell whether I am happy with the purchase, but that sort of stuff is worth considering when you go with a prebuild, you are saving money because they are cutting costs with the stuff they dont mention.

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Threaded-Needles@reddit

This prebuilt right here at the same price point is going to be a gigantic step up from whats on that list.

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Phyzm1@reddit

If you have access to microcenter you can get a cpu/mobo/ram bundle with old ram prices. Put that saving into a rtx5070. Then just shop the other parts on sale. There are still deals out there. You can get the wd black sn850x at best buy for $370, can save money on case, and the peerless assassin comes with thermal paste.

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machinationstudio@reddit

Yeah, there are definitely going to be businesses going under already/soon.

Look out for liquidation sales.

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Ok_Comfortable621@reddit

Got my friends build rx580 with an i7700k for 120$. Runs everything great. Rocket league 240+, siege 120+, etc

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Suspicious-Paint8730@reddit

"Build looks decent overall — 9600X and 5060 Ti is a good combo right now. But I do want to flag something worth thinking about long term. 8GB VRAM is already showing strain in some modern titles like Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk at higher settings. With games becoming more VRAM hungry every year, 8GB could become your main bottleneck within 1-2 years even though your CPU will still be plenty capable. The 9600X will hold up fine for years — but the GPU might force an earlier upgrade than expected. If budget allows, the 5060 Ti 16GB version is worth the extra cost for longevity. Also that RAM — these days we pushed to use any ddr5 ram kit that available. but that ram is a bit quirky. I would go with cl30 6000mhz ram. if you can find one go with that ram kit. What's your total budget? There might be a smarter way to allocate it."

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Altruistic_Young_785@reddit

It’s certainly not the best time to build, but it’s also not the worst. It’s all just based on how you look at it. That’s not to defend the situation of things right now, but there is still some life left in the hobby. I started at one of the best times so seeing it go to this stings a little. But there’s still hope for the near future. If you can hold off a little bit longer to let the prices settle I would recommend that but even if you feel like you have to build one right now, there are ways to get around these prices. It just takes a little bit of hunting. Don’t let it get you down though. I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes it’s just better to look at things from the bright side, even if there isn’t much to look at.

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captainstormy@reddit

I can't help you on the price of things. But I can help your build. I'm going to try and improve it while keeping it at $1880 and keep the white theme you are going for.

Try this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Gs9FtC

It's $1,885 with the following changes:

Changed CPU cooler to Montech NX600 ARGB. This saves $6 and the performance is as good or better.
Changed NVME to Crucial P310. This saves $167 and keeps the 2TB capacity while still having a quality NVME.
Changed case to Montech X3 Mesh. This saves $51 and will have better cooling (your other case had no exhaust fans, just intake).
Changed GPU to 9070 16GB. Much better performance and twice the VRAM.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

Thank You! This pc is so good will definitely keep this one in mind

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captainstormy@reddit

I was bored during a meeting at work so I decided to see what you could do with a black build instead of a white build.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/h2k7W9

This is gonna be the best option honestly. With a Black build you can get both 32GB of RAM and a 9070XT.

The Keyboard and mouse I picked out are of course subjective but I know that is a really good quality keyboard and mouse combo for $100 total they are hard to beat.

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9erc@reddit

any other black towers that have equally good airflow for the price. i think the x3 mesh rgb is pretty ugly. willing to spend a little more for a nicer one as well. sorey im just really new to al this

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captainstormy@reddit

Cases are kind of the hardest thing IMO because a lot of it is subjective. Sure there are cases that are just obviously bad. But there are tons and tons that all work fine and it's just about what features you value, asethetics and the price you are going for.

My last two builds were in a Lian Li Sup 01. Its' a very unique case that can be had for about $80 on Newegg right now. It's thermals are amazing but you will have to use an AIO for the CPU, which may or may not be a deal breaker for you. The GPU is front mounted so it intakes fresh air from the outside of case. There are exhaust fans right next to it that immediately pull it's hot air outside of the case as well.

RGB can always be turned off but the case has very minimal tasteful RGB accents built in and there are even physical buttons on the case to control it which can also control fans and such (but not ram of course) so you won't even need RGB software on the PC.

Just spend some time browsing all the sales sites and see what looks interesting for you and check on some reviews of it.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

yo my goat relied again thank you for getting distracted in your meeting to fulfil my needs it looks good!

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

update I’ve decided to get the https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BBwjyF now it’s just a matter of saving up thank you for making my dreams come true bro. Much love.

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captainstormy@reddit

Glad to help.

If you can scrape up the $1885 that would pretty much be the best PC you could get for that these days. The power supply is a little overkill but that gives you room to grow and it's a quality unit. Plus anything that was white and significantly cheaper wasn't nearly as good of quality.

The only other thing you could do is look for a used PC. I've bought and sold parts on Jawa before. It's pretty good for that.

Prebuilds around the same price are likely to have more cut corners. Not a bad option exactly but I think the PC with the changes I made would be a better option than most prebuilds.

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9erc@reddit

hey man, i might go with the black build you suggested. also what gpu would you recommend for the build?

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captainstormy@reddit

I think the 9070XT is pretty hard to beat value wise right now. As for which one exactly I'd suggest something from XFX or Sapphire, whichever their cheapest model is.

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9erc@reddit

hey man, I might go with the black build you suggested. Id i did do a prebuilt whats the beat options right now for the same price?

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sobelowtriplefo@reddit

Get an ssd and ram aftermarket buy everything else brand new and youll be fine, i just bought a ddr5 32 gb (2x16) corsair ram sticks 6000 mts for 250 brand new sealed by some guy on offer up yesterday cant tell you how happy i am i got such a good deal. I happen to have a 2tb on my old ps5 i got 2 years ago that ima use for my build, only thing that sucks is that new egg had a good deal on all the rest of the parts i need, 7800x3d, 9070xt, msi am5 mobo, psu750 comes free with the cpu and and a aio cooler came out to 1300 ish they had a good deal if u use the pc builder with quialified items they give u 10 percent off each item so basically 150 bucks off but i misunderstood the deadline was 8hours ahead what i thought it would be and missed out on that deal i found that deal the day before it expired so yea. Now all of it is 1500 bucks which still isnt bad i plan on using an open air set up hehe so all in im spending about 1800 for everything yeah i dont have to pay for an ssd but i know u can find a cheap one if u keep looking pretty excited to get it all together its gunna be a 1440p monster.

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Jufrow@reddit

So I bought a 486DX66/2, which at the time was more or less top-of-the-line, from Gateway 3000 in like 1991 with some stocks I had as a kid, probably 8mb of ram or some shit, you get the idea. That beast was around $3500, or about $8,842.74 today. I just looked at what it would cost to build a high end rig today minus a monitor (which is honestly TONS cheaper today) and it was around $3600. We are not living in the dark ages.

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Own-Tax4809@reddit

If your budget can go with a 5060 ti I recommend you a 3080 or 4070 ti Stronger a little bit older dlss

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Silly_Word8688@reddit

There's mercari,ebay,wtc

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the-original-thought@reddit

Prices are high yes but less then 20 years ago it was 8k for a desktop that would struggle to even load windows now let alone play anything more then pong. But actually being helpful buy used rn and if you really want to build your own shop around for deals

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videojuegos17@reddit

Check out micro center they always have pretty good deals. You can pick up a MB, RAM, and CPU bundle for way less than buying separately

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Old_Broccoli_9273@reddit

build AM4

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carangil@reddit

Get a used workstation with a decent (but maybe a 2-3 year old CPU) and whatever graphics card you can get.

Play older games. There are a bazillion games out there, often better than some of the crap they publish now. (There has always been a lot of crap games, but steam really lets shovelware proliferate at unprecedented levels)

I know people are just like, fuck it, and went with a bunch of emulators and ports on a pi5. But honestly an older PC running Linux will easily outperform an overclocked pi 5.

If you aren't for gaming and just wanna goof around with hardware, or want to learn the guts of linux, older hardware is generally more interesting.

DDR3 also isnt too pricey... I added enough DDR3 to my old server that it can run Gemma 3. It's a bit slow with the bugger models, but the hardware is like 10 years old, and the 7B models still churn out text a little faster than I can type.

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ComprehensiveCow5068@reddit

at this point I would just go 5500x3d for am4 (the 3d cache is the catalyst for gaming even if the chip is mid), can also go for 14700kf for intel build and get a 4000mhz kit, for now SSD 1TB can be enough and I also would go for amd card instead like 9060xt 16gb or 9070xt from the additional budget you would save from just going ddr4. Getting everything pre-owned will also save you tons of money (unless it's PSU I would get that one new)

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

Isnt there a risk with buying used parts?

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Re_Thought@reddit

Don't buy used PSUs or storage. Cases are hard to find cheap, but if the price is right it's fine. Fans are okay but a gamble on how long they'll last when buying used.

Everything else can be tested for legitimacy and proper function.

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coltzero@reddit

Yes there is, but I mainly bought used parts the last year and never had a defect one so far. Buying it via a portal that offers buyer protection also helps!

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Lost-Kaleidoscope755@reddit

Of course there is. That’s what eBay buyer protection is for. Always use Ebay for buying second hand electronics. eBay will almost always take the buyers side in disputes and you can return the item within a window after you get it for your money back.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

this is actually a really good tip thank you!

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Bluesparc@reddit

I mean... Or just use PayPal... Same buyer protections

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Lost-Kaleidoscope755@reddit

Yeah but the second hand market for electronics on eBay is substantially larger than finding a second hand buyer somewhere that accepts PayPal as payment. eBay tends to be easier when your browsing for a bunch of parts in my experience 🤷

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t3chi3@reddit

oh young padawan: https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap/

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Rascal2pt0@reddit

Less risky than you think. Back when pc hardware actually lost value over time most every system I built was used parts. Modern Pc hardware is extremely durable compared to what was around in the early 2000s

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ReadyAimTranspire@reddit

That and the fact that the hobby has grown so much. There are people that just get the newest hardware when it comes out and sell their old stuff that has been used under typical loads, isn't abused and can be had for a great deal.

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jhaluska@reddit

Yes, the biggest risk is they might not work. That said, if they're older components they're likely fine. Having something like Ebay act as an mediator offsets a lot of risks. I have bought plenty of hardware used and other than some bad ram, haven't had many problems.

A lot of builders just sell their old components when upgrading to offset the costs.

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ComprehensiveCow5068@reddit

If it was risky enough for me to not give you this advice I wouldn't give this advice. I bought used gpu, storage, ram, cpu and they work flawlessly.

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switzer3@reddit

There's always a risk lol, like with buying any used item. I built my current rig out of mostly used parts for just under 350 bucks and it does everything I want it to and more

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katzengoldgott@reddit

I wouldn’t buy an intel 13th or 14th generation CPU used, same for a used PSU.

The rest is usually safe. Let the prior owner take a video of the PC/parts running to provide proof that you aren’t getting ripped off and you should be fine.

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chaotichousecat@reddit

I like to use r/hardwareswap You can see how many times they've successfully sold stuff. There's always a risk though but if your on a budget its the way to go.

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acadia11x@reddit

Simple don’t build right now, I built a 5090 , 256gb ddr … 4tb ssd, 22tb hd, 7950x … all top of the line components for AI dev 18 months ago for about $8k, the same machine today will cost close to $20k. Don’t build right now unless you have a very specific need and use case. I’m not sure when the market will level but I know it’s going to be a couple of years for any new fab capacity to be built and alleviate price pressures even if companies wanted it so. They don’t , hardware is now very lucrative … but companies will address the consumer market once PC sales start trending down far enough.

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Organic_Ad3558@reddit

I would search marketplace and Craigslist for a good prebuilt or look for parts if you feel comfortable with building your own PC.

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fkrkz@reddit

Sadly you can consider getting another hobby now. Or, if you plan to use the PC as your workhorse to generate guaranteed income, then it can still be justified.

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Fancy_Arugula5173@reddit

You could look at sales for prebuilts, especially if anywhere offers general discount codes.

I got a rtx 5080, ryzen 7 9080, 32gb ram, 2tb storage pre built last week for £2200 with a discount code

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Lazy_Concert113@reddit

You don't need 32GB ... especially playing in 1440p, 16GB will be enough, i love people claiming pc price are too high, but they bought high end part that will never be used at more than 50% of their power....

It's like buying a car with a max speed of 300KM/H, in a country where all road only allow 80KM/H !

First learn what power you really need, and then buy the part ...

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otacon7000@reddit

Honestly, if my PC breaks now, I'll literally go back to board games, DIY, reading books. I could afford to buy a new one, but it would be a serious blow to my finances, plus I simply refuse to buy at these inflated prices. If the industry wants to kill the industry so badly, be my guest.

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Kind-Principle-5311@reddit

fr lol. can't believe I was thinking what to do with my adult money and I realize I can't do anything with it. huh

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SaunaApprentice@reddit

Stop trying to solve money problems without money

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Overlord_Za_Purge@reddit

damn i got basically all this except i have a 5060 instead of a ti for $700 lmao

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_Diier_@reddit

Gamers will find a way to game! So you gotta work a little longer and save a little bit more! Buying one part at a time with only flashes sales can save on costs. Too many times gamers settle for shit just to log on! Take your time build or buy what you want. Waiting one more pay period can be the difference between a 5070 and 5070ti. Patience wins in Rig building!

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BrokeButFabulous12@reddit

Id wait, ram prices been slowly going down in eu, google apparently came up with some compression method which reducea the ram needed by 6x. Same like with the gpu crisis, where later asic miners became the best tool for the mining, i believe well see some new dedicated memory tech solely focused on AI, we might not see the pre-AI prices but i will rather rock my older rig than pay 400 for a stick of ram.

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cpusmoke@reddit

HUNKER DOWN!!!

Don't be me-spend 3 months wages on one megabyte.

(No. I didn't misspell "terabyte". I'm an old guy.

HUNKER DOWN!!!

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jnwatson@reddit

In 1995, I spent $800 on 32 MiB of RAM. There's more RAM in greeting cards now.

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Klutzy_Scheme_9871@reddit

MiB?

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jnwatson@reddit

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mebibyte

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InvertibleMatrix@reddit

Is this hyperbole? Or have we gotten to the point of using digital photo/video frames for greeting cards? I don't know what kind of greeting card would even use anywhere close to 32 MiB of RAM; certainly not the e-waste cards that let you do play the factory pre-recorded message/song.

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MissionaryShrimp@reddit

It's not about what they need. The chips are probably nearly empty. It's about the parts they can actually get.

It's quite likely that 32mb was the cheapest option. There's not many places that require smaller chips, so lots of folks just don't make em in great quantity. When you're buying in bulk, it's not uncommon for a 32mb chip to be cheaper than an 8mb.

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InvertibleMatrix@reddit

What greeting cards are you talking about? Most I see at the grocery store that even have an IC are using a microcontroller that cost tens of cents on a BOM and have tens of kilobytes of RAM.

On the other hand, I just did a google search and found out that amazon literally sells physical greeting cards that play back 720p video with an IPS screen. But those are the digital video picture frames masquerading as greeting cards I was mocking earlier.

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cpusmoke@reddit

No it's not. It says something about the ingenuity of old school programmers that were forced to write tight code.

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InvertibleMatrix@reddit

I wasn't talking about RAM in 1995; I'm aware of what RAM coat back then. I was talking about RAM in greeting cards. The last time I opened up a greeting card, I saw a microcontroller with kilobytes of RAM.

I genuinely have no idea what applications there would be for a greeting card to use something more complex than an Arduino with more than 16 KiB of SRAM when those are usually just flashing LEDs and playing audio.

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cpusmoke@reddit

Got you beat. In 1985 I bought 32 discreet chips for an unheard of a whopping 1 megabyte of memory for $350. That's like $10,000 today. If you looked at them funny the static electricity would blow 'em. People thought you would never need that much memory.

BTW, I used that massive megabyte as a ramdisk.

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Brilliant_Hold_3707@reddit

Go on your facebook marketplace and look for old builds

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byological_origins@reddit

i mean what exactly are you planning on playing? pretty sure you could get my with a AM4 mid range build for most games

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scrollingforgodot@reddit

Why so high end? What about a used 1080p build to play with your friends? Am4 platform is still viable. Upgrade as you go. You don't need the best of the best to play games.

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danielwutlol@reddit

Yeah. I bought a decent 1080 setup for 200 USD. Plays most games on medium settings. I don't know why OP is concerned about buying a 2 grand pc for his first setup.

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

yes that’s fair I could definitely upgrade as I go i was thinking of that but the thing is that im afraid (as you see the prices in the post) are gonna go up. inthink maybe in the near future even 1440p will be a luxury

[-]

IndyPFL@reddit

We're gonna see system requirements stagnate here soon due to this nonsense. So devs will either be forced to optimize their games better, or their games won't sell. Average gamer has a 4060, and it'll probably stay that way for a while.

[-]

MissionaryShrimp@reddit

This happens now and then for various reasons.

The market will come back down eventually. Ram is already starting to drop off, though it'll probably be a bit before it's back to 'normal' prices.

In the long run, performance always gets cheaper.

[-]

scrollingforgodot@reddit

You can get 1440p performance in the vast majority of games released today while spending half the price on parts you listed. Cut your ram and storage in half, get a cheaper processor and card. Buy used parts with eBay's guarantee if you want to save a lot of money.

Timing the market probably won't do you any good right now. There will always be used parts if you want to upgrade in the future, that flexibility is the whole point of going PC over console. When you upgrade, sell your old part and recoup most of what you spent. If prices go even higher like you're worried about, you'll get more out of it than what you spent.

[-]

crxptrxp@reddit

yup, recently made an am4 build for around 700€ (germany based) and it runs even marathon in 1080p with 90fps

[-]

Emuthusiast@reddit

This

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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[-]

Less_Improvement8583@reddit

I have build my pc since 6600, 970gtx 1070, 3070ti, bought 9070xt and returned it. Now i am switching to apple and waiting for steam machine, steam deck 2 and do some mobile gaming, i had a steam deck, now an ally z1e

[-]

lijo1990@reddit

Do you have a Microcenter near you. They got bundles that are affordable.

[-]

VanillaStrange-8693@reddit

Forget about video games kid.

They are a complete waste of time at this point.

Learn skills, go outside, learn how to survive

This nation's gonna go to complete shit in yer lifetime and it would be in yer best interest to be prepared

[-]

Cvxcvgg@reddit

I just so happened to do a full upgrade right before prices shot up. Felt so lucky.

[-]

Epicgammes@reddit

Overspending a bit on the storage for sure, and you could easily get away with a montech century ii power supply instead for $50 less or so if you wanted. Could also go for a Corsair 4500x off Woot right now for $30 cheaper if you wanted to shave, and by that point you're looking at getting a 5070 instead of a 5060 ti, if you desperately wanted to build a best price to performance, that's what I'd do. Otherwise, like everyone else is saying, just go prebuilt. It's the simplest and cheapest way to get better parts without having to sit and shave and shave and make sacrifice after sacrifice for the sake of performance. Plenty of recommendations out there for that, too.

[-]

theCaffeinatedOwl22@reddit

Dollars are definitely not spent efficiently in OP's build.

[-]

Ghost1eToast1es@reddit

Get a prebuilt and use your skills of building a pc to make sure you’re getting a good build. You’ll be able to rebuild it later when you upgrade it. As a teenager you’re prolly too young to have seen all the other times that prices skyrocketed what with Bitcoin mining, then Etherium mining, etc. it’ll blow over once the AI bubble bursts and it looks like it already is.

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

really it’s Popping? we did it guys we won

[-]

theCaffeinatedOwl22@reddit

I wouldn't go that far, but things are trending in the right direction. Will they continue to? Hard to say.

[-]

Swaglfar@reddit

Don't know what to do? Do anything, literally anything else. Go hiking, learn to mountain bike, pick up a tennis racket. Idk. You're going. Go out and experience the world before we nuke it into oblivion.

[-]

Lucario-Mega@reddit

microcenter if available

[-]

cyanide4suicide@reddit

You're just a teen. The smart answer is to buy a gaming console in the short term to play games

Work until you have \~$2000 saved up which is what I'm estimating is a good baseline for a decent rig.

PC building has turned into a really expensive hobby now, I don't expect any high schooler to just have $2000 lying around to get into the hobby at the moment.

[-]

DeeDee182@reddit

I am in NO WAY an expert just someone who has wanted to build, and now in classes for tech making that desire much more than it was.

Ram has gone down...a tad....

I am lucky enough to have a good amount of handhelds and a laptop so am appreciative of those things more but I am always checking.

Prebuilts at micro center, Costco, and even dreaded best buy are usually still worth it IMO when there are deals especially. If you get one with 16 or 32g ur fine and just ride it out till u can get more at better price.

[-]

BellionTheSapo@reddit

Buy a Ps5 pro

[-]

sasquatch_melee@reddit

Have you looked at used business grade desktop like an Optiplex on ebay, then upgrade key components like add a GPU? Admittedly that's not my main PC but my plex server is an old Optiplex I got for $100 then threw a SSD and 2 more sticks of ram at it.

I feel like value for money spent is probably highest this way.

[-]

Advanced_Job_1109@reddit

Hope you have a Costco nearby and your parents have a membership. They have good deals often on prebuilts. Just get a pre uilt and upgrade at your leisure.

[-]

Ok-Use-8592@reddit

You could do an office OEM conversion in the short term while waiting for prices to not be in the stratosphere. I would suggest just buying the PSU and GPU and plugging it into an OEM, that'll play any eSports title and some AAA games

[-]

JamesBongd@reddit

I just got a good deal on a motherboard + RAM at Micrometer. Gotta go in person though.

[-]

-AWing-@reddit

Build models! /s I agree though I’m hoping next year is better but I doubt it.

[-]

Temporary_Shower4185@reddit

Save up money a little at a time until you can buy a midrange computer, or maybe prices come down in the time it takes you to save the money and you can then afford a top tier computer.

[-]

Ozzimo@reddit

Build a hot rod!

Instead of building to the latest spec, build a top tier rig of used and older parts. Stick it in a weird case. Fill it with mineral oil. Do something unconventional that still satisfies that building itch.

[-]

Feeling_Photograph_5@reddit

These shortages happen and prices fluctuate. There's a certain amount of timing involved in when to upgrade, etc.

For now, just find the best pre built you can within your budget. You'll be surprised what you can do with even a low end gaming PC.

Then, when the time is right, you upgrade.

[-]

TheWinterRecruit@reddit

Prebuilts haven't adjusted to current prices yet, so its definitely the way to go. I got a Ryzen 9 9900X, a 5080, 2TB of storage, and 32gb of RAM for $2300 from a Costco build. If I built it, the CPU, GPU, and RAM would have been $2400 on their own

[-]

Sad-Neighborhood8604@reddit

Used Pc's with ryzen 5600/12400f, 32gb ddr4, 1tb ssd/nvme, 750w psu and a budget gpu like rx 7600/4060 go for around 700€ where im from, sell the gpu for ~200€ And ur left with a 500€ build, buy a 9070xt for 650-700€ Get a used 4k monitor for 100-150€ or new for 300€, you will be gpu dependent in most AAA games, (Although in about 30% of games there will still be a 5-15% bottleneck) If u get a 12400f option u could also upgrade to a 14600kf (If the mobo vrm are any good) And u got yourself a 7500f/7600 comparable cpu and u can upgrade to a 5080 level gpu in the future.

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UwUDeadNow@reddit

Well, teenagers "decide" a lot of things 😆

[-]

ShadowsGuardian@reddit

Start small, prebuilts, 2nd hand, or ask a friend if they got some spare parts at a cheaper price.

[-]

absentlyric@reddit

Its not the death, it was worse in the 90s, look up how much it used to cost to build PCs back then. I mean the early to mid 90s. You had to pretty much be a tech enthusiast with disposable income back in those days.

[-]

RareDinner4577@reddit

I built my PC four years ago in the dark ages of GPU and CPU shortages. I have a 3070Ti in my system, 900 dollar card at the time, just because it was the lowest card available. Additionally, my 12700K I have was 400+ for that same reason. Ram I got for Christmas and could probably resell for a boatload today but I digress. The whole experience makes me just wanna buy a laptop with a dock next time.

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Itchy-Throat-4779@reddit

My son so glad I passed hom my last system still rock steady but I agree.

[-]

Teagana999@reddit

As a teen, I'm assuming you don't have expenses. I had more disposable income in high school than I have since.

Work all summer and save up.

Finding something used could also be a good start, especially if you plan to upgrade it.

[-]

Dino0407@reddit

Hold on how is this approximately the same price as my setup? Like not even without inflation things aren't nearly as bad as I thought they were. Sure not bad but for that money (including peripheral) I got a 3050 and 12700 in 2021 or 22? Shortly after GPU scalping was a thing

If I were you I'd half the RAM, at least I never really had problems with 16gb, and go for it

But I'm far from a PC nerd, just build mine and been looking at upgrades here and there

[-]

ChocolateNachos@reddit

I found a PC with very similar but better specs and a pretty good graphics card at Costco for about 2200. It was either a 5070 or 5080. Just bite the bullet and get a pre built or used PC.

[-]

HistorianOk4604@reddit

I built my PC purely off of Facebook Marketplace about 6 months ago. Takes a lil trust but it runs well.

[-]

HayesBrewery@reddit

Look for bundle deals on new egg. There have been some good ones lately with several hundreds in savings. Not sure if it's true yet, but I'm hearing weird RAM prices may be coming down a bit. Anyone else know how accurate that is?

Also, used ram isn't a terrible idea. I got some used ddr5 when I upgraded to an AM5 board, and it's working just fine

[-]

Substantial_Mix8002@reddit

Ram prices are slowly starting to come down

[-]

Astonishingtale59@reddit

I felt the same way a month ago when I started my pc build. All I can say at the moment is: be patient. RAM prices are already starting to decline. It's only a matter of time.

As many have said, you can get a decent pre-built for around $1k. For me, I decided to settle on using ddr4. I was able to snatch up a "buy it now" listing of 32gb ddr4-3200 for $110. I may have gotten lucky, or there may be others out their briefly. Just gotta watch it like a hawk. I put together a sff pc for just over $1k using a used ryzen 9 5900x, a refurbished 5060ti 8gb, and the above 32gb of ddr4.

Pcpartpicker.com is great for checking compatibility and I've used it in the past, but for my newest build I feel like it would have confined me to using new parts and would have cost me much more if I relied on it as a shopping resource. I used it only to verify compatibility with the parts I was able to find. Many pple rn are turning to the used parts market with the current RAMageddon, and I'm very happy I did the same, as it got me into a very capable build a lot sooner. I may upgrade my cpu, mb and RAM once the prices come done, but for now Im extremely happy with what I have.

Good luck with your endeavor!

[-]

bleboob@reddit

In my opinion it's only bad. If you want everything new. I am happy to buy used motherboards with ram, and CPUs... I got new power supplies, storage and graphics cards and I can cut the costs in half. And getting equipment from 2019 still is fast enough for today. Hell I have a 2080ti driving most of the games I want fine

[-]

Complex-Republic-443@reddit

I bought my parts at the end of last year and lucked out on some good BF prices. Hard to believe what they're charging right now, but prices are cyclical.

Sucks to wait, but the used market might be an option. Some people dump parts without trying to make bank. I'm about to do that with some older systems. 🙂

[-]

RectumExplorer--@reddit

I'm glad I built my PC 2 years ago. If I had to get one today I'd honestly just get a PS5 Pro. I got both and I barely touch my PC anymore, even if it's faster. PS5 uses half as much power and is a lot simpler to get games to work, which is a blessing when you have 2 kids.Can't imagine if I had to buy one today with component and electricity cost, it wouldn't be worth it imo.

[-]

Soft-Employee2557@reddit

If you have a micro center nearby get your parts from there. The motherboard, cpu, ram bundles are INSANE. My friend got a bundle worth 1100 for just 600. Saved almost $500 compared to buying those parts separately

[-]

Inside-Smell-2695@reddit

The thing is you need to buy frugal. I just finished up a build myself, as a teenager, that was basically $1000, and it includes 32gb ddr5, rtx 4070 super, 1tb WD nvme ssd, bequiet fans, psu, and more. I’ll make a post on it soon.

[-]

Head-View8867@reddit

Get less / slower RAM, downgrade to an AM4 rig, which I have had for three years and it's still strong af, downgrade to less / slower storage and supplement with an additional non-M.2 sad.

Your power supply unit is also probably overkill. I don't think you need anywhere near that.

[-]

whom_is_you@reddit

Try MicroCenter, they have the best bundled deals with RAM! Or go the used DDR4 route, which is what I did. I also recently build my pc a few weeks ago, and ended up going with a used i5 13600k, used 32g of ddr4, and a used motherboard all off of eBay. Was originally planning on am5 cpu, but I had no idea RAM prices had gone up so high since my last build 2 years ago. So for best upgradability to DDR5 RAM, go intel 12th or 13th gen, as those CPU’s can use both DDR4 or DDR5. CPU’s last a very long time, so buying used is okay as long as it’s from a reputable reseller. Avoid intel 14th gen, as the jump in performance from 13 to 14 is minimal, with a much higher power draw, so not worth it. Also the i7/i9 13/14 gen had some instability issues, now fixed with a bios update so make sure you do that asap if you go that route. But you should always update bios ASAP. And you don’t need m.2 SSD. I have mine running with a used 2tb SATA SSD, and it works fast and flawlessly.

[-]

FortDragCartel@reddit

A decent pre built of you're not super comfortable tweaking might be the way to go.. just do your research first. Plenty of pre builts have significant issues because the company didn't configure the system correctly (processors which mismatched coolers, poor airflow, bad bios settings, CPU/GPU mismatch, etc).

You can also seek out used parts from reputable (high rated) Ebay sellers. You can still get DDR4 for a decent price and it won't make a difference in most games if you have an adequate amount a VRAM (if your GPU starts swapping things into the system RAM then you'll have more issues with slower RAM). I have an old board I'm probably going to put on eBay that supports DDR4 and up to Intel 14th gen but has a broken inductor coil, so the gen 5 PCIe port is unstable. The 4.0 port works fine though. You can probably find 'working' parts like for dirt cheap if you have some persistence and knowhow.

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Neat_Draw_3872@reddit

Look for second hand parts. That’s what I’ve done, at least then you’ll have something and when prices eventually fall you can upgrade

[-]

ScuffedGoats@reddit

a full white build for $2000 with a 5060 ti 8gb...?

sorry... it'll work fine but like... you can get much more by going black... probably a 5070 (Ti) or a good AMD card like the 9070XT or something which will outperform the 5060 Ti by ~40% and has 16GB of VRAM instead of 8...

also $400 for a 2 TB SSD? scam

[-]

Snowmobile2004@reddit

Just wait. This whole ram thing won’t last more than a year from now, prices will be normal by this time next year. But for now, prebuilts can often be found for much cheaper than building yourself. My friend got a really good pc for $1900 the other day, costs $2600 to build yourself

[-]

meowshers69@reddit

getting a CPU/MOBO/RAM bundle at microcenter seems to be the way to go right meow. i saved like $250+ on the RAM doing that

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OldJellyBones@reddit

RAM prices should start plummeting very soon

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Fluffysquishia@reddit

$2000 for a high end gaming pc after covid is not out of the ordinary, even without ram prices.

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Unhappy_Hamster_4296@reddit

PC building has never been super cheap. Even when I was young a top of the line system was well over $1500.

I would suggest scouring marketplace. I got a 4090 i9 for 3000, and by the time I sold all the extras and peripherals I ended up getting the new pc for free.

If you absolutely demand new, go with a prebuilt. Those manufacturers have better connections to get pricing on parts that you cant. I recommend NZXT, although do your research, its been about 5 years since i have used them and companies change.

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-StereoDivergent-@reddit

I bought a new SSD this time last year for 95$ this month I'd finally reached capacity and needed to add more except today that same one is selling at 250$ I'll just be deleting things to install others for a while 🥲 try FB marketplace sometimes there's good deals on there

[-]

Big-Cantaloupe2737@reddit

Buy a beelink mini PC and buy external GPU dock either occulink or usb4.0 and then you get a power supply and GPU

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Prestigious_Ad_544@reddit

This literally happens with PC parts every few years. Just buy a good pre-build for now or wait until whenever in 2027 the memory/storage prices start coming down again.

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SickOfUrShite@reddit

Micro Center bundles have normal ram prices

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HEBushido@reddit

An 850W PSU is way overkill for that build so you can save money there if you'd like.

I just got this PCIE Gen 5 SSD from Staples for $149.99. It will be faster than the SSD you chose and much cheaper, albeit half capacity. https://www.staples.com/pny-cs2150-1tb-m-2-internal-solid-state-drive-m280cs2150-1tb-tb/product_24646379

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Solve_My_Enigma@reddit

Scoure facebook

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BrinkofEternity@reddit

My first PC was an amalgamation of several generations old used parts sourced from various people. Only spent a few hundred bucks but it was new to me and exciting. Don’t fall into the consumerism trap or FOMO thinking you need the latest and greatest. Just get your foot in the door and worry about upgrading later. You’d be surprised how well old parts can still perform.

[-]

Stingray88@reddit

Buy used parts. You will get significantly more bang for your buck.

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pansexualmuscleman@reddit

You could always buy from eBay either certified refurbished or used by someone else. That’s what I did for my current build and I saved 800 total off of the whole build.

[-]

Virtualization_Freak@reddit

Seriously, get something a few years old.

Save yourself a ton of money. Still able to play multiple decades worth of games. Not stress about current component pricing.

[-]

JamesGecko@reddit

I’d aim for 16GB RAM on a budget. Most games don’t need 32GB, and you can always upgrade later.

[-]

ProMasterBoy@reddit

Or be different and meet in the middle and get 24gb lol

[-]

iApolloDusk@reddit

I'm 26. I've wanted to build a gaming PC since I was 12. I've made do with consoles since then because I either lacked the knowledge to actually build it (which made my parents apprehensive to shell out that kind of money) or I lacked the resources to afford what I actually wanted. After a few years of saving + finally getting a nice job that pays me well, I've been able to make my dream finally come true this January.

It may not be the answer you want to hear, but it just may not be the right time for you. That being said, if you wait as long as I did, you may end up in a position where you can finally afford your dream build, but not really have the time to enjoy it. I'm a strong proponent of "buy once, cry once" rather than buying some cheap garbage you'll want to replace sooner than later. You may just need to persevere and wait for conditions to change if what you want is going to be outside the realm of affordability.

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Fearless-Cause935@reddit

Get a prebuilt, that's the only way.

[-]

horobore@reddit

If your building try a microcenter CPU, motherboard, ram combo. It should save you 400 bucks. Also rip on ssd's. I got mine for 70$ a year ago.

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Hrmerder@reddit

Um.... Wait? How about finding a free/throw away PC and starting there?

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23saround@reddit

Consider buying used parts through /r/hardwareswap, I built my $8k machine for about $2k out of barely used pieces and it’s still running great 10 years later. Just make sure to sus out prices before you start paypaling money.

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

Oh yea and I’m rocking a Lenovo Thinkpad T420 with no mouse or keyboard or moniter I’m living large man

[-]

SpritePepzi@reddit

One thing I can say is check your local Walmarts they’re clearance if a lot of P.C. parts. I picked up the exact 5060ti in your list for $299 usd as well as 16gb of ram for $85 usd just last Saturday . I know that’s a small drop in the bucket but it’s a start. Keep in mind they don’t list clearance prices online and may vary by stor.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

no way $299 that’s a steal

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 x 16 (use x8) Graphics Card RTX 5060 Ti 8G GAMING OC

Is This worth on Walmart for $629.99?

[-]

justlikeapenguin@reddit

Steal or do retail fraud

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

noted.

[-]

breadinabox@reddit

One thing, if you want to be playing games with your friends, you don't need a $2000 2k 144hz monster of a computer.

You can pick up an incredibly enjoyable second-hand 1080p machine for like half the price. Don't fall victim to thinking you need a super power computer just to game with your friends. You're not gonna be chugging along at 20FPS having a bad time if you just get something reasonably priced.

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Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

yea lol might’ve got a little too excited

[-]

vagabond139@reddit

If you are going to buy you would need to do NOW, like within the coming days. Things are about to get worse and not many people are talking about it.

There is a helium shortage going due to our pointless war with Iran. Helium is used to make chips. You can see where this is going. It seems like the shock hasn't traveled entirely through the system yet. I can't say when they are going to start running low on Helium but if things don't resolve soon (not happening) it's going to be soon and for a long time. Over a third of the worlds Helium is produced in the middle east.

I don't want to get political too but this is a political subject. We are threatening their civilian infrastructure and oil production. Iran has said they will basically do MAD (mutually assured destruction) if we follow through. They will target all infrastructure in the region and bring everything to a complete grinding halt. Can't get helium or oil if you destroy the infrastructure for it and rebuilding takes a long time. Not to mention the suffering and the lives lost.

And at the very least it seems like we are about to put boots on the ground and have this become a long drawn conflict. There's no good way out of this war. We are between a rock and a hard place right now. Regardless of the outcome nothing is coming out of the middle east anytime soon and that includes helium.

[-]

Abdulrehman251@reddit (OP)

now uhh 😅 if I can’t afford a pc in the coming days heh…

[-]

AMLRoss@reddit

Yeah it's unfortunate but PC building is no longer a fun hobby. And it's companies like Nvidia and AMD/Intel that are to blame. Greed has made them ignore consumers in favor of data centers for Ai.

Even if this blows over at some point you can bet they will quite happily do the same next time there's a tech boom in some other sector. We simply don't matter to them.

The only way to "punish" this type of greedy behaviour is to stop buying their hardware. Even when prices normalize in the future. Drop it all together as a hobby. It sucks, but they did this. They wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for us. Everyone would just buy consoles.

[-]

CiViCKiDD@reddit

I literally bought a prebuilt and pulled the cpu / ram out for my real build cheaper than I could buy parts separately.

I used the 512GB NVME as a spare drive and need to sell the chassis / psu if I can.

[-]

gayskideren@reddit

Definitely get a 3xd, for gaming they are absolutely amazing. AMD has been killing it with their CPUs. But the the ram issue is fucking sad. And it probably won’t ever return to normal prices.

[-]

StrifeTribal@reddit

OP it sucks because when I was in high school (2000's) and working a minimum wage job for 20 hours a week, I was able to afford my first rig within like 3 or 4 pay cheques on minimum wage. I didn't have to save like crazy either. It wasn't the greatest, but it was essentially what your posting now back in 2005.

I just bought a new PC in late january this year and paid $3500 Canadian for it. I got a 9800X3D, 64GB RAM, 9070 XT, I went all out.

You are trying to get something much cheaper and are essentially paying the same price now. That is absolutely absurd. The RAM is $600 after taxes in Canada, I got 64GB's for $750 Canadian just as the big spike started.

I feel terrible for you buddy. I agree with others though, this is one time where a prebuilt might actually be the cheaper option. Or buying a preowned one. Even something with a 3070,3080 might do you well if the price is sound!

[-]

sky3cabe@reddit

Damn, kinda crazy 1.8k can only get u 5060.

[-]

Ok_Piano_1091@reddit

I just bought an MSI gaming trio 5080 for 1.5k at my local best buy

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Pretty_Bar_1206@reddit

If I were in the market today, Costco prebuilt would be best case scenario. I’m also not as attached to building a I was 10 years ago.

I just want to buy the thing and use it. Don’t really care about customization anymore. Granted I pretty much only use it for Jellyfin and hanging it with the boys.

[-]

LittleWarPiggy@reddit

Hey OP, you could potentially make this build slightly cheaper.

Cheaper Mobo: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xFmNnQ/asrock-b650m-hm2-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-hm2

I use this mobo with a Ryzen 7 7700 and 9070 XT. Built my PC almost a year ago, no issues so far.

And I’m sure you can find a cheaper case as well. I know it might not be ideal but if you’re on a budget that might be the way to go

[-]

psychobear5150@reddit

I mean if I were in your shoes I would probably just save my money for awhile. Eventually you'll be able to afford the build. You'll either have enough just from saving or you have enough because prices come down.

[-]

Tgrove88@reddit

If you're in usa you should be buying ram and storage off ebay. You can save over $400 off that build . prices are still somewhat normal on eBay

Not saying get this but just an example

https://ebay.us/m/vF1etk

[-]

Xenoryzen_Dragon@reddit

steam deck lcd 64gb or other cheap gaming pc handheld + external egpu

[-]

n3tninja1@reddit

Buy prebuilt or just buy used, it’s not as bad as you think and there are a lot of good viable used hardware out there :) .

[-]

Complex_Net_3692@reddit

Look for ddr4 green ram, I can get 32gb for just over 100

[-]

Pale-Conference-5838@reddit

Where are you located ?

[-]

KingHashBrown420@reddit

Just get 16gb of ram, only cost me £200, still very expensive but still affordable aswell

[-]

DrSauron@reddit

dont build - wait - the AI bubble is looking bad right now and could go at anytime

[-]

Material-Humor304@reddit

Just punch your budget into ChatGPT and what you are looking for and ask it to find you a reasonable build. You will get there

[-]

crxptrxp@reddit

buy off ebay, people do to crazy discounts just to get rid of their pc‘s.

[-]

weoutlol@reddit

Even if RAM was cheaper this PC would still have cost you a bunch. If you want to go cheaper, don't build a white PC with a ton of RGB. White parts are usually more expensive.

[-]

ariesasr1@reddit

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fbTV6B

This was my pc I built in June 2025 it originally cost 3.4k ish to build its now 4.4k stinks

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LordTulakHord@reddit

Well given enough time and dedication you can find anything. Just because "pc broken" doesn't mean the whole thinf is a waste. Collect parts till it works! Too big to fail

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drama__@reddit

This is not the end of consumer PCs. Its the end of inexperienced builders building affordable PCs. You need to talk with an actual knowledgeable and economically efficient builder. You're wasting a lot of money with that build list of your intention is to only play games. Take it from me, I do commission budget builds and have 100s of builds under my belt. I'm ready for the common redditor to tell me that the build list I am providing you is terrible, but this plays tarkov on max settings, 2k, 120 FPS+

-RTX 3070 Ti (get used on Facebook marketplace, but be sure you see it work before you buy. A fair price is anywhere between $200-275. Be patient, I consistently buy them at $200). -5700x/5800x pairs well with this and I believe they are just under $200 new. Feel free to buy this used but inspect physical condition closely. If physically it is undamaged, 99% chance it works fine. CPUs are extremely difficult to break. -32 GB DDR4 ≥3200 MHz. This can be sketchy to buy used unless you can see a system boot with it beforehand. Usually impossible to tell, physically, if it's bad. But I have bought a ton of ddr4 sight unseen recently, and all of them work fine. -2TB storage is really all you'll ever need, feel free to break this up as 500gb/1.5 tb for boot/media but I wouldn't go 1tb/1tb as you'll have way too much space on your boot drive being unused (waste). Skip the SATA M.2, get an NVME. Google how to tell the difference physically, it's pretty easy. -750W PSU will power this perfectly fine, just don't buy a chineseum PSU off Amazon. Do a little bit of research before buying and find a reputable brand. B350M, B450M, etc. Motherboard isn't really that deep. Just for an inexperienced builder, I'd just avoid a bios update by getting one that is compatible with your CPU out of the box. -Case, whatever motherboard you get, make sure the case supports its size. You can look up mATX, ATX size comparison charts for all available motherboard sizes on Google images. -Cooler, you can literally use the stock cooler. Yes AIOs are cool and all, but you can do that in the future. Stock cooler will perform perfectly fine.

A PC like this, if you're crafty with sourcing parts, shouldn't cost you any more than like $800. I've built excessively over this build list at $800 before.

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StreetRomanescoBrocc@reddit

Cool parts list

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StreetRomanescoBrocc@reddit

You say you've been wanting PC for years... I'd expect you have some kind of nice little nest egg saved up. Just keep saving! Gaming isn't going anywhere.

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definitlyitsbutter@reddit

two strategies:

Get a Preuilt or go DDR4.

16GB DDR4 are still 50-60€ used. Get AM4 used (so b550+5700X) and Mobo+Ram+CPU cost you 250 maybe. 2x1Tb SSD for 150, 850w PSU for 100 and with the remaining money you get a cheap 20 bucks case, are now at 500€ ish, buy for 660€ a 9070xt.

Now you are 1200€ in and have a great 1440p 120hz experience...

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sharpnesz@reddit

I am also building a PC and due to this RAMpocalypse for $4000 i can barely build RTX 5080 bcz RAM are insane and prices of Graphic cards are ass like a 5090 cost $5000 alone in my country broo we are cooeked

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No_Spare1827@reddit

too be fair u are paying $200 more for an SSD that is DRAMless and provides no benefit over like a Crucial P310 for $210

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VWLupo@reddit

My best advice? Buy 2nd hand where possible... I, too am in the same situation.

I was planning a build last year but life happened! So my only choice is to buy now or wait. Luckily for me I've already got an older build (AM4) but I really want to make the move to AM5 and will sell my old pc to fund the new one.

All the best

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SaveJeanie@reddit

I just put together what I consider to be a better PC for $1,382. I only care about price/performance.

I won't post the build, but I did pick a Mobo with four ram slots so I can take it to 64GB someday, and a 16GB 9060XT.

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cuteman@reddit

Ram Alone 2-3 years ago was max $100 but it’s almost 400% the price before

your own link to PC part picker going back 2 years shows a lowest price of $186

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imonlywordss@reddit

Check to see if you have a Microcenter near enough for you.

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nitrogenlegend@reddit

Yep. The cpu/mobo/ram combos make building a pc actually feasible. Otherwise building anything right now just doesn’t make sense. Even used part prices are insane.

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TaeyeonFTW@reddit

If you can’t afford link how can you afford neuralink

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RyzingThunder@reddit

Microcenter has this bundle for sale right now and it’s a really good deal, comes with CPU, Motherboard, and 32 GB of ram (2x16) for $580. I just grabbed it for myself cause I’ve been wanting to upgrade

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007338/amd-ryzen-7-9700x,-gigabyte-b650-gaming-x-ax-v2-am5,-corsair-vengeance-rgb-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle

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BrianElsen@reddit

Your intuition is semi-correct: pc building is turning into a rich person's game, but not omly because big AI is sucking up most the resources. Its also due to the pivot large businesses can make now thanks to cloud compute and high bandwidth internet. Subscription based gaming will dominate this next decade. The only people using PC's will be very niche working professionals who will pay for hardware like it was a 2nd car.

Go find a nice used PC, there are plenty. I recommend a 4070 build under 1k

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AmphibianOk6015@reddit

If you really need one right now just go for pre built and the next couple year upgrade the parts that you want. Ram prices are just outrageous.

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Kingcarlo08@reddit

I've got myself a Legion GO with a 9070XT Sapphire Pulse paired eith AG02 last year. Can play most AAA games apart from CPU intensive ones. £400 for the handheld £500 for the gpu and £180 for the dock. One way to spend less and once price goes down you can grab the GPU put it in actual pc.

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Oflameo@reddit

Suck it up! PCs are still far cheaper now then when they first came out in the 1980s and over a thousand times more powerful.

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Ok_Mousse_6554@reddit

9080x3d and 5070ti for 17-1800 currently. Not going to get much better for normal gaming

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Ill_Difference_4039@reddit

5060ti 8gb in an almost 2k dollars PC is crazy, please don't do that, either rebalance the budget or just save more money for something better, if you dont care about nvidia specifically, you can add 150 dollars and get a 9070 and it would be in a whole different universe, if you want to stay on nvidia, you can get a 5070 for an extra 100 dollars, they would both last your for a long time and you can play whatever you want max settings ( with a few exceptions )

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sky3cabe@reddit

I think u could Def get away with Am4 and maybe 16gb of ram instead of 32. I actually build mine last months, 5600, 16gb ram, with rtx 5070 on mini itx case n that's around 1.1k.

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Summer4Chan@reddit

Do prebuilts still come with weird proprietary PSU's / Cases?

I dont really look at them / check them out but might make upgrading an issue, no?

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sky3cabe@reddit

Oh yeah every part new except ram, it's around 80 bucks used if I remember correctly but it's been working great so far.

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X3m9X@reddit

If you really want to buy a ddr5 ram pc build, just buy 1 stick of 16gb of ram and buy the other stick once you have enough money/when the price goes down (hopefully). 16gb is enough for gaming + discord based on my experience. Just dont open too many apps in the background.

Also, looking at your list, you are clearly looking for aesthetics on top since everything is white. You can save alot of money if you aim for cheaper parts (like your mobo for example).

And idk what stuff you are storing in a 2tb drive. Unless you are doing productivity work, you can make 1tb work if its just for gaming.

But yes i do agree currently its stupidly expensive to buy parts as of now but reality is that it is what it is. You gotta make do with what you can.

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TheBlackWzrd@reddit

That’s how much I paid in 2016 for a “future proof” pc, the future advanced too fast and slowly built mine up from 1080p 60hz to 1440p 200hz QHED in 10 years. My 2016 build went through a lot but the only thing that died on me was the psu and motherboard.

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Nyx_Zorya@reddit

Yeah. I'll be on my last build with DDR4 and an i7 12700k for a lonnnnng time.

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_aaronroni_@reddit

Honestly yo, I built my PC back in 2017 and my price tag was right around yours. And that was with a 970ti. And it's still rocking pretty good.

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k_manweiss@reddit

It's bad, but you can do better than your build.

Your processor, mobo, and ram are 868. If you can hit up a microcenter you can grab a 9700x combo with mobo and 32gb ram for $550, or for $600 you can get a 7800x3d bundle with mobo and 32gb ram. Both of those options are cheaper and better for gaming. That shaves $270 to $320 from your budget. If you need to stick with your white theme, the 9700x has a $20 upgrade to a white mobo.

you can get a corsair 750 (80 gold) full modular psu for 80. This saves you another $55.

For 275 you could get a patriot 1tb m.2 and a PNY SSD. That shaves off another $125. It's also very easy to upgrade this later when prices return to normal. Save another $55 and just get a 2tb SSD and wait for prices to drop to normal.

I shaved $450 off right there and you have better performance. You could make a few other sacrifices too. I'd probably suggest a 1080p monitor over a 2k. I'd consider a 5050 also. Save $150. Either way you are going to be feeling the limit of those cards in a few years and will want to upgrade. This way you save some money now and get gaming for less.

If you stop worrying about aesthetics, you can actually build pretty decent machines for even less.

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cool_slowbro@reddit

At this point, if I was on a tight budget I'd get the cheapest single stick of 16GB ram. I'd also go for a cheaper case, there's a handful of solid options.

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T0ADisMe@reddit

The used market is your best bet, you also need to be willing to accept some lower end gear (not to say it isn’t gonna be more than sufficient for gaming). For example I’m not sure how expensive the monitor you had in your pcpartpicker was as it doesn’t seem to have price history data (and I’ve never heard of the brand) but you can get 1080p 144hz monitors for ~$100 these days from name brands, not to mention the fact that you’ll see much better performance with something like that 5060ti at 1080p.

Like others have said look out for prebuilt deals or people looking to get rid of their old parts on facebook, and keep an eye out for any clearance deals at stores (they sell out quick but I know staples here in Canada has been selling some Acer Nitro prebuilts that are a couple years old for cheap online).

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Rascal2pt0@reddit

I folded and bought a Costco prebuilt. I was already over the equivalent parts after plugging in the cpu, ram and MB into parts picker.

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LNMagic@reddit

You can sometimes get a perfectly fine computer by looking at companies that sell used enterprise gear.

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Kyle_Gates@reddit

If they are an option, the Microcenter CPU/Mobo/RAM bundles bring pricing down some.

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4funplayer1@reddit

I bought a used one. Still paid heavy, and it was certainly a risk since you can never be sure, but saved around 500$ compared to new + got good peripherals. Bought it a few weeks ago. Prices are just so nuts man its brtual

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Opposite-Play-9638@reddit

If you are on a budget, why not go with an AM4 build with DDR4 RAM? DDR4 is still extremely capable, and DDR5 is way more expensive for not much so much added performance. I get it if you're trying to future-proof your build, but DDR4 will be plenty capable for a good while longer. Would save you a lot of money, or allow you to afford a better GPU/CPU, which would give you a better gaming experience IMO.

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Academic_Weaponry@reddit

if ur location allows fb market place is op for this. as pthers have said am4/the equivalent for intel is fine. upgrade as u go and scour fb market place for upgrades over time, usually can fond rly good deals from people just trying to offload old stuff lol. when i forst moved to texas from philly 2yrs agoi wanted to build a pc bc my old one was severely outdated, so i got a used pc with 8700k + 16gb ram and a 970ti for like $350 they also threw in some extra ram for free lol. the gpu died on me after a year so i got a 1660 for $80 and they threw in a 1080 w it for free lol. couple months ago i sold both and got a 8700xtx gpu new on a good deal. im pretty cpu bottlenecked so i just dellided and overclocked my cpu and upgraded cooling all for like $25 and it got me like 10-15% more frames on cpu bound games. i get 144fps + on all comp games i play and 60+ easy on most like single player games w max graphics

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DirDox@reddit

It's way cheaper in other countries. Buy parts on vacation if that's a possibility.

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TumblrInGarbage@reddit

How many hours do you play a week? How many a month? How good is your upload / download? What types of games do you play?

I am asking this because now more than ever something like GeForce NOW could be worth considering (at least until prices return to something resembling "normal"), but that is very context dependent.

Even if you decide their somewhat limited (imo) 100 hr of monthly gametime works for your needs, your connection might not be good enough. Or the games you play might have too much of a delay. For most competitive games, people do not accept the latency with GFN.

Old prebuilts or a used computer would be your best bet in the likely chance that cloud gaming cannot work for you, as everybody else said. I just wanted to point out there's a potential gamble for waiting things out.

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Born_Bad_1294@reddit

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/GrKGGk

Take a look.

https://youtu.be/LcBkDiU5Low?si=Lhy9PIn23iPyy9uj

This is the gaming performance you can expect

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Sephoyy@reddit

You don't need to buy brand new depending on your location buying on marketplace should be the better option.

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AdstaOCE@reddit

No, no and no. https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/L7VCbp could use the extra couple hundred in savings to go while for every component if you really want, or to go for a 9070 instead.