PC gaming is expensive man.. holy cow.. $1728~ for this?

[Zeze]

I'm on my aging yet very snappy i7-3770 / 16gigs DDR3 / 1060 6gb.

Hey, I'm not a broke kid in my 20s/30s anymore. I should treat myself to a nice rig I told myself. So I came up with a budget-conscious yet a fighter rig.

27"~ 1440p 144hz monitor = $200 on sale I just saw
i5-12600K best rated non-premium cpu = $275
Motherboard $150~
64gigs DDR4 3600mhz = $200 (wtf cheap for 2 x 32)
GPU $400 budget to match above (3070 soon?) = $400
1-2 TB SSD = $150
New case for once = $120
750W Power supply = $125
Use existing headset
Use existing KB+M
Free Win11 upgrade

THAT'S A MOTHERLOVIN' $1620...

$1728.05 AFTER TAXES.

Holy cow.. And $1728.05 doesn't even get you top tier gaming. 3070 is a yesteryear GPU and it's a middle-tier in its line-up. The CPU isn't even close to top tier.

PS5 Pro will look mighty tempting at just $500 + $70 extra controller on my 85" 4K TV with HDR and a cozy sectional.

 

[Zeze]

I forgot powersupply lmao. $125~ for 750W

 

[OlyAR15]

Uh, OK?
You don't need 64GB for games. You don't even need 32.
A good monitor will last years, far longer than your PC. Or you can just hook it up to your tv like a console.
Also, this should have been posted under the computer building subforum. This forum is for the games themselves.

 

[repoman0]

How is this news to you with a 2011 registration date? Consoles are cheaper than PCs, welcome to the 1990s.

 

[nakedfrog]

You're just spoiled by your expectations from a golden era when you could build a capable gaming PC for less, those days are gone. Having a good PC was always expensive though, there was just a while when you could still do pretty well for less.
As mentioned, you don't need 64GB of RAM, and you don't even need a 1-2TB SSD, and you shouldn't really be including the monitor in the PC build price.

https://pcpartpicker.com/

You've essentially put together the "enthusiast AMD" build from there.

 

[JTsyo]

Don't worry you'll make it back with Steam sales

 

[KMFJD]

i think the first pc i bought for myself was around $2000 back in like 96-97'ish , used to take a long time to get $2000 back then compared to now

 

[igor_kavinski]

Consoles are cheaper than PCs, welcome to the 1990s.

Yup. They always have been. PCs were meant primarily for work. Parents bought PCs to work on it themselves and thought it would be a good idea to let their kids learn to work them too. At the same time, developers experimented with the graphics capabilities of the video cards and so an entire gaming industry was born. If my dad had known how much I would get into gaming because of our first PC, he would have never bought it. He sees gaming as a complete waste of time and to this day, is disappointed that I turned out "bad"

I, on the other hand, can't imagine a reality without games. It would be so terribly boring!

 

[igor_kavinski]

Holy cow.

Nothing's stopping you from picking up a used Ryzen 1700X with a new soon to be pretty cheap RX 6600. It would still be a huge upgrade over your PC and you would save a boatload of money. And when 5800X3D goes on firesale, upgrade to that on the same mobo and instantly get catapulted to "better than Zen 4/12900K" gaming performance.

 

[Oyeve]

Bah! I paid $2000 just for a 200 meg (MEG!) HD for my Compaq Desktop Pro 386 back in 1987.

 

[KMFJD]

I believe i payed something like 800 for my c64 monitor and disk drive back in 86ish , that took me months of after school work

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The thread is directly related to PC gaming, since the OP is experiencing sticker shock in what it cost to build a good 1440 gamer v. console. It will get moved if someone has a problem with it, whatev.

The couch gaming point has been moot for years now. I spend more time recliner PC gaming than at the desk. My son gave me one of his 165MHz 27" so I have been doing my first high refresh gaming or I'd spend even less time at the desk.

That build is overpriced, but people want what they want. If you are doing the champagne taste beer budget thing though, you're gonna have a bad time.

If you have a big PC library a PS5 doesn't help you any.

 

[BudAshes]

I'm on my aging yet very snappy i7-3770 / 16gigs DDR3 / 1060 6gb.

Hey, I'm not a broke kid in my 20s/30s anymore. I should treat myself to a nice rig I told myself. So I came up with a budget-conscious yet a fighter rig.

27"~ 1440p 144hz monitor = $200 on sale I just saw
i5-12600K best rated non-premium cpu = $275
Motherboard $150~
64gigs DDR4 3600mhz = $200 (wtf cheap for 2 x 32)
GPU $400 budget to match above (3070 soon?) = $400
1-2 TB SSD = $150
New case for once = $120
750W Power supply = $125
Use existing headset
Use existing KB+M
Free Win11 upgrade

THAT'S A MOTHERLOVIN' $1620...

$1728.05 AFTER TAXES.

Holy cow.. And $1728.05 doesn't even get you top tier gaming. 3070 is a yesteryear GPU and it's a middle-tier in its line-up. The CPU isn't even close to top tier.

PS5 Pro will look mighty tempting at just $500 + $70 extra controller on my 85" 4K TV with HDR and a cozy sectional.

I have both and my PS5 just sits with dust on it and we use it to play old DVDs occasionally. That being said I have a 3500 dollar PC and I've just been playing Hereos Of Might and Magic III HD edition for the last couple weeks because old games are the best.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yeah new prices are pretty nuts.

I've largely done really well for myself with used parts (rounded prices after shipping and tax):

Gigabyte Aorus Master B550 - $100
AMD 5800x3D - $300
MSI Ventus 3x 3080 10G OC LHR (Is very likely a bad part, but returnable) - $350
Seasonic GX1000 PSU - $100
Corsair 5000d Mid Tower Case - $100
NZXT X73 Kraken AIO Cooler - $100

Bringing forward:
32GB DDR4 3000 CL 16 Ram (not great ram, but mitigated by the X3D)
2 x 1 TB NVME drives

Jury is out on the 3080 in this build, its being funky and we'll see if a different PSU solves the problem (Corsair 1000RMx) and if it ends up really being a dud I don't know if I want to go back to eBay for a 6900XT or if I should just buy new and call it a day (stuff is still not cheap enough though).

The rest of the parts are solid, generally lightly used, aesthetically OK, and much much cheaper than their new variants with only 1-2 years of miles on them.

~$1100 for a monster build that will last me for the next 5 years. I might end up at $1300 or something if I go with a brand new card, but still dirt cheap if its amortized over the years it will kick ass and take names.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I have both and my PS5 just sits with dust on it and we use it to play old DVDs occasionally.

At least get some cheap UHD Blurays on sale, particularly those that have been created from 4K digital intermediates. "The Dark Knight" is downscaled to 4K from 6K DI. Interstellar is another good one.

You can verify if a UHD Bluray is real 4K derived from a 4K DI from here: Flicks and specs - STACK's 4K Ultra HD specifications guide - STACK | JB Hi-Fi

The picture quality is beyond awesome. You do need a proper OLED or Full Array Local Dimming HDR TV or monitor for the best experience, though.

Those old DVDs, keep them for sentimental reasons if you want but if there's a UHD version available, do yourself a huge favor and BUY!

 

[sdifox]

Op probably still have a Computer Shopper magazine subscription. Yes, I know it went out of business but not the op.

 

[AdamK47]

I'm on my aging yet very snappy i7-3770 / 16gigs DDR3 / 1060 6gb.

Hey, I'm not a broke kid in my 20s/30s anymore. I should treat myself to a nice rig I told myself. So I came up with a budget-conscious yet a fighter rig.

27"~ 1440p 144hz monitor = $200 on sale I just saw
i5-12600K best rated non-premium cpu = $275
Motherboard $150~
64gigs DDR4 3600mhz = $200 (wtf cheap for 2 x 32)
GPU $400 budget to match above (3070 soon?) = $400
1-2 TB SSD = $150
New case for once = $120
750W Power supply = $125
Use existing headset
Use existing KB+M
Free Win11 upgrade

THAT'S A MOTHERLOVIN' $1620...

$1728.05 AFTER TAXES.

Holy cow.. And $1728.05 doesn't even get you top tier gaming. 3070 is a yesteryear GPU and it's a middle-tier in its line-up. The CPU isn't even close to top tier.

PS5 Pro will look mighty tempting at just $500 + $70 extra controller on my 85" 4K TV with HDR and a cozy sectional.

Just looked at my bank statement. Spent $1806 at Micro Center on Tuesday for two parts. AMD Ryzen 7950X CPU and an Asus X670E Crosshair Extreme motherboard.

Nvidia will release the 4090 soon. Going to be getting one of those.

 

[DasFox]

1. Unless your pockets are deep, or you have zero patience, wait!

2. In regards to #1, when you buy the latest, you are an early adopter.

3. In regards to #3, wait for hardware to get bios/firmware, bug fixes updates. Wait till hardware becomes more stable.

4. It’s best to wait 6 months to 1 year!

5. You wait, you won’t be paying such an expensive premium, otherwise, sure, prices for the latest is insane, if you want a high performance rig.

Oh, and depending on how bad demand is, keeping prices inflated, I’ll wait for most new parts released, two years before I buy them.

I just bought a EVGA FTW Ultra 3080 in May, is any gamer going to really complain about owning this 3080 now... LOL 😆

P.S. Rest in peace EVGA!

 

[Mai72]

Everything is expensive today. EVERYTHING. Not just gaming.

I bought groceries. That includes home stuff like windex, bleach, paper towels. I'm a single guy: $110 for the week.
Do you want to buy a home in my area, NJ: $600k minimum.
A new car: $40- 60k
A decent used car: $10- 15k.
Gasoline: $4.65 a gallon

I just bought a gaming laptop. The Asus Zephyrus (2022) G15 with the new AMD Ryzen9 6900HS, and a Geforce RTX 3080 for a little under $2k. I also will be updating the harddrive with a 2tb, and a 16mb ddr5 stick. That is another $300 added to the total. Its expensive. Laptop gaming can be expensieve, but I don't mind the cost. This will be my daily driver for the next 3-5 years. I should be good because I'm not constantly playing new and demanding titles. And, I believe that I shouldn't have an issue anyway with new titles, because I don't need or have the desire to play in 4k. I love video game graphics but they have diminishing returns the longer you play a title. If I can get a game to look good at a high enough resolution and maintian 60 fps I'm good. I don't need every game to run at 200fps at 4k. In the end, if I can get 3-5 years from this laptop I'll be extremely happy with my purchase. And for me, it will be worth the (kinda) hefty price tag. I've seen gaming laptops go for $3k plus. Now that is expensive...

 

[Mai72]

1. Unless your pockets are deep, or you have zero patience, wait!

2. In regards to #1, when you buy the latest, you are an early adopter.

3. In regards to #3, wait for hardware to get bios/firmware, bug fixes updates. Wait till hardware becomes more stable.

4. It’s best to wait 6 months to 1 year!

5. You wait, you won’t be paying such an expensive premium, otherwise, sure, prices for the latest is insane, if you want a high performance rig.

Oh, and depending on how bad demand is, keeping prices inflated, I’ll wait for most new parts released, two years before I buy them.

I just bought a EVGA FTW Ultra 3080 in May, is any gamer going to really complain about owning this 3080 now... LOL 😆

P.S. Rest in peace EVGA!

Yea. I'm not a fan when it comes to waiting for new tech. Unless the wait is a month. That new graphics card will be overshadowed by a newer and faster graphics card. Its a losing battle. This is also why I'll wait 3 years to upgrade my phone. The difference from last year to the next year is just too small, and you won't notice a huge difference. I feel its the same with computer technology. A 3080 should last a few years easily.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yeah new prices are pretty nuts.

I've largely done really well for myself with used parts (rounded prices after shipping and tax):

Gigabyte Aorus Master B550 - $100
AMD 5800x3D - $300
MSI Ventus 3x 3080 10G OC LHR (Is very likely a bad part, but returnable) - $350
Seasonic GX1000 PSU - $100
Corsair 5000d Mid Tower Case - $100
NZXT X73 Kraken AIO Cooler - $100

Bringing forward:
32GB DDR4 3000 CL 16 Ram (not great ram, but mitigated by the X3D)
2 x 1 TB NVME drives

Jury is out on the 3080 in this build, its being funky and we'll see if a different PSU solves the problem (Corsair 1000RMx) and if it ends up really being a dud I don't know if I want to go back to eBay for a 6900XT or if I should just buy new and call it a day (stuff is still not cheap enough though).

The rest of the parts are solid, generally lightly used, aesthetically OK, and much much cheaper than their new variants with only 1-2 years of miles on them.

~$1100 for a monster build that will last me for the next 5 years. I might end up at $1300 or something if I go with a brand new card, but still dirt cheap if its amortized over the years it will kick ass and take names.

- Ok, 3080 was a dud. Picked up a used 6800xt for $450 all in, which bumps up the total price of the system to ~$1100 for a monster system that will last several years (barring part failures).

Just gotta be smart, scrimp a little bit, hunt for deals, and skip that Avacado Toast youngster

 

[Hotrod2go]

The OP estimation of $1728.05 all up is not that dear depending on how long the user plans on keeping the rig?
Cost is a question of relevance.
You get a console & your stuck with that hardware, period. At least with a PC build you can swap in & out components to upgrade as you see fit.
The flexibility of PC building is the gift that keeps on giving, something to consider...

 

[Aikouka]

I've never been a huge fan of PC vs. console debates, because I find that they tend to hyperfocus on gaming while ignoring everything else. Honestly, a lot of what I do on my PC isn't gaming, and I strongly prefer using it -- even on a TV in my living room -- because I find that the functionality provided through a PC is just far superior to the app-centric design used in consoles. That doesn't mean that I don't use consoles too as I've got nothing against 'em. I just consider it a matter of using the right tool (in my opinion) for the job.

 

[DigDog]

i think there's a major mistake of thinking in the OP.

you are adding two separate costs to come up with 1700 freedombucks - the rig, and the "permanent stuff", which is to say, the case and PSU.
Both case and PSU, bought today, can easily be expected to live 15 years. You should not factor in those in your budget.

I mean, OBVIOUSLY if you have zero PC stuff, and need to start from scratch, then yeah, you would need to spend that much.

for instance, i bought my GPU 2 years ago, and it's not getting upgraded for another 2-3 years at least. The new mobo + CPU (last gen too, 5600x) is going to stay in the rig for easily 5 years. i got 16Gb and 1x 500Gb SSD - dont need more when i can just delete & download as a i please. (TBH i have a spare 1Tb SSD that i magically came to own for basically no money)

 

[aigomorla]

I think that total price doesn't even cover my 3090 /w waterblock alone.

Gaming PC's are expensive.
But then i saw how much a ThreadRipper Pro 5000 system with a mid level CPU, and 8 sticks of ram would cost, and realized, non HEDT gaming systems aren't so bad after all.

Im getting ready to get wrecked wallet wise on next gen HEDT along with a 4090 + waterblock.
But im still waiting on that darn samsung Odyssey Arc to drop to around 2200ish.... which i highly doubt, but will wait it out til cyber monday if i have to.