Prebuilt PCs

[Banshee7]

What do y'all think about buying prebuilt PCs?  I'm in the market for an upgrade, and I have never built a PC before.  So the pros (for me) would be it's already assembled, AND I wouldn't have to drop the cash all at once.  I don't really have anyone close that I trust to help build a PC either, so all of my help would come from online.  Just picking your brains and seeking advice!

<S>

[Eagler]

I have upgraded my original 286 from 1993 to the i7 I have today...never bought a built desktop

I found building them enjoyable over the years .. for the wife and both sons too

What are you upgrading from to?

Eagler

[Banshee7]

What are you upgrading from to?

I bought a secondhand PC with an i5-9400 and a 2070 Super back in 2020.  I don't know what I want to upgrade to.  I've been shopping around.  I just want something with decent performance and longevity.  My PC bottlenecks so bad in other games (I'm assuming because of the CPU).  I would just upgrade that, but I'd have to update the motherboard, too.  Which honestly would still be cheaper.

[Animl-AW]

There is some pride, fun, and learning that goes with building your own. Ya really become one with it. Motherboard and power supply will dictate what you can do with it, leaving room to upgrade it in the future.

Selection of case, MB, power supply and cooling. The rest is pretty easy.

People in the Hardware forum are usually more than willing to help you. Very knowledgeable ppl.

Its a personal choice. Not everyone is into it. Until recently, lack of time, I always built my own, since late 80s.

[The Fugitive]

I know people who have used both cyberpowerpc and digitalstorm with out issues.

Both build to your spec or one of their main sets, test, and warranty their computers. I think both offer online/phone tech service just incase you have questions or need help once you get it.

Also, building your own isnt that tough. Go to a site like Part Picker and pick the parts you want. It will even help you "match" parts so you only get stuff that works together. It will also recommend the powersupply due to the power draw of your parts. Post the list here on the boards for more info from the tech heads here who have built many a box.

Good Luck!

[Spikes]

I bought a secondhand PC with an i5-9400 and a 2070 Super back in 2020.  I don't know what I want to upgrade to.  I've been shopping around.  I just want something with decent performance and longevity.  My PC bottlenecks so bad in other games (I'm assuming because of the CPU).  I would just upgrade that, but I'd have to update the motherboard, too.  Which honestly would still be cheaper.

Can you give your motherboard model? Also how much RAM do you have?

[Banshee7]

Can you give your motherboard model? Also how much RAM do you have?

To my knowledge:  MSI Z390-A PRO motherboard and 16GB of DDR4 RAM 3000MHz

These are based off the screenshot I have from when I bought the PC from someone.  I can double check when I get home.

Actually just sent you that screenshot on FB messenger

[The Fugitive]

type "run" in the windows search bar(lower left of your main screen), and click run.
in that window type msinfo32 hit ok
about halfway down the "System Summery" list find "BaseBoard xxx" should be 3 of them, Mother board manufacturer, product, and version.

for ram,

type cmd in search bar and click command prompt
in that window type wmic MemoryChip get

this will show you what ram you have in each slot and a part number to check more info on the ram.

[Bizman]

I bought a secondhand PC with an i5-9400 and a 2070 Super back in 2020.  I don't know what I want to upgrade to.  I've been shopping around.  I just want something with decent performance and longevity.  My PC bottlenecks so bad in other games (I'm assuming because of the CPU).  I would just upgrade that, but I'd have to update the motherboard, too.  Which honestly would still be cheaper.

That CPU doesn't sound too bad to me, 2.9 GHz base frequency should be plenty good enough for most games as should the 2070 Super. With 16 GB of RAM you should be golden. That said,  getting a used i5 9600k might be an inexpensive upgrade especially if you can sell the current one.

Then again, you didn't actually tell how you struggle. If you have problems with FullHD at 60Hz it's most likely something hampering your system. But if your issue is in getting less than 144 FPS on a 4K monitor we're talking about lack of oomph.

[AKIron]

Lot sales going on right now. Some good deals. I'd stick with Nvidia for the GPU. Less difference between Intel and AMD CPU.

https://www.pcgamer.com/best-cheap-gaming-pc/

[Banshee7]

Then again, you didn't actually tell how you struggle. If you have problems with FullHD at 60Hz it's most likely something hampering your system. But if your issue is in getting less than 144 FPS on a 4K monitor we're talking about lack of oomph.

Aces High it typically runs fine maxed settings.  Call of Duty (which is CPU intensive), I have to run lowest settings possible to get maybe 60FPS on Warzone and around 100 on small map multiplayer.  I've even struggled with games like Minecraft if I run a texture pack.  Farming simulator I can see small stutters in FPS as well, but it's not constant.  Just depends on the atmosphere around me.  I was telling Spikes that I read up a little on my CPU, and it seems like that CPU specifically is just crap.  I didn't think my GPU (2070 Super) wasn't much of an issue, but it's frustrating hearing my friends' performance with older GPUs.  I'm only running on a 1080p monitor.

I'm also wanting to upgrade to something that's going to easily last me the next 4-5 years.  I know games and graphics are just going to get better and better, leaving my rig behind.  I wanna be able to try games like DCS or MSFS and actually enjoy the scenery, since that's a big draw point of those games.

[Bizman]

I took a quick look at a comparison benchmark between the i5-9600K and the latest i5-14600K. The latter is about 30% more powerful but looking at the base clock it's not that obvious. I guess the benchmark compares turbo speed rather than a prolonged session. But you're going to be gaming for hours instead a two-minute benchmark run! Your i5-9400 running at 2.9 GHz obviously has to work even harder but is it the actual bottleneck?

One thing that comes into mind with your CPU is thermal throttling. A hard working CPU gets hot and to prevent burning it the system slows it down. A stock cooler is for office use only, it can't cool down a CPU running at full speed. Liquid cooling is the most effective but I'm an air guy... A decent tower cooler with a large fan should keep a standard system cool enough given that there's sufficient air flow inside the case and that the room temperature isn't close to body temperature to start with.

I would like to know the CPU temps during a session of CoD or Warzone. There's tools like HwMonitor that will show not only show the current values but also mins and maxes. https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.53.zip Thus you can let it run in the background during a game and potentially even Alt-Tab to view it when you notice a decrease in performance.

[Eagler]

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883360507?Item=N82E16883360507&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=promo&utm_campaign=EMC-Automation042924-USA-_-EMC-042924-Index-_-GamingDesktops-_-N82E16883360507-_-USA_PromoEmail_20240429_01&ignorebbr=1&cm_mmc=EMC-Automation042924-USA-_-EMC-042924-Index-_-GamingDesktops-_-N82E16883360507-_-USA_PromoEmail_20240429_01&ignorebbr=1&cvtc=21411982

Don't know anything about the builder but the price doesn't look bad for what you get..

Eagler

[AKIron]

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883360507?Item=N82E16883360507&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=promo&utm_campaign=EMC-Automation042924-USA-_-EMC-042924-Index-_-GamingDesktops-_-N82E16883360507-_-USA_PromoEmail_20240429_01&ignorebbr=1&cm_mmc=EMC-Automation042924-USA-_-EMC-042924-Index-_-GamingDesktops-_-N82E16883360507-_-USA_PromoEmail_20240429_01&ignorebbr=1&cvtc=21411982

Don't know anything about the builder but the price doesn't look bad for what you get..

Eagler

I agree, good price.

[Banshee7]

One thing that comes into mind with your CPU is thermal throttling. A hard working CPU gets hot and to prevent burning it the system slows it down. A stock cooler is for office use only, it can't cool down a CPU running at full speed. Liquid cooling is the most effective but I'm an air guy... A decent tower cooler with a large fan should keep a standard system cool enough given that there's sufficient air flow inside the case and that the room temperature isn't close to body temperature to start with.

I would like to know the CPU temps during a session of CoD or Warzone. There's tools like HwMonitor that will show not only show the current values but also mins and maxes. https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.53.zip Thus you can let it run in the background during a game and potentially even Alt-Tab to view it when you notice a decrease in performance.

I have a liquid cooler.  My CPU usually ran around 70-72 degrees.  I haven't played CoD in about 3 months or so.  I may boot it up for a test run.