Top of the Line For $1,000?

[Dadtallica]

We are looking to upgrade my sons pc to something newer. Right now he has alienware Aurora R7 that we have added memory and upped the video card.

Can we find him a better rig for $1K? Can be custom built or off the shelf but would want to stay at the G. Figured this group could give me the straight dope and some recommendations. 

Btw… once we get him a new one, I get the old one to upgrade my AH experience lol. I play on an office hp laptop now and vr doesn’t work on it.

[Spikes]

Generally speaking, for top of the line, no. I'd say $1500 minimum to get a current gen high end system. That would not be top of the line - because a 4090 alone is like $1600 (very overpriced, but 'the best').

Here is a list I threw together quickly:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yGGrJM

I'm sure someone could min/max this a bit better, I am not on the up-and-up of current gen PC hardware. Just threw it together in a few minutes. For example, the price-per-performance of the 4000 series Nvidias is worse than that of the 3000 series.

[Dadtallica]

Generally speaking, for top of the line, no. I'd say $1500 minimum to get a current gen high end system. That would not be top of the line - because a 4090 alone is like $1600 (very overpriced, but 'the best').

Here is a list I threw together quickly:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yGGrJM

I'm sure someone could min/max this a bit better, I am not on the up-and-up of current gen PC hardware. Just threw it together in a few minutes. For example, the price-per-performance of the 4000 series Nvidias is worse than that of the 3000 series.

Ooof video cards are crazy priced these days. I remember when I first started playing I spent $80 on super nice card. Had to talk my wife into it lol.

I was figuring the $1k was a stretch but we can still probably do better than what he has now.

[Spikes]

If you can get the specs of the current PC it would help. Mainly processor, amount of RAM, video card. Dell/Alienware makes their stuff purposely hard to upgrade, but sometimes it is possible, especially if it's just lacking in one area or another.

It depends what he plays too - I have a 1080ti which is a 6 year old card, but can power through even the most intensive games, including some VR stuff. Also the monitor being played on - is it 1080p, 1440p, 4k?

[Bizman]

Also the monitor being played on - is it 1080p, 1440p, 4k?

Adding to that the speed: 60 Hz, or 120, 144 or even 240 Hz?

[Drano]

1000 bucks will be a tough one if any sort of gaming performance is what you're looking for. Sure, you can build a PC for that--but not a "good" gaming PC. And VR would be right out. As others have said, the price of video cards alone is still astronomical. You can get a decent one for under 1K but that's taking up a sizeable chunk of your budget. But that's not the end of it. Everything else you'd need is still overpriced. RAM and SSD's are about the only thing that's come down in price. You'll need a mobo, PSU, case, some sort of cooling solution (air or AIO), fans, etc. Crap adds up! I wonder what things might be like if and when I might build my next PC. It's crazy. Thankfully, I'm not one that does that like every other year. The last one was 10 years old that I kept stringing along!

[Spikes]

1000 bucks will be a tough one if any sort of gaming performance is what you're looking for. Sure, you can build a PC for that--but not a "good" gaming PC. And VR would be right out. As others have said, the price of video cards alone is still astronomical. You can get a decent one for under 1K but that's taking up a sizeable chunk of your budget. But that's not the end of it. Everything else you'd need is still overpriced. RAM and SSD's are about the only thing that's come down in price. You'll need a mobo, PSU, case, some sort of cooling solution (air or AIO), fans, etc. Crap adds up! I wonder what things might be like if and when I might build my next PC. It's crazy. Thankfully, I'm not one that does that like every other year. The last one was 10 years old that I kept stringing along!

Yeah, I've been advising some people who were looking to pick up RAM and SSDs if they want them in the near future. Who knows if the prices will stay that low.

The price tag is certanly a tough pill sometimes. I try to offset my cpu/mobo/ram and video card by a few years. Just did my cpu/mobo/ram last year, probably have a few years left with the 1080ti until it either dies or starts to struggle like my 970 did.

[SIK1]

It can be done for around $1k. A good example:  https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/8V9TwP/excellent-intel-gamingstreaming-build.

Shop around, watch reviews, and look for sales.

Don't know what games your son plays, and at what resolution, but the example I posted would handle most games.

 

[Dadtallica]

I forget the monitor size but it’s a gaming set up from Asus. Gets like 150 frame rates or some crazy number. The stock Aurora R7 had win 10/64, a 3.5ghz i7 six core, HD 1TB, we upped the ram to 64gb if I remember and made a big improvement to the video card.

I haven’t tried AH on it ever lol.

I was figuring the $1k was going to be light. We will see what we can do I appreciate the notes! 

[Bizman]

I forget the monitor size but it’s a gaming set up from Asus. Gets like 150 frame rates or some crazy number. The stock Aurora R7 had win 10/64, a 3.5ghz i7 six core, HD 1TB, we upped the ram to 64gb if I remember and made a big improvement to the video card.

I haven’t tried AH on it ever lol.

I was figuring the $1k was going to be light. We will see what we can do I appreciate the notes! 

Size doesn't matter, resolution and speed do. You can have a monitor the size of a football field but if the resolution is 1080p @60 Hz it's easier for the system than the screen of a 5.4" iPhone Mini.

Seeing odd frame rate numbers usually tells that the vertical synchronization (V-sync) is off. Most often it's suggested to be turned off for testing purposes, to see how high frame rates the video card actually could produce given the monitor were up to the task. A 60 Hz screen only can show 60 fps max so parts of the screen may show images of different frames, an issue called tearing. That's why keeping V-sync on is recommended.

[Dadtallica]

Size doesn't matter, resolution and speed do. You can have a monitor the size of a football field but if the resolution is 1080p @60 Hz it's easier for the system than the screen of a 5.4" iPhone Mini.

Seeing odd frame rate numbers usually tells that the vertical synchronization (V-sync) is off. Most often it's suggested to be turned off for testing purposes, to see how high frame rates the video card actually could produce given the monitor were up to the task. A 60 Hz screen only can show 60 fps max so parts of the screen may show images of different frames, an issue called tearing. That's why keeping V-sync on is recommended.

He has a couple nice ones around 27” I think they are I forget the exact resolution but they are not standard monitors.

[Prayer]

I just built in Feb, with around that price in mind. I ended up spending about 1200 with some new and used parts. Graphic card 2080ti which is in between a 3070 and a 3080 for 300. 5800x cpu for 150. 360 Aio and a x570 hero mobo, 32 memory. Comp runs great. Can play most games on 4k 60 + fps. 2k 165 fps ultra. 2 TB Hynix new and a 5 fan new case 90 new

It’s going to be very tough to get a top of the line 4090 at 1000 dollars alone

[Bizman]

He has a couple nice ones around 27” I think they are I forget the exact resolution but they are not standard monitors.

Checking the resolution and speed is the first thing to check if they're going to be used with the new computer. For fast paced games you'd want the fps be solidly at the maximum refresh rate of the monitor.

I took a look of the 27" monitors of a local vendor chain. The prices are from 160 to 1300 but even in the sub-250 range there's 1440p monitors at 144 and 165 Hz - very good for gaming but much tougher to the video card than a 1080p at 60 Hz. -4k monitors at 60 Hz were also available below 500, the top price was a 4k @144 Hz.

To help with the math: 1080p has a little over two million pixels. 1440p has almost twice that much. 4k has four times the pixels of 1080p.

Thus a 1440p @144 Hz requires 1.8*2.4=4.3 times the calculation power compared to the 1080p @60Hz to reach its full potential.

[Dadtallica]

I just built in Feb, with around that price in mind. I ended up spending about 1200 with some new and used parts. Graphic card 2080ti which is in between a 3070 and a 3080 for 300. 5800x cpu for 150. 360 Aio and a x570 hero mobo, 32 memory. Comp runs great. Can play most games on 4k 60 + fps. 2k 165 fps ultra. 2 TB Hynix new and a 5 fan new case 90 new

It’s going to be very tough to get a top of the line 4090 at 1000 dollars alone

Well that all sounds pretty good!

[Shuffler]

Specs specs specs.....