Prebuilt PCs

[AKIron]

If I was in the market for a new machine I'd definitely give this one some consideration but don't call me Steven.

https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/gaming-pcs/get-dollar500-off-this-alienware-aurora-r16-with-rtx-4080-super-and-core-i9-14900kf

[AKIron]

I looked at some of those old Dell commercials. In '97 they offered a system for $2,499. The year 2000 was $899, 2001, $799. I enjoy a bit of nostalgia now and then.

[uptown]

Ya gotta shop around and always checkout the clearance stuff first. I got a 210 dollar 27 inch curved screen for 110 bucks at Walmart. 60% off in the clearance section. It's some weird Korean off brand, but the youtube reviews says it's a dandy. So far I love it.
That being said, I did screw up getting my son a cheap gamer rig for IRacing as I didn't realize no video card included. So ended up dropping another 250/300 for the card. His whole set up minus the pit ran about 1200.

Another thing is prices have damn near doubled on everything 

win10 in cheaper the win11 too, so keeping that in mind is a good idea.
 

[icepac]

The problem building your own is the heaps of industry specific product knowledge required to not be led up a blind canyon by the hardware sellers.

[AKIron]

Many here can tell you what's compatible with what. Pick a CPU and go from there.

[Bizman]

The problem building your own is the heaps of industry specific product knowledge required to not be led up a blind canyon by the hardware sellers.

Not that much actually. There's known good brands for components and their compatibility is relatively easy to confirm with e.g. PartPicker.

Something like a top i5 of the two-three latest generations, a compatible Asus mobo, 16 GB of most likely DDR4 RAM, one TB of M.2 SSD disk and a Seasonic PSU, plus of course an upper mid class GPU like RTX4070 should have a decent longevity for most games.

[Skyyr]

The problem building your own is the heaps of industry specific product knowledge required to not be led up a blind canyon by the hardware sellers.

lol no.

[AKIron]

Good prices on the AMD X3D series of CPUs.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-7-5700x3d-cpu-review

[TryHard]

The problem building your own is the heaps of industry specific product knowledge required to not be led up a blind canyon by the hardware sellers.

Building your own PC is one of the easiest things to do in regards to computers...

EDIT: Building a PC for the right budget with minimal bottlenecks is one thing and certainly a skill. But putting together a modern PC on a fullsize ATX platform is very hard to screw up and you can learn how to do it on youtube in 30 minutes.

[Bizman]

^^ That. Putting the pieces together is like building with Legos.

There's two main issues in building your own. The first is choosing the right components which can be divided into two categories, compatibility and reliability. For compatibility building apps like PC Part Picker are of great help, reliability is a bit tougher one but the better quality items usually are quite well reviewed by independent testers while the cheap ones only have user reviews on far-away (Middle-East, former Soviet satellites etc.) webshops.

The second issue is to install Windows in a way that it takes as little resources as possible, with a minimum number of unneeded crap that decide to perform an update right in the middle of a boss fight.

[Eagler]

Newegg has sale on gaming pcs
https://www.newegg.com/PC-Gaming-Week-Extended/EventSaleStore/ID-1133?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=promo&utm_campaign=EMC-ignefl050724-_-EMC-050724-Index-_-CP_AMD%20Upgrade-_-Top-_-E1A-_-&cm_mmc=EMC-ignefl050724-_-EMC-050724-Index-_-CP_AMD%20Upgrade-_-Top-_-E1A-_-&rec_value=-_--_--_--_--_-_1_AutomationEmail___Top40-_-Pers_emailAutomationEmail-_--_-&cvtc=21411982

Eagler

[icepac]

I know exactly what is required and have been a microsoft certified systems engineer since 1998. 
I overclocked my first PC in 1981 and have routinely performed component level repairs since then. 

I also have had plenty of success using parts that people wrongly parroted incorrect information about but never tried themselves.   
It’s probably the reason why my system built in 1995 with seemingly incompatible hardware still runs in 2024.

[Banshee7]

I really appreciate all of your input, guys! I'm continually shopping and taking in all the advice I can from y'all!  I hope to make a decision very soon!! 

[Skyyr]

I overclocked my first PC in 1981

The first overclockable PC components weren't even available until about 1985.

[AKIron]

I knew people who customized the Commodore 64 kernal back in the 80's but I doubt they overclocked the chip. I did have a fast loader cart for the 1541 that worked well.