Hi everyone,
My first post here, just wanted some advice on building my first "future-proof" gaming PC to last about 5 years and run most high end games on med settings.
My budget is 1600 (including keyboard, mouse and monitor).
I've read some basic guides online but I'm currently over budget. Just wanted some advice on what I can skimp on to make everything fit in the budget?
I've linked my incomplete build below.
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/HVdLtJ
Thanks in advance!!
8GB done
Unfortunately, I need the Wifi card for now as ethernet plug isn't near my room.
Fair enough. Other parts you can consider:
E.g.: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/Q7L7YJ/corsair-cx-2017-4…
450W, not modular, and 80+ Bronze, but you save about another $50.
How much are you over-budget?
yeah I wasn't sure about the PSU, but having to buy another one later on is putting me off.
I'm about 100 over budget now,because I still need mouse + keyboard cant increase though :(
Shame. $100 is a workable amount, or as others have said, maybe you can buy a cheap keyboard/mouse first and upgrade later. As peripherals, unless you're a pro-gamer they're not super-important, and easily upgraded.
To save perhaps $30 and speed the machine up, use good old ethernet, not wireless. W-Fi wastes power, creates heat, increases latency, is slower, and worse, radiates your ass and uses cpu cycles you need for your game.
Just spec an old Intel gigabit adapter instead off eBay or from the tip. The driver libs are written by Intel, not some dodgy outfit like Realtek… the software alone will save you time and money in the long run, fewer update troubles… etc.
Gigabit built into the board, so don't even need to go to the tip!
No, it is only a Realtek.
Better to disable it in the bios the moment you get power up. Spend your $48 on a separate network adapter that can do the networking effort without needing the cpu to tell it what to do with its packets ;-)
But def leave the TP_Link one out if you can, it'll just slow the machine down as well.
- PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Realtek RTL8111GR
Realtek is still Gigabit! ;)
You won't get 10yrs out of a $1600 machine. Games in 3 years time will run on Low > Medium Graphics settings, it's just how it is.
Noted, will change it to 5 years before an upgrade
re-use old keyboard mouse monitor
spend that 1600 all on system alone, maybe add another $150 to the budget
pretty sure you can fit gtx1080 in there with the ebay 20% deal
Agreed with re-using keyboard and mouse, disagree with monitor depending on what OP has now. It'd be a waste of a good system if OP doesn't have at least a 24-inch 1080p display or better. And honestly since that's what OP will be looking at 99% of the time when using the system, I'd spend more on the monitor than a lot of other components in the current build.
recommend getting 1080p second hand to save money, just make sure it works. also agree with old keyboard mouse!
1080 is a bit too hardcore for this midrange pc/budget though
You can also save some money on cheaper Power Supply and Tower Case, they won't affect your PC performance.
Or just skip the case altogether. Cooling would be better.
"future-proof" gaming pc?
no such thing sorry
As depressing this is too say, you really should increase your budget given you want longevity. Otherwise stick to console gaming; you will just be disappointed with your computer in a few years, or be playing on a below average monitor.
:(
You can also wait a few months for RAM prices to drop.
How much were they before the increase? 8gb vs 16gb
Almost doubled in a year. I've been looking at doing a build myself and noticed DDR4 RAM prices are crazy. I'll wait until new year.
My 2nd last gaming PC was similar specs to yours at the time and it only lasted about 3 years before becoming outdated.
My current one is 5 years old with a GTX680 and still gaming 1080p on at least high settings.
I'm planning to do a new build myself to make PC quieter and reduce heat.
The key part in gaming is the GPU. 8GB RAM will do OK. CPU 4 cores is plenty (not sure which games use much CPU processing anyway). PSU just needs to be enough to run CPU and GPU (gtx1060) at load (plus a little for other bits) - 450 ish watts should be enough.
From your build:
You can get by on 8GB of RAM. Not ideal, but won't affect gaming (which will depends on the amount of video card memory much more). RAM is also the easiest thing to add to down the track.
Do you need a wireless card? You can replace that with a long ethernet cable (and I prefer ethernet cables > wireless for desktops anyway).
Those two would save around $100 - $150 off your build.