best gaming pc 💻

[3liseOBrien]

 

Is it better to build or buy a gaming pc?

 

[JimboUK]

Usually it's better to build one but with prices for parts as they are now you might be better off buying one, in fact it might be the only way to get a decent GPU. If you are going to buy then find a retailer that will let you customise it and check reviews to see if they know what they're doing, avoid the likes of Dell who basically sell overpriced garbage.

[HeyYou]

Usually it's better to build one but with prices for parts as they are now you might be better off buying one, in fact it might be the only way to get a decent GPU. If you are going to buy then find a retailer that will let you customise it and check reviews to see if they know what they're doing, avoid the likes of Dell who basically sell overpriced garbage.

I actually like dell...... :) And I work in the industry. (PC repair) They tend to install bloatware on their machines, but, not nearly so much as some of the others. (I'm looking at YOU Lenovo, and Toshiba.....) Of course, most of the stuff I deal with is older..... so there is that. Alienware, on the other hand, is indeed severely over-priced..... you are paying for a name, that's it.

 

The hardest part to find these days, is indeed Video cards. They are almost impossible to find, and hideously expensive when you do.

[JimboUK]

 

Usually it's better to build one but with prices for parts as they are now you might be better off buying one, in fact it might be the only way to get a decent GPU. If you are going to buy then find a retailer that will let you customise it and check reviews to see if they know what they're doing, avoid the likes of Dell who basically sell overpriced garbage.

I actually like dell...... :smile: And I work in the industry. (PC repair) They tend to install bloatware on their machines, but, not nearly so much as some of the others. (I'm looking at YOU Lenovo, and Toshiba.....) Of course, most of the stuff I deal with is older..... so there is that. Alienware, on the other hand, is indeed severely over-priced..... you are paying for a name, that's it.

 

The hardest part to find these days, is indeed Video cards. They are almost impossible to find, and hideously expensive when you do.

 

 

The Dells I've poked around inside have had barely adequate power supplies, cheapo RAM and the plenty of other cost cutting measures not reflected in the final price, I'm not singling them out because other OEMs are as bad. It's much better to buy from a builder who lets you pick the parts, you know what you're getting then.

[HeyYou]

 

 

Usually it's better to build one but with prices for parts as they are now you might be better off buying one, in fact it might be the only way to get a decent GPU. If you are going to buy then find a retailer that will let you customise it and check reviews to see if they know what they're doing, avoid the likes of Dell who basically sell overpriced garbage.

I actually like dell...... :smile: And I work in the industry. (PC repair) They tend to install bloatware on their machines, but, not nearly so much as some of the others. (I'm looking at YOU Lenovo, and Toshiba.....) Of course, most of the stuff I deal with is older..... so there is that. Alienware, on the other hand, is indeed severely over-priced..... you are paying for a name, that's it.

 

The hardest part to find these days, is indeed Video cards. They are almost impossible to find, and hideously expensive when you do.

 

 

The Dells I've poked around inside have had barely adequate power supplies, cheapo RAM and the plenty of other cost cutting measures not reflected in the final price, I'm not singling them out because other OEMs are as bad. It's much better to buy from a builder who lets you pick the parts, you know what you're getting then.

 

Yeah, I see that on all the over-the-counter big-name stuff. Some of 'em also use proprietary power supplies.... which makes life at work REALLY interesting trying to test 'em. :D

 

I agree though, building your own is best, picking the parts for your builder comes second, and having a trusted builder comes in at third. We do the latter two at work, I do the first option at home. :D Love my current system. Had it about year now, and performance is stellar.

 

i7 9700KF

16gb GSkill RAM. (some flavor of their gaming ram, don't recall exactly which at the moment.)

NVidia GTX 3070 8GB.

Crucial M2 NVME in a 500 gb flavor for the O/S, and a couple 500gb standard SSDs (also crucial) for data.

 

The system boots from pushing the button, to useable windows desktop in less than 20 seconds. I LOVE it. :D

[JimboUK]

I've still got a i7-6700k, 32GB of some Hyper X DDR4 stuff and a 1080ti, I didn't think the 20xx cards were worth bothering with, RTX wasn't widely supported at the time and the only card that would give what I would consider a decent performance increase would be the 2080ti which they were asking silly money for. It made sense to wait for 30xx cards to come out and then upgrade everything, it would have been a valid plan had the shortages not happened.

 

It's not a massive problem as long as nothing breaks, the CPU is OK and at 1440p the 1080ti is still holding its own, I have sped things up by relegating mechanical drives to storage and filling the thing up with a number of NVME and SATA SSD's.

[HeyYou]

I've still got a i7-6700k, 32GB of some Hyper X DDR4 stuff and a 1080ti, I didn't think the 20xx cards were worth bothering with, RTX wasn't widely supported at the time and the only card that would give what I would consider a decent performance increase would be the 2080ti which they were asking silly money for. It made sense to wait for 30xx cards to come out and then upgrade everything, it would have been a valid plan had the shortages not happened.

 

It's not a massive problem as long as nothing breaks, the CPU is OK and at 1440p the 1080ti is still holding its own, I have sped things up by relegating mechanical drives to storage and filling the thing up with a number of NVME and SATA SSD's.

Oh yeah, the 1080ti is still a viable card today. It was a beast when it came out, and still holds it's own. :D

 

I upgraded from a 1060 6gb card, to the 3070, and performance for me just about tripled..... I was STUNNED by how much more powerful it is. I got lucky though, my boss offered me a really good deal on the vid card of my choice, and we actually had some 3070's coming in..... :D It was a deal I couldn't refuse. :D

 

My son is running a setup very similar to yours, and he is still very happy with it. But, he just got himself a bitchin' new job, that basically doubled his income, so, is in the process of spending stupid money on a new build. :D (11th or 12th gen i9, etc. :D)

[RatB0Y68]

 

I've still got a i7-6700k, 32GB of some Hyper X DDR4 stuff and a 1080ti, I didn't think the 20xx cards were worth bothering with, RTX wasn't widely supported at the time and the only card that would give what I would consider a decent performance increase would be the 2080ti which they were asking silly money for. It made sense to wait for 30xx cards to come out and then upgrade everything, it would have been a valid plan had the shortages not happened.

 

It's not a massive problem as long as nothing breaks, the CPU is OK and at 1440p the 1080ti is still holding its own, I have sped things up by relegating mechanical drives to storage and filling the thing up with a number of NVME and SATA SSD's.

Oh yeah, the 1080ti is still a viable card today. It was a beast when it came out, and still holds it's own. :D

 

I upgraded from a 1060 6gb card, to the 3070, and performance for me just about tripled..... I was STUNNED by how much more powerful it is. I got lucky though, my boss offered me a really good deal on the vid card of my choice, and we actually had some 3070's coming in..... :D It was a deal I couldn't refuse. :D

 

My son is running a setup very similar to yours, and he is still very happy with it. But, he just got himself a bitchin' new job, that basically doubled his income, so, is in the process of spending stupid money on a new build. :D (11th or 12th gen i9, etc. :D)

 

Prior to purchasing my current monster rig, I had a good old 1080 from msi, with an OC'd i7 3770k. I can concur & confirm the 1080 is indeed a solid, strong & reliable card. It pulled its weight and lasted longer than the rest of my rig did.

[JimboUK]

 

I've still got a i7-6700k, 32GB of some Hyper X DDR4 stuff and a 1080ti, I didn't think the 20xx cards were worth bothering with, RTX wasn't widely supported at the time and the only card that would give what I would consider a decent performance increase would be the 2080ti which they were asking silly money for. It made sense to wait for 30xx cards to come out and then upgrade everything, it would have been a valid plan had the shortages not happened.

 

It's not a massive problem as long as nothing breaks, the CPU is OK and at 1440p the 1080ti is still holding its own, I have sped things up by relegating mechanical drives to storage and filling the thing up with a number of NVME and SATA SSD's.

Oh yeah, the 1080ti is still a viable card today. It was a beast when it came out, and still holds it's own. :D

 

I upgraded from a 1060 6gb card, to the 3070, and performance for me just about tripled..... I was STUNNED by how much more powerful it is. I got lucky though, my boss offered me a really good deal on the vid card of my choice, and we actually had some 3070's coming in..... :D It was a deal I couldn't refuse. :D

 

My son is running a setup very similar to yours, and he is still very happy with it. But, he just got himself a bitchin' new job, that basically doubled his income, so, is in the process of spending stupid money on a new build. :D (11th or 12th gen i9, etc. :D)

 

 

You were lucky, I would upgrade to a 3070 if I could find one at a sensible price but at £1,500 plus I think I'll give it a miss. I actually regretted buying the 1080ti start with, £700 was a lot for a card then and the 980ti I had was fine, now four years on it's the best card I've ever brought, it'll still run the latest titles without the need for too many visual compromises, if I played competitive multiplayer then more frames would be nice but I don't so it's not really a thing.

 

 

 

[HeyYou]

 

 

I've still got a i7-6700k, 32GB of some Hyper X DDR4 stuff and a 1080ti, I didn't think the 20xx cards were worth bothering with, RTX wasn't widely supported at the time and the only card that would give what I would consider a decent performance increase would be the 2080ti which they were asking silly money for. It made sense to wait for 30xx cards to come out and then upgrade everything, it would have been a valid plan had the shortages not happened.

 

It's not a massive problem as long as nothing breaks, the CPU is OK and at 1440p the 1080ti is still holding its own, I have sped things up by relegating mechanical drives to storage and filling the thing up with a number of NVME and SATA SSD's.

Oh yeah, the 1080ti is still a viable card today. It was a beast when it came out, and still holds it's own. :D

 

I upgraded from a 1060 6gb card, to the 3070, and performance for me just about tripled..... I was STUNNED by how much more powerful it is. I got lucky though, my boss offered me a really good deal on the vid card of my choice, and we actually had some 3070's coming in..... :D It was a deal I couldn't refuse. :D

 

My son is running a setup very similar to yours, and he is still very happy with it. But, he just got himself a bitchin' new job, that basically doubled his income, so, is in the process of spending stupid money on a new build. :D (11th or 12th gen i9, etc. :D)

 

 

You were lucky, I would upgrade to a 3070 if I could find one at a sensible price but at £1,500 plus I think I'll give it a miss. I actually regretted buying the 1080ti start with, £700 was a lot for a card then and the 980ti I had was fine, now four years on it's the best card I've ever brought, it'll still run the latest titles without the need for too many visual compromises, if I played competitive multiplayer then more frames would be nice but I don't so it's not really a thing.

 

 

 

 

Prices on vid cards have been stupid for more than a year now. Really wanna hate me? I paid 400 bucks for my 3070. :) There are distinct advantages to working in a small PC shop. :D

 

Unfortunately, I don't see pricing approaching anything I would consider 'reasonable' for the foreseeable future......