squatch66 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I'm thinking about taking the plunge and getting myself a gaming PC. I found this guy over at Costco: https://www.costco.com/iBUYPOWER-C-i13-Gaming-Desktop---7th-Generation-Intel-Core-i7---3GB-NVIDIA-GTX-1060-Graphics.product.100328726.html Can anyone give me any impressions? I've been researching but most of this stuff goes over my head. One of my friends said that it is a good deal for a beginning gamer. I also love the extra year warranty from Costco. I know it's cheaper to build your own computer, but it looks like a comparable build is going to cost me close to what I would spend on this computer. Love to get some advice. Thanks folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergasun Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Read around at logicalincrements.com a bit and see how those specs/price are. CPU - $350 GPU - $210 RAM -$75 SSD - $40 HD - $70 MOBO - $150 CASE - $60 PSU - $60 Windows - $85 Seems like a good deal, but you don't know quality of parts... but, that is why you have warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 What kind of gaming? Generally speaking, for a gaming computer you're better served by spending more on the gpu than the cpu. Unfortunately, that's not how most off-the-shelf models are configured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor703 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Personally, I wouldn't go with a pre-built gaming rig. I built mine myself so I have comfort in knowing everything that's been used. I also didn't really cheap out on anything and it ended up costing me around $1500 so it definitely gets expensive depending on how far you want to go. If you want to build one don't be intimidated. This was my first experience with building a rig and it went very smoothly. Also if I were you I'd talk to Zaz a lot. He's very helpful with PC builds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I would second the idea of building it yourself. I usually spend around 1k on mine and that's plenty to get good performance for years. You can buy a pre-built and be satisfied, but you're always giving up either performance or value. (In terms of gaming machines anyway.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I also bump the build it yourself suggestion. My gaming rig is up to well over $4000 now. I didn't spend it all at once, just upgraded as I wanted to. The best part about building it yourself is that it is very easy to upgrade. Prebuilt rigs come with bloatwear and maybe even proprietary parts. You can also build it for the future do you have an upgrade path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squatch66 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 Thanks for the replies. I've been pricing out my own stuff using the build guide over at http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/gaming-desktop-computer.html I was looking at doing the mid level build since I'm not going to be super hardcore about gaming. It just seemed that I would pay as much if not more than the pre-assembled one. One thing my friend did say to me was that with the pre-assembled units you don't know what brand of components are used. For games, I'm not really sure. I started playing Ark and was really getting into it. I find that the sandbox games are pretty cool. Never tried a shooter. I usually just play those on my console. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dont Taze Me Bro Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 There is nothing wrong with buying a pre-built gaming rig. I bought an alienware years ago (2011) and can still run games just fine on it. You just need to make sure that you can upgrade the RAM and video card and power supply (if needed for a new vid card later on). I'd focus on the CPU and make sure it's as good as you can afford with the build and that the video card is above average. Unless you are a graphics whore and have to play every game on ultra settings with a high FPS, you should be able to get a really good pre-built rig for $1200-1500, that will last you a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dont Taze Me Bro Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 2 minutes ago, squatch66 said: Thanks for the replies. I've been pricing out my own stuff using the build guide over at http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/gaming-desktop-computer.html I was looking at doing the mid level build since I'm not going to be super hardcore about gaming. It just seemed that I would pay as much if not more than the pre-assembled one. One thing my friend did say to me was that with the pre-assembled units you don't know what brand of components are used. For games, I'm not really sure. I started playing Ark and was really getting into it. I find that the sandbox games are pretty cool. Never tried a shooter. I usually just play those on my console. Not necessarily true. When I bought my Alienware, I knew exactly what I was getting inside it as far as processor and video card brands. RAM and hard drives, doesn't really matter what brand they have used, I've never had any issues with any pre-built PCs in regards to that. And if you wanted to upgrade the RAM and HD later, you can buy whatever brand you want. I've purchased 5 pre-built PCs (last one for gaming - other four I gamed on) over the years and never had a problem with any of the hardware they used, with exception of one older Dell that I bought. The problem, was the vid card was integrated so I couldn't upgrade it and that was my own fault for purchasing it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Ok after reviewing that rig, it is trash. I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Plus there is either a huge mistake or strait up deception in the advertising. They call the cpu a i7 7700 3.4 ghz. Problem is intel only makes a i7 7700k 4.2ghz. Amd makes an A10 7700 3.4ghz, which is a 3 year old cpu. A 1060 is a trash card. My 980ti is far and away better. You can get better value for a slightly higher price. Lemme roll out of bed and see if i can come up with a better rig for smilar price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wiggles Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 10 minutes ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said: Unless you are a graphics whore and have to play every game on ultra settings with a high FPS, you should be able to get a really good pre-built rig for $1200-1500, that will last you a long time. At that price range I think you're seriously better off building your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dont Taze Me Bro Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 12 minutes ago, clietas said: At that price range I think you're seriously better off building your own. You can find them cheaper I'm sure, depends on what he wants inside it. Also depends on if someone would rather not have to fool with ordering all the parts and putting it together. Convenience of just ordering one from a company where you can tweak a few things (which vid card you want, RAM, etc.) and it's ready to go when you get it. I've always wanted to build my own PC, but I've found that it starts costing more than I expected when looking at the parts separately. I'm also not very patient when it comes to finding the best deal, price, etc. Building it from scratch? No problem........if I had all the parts lol Also, going into the decision is the cost itself, would one have $1000-$1500 in hand to buy all the parts at once and build a PC from scratch? Buying pre-built at least allows you payment plans over a year or so to pay it off. Edit: I haven't looked into building a gaming PC in years, so it might be cheaper now than it was before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wiggles Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 29 minutes ago, Dont Taze Me Bro said: Also, going into the decision is the cost itself, would one have $1000-$1500 in hand to buy all the parts at once and build a PC from scratch? Buying pre-built at least allows you payment plans over a year or so to pay it off. Edit: I haven't looked into building a gaming PC in years, so it might be cheaper now than it was before. Fair points. I just naturally assume if ones building a PC specifically for gaming their not going the payment plan route. I don't think it's really any cheaper now then say ten/fifteen years ago to build a rig. Though the last two I've built haven't been for gaming, they've been more for A/V work. Also I really hate having to upgrade a pre built computer. I have an old gateway I use from time to time. It's essentially a Frankensteins monster situation at this point. Think the only original piece is the motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zazzaro703 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 If you are really unsure about building your own, it's a lot easier to get a pre built. But don't get it from costco. Goto cyber power PC and select the parts you want. It's a little bit more than ordering everything yourself and building, but you get to pick out the parts you want and they will build it for you. Never get a gaming PC from Costco or bestbuy. I think Ibuypower is also a website where you can select your own parts. I've used cyberpower PC and can give it a thumbs up. It was easier for me to just have them assemble it and then upgrade the parts one by one every couple years. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/MLK_Special_I Id go with something like this. It seems the 1060 card is popular for these pre builds. If you have the spare cash swap that card out with a 980ti or 1070 1080. If not, first on your list of things to upgrade some point in the future would be that 1060, a power supply also getting a bigger SSD. That model I linked has only a 128gb SSD. Those two parts are easy to swap in and out for a beginner as well. The GPU is just unplugging/plugging in power cables and mounting and hard drive is again plugging in a sata cable, power cable, mounting and then partitioning/formatting it with disk device (or whatever it's called). There are YouTube videos and articles that walk you through that stuff step by step as well. Eventually you'll have a system that is built by yourself one part at a time and you will then know how to do everything and assemble yourself but you really won't need to if you upgrade over time. I try to upgrade one section of my PC a year so I don't fall behind. GPU one year, RAM and SSD the next, CPU is on my slate for 2017. edit: Cyberpower has prebuilts but you can customize their existing pre builds to more your liking or price range or you can build one there from scratch picking your own parts and they assemble if I wasn't clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 OK here is what I built up. Yes it is a lot more. But this is a very solid entry level gaming system that you won't have to upgrade for a long while. Additionally, the only thing I would change on this one to make it a near top end system is adding a 1080ti when it comes out. This is the minimum I would consider when building a computer (I also realize my minimum is a lot higher some some peoples maximum). Plus it allows you to over clock fairly easily and the parts are from makers I trust. Quote Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake Quad-Core 4.2 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80677I77700K Desktop Processor $349 EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition, 08G-P4-5173-KR, 8GB GDDR5, LED, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) $ 379 EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G1 120-G1-1000-VR 80+ GOLD 1000W Fully Modular129 Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior $144 EVGA Z170 FTW 140-SS-E177-KR LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $139 CORSAIR Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model CMU16GX4M2C3200C16R $129 SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM $99 Seagate BarraCuda ST3000DM008 3TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive $89 Windows 10 Home - 64-bit - OEM $99 Razer BlackWidow Chroma Clicky Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Fully Programmable and 5 Macro Keys $159 Razer Naga Chroma - Multi-color MMO Gaming Mouse $81 Total - $1796 [/quote] So with this build, I got you the best bang for the buck CPU, that will last a long time for you. The 1070 is a good card for the price. I gold rated 1000 watt power supply in case you want to go SLI with your cards (you can save about half the price on this if you don't want to do sli as you can probably get by with a 600 watt supply). Full tower to maximize air flow as well as adding additional components for the future. The motherboard is solid, nothing special about it really, but it is an EVGA and they have good warrenties. I try to stick with the same family of products. Corsair memory is some of the best memory out there. Samsung solid state drive for your boot drive with space for extra stuff if needed. 3TB hard drive for your games (you won't fill it up. I have 2 2TB drives on mine and over 240 steam games and mine are only have full or so). Windows to run it all. I slurged on teh keyboard and mouse, they are what I am currently using and while a mechanical keyboard makes a lot of noise, it is better for gaming. I have gotten used to it and I like the response, I just matched the mouse to go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohan Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Agree with Zaz on cyberpowerpc.com. I've used them a few times, and have been pretty happy. A major difference going this route and a prebuilt, it the ability to upgrade. Everything seems so tight in a prebuilt, that it is tough to get the components in and out. Building your own, or going through a place like cyber power, you can get a more spacious case. (GPU can be huge, and if you put 2 in...yikes.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Going SLI later on isn't really worth it unless you know you need it up front to drive a 4K monitor or something. It costs more money on the front end in terms of the PSU and motherboard (and possibly case) and then doesn't provide as much of a performance bump as you're probably hoping once you get two or three years down the road. If you want a good mid-range build that's actively curated to provide good bang-for-the-buck and track current deals, keep tabs on this thread: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/attention-low-end-midrange-gaming-system-builders.2389797/ That gets you into a quality Intel processor and a 1070 like sacase is recommending for $1000. If you want to buy pre-built, sacase's general points are right. Spend more to up the video card if you intend to play modern games as they come out. (But don't go crazy, you don't need the top-tier cards in the $500-800 range.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 If you plan on going VR get a card in the $650+ price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squatch66 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Thanks again for the replies folks. I'm pretty much settled on building my own now. My local micro center has an i7 6700k and Asus mobo bundled for 366. I think that's a pretty good deal. Probably going to go with the 1060 because I don't really have interest in vr games yet. Maybe once the technology gets a little better. Really, I just want it to look good in 1080p and I read that the 1060 is a good option for the price. Looking at a giant case with built in fans so I can expand later when I'm ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zazzaro703 Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 20 hours ago, squatch66 said: Thanks again for the replies folks. I'm pretty much settled on building my own now. My local micro center has an i7 6700k and Asus mobo bundled for 366. I think that's a pretty good deal. Probably going to go with the 1060 because I don't really have interest in vr games yet. Maybe once the technology gets a little better. Really, I just want it to look good in 1080p and I read that the 1060 is a good option for the price. Looking at a giant case with built in fans so I can expand later when I'm ready. Microcenter is pretty solid, I grabbed my 980ti from the one in Tysons corner. The rep I was speaking to on the floor also knew his stuff. Liquid cooling isn't a bad idea either. Just don't get a cheap brand or part, if that sucker leaks after a year or two..... you will be rebuilding. Building your own really is the best option if focusing on gaming or like myself and a couple others suggested somewhere that lets you pick the parts and they assemble it for you. Buying a prebuilt from Costco or bestbuy is fine if you are just using it for office work related tasks and Internet. Make sure the parts you pick are compatible and play nice with one another. Def consult somebody with knowledge about the parts you are getting or else you can get bluescreens and worst case not even boot up after being assembled. The actual building part isn't as daunting a task as many think it is. It's basically just putting in parts one at a time and connecting everything. The worst part for me is the CPU, I always freak out that I didn't put enough heatsink paste and that my CPU is going to burst into flames after 20 minutes of usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacase Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Zazzaro just reminded me. Spend the money for an after market water cooler. Saves space when compared to the aftermarket air coolers. The cooler thst comes with the cpu is terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Wiggles Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 12 hours ago, squatch66 said: Looking at a giant case with built in fans so I can expand later when I'm ready. I've been really pleased with the Corsair 760t I used on my last build. Great case, easy to build out/upgrade, and it's certainly a giant... http://www.corsair.com/en-us/graphite-series-760t-arctic-white-full-tower-windowed-case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zazzaro703 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 7 hours ago, clietas said: I've been really pleased with the Corsair 760t I used on my last build. Great case, easy to build out/upgrade, and it's certainly a giant... http://www.corsair.com/en-us/graphite-series-760t-arctic-white-full-tower-windowed-case That's the basically the same case I have but mine is black and not quite the same model. It's a Cosair something though so I can rec. this suggestion as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zazzaro703 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I accidentally posted this in the PS4/Xbox thread so here it is in the proper place. My last suggestion would be heading on over to humble bundle within the next day or two and buying all 3 bundles currently on sale. Right now they have: Best of 2016 Bundle $10 tier Else Heart.Break Evoland 2 Victor Vran Rust Shadowrun:Hong Kong Extended Edition Stronghold Crusader 2 Homeworld Remastered Overwhelmingly Positive Bundle (Top Rated Games) $10 tier Shantae and the Pirates Curse Epic Battle Fantasy 4 Pony Island Day of the Tentacle Remastered Deadbolt Bit Blaster XL Refunct N++ Humble Monthy Bundle $12 tier (cheaper if buy one of the bundles listed above you'll get a 10% off coupon for the Humble Monthly Bundle) XCom2 (Worth it for this alone XCom2 for $12 as well as whatever comes with it is just icing on the cake) 5-6 games TBD Thats 20+ games that have fantastic ratings for $30 if you buy all 3 with the monthly bundle last. You'd have games in just about every genre and a great start to your PC gaming steam collection. Welcome to PC gaming, it's great. The Overwhelmingly Positive Bundle ends Tuesday morning. Bundles start and end on tuesdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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