[SOLVED] $2000 for prebuilt gaming rig for nephews

[Spinnaker27]

Hi, all,

With help from Tom's Hardware, I just bought myself a gaming rig that I'm thrilled with.

I think my sister-in-law saw how giddily happy I was and wants me to buy a computer for my nephews. I have a budget of $2000.

I'm looking at a CyberPower with the following specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor;
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6;
• 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM;
• 1TB SSD
• $1,699.99
• more details: https://www.microcenter.com/product/635449/cyberpowerpc-game-master-gma6400m-gaming-pc?storeid=121

I'll take the remaining $300 to get them a 1080p gaming monitor, some gaming peripherals, and a couple Steam games.

Keeping them at 1080p feels right. I want a computer that will last them for five years and that will allow them to play whatever games they would like. Their father passed away 5 years ago and he loved gaming, so it has a symbolic aspect. I'm super excited for them to have a computer that I can play games with them over the internet on.

Questions:

• Does this seem like a pretty good deal?
• Any "gotchas" I should know about?
• Would this be pretty upgradeable in the future? I felt like I couldn't upgrade my old Dell, and I didn't like it.
• Any other boxes I should look at?

Thanks!

 

[Koekieezz]

Hi, all,

With help from Tom's Hardware, I just bought myself a gaming rig that I'm thrilled with.

I think my sister-in-law saw how giddily happy I was and wants me to buy a computer for my nephews. I have a budget of $2000.

I'm looking at a CyberPower with the following specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor;
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6;
• 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM;
• 1TB SSD
• $1,699.99
• more details: https://www.microcenter.com/product/635449/cyberpowerpc-game-master-gma6400m-gaming-pc?storeid=121

I'll take the remaining $300 to get them a 1080p gaming monitor, some gaming peripherals, and a couple Steam games.

Keeping them at 1080p feels right. I want a computer that will last them for five years and that will allow them to play whatever games they would like. Their father passed away 5 years ago and he loved gaming, so it has a symbolic aspect. I'm super excited for them to have a computer that I can play games with them over the internet on.

Questions:

• Does this seem like a pretty good deal?
• Any "gotchas" I should know about?
• Would this be pretty upgradeable in the future? I felt like I couldn't upgrade my old Dell, and I didn't like it.
• Any other boxes I should look at?

Thanks!

Good deal, all seems good.

 

[DSzymborski]

Hi, all,

With help from Tom's Hardware, I just bought myself a gaming rig that I'm thrilled with.

I think my sister-in-law saw how giddily happy I was and wants me to buy a computer for my nephews. I have a budget of $2000.

I'm looking at a CyberPower with the following specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor;
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6;
• 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM;
• 1TB SSD
• $1,699.99
• more details: https://www.microcenter.com/product/635449/cyberpowerpc-game-master-gma6400m-gaming-pc?storeid=121

I'll take the remaining $300 to get them a 1080p gaming monitor, some gaming peripherals, and a couple Steam games.

Keeping them at 1080p feels right. I want a computer that will last them for five years and that will allow them to play whatever games they would like. Their father passed away 5 years ago and he loved gaming, so it has a symbolic aspect. I'm super excited for them to have a computer that I can play games with them over the internet on.

Questions:

• Does this seem like a pretty good deal?
• Any "gotchas" I should know about?
• Would this be pretty upgradeable in the future? I felt like I couldn't upgrade my old Dell, and I didn't like it.
• Any other boxes I should look at?

Thanks!

It's an OKish deal, but not an amazing one. Newegg has a few of their in-house 3070 builds with Intel i7s for less money (and kids are unlucky to detect any difference between a 5600X and an i7 11700F). And if you wanted a 3060, something like this would be a better deal for the use.

https://www.newegg.com/abs-ali564/p/N82E16883360194?quicklink=true

If you still want to spend $2000 on the kids, you can get them more of the other stuff too.

As for upgradeable, Cyberpowers use aftermarket parts, so none of the proprietary nonsense Dell does.

However, there are likely a few gotchas in there of the normal variety when the exact part isn't listed (cheap motherboard, cheap PSU the most common). They're also not known for their build quality, so be prepared to do a little troubleshooting after purchase. And remember, you'll have a shorter warranty on the parts when bought from a system integrator.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

https://www.microcenter.com/product/635981/powerspec-g360-gaming-pc

Better graphics card, and cheaper. Microcenter house brand so check psu and upgrade it if needed.

Could grab this on a monitor.

https://www.microcenter.com/product...hz-hdmi-dp-freesync-curved-led-gaming-monitor

Still 1080p but a good size you wouldn’t want to upgrade for a while. Plus with the better gpu, that should hold for a while I’d guess, especially with the price of graphics cards. Just make sure it has good airflow. Looking at photos I think I’d try to add a rear exhaust fan, and maybe consider to add a couple of top fans for intake or exhaust just to help it move air.

But at least a house brand like PowerSpec I imagine they’ll have it where you can swap things around or upgrade later if needed. For example as I wanted more ssd storage I’ve added 2 1tb 2.5 drives to my system over the last few months to store my games on.

 

[Spinnaker27]

Hey everyone, thank you so much!

.... I've been super involved at work, but will follow up on this soon.

... Unfortunately, the boys are having a bit of an electronics time out, so I have a bit more time to search...

@ohio_buckeye, I'm loving your suggestion of the microcenter Powerspec. I have one and love it. I like that there is a store within driving distance that does repairs. I'd love to get a computer that looks just like the one I'm so enthusiastic about.

 

[rakibfahadgts]

I'd downgrade the cpu with better gpu. Maybe a 10th gen i5 or i7

 

[Fatblabs]

Hi, all,

With help from Tom's Hardware, I just bought myself a gaming rig that I'm thrilled with.

I think my sister-in-law saw how giddily happy I was and wants me to buy a computer for my nephews. I have a budget of $2000.

I'm looking at a CyberPower with the following specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor;
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6;
• 32GB DDR4-3200 RAM;
• 1TB SSD
• $1,699.99
• more details: https://www.microcenter.com/product/635449/cyberpowerpc-game-master-gma6400m-gaming-pc?storeid=121

I'll take the remaining $300 to get them a 1080p gaming monitor, some gaming peripherals, and a couple Steam games.

Keeping them at 1080p feels right. I want a computer that will last them for five years and that will allow them to play whatever games they would like. Their father passed away 5 years ago and he loved gaming, so it has a symbolic aspect. I'm super excited for them to have a computer that I can play games with them over the internet on.

Questions:

• Does this seem like a pretty good deal?
• Any "gotchas" I should know about?
• Would this be pretty upgradeable in the future? I felt like I couldn't upgrade my old Dell, and I didn't like it.
• Any other boxes I should look at?

Thanks!

Look out for those shortcuts some Prebuilt companies like to make, for example when they say EVGA 600 WATT 80+ Gold rating without the specific model, or maybe not specify some parts that are pretty vital, it could possibly be a shortcut on manufacturing price (or the price to make the PC itself).


note: the PSU is a very important part of a good PC, so make sure that you take note of that. This is what powers the entire computer, and if the PSU is bad, this could end up to some bad news for your pc.



(Also, I really love how you are trying to symbolize your nephew's Father! I'm pretty surprised you actually know gaming platforms and such like steam because my mother doesn't really know any of that stuff : D)