[SOLVED] Best prebuilt gaming pc for $1500?

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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Hello, first off, thank you for your time and help, I really appreciate it. So, I do not have any confidence in myself when it comes to building a gaming pc. I figured it would be better for myself to buy one of these prebuilt. I guess I'm just fishing for opinions but I figured that they have a 3070 and are in my price range ($1500), it's worth considering. I plan on buying a three year warranty just in case anything goes wrong. Thanks again.

ABS Gladiator Gaming PC - Ryzen 7 3700X - GeForce RTX 3070 - 16GB DDR4 3000MHz - 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
ABS Gladiator Gaming PC - Intel Core i7-9700F - GeForce RTX 3070 - 16GB DDR4 3000MHz - 1TB SSD
 
Solution
What I find bad about prebuilts (apart from their exaggerated pricing, but can't blame that since somebody has to pay the dude to build it etc) is lack of options.

Almost all pre-built companies, from cyberpower to ibuypower to Origin and even Falcon Northwest all have limited stock. You can't just specify a particular Seasonic psu, because you only get 6 options of Corsair. They'll even go as far as telling you in the description when you specify premium ram that you'll get gskill or Corsair or Crucial or Patriot, depending on what's available.

So asking what's trash or garbage is kinda difficult to answer since you can get a pretty sweet setup with a branded 3070, and a 650w Corsair VS. Or 3600GHz House ram that could be built by...

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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The Ryzen version of the prebuilt isn't a bad one though I'm curious, what other sites/brands have you looked at in terms of a prebuilt candidate? You might want to look into NZXT's BLD.
Thanks for the reply and help. I've looked around and haven't really seen the trustworthy brands I'm looking for in the build. That site you suggested was awesome, super convenient for someone like me. Unfortunately it seems the pricing is a little higher than one of the prebuilts I mentioned and the 3070 is out of stock (I know I shouldn't focus on that one particular card) but I've been set on it since seeing its release and review videos about it. I think I've settled on the Ryzen one, I was just wondering if there was any red flags with either of those choices, anything that screams "garbage". I'm going to think about it for a few days and check back on that site. Thanks again :)
 

Karadjgne

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What I find bad about prebuilts (apart from their exaggerated pricing, but can't blame that since somebody has to pay the dude to build it etc) is lack of options.

Almost all pre-built companies, from cyberpower to ibuypower to Origin and even Falcon Northwest all have limited stock. You can't just specify a particular Seasonic psu, because you only get 6 options of Corsair. They'll even go as far as telling you in the description when you specify premium ram that you'll get gskill or Corsair or Crucial or Patriot, depending on what's available.

So asking what's trash or garbage is kinda difficult to answer since you can get a pretty sweet setup with a branded 3070, and a 650w Corsair VS. Or 3600GHz House ram that could be built by anyone, depending on who had the best priced contract.

It's guaranteed to function, smart money adds the extended warranty, and it'll game just fine, but you really need to get online and surf every site you can find, see what options you can live with and what you cannot.

I've seen several prebuilts where ppl chose deliberately the lowest value, like just the $49 hdd, because they planned on adding a Samsung 970Pro, an option not offered by that site. Etc.

There is no 'best' pre-built, or anything pc for that matter, there's only what's 'best' for you. Each build can have bonus's or drawbacks, it's a matter of whether you can live with them or not.

 
Solution

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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What I find bad about prebuilts (apart from their exaggerated pricing, but can't blame that since somebody has to pay the dude to build it etc) is lack of options.

Almost all pre-built companies, from cyberpower to ibuypower to Origin and even Falcon Northwest all have limited stock. You can't just specify a particular Seasonic psu, because you only get 6 options of Corsair. They'll even go as far as telling you in the description when you specify premium ram that you'll get gskill or Corsair or Crucial or Patriot, depending on what's available.

So asking what's trash or garbage is kinda difficult to answer since you can get a pretty sweet setup with a branded 3070, and a 650w Corsair VS. Or 3600GHz House ram that could be built by anyone, depending on who had the best priced contract.

It's guaranteed to function, smart money adds the extended warranty, and it'll game just fine, but you really need to get online and surf every site you can find, see what options you can live with and what you cannot.

I've seen several prebuilts where ppl chose deliberately the lowest value, like just the $49 hdd, because they planned on adding a Samsung 970Pro, an option not offered by that site. Etc.

There is no 'best' pre-built, or anything pc for that matter, there's only what's 'best' for you. Each build can have bonus's or drawbacks, it's a matter of whether you can live with them or not.


Thanks for the reply and input. I figured that the parts that aren't quality, are things that I can replace over time. The 3070 will be one of three makers (ASUS,ZOTAC,GIGABYTE) and as for the RAM, they list "G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)". The mother board is a Asus Prime Z390-P, and it looks like they skimped with the PSU a Deepcool DQ650-m-v2l 650W but I have a EVGA 750W B2 Bronze from my old rig which should work (?) . When I use the pc builder sites, it ends up going over my limit and I'm just not sure which aspect of the build cheapen. So hopefully the main parts of the computer are solid name brands, and if the other stuff isn't, they still function well and can be replaced. And now I'm in a pickle about which monitor to get. I'm looking at this Monitor.
 

Karadjgne

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If you have the technical know-how to replace any of those parts, why start out with a pre-built that's just going to cost you more in the end? Why not look at it like you are replacing everything and build your own? That way you aren't limited by a deepcool psu (yeah, not good at all), or only a certain choice of case, the Asus-P isn't exactly a stellar optioned board (it's asus entry level) etc. You can do better by yourself. Cheaper.
 

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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The Ryzen version of the prebuilt isn't a bad one though I'm curious, what other sites/brands have you looked at in terms of a prebuilt candidate? You might want to look into NZXT's BLD.
Thanks for the reply and input. I figured that the parts that aren't quality, are things that I can replace over time. The 3070 will be one of three makers (ASUS,ZOTAC,GIGABYTE) and as for the RAM, they list "G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)". The mother board is a Asus Prime Z390-P, and it looks like they skimped with the PSU a Deepcool DQ650-m-v2l 650W but I have a EVGA 750W B2 Bronze from my old rig which should work (?) . When I use the pc builder sites, it ends up going over my limit and I'm just not sure which aspect of the build cheapen. So hopefully the main parts of the computer are solid name brands, and if the other stuff isn't, they still function well and can be replaced. And now I'm in a pickle about which monitor to get. I'm looking at this Monitor.

I went to Cyberpowerpc and "built" this which is about the same price as the Ryzen one from Newegg. Not sure if this is better.
  • *BASE_PRICE: [+1779]
  • CABLE: None
  • CAS: Phanteks METALLICGEAR NEO MINI V2 mini-iTX Gaming Case Black w/ Tempered Glass Window (Standard)
  • CC: None
  • CPU: Intel® Core™ Processor i7-10700K 8/16 3.80GHz [Turbo 5.1GHz] 16MB Cache LGA1200
  • CS_FAN: Default case fans
  • ENGRAVING: None
  • FAN: CyberPowerPC DEEPCOOL Castle 120EX ARGB 120mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate [+0] (Single WHITE Tt Riing 12 Series Case/Radiator Fan [+12])
  • FREEBIE_CU: None
  • HDD: 1TB WD Blue SN550 Series PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 2400/1950 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 410/405k (Single Drive)
  • HDD2: None
  • HEADSET: None
  • KEYBOARD: CyberPowerPC Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard
  • MEMORY: 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4/3600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Team T-Force Delta RGB)
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASUS ROG STRIX B460-I GAMING Mini-ITX, Intel WI-Fi 6 AX200, Gigabit LAN, 1 PCIe x16, 4 SATA3, 1M.2 SATA/PCIe [+26]
  • MOUSE: CyberPowerPC Standard 4000 DPI with Weight System Optical Gaming Mouse
  • NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
  • OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
  • OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
  • POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Gold Certified Power Supply
  • SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
  • VIDEO: GeForce RTX™ 3070 8GB GDDR6 (Ampere) [VR Ready] (Single Card)
  • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
  • _PRICE: (+1817)
 

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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If you have the technical know-how to replace any of those parts, why start out with a pre-built that's just going to cost you more in the end? Why not look at it like you are replacing everything and build your own? That way you aren't limited by a deepcool psu (yeah, not good at all), or only a certain choice of case, the Asus-P isn't exactly a stellar optioned board (it's asus entry level) etc. You can do better by yourself. Cheaper.
I honestly feel that I would screw it up if I built my own. The 3070 alone is around $700 (from what I'm seeing) and building my own would mean me on this site, constantly asking for help in every single decision for which part/brand to use. I have issues when planning a purchase such as this lol.
 

Karadjgne

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Pcpartpicker.com.

I just built that pc there, using basically the same parts although had to guess at the case price since it's out of stock but averaging $85. Grand total without keyboard/mouse was $2020. You'll be stretching it to use a 140w aio on a 125w cpu. Even without the possibility of OC on that B board.

Basically, that's a bargain price on that build, uses some decent equipment, although it would run just fine on a good 650w without needing a cheaper 'standard' 800w unit (all the really decent psus do Not use x00w, they use x50w) . I'd spend a little extra to change that although a 650w could be cheaper anyway.

And unless you aren't in the States, a 3070 is @ $900, not $700
 

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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Pcpartpicker.com.

I just built that pc there, using basically the same parts although had to guess at the case price since it's out of stock but averaging $85. Grand total without keyboard/mouse was $2020. You'll be stretching it to use a 140w aio on a 125w cpu. Even without the possibility of OC on that B board.

Basically, that's a bargain price on that build, uses some decent equipment, although it would run just fine on a good 650w without needing a cheaper 'standard' 800w unit (all the really decent psus do Not use x00w, they use x50w) . I'd spend a little extra to change that although a 650w could be cheaper anyway.

And unless you aren't in the States, a 3070 is @ $900, not $700

Thanks for taking the time to do that, I really appreciate it. The 3070 is a Ampere card, are they any good? I've never heard of them. I made some changes to the build so here it is. After this, I'll stop bothering you with this lol.
  • *BASE_PRICE: [+2035]
  • CAS: CyberpowerPC Eclipse P418R DRGB ATX Mid-Tower High Air Flow Gaming Case + 3x 120mm ARGB Fans [+15] (Black Color [+0])
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800X 3.8GHz [4.7GHz Turbo] 8 Cores/ 16 Threads 36MB Total Cache 105W Processor
  • CS_FAN: Default case fans
  • FAN: Cooler Master MASTERLIQUID ML240L V2 240mm ARGB CPU Liquid Cooler with Copper Cold Plate [+0]
  • HDD: 1TB WD Blue SN550 Series PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 2400/1950 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 410/405k (Single Drive)
  • HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 256MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
  • IUSB: Built-in USB Ports (Based on motherboard and case selection)
  • MEMORY: 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4/3600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Team T-Force Delta RGB)
  • MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE X570 UD ATX GbE LAN, 3 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 1 M.2 SATA/PCIe
  • NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
  • OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
  • POWERSUPPLY: 650 Watts - Corsair RM Series RM650 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Fully Modular Ultra Quiet Power Supply [+37]
  • RUSH: Standard processing time: ship within 3 to 4 Weeks
  • SERVICE: 3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT)
  • VIDEO: GeForce RTX™ 3070 8GB GDDR6 (Ampere) [VR Ready] (Single Card)
  • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
  • _PRICE: (+2087)
 

Karadjgne

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Heh, currently Ampere is the Cats MEOW of gpus.

A 1070 was ok for 1440p, a 2070 did very well at 1440p. A 3070 rules 1440p and can handle a multitude of games at 4k/60Hz.

MUCH better psu, seriously good in fact. With the move to ATX, you basically doubled the physical size of the pc, but to each his own. The bonus to ATX over ITX is price and variety. ATX is the standard, so has the largest variety, which fosters competition and drives prices down. ITX is more of a niche clientele, so prices remain higher for the same thing.

Not a fan of that cpu cooler. It's the 'budget' version. The ML240R is the performance version, it's better built all around.

The RGB in that Team ram supposedly only works through Asus Aura, which might be an issue with a Gigabyte motherboard.

Looks like a stock nvidia 3070, hope you are OK with that, and not hoping for a Partner card from msi or asus or Gigabyte etc.
 

DragonReborn321

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Jul 31, 2014
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Heh, currently Ampere is the Cats MEOW of gpus.

A 1070 was ok for 1440p, a 2070 did very well at 1440p. A 3070 rules 1440p and can handle a multitude of games at 4k/60Hz.

MUCH better psu, seriously good in fact. With the move to ATX, you basically doubled the physical size of the pc, but to each his own. The bonus to ATX over ITX is price and variety. ATX is the standard, so has the largest variety, which fosters competition and drives prices down. ITX is more of a niche clientele, so prices remain higher for the same thing.

Not a fan of that cpu cooler. It's the 'budget' version. The ML240R is the performance version, it's better built all around.

The RGB in that Team ram supposedly only works through Asus Aura, which might be an issue with a Gigabyte motherboard.

Looks like a stock nvidia 3070, hope you are OK with that, and not hoping for a Partner card from msi or asus or Gigabyte etc.

Ok, some more (and hopefully last) revisions. What do you mean by "stock"? Does that mean that it doesn't have OC features and such? If so, I'm ok with that. To be honest, I just picked a random motherboard, one that was rgb compatible, there were quite a few to choose from. Again, thank you so much for your help. I'm also looking for a monitor in the $350 range if you have any ideas.


  • CAS: CyberpowerPC Eclipse P418X DRGB ATX Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/Tempered Glass [+5] (Black Color)
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800X 3.8GHz [4.7GHz Turbo] 8 Cores/ 16 Threads 36MB Total Cache 105W Processor
  • FAN: Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 240mm Premium Edition Liquid CPU Cooling System w/ Copper Cold Plate [+110]
  • HDD: 1TB WD Blue SN550 Series PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 2400/1950 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 410/405k (Single Drive)
  • HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 256MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
  • MEMORY: 32GB (16GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory [+120] (HyperX Predator RGB [+90])
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASUS PRIME X570-P ATX w/ RGB, Realtek LAN, 2 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe [+26]
  • MOUSE: CyberPowerPC Standard 4000 DPI with Weight System Optical Gaming Mouse
  • POWERSUPPLY: 650 Watts - Corsair RM Series RM650 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Fully Modular Ultra Quiet Power Supply [+37]
  • RUSH: Standard processing time: ship within 3 to 4 Weeks
  • VIDEO: GeForce RTX™ 3070 8GB GDDR6 (Ampere) [VR Ready] (Single Card)
  • WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY
  • _PRICE: (+2428)
 

Karadjgne

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That's a matter of trust. I worked at a pc shop when I was younger, and I'd trust myself to build it right, as my clients trusted me to build it right, which meant neat wiring, no cutting corners, plenty of explanations about what to expect before I even asked for the check.

Many shops I've seen, I'd not trust to replace a case fan and do it right, some I've seen I'd have no problems asking for a build.

I sent my carburetor 600 miles away to be rebuilt and repaired and done right by a pro, a little backyard shop in the middle of nowhere, it's all he does. But there's ppl running $50k+ cars whom swear by him.

It's relatively easy to throw a pc together, I can blow one out in 30minutes, but it generally takes me a day or more, just because you'll not have wires strung every which way, screws are snug but not overly tight or stripped out, glass has no fingerprints etc.

Boutique custom builds are the same way, ppl like Falcon Northwest will absolutely go ape at the thought of an ugly pos walking out the door. Microcenter is decent, better than most, but doubtful you'll get a show-worthy pc out of the deal. Their profit margins rely on bulk, not individual builds, so taking a week to polish a pc is a no-no.

Fast, timely and perfection are not synonymous, often opposites.