[SOLVED] building gaming PC. Is it even worth it?

Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Dear Community Members,

as the title suggests i am currently struggling with the desicion if i should built a pc on my own or if i should a prebuilt one.
I am not planning to play the most demanding games on the highest possible settings, but i it should be enough for good visual experience while having high enough FPS.

The budget i have is around 1300€ . Is it worth it to built a pc on my own in this price range?

I tried to search online, but a lot of posts contradict each other, Since i´m not an expert... rather a newbie on this subject i thought it would be best to ask some people who know there stuff. I actually built my last pc with the suggestions from the tom´s Hardware community in 2012.
If there is an info answering the said question. i´m sorry for not finding it. I never use forums c:

Thank you very much in advance!
Yours Sincerely,
SchneemannXXL
 
Solution
Worth is something only YOU can determine.
Your budget is plenty.
Since you have built before, the mechanics should not bother you.
One advantage of building yourself is that you get to pick the best parts.
Pre builts will usually go cheap on the PSU and not allow for future upgrades.
A warranty problem will require you to send the unit back while on your own, you can diagnose and fix the problem quickly.
You will tend to get better warranties for parts you buy. ram will be lifetime, cpu will be more like 2 years.
Cases are a personal thing and you may want to pick your own.

If you put together a list of parts, you will get verification of compatibility and opinions as to the individual parts.

A balanced gamer will budget 2x the cost...
Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Thank you very much sir.
Can you recommend me how to approach the field of pc building the best.
Like a good youtuber, good website guide sth like that, to get to know the basics and to get an idea whats important for my purposes?
Would be nice, as for know i want to gather the knowledge to built a good gaming pc and not everything about the topic computers in general.
 
Feb 26, 2019
16
1
15
Hi,

You 100% will get better value off building your own pc. Picking parts and assembling it is quite fun and not that difficult, plus you get more knowledgeable about this stuff. I'd say spend a good couple of days researching on what parts you want and then order them. If you don't wanna bother assembling, many websites that sell parts will do it for you for a really small fee.

Things you want to look out for is components compatibility. You can check it on pcpartpicker.

From my experience, rule of thumb is that you can get a really really good pc at around 1000 euro, so your budget is absolutely no problem.

I personally use userbenchmark.com to compare different components, and I read up on these forums or reddit for details to min/max value. To be honest if you have 1300 budget I would bother much doing that.

Start by going to youtube and checking out "1300 euro pc build" videos in search, and then slowly go from there. I'm sure someone will also post a sample build in your thread later on, so can use that as well.

I have a much cheaper build, I'll post it here and you can just go up in price for individual components:
motherboard: MSI B450M pro vdh (it's a micro-atx sized motherboard, thing you want to make sure of is that the cpu socket is correct. also sometimes older motherboards need BIOS update before using newer cpus, exactly like in my case)
cpu: ryzen 5 3600 (just the best value for my money, you can go way up here,. again, make sure cpu socket is the same as in motherboard)
gpu: msi rtx 2060 (just select whatever you want for gpu. it is definitely the most important and expensive part of your build after cpu. read up reviews about nvidia and radeon and then go from there)
psu: 600W (doesn't matter much, just look for good reviews on trusted websites)
ram: 2x8 gb (don't go for just 8gb, also it's not necessary for more than 16 nowadays. you can always buy it later, this is the simplest thing to upgrade)
and an ssd/hdd combo + a case that looks cool and has fans

Best of luck!
 

fry178

Reputable
Dec 14, 2015
776
12
5,365
really depends on a couple things.
if you don't care about things like noise (fans etc) or what components are put in (brand/type wise), not much.
but choosing stuff lets you plan for future upgrades (e. g. buying a psu thats a bit more powerful than needed etc) and of course allows to customize things like case.
and if you spend some time when building it, you will be able to get a much cleaner built then most shops would deliver (or it costs more).

with that kind of budget you can get a nice pc, depending if you also need things like moni/keyboard/mouse/OS..
 
Worth is something only YOU can determine.
Your budget is plenty.
Since you have built before, the mechanics should not bother you.
One advantage of building yourself is that you get to pick the best parts.
Pre builts will usually go cheap on the PSU and not allow for future upgrades.
A warranty problem will require you to send the unit back while on your own, you can diagnose and fix the problem quickly.
You will tend to get better warranties for parts you buy. ram will be lifetime, cpu will be more like 2 years.
Cases are a personal thing and you may want to pick your own.

If you put together a list of parts, you will get verification of compatibility and opinions as to the individual parts.

A balanced gamer will budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
If you play fast action games, you might go stronger on the graphics card.
OTOH if you favor cpu centric games like sims,, mmo and strategy games, you might go stronger on single thread cpu performance.

Ryzen 3000 gets a lot of recommendations which is good for many threaded apps.
I am in the intel camp for gaming.

Any processor in the $250 class or higher, be it intel 9th gen or ryzen 3000 will be very good.

Plan on a SSD for everything. You can always add a HDD if you ever need bulk storage.

Consider your monitor carefully. It will be with you for a long time.
Favor tn panels and high refresh rates fir fast action gaming.
Favor larger IPS panels for more visually oriented games.
 
Solution
Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Hi,

You 100% will get better value off building your own pc. Picking parts and assembling it is quite fun and not that difficult, plus you get more knowledgeable about this stuff. I'd say spend a good couple of days researching on what parts you want and then order them. If you don't wanna bother assembling, many websites that sell parts will do it for you for a really small fee.

Things you want to look out for is components compatibility. You can check it on pcpartpicker.

From my experience, rule of thumb is that you can get a really really good pc at around 1000 euro, so your budget is absolutely no problem.

I personally use userbenchmark.com to compare different components, and I read up on these forums or reddit for details to min/max value. To be honest if you have 1300 budget I would bother much doing that.

Start by going to youtube and checking out "1300 euro pc build" videos in search, and then slowly go from there. I'm sure someone will also post a sample build in your thread later on, so can use that as well.

I have a much cheaper build, I'll post it here and you can just go up in price for individual components:
motherboard: MSI B450M pro vdh (it's a micro-atx sized motherboard, thing you want to make sure of is that the cpu socket is correct. also sometimes older motherboards need BIOS update before using newer cpus, exactly like in my case)
cpu: ryzen 5 3600 (just the best value for my money, you can go way up here,. again, make sure cpu socket is the same as in motherboard)
gpu: msi rtx 2060 (just select whatever you want for gpu. it is definitely the most important and expensive part of your build after cpu. read up reviews about nvidia and radeon and then go from there)
psu: 600W (doesn't matter much, just look for good reviews on trusted websites)
ram: 2x8 gb (don't go for just 8gb, also it's not necessary for more than 16 nowadays. you can always buy it later, this is the simplest thing to upgrade)
and an ssd/hdd combo + a case that looks cool and has fans

Best of luck!

Thank you for your answer. Your build helps a lot. I can start from there an get an idea of the subject.
 
Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Worth is something only YOU can determine.
Your budget is plenty.
Since you have built before, the mechanics should not bother you.
One advantage of building yourself is that you get to pick the best parts.
Pre builts will usually go cheap on the PSU and not allow for future upgrades.
A warranty problem will require you to send the unit back while on your own, you can diagnose and fix the problem quickly.
You will tend to get better warranties for parts you buy. ram will be lifetime, cpu will be more like 2 years.
Cases are a personal thing and you may want to pick your own.

If you put together a list of parts, you will get verification of compatibility and opinions as to the individual parts.

A balanced gamer will budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
If you play fast action games, you might go stronger on the graphics card.
OTOH if you favor cpu centric games like sims,, mmo and strategy games, you might go stronger on single thread cpu performance.

Ryzen 3000 gets a lot of recommendations which is good for many threaded apps.
I am in the intel camp for gaming.

Any processor in the $250 class or higher, be it intel 9th gen or ryzen 3000 will be very good.

Plan on a SSD for everything. You can always add a HDD if you ever need bulk storage.

Consider your monitor carefully. It will be with you for a long time.
Favor tn panels and high refresh rates fir fast action gaming.
Favor larger IPS panels for more visually oriented games.

Hey geofelt. Thats a nice an informative answer.
You´re right assembling the whole thing isn´t much of a big deal. Besides that i know people that could help me if needed. For now i solely concentrate on building a new pc. Or rather get an idea of the topic, since i´m not 100% if i´ll buy a new one. Depends on a few factors.

Can you tell me if it makes sense to track prices for some parts? And in case wait for them to get cheaper?
Just a general question. If so are there specific times a year, when specific prices drop. i.e. when the next generation is released?
If tracking prices wold make sense... what are some good sources to get the information from? Maybe a specific website specialized on that stuff or the raw data.
Sorry for asking so many questions, but it´s really nice to get the chance to ask some experienced people.
 
Buy when you need to.
True, over time pc parts get better price/performance in the new market.
But, if you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.

If you have the budget and the need now, buy the parts now.
SSD and ram prices are down.
It is more important that you buy a case that you love than it is to get one cheap.
I have found that Seasonic tends to have PSU sales in the fall if that is your time frame.
Some wait for "black Friday" sales, but those sales tend to be on older gen products.
If your build time frame is later, you can buy some parts early. Cases do not get obsolete. Power supplies
are also ok to buy early. Just be sure to buy only top quality.

Everybody on these forums seem to be atwitter about ryzen 3000. And, it is a very good product, particularly for multi threaded production.
The lurking elephant in the room is Intel.
Today, Intel 9th gen is only a bit better for the gamer and Intel will be price competitive.
The upcoming ice lake processors, due out by the end of the year are for laptops.
But, the underlying architecture shows a massive increase in instructions per clock.
When that hits in desktop form, ryzen 3000 will no longer be as attractive as it is now.
Intel is working on discrete graphics. It is likely to arrive in the mid range of products, not the very highest end. That said, you get fair value for your money in graphics cards and all but the highest price points.

Plan on buying the cpu/motherboard and ram at the same time to insure compatibility.
 
Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Buy when you need to.
True, over time pc parts get better price/performance in the new market.
But, if you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.

If you have the budget and the need now, buy the parts now.
SSD and ram prices are down.
It is more important that you buy a case that you love than it is to get one cheap.
I have found that Seasonic tends to have PSU sales in the fall if that is your time frame.
Some wait for "black Friday" sales, but those sales tend to be on older gen products.
If your build time frame is later, you can buy some parts early. Cases do not get obsolete. Power supplies
are also ok to buy early. Just be sure to buy only top quality.

Everybody on these forums seem to be atwitter about ryzen 3000. And, it is a very good product, particularly for multi threaded production.
The lurking elephant in the room is Intel.
Today, Intel 9th gen is only a bit better for the gamer and Intel will be price competitive.
The upcoming ice lake processors, due out by the end of the year are for laptops.
But, the underlying architecture shows a massive increase in instructions per clock.
When that hits in desktop form, ryzen 3000 will no longer be as attractive as it is now.
Intel is working on discrete graphics. It is likely to arrive in the mid range of products, not the very highest end. That said, you get fair value for your money in graphics cards and all but the highest price points.

Plan on buying the cpu/motherboard and ram at the same time to insure compatibility.

Since i don´t need the pc for work or school i am not i a rush.
I am not trying to buy everypart as cheap as possbile, since i still want a high qualtiy product.
As of now i think i need to inform myself about processors. Since i generally thought an i9 is way out of proportion for a mid to high end system designed for gaming.
Another quesiton that rose my mind, is if i might plan expermenting with modeling for example in Unity, would a pc in the 1300€ range be enough to handle it?
 

fry178

Reputable
Dec 14, 2015
776
12
5,365
ram: 2x8 gb (don't go for just 8gb, also it's not necessary for more than 16 nowadays. you can always buy it later, this is the simplest thing to upgrade)

recommending that someone can upgrade ram later, especially on an amd build, is a bit of a joke.
it would not only have to be the same brand/model (e.g. identical specs like timings/voltage), but it woudl also have to have the same chips mounted, which outside some higher performance/ocing ram from major brands,
will not be the case.
why do you think manufacturers are selling (tested/verified) kits that have 4 sticks coming with it, if "i" could buy two dual channel kits (with 2 sticks each)?
might wanna get a little bit more information about that stuff before making a recommendation that will very likely "backfire" for the user..


@geofelt
just because a lambo/ferrari etc is faster than a golf gti, doesnt mean the value is better or that its even justifying the price.
as long as we haven't seen any benchmarks and real-world performance test, your argument about ANY improvements intel will have are mute.
not even talking about that those will be low power systems (like laptops) and not for desktops, or the fact that amd isnt gonna sleep over the next 6-12 month and can work on new stuff as well.

outside running at/below 1080p res and/or high fps gaming, the difference between different brands/cps is almost zero, especially once its 1440p and nice IQ settings..
 
Last edited:
Aug 3, 2019
6
0
10
Hello guys,

sorry for not responding for this long time, but i was bussy and absolutly forgot about it.
Could you generally suggest a build since i realized that my total lack of any form of experience makes it hard for me to find a proper build.
Thank you very much in advance.
 
Sep 18, 2019
3
1
10
It is so much more worth it to build your own PC rather than just buying one at microcenter or best buy, even though MicroCenter has decent deals, building your own will obviously be cheaper. With 1300 euros you can get a really good gaming PC man. Just have to know how to build it.