Question Need help deciding components

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Mar 31, 2020
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Hey I'm setting up my first pc, and what a perfect time to do so since we're stuck inside lol. Anyway I plan on getting a Dell XPS special edition, as I've heard that it's quite good for handling games, very upgradable, has tons of customization of specs when buying, and I'd rather avoid the hassle of building one honestly. The questions I have are concerning what specs I should get when buying it. Now I've heard that a current gen 6-core i5 cpu is about the most a game can take advantage of, and that an i7 cpu would just be overkill and a waste of money. I've also heard this about ram, that 8gb is the most it can take advantage of and therefore 16gb is simply a waste of money. With that being said, is it worth it to maybe get an i7 and 16gb of ram for future proofing? With the new consoles coming out I'm concerned developers will make games more demanding, and would they maybe be able to take advantage of an 8-core cpu and 16gb of ram? Or will that be so far into that future that I am just wasting money? Because if a 6-core i5 and 8gb of ram are going to be sufficient for a very long time, I won't even bother and just save my money.
My main concern is with the GPU as I have little to no knowledge on GPUs at all, and of course that's the most important part. They offer RTX 2060, 2060 super, 2070, and some lower and some higher. Keep in mind I am NOT a competitive gamer by any means, I'm 100% fine with 60hz and that's all my monitor supports anyway. I would prefer to be around 60fps, and play in 1440p. I do want my games to look nice, my monitor is 1440p so if I can play games in that resolution I'm good. But I don't know what graphics card I would need to be able to support that. My thoughts from the research that I've done are that I need to get a RTX 2060 super, but I wanted to get thoughts from other people before making any decisions.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
 
Mar 31, 2020
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I’m setting up a gaming pc currently, and after thorough research have found the specs needed to run games at 1440p 60fps, but I just have one concern. I’m completely new to pc gaming so I may be completely wrong, but with the new consoles coming out this year with more powerful hardware, are developers going to make games more demanding going forward? Will I need more powerful hardware than what is currently needed in order to run games at 1440p 60fps, once those systems are out? I feel like developers are going to be creating games with the new console’s hardware in mind, which may be more demanding than what current games are. So should I increase the specs on my computer to accommodate for that possibility, or am I just overthinking and would be wasting my money? Because I would be very annoyed if I just buy a new pc and within a year my specs are outdated and I’m unable to play the new games coming out lol. Anyway thanks for any answers you can give!
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Game specs on PC don't usually take big bumps forward for new consoles. New game consoles essentially catch up to PCs after they fall farther behind PCs in the later years of a console generation. Consoles don't really "push" PCs in this manner. If your PC can run 1440p over 60 FPS (and not just barely chugging it out), it'll be fine.
 
A lot of the rumors are all about the new consoles using gpu ray tracing so this would increase the amount of GPU power you need to get the same performance and quality.
But we are still too far off to even worry about it,built your system now and when the first new gen games come out you can still upgrade your GPU if you need to.
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
PC hardware development far outpaces consoles, but sadly, that fancy hardware is held back by the slow pace of the software developers - adapting takes time, and costs money.

For many people on PC, the performance of the new consoles won't be breathtaking.
 
Games are always pushing new levels on pc. Go back a few years a a GRX1080 would have been considered overkill for 1080p 60Hz, not anymore is you turn up settings in the latest AAA games.

As said above this is more consoles catching up. I have an One X and gaming pc. While the One X does a decent job at 4K HDR for its price it is not comparable to pc. Try the same games on pc with medium settings and they look significantly better on pc.
 
Mar 31, 2020
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I'm considering whether to build my pc or to buy a prebuilt one. I've never built one before or anything hands on with computers like that, so how difficult would it be for someone like me? Also how much money would it end up saving, generally speaking? One of my biggest concerns is that after putting everything together, it won't turn on because something is messed up, and then i won't know what to do to fix it. Is this common? And after building the pc itself is there a whole lot that needs to be done on the software side of things to get everything running properly? Thank you for any help you can give!
 

punkncat

Champion
Ambassador
Several hundred dollars, or more.

Building is the easy part. If, for some reason, something doesn't operate is a fear all builders have. Troubleshooting can go from downright easy to nearly rebuilding a system.

For the software side, Windows 10 has really made getting a computer up and operational a super streamlined affair. By and large it will load most drivers and have everything ready to use. They aren't always the newest drivers available.

There are loads of very informative articles and videos about how to build a PC. The connectors for a modern PC are nearly foolproof as far as where to plug them and such. The biggest thing is making sure all your parts are compatible with one another, and will fit inside your chosen case. PC Parts Picker has a great tool for that.
 
If you feel comfortable adding a hard drive or memory to a PC, then you should have the skills to build one from scratch. Lots of people here think it is fun. Spend a little time watching PC build videos on youtube.

I actually tend to spend MORE on a custom PC than a prebuilt with the same gross spec (CPU, amount of memory, GPU), but I use a much better power supply, better motherboard, faster memory, etc.
 
Mar 31, 2020
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I'm planning on buying a Dell XPS Special Edition, linked below:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/des...sktop-special-edition/spd/xps-8930-se-desktop
I'm going to customize it to the following specifications:
-i5 or i7 cpu, haven't decided yet.
-16gb ram
-RTX 2060 super
-2tb SSD
I like this pc as I want something powerful enough to play games, but don't like the look of "gaming pc's", not a fan of the RGB lighting and the overdesigned look of them. I just wanted something that looked like a regular pc, something subtle, but with the power to play games. This was about the only thing I could find and I quite like it, I just want to make sure that it will suffice. My concern is with the cooling, as I've heard a lot of people say that the cooling is subpar. I want to play games in 1440p at a decent framerate, and it's my understanding that these specs will be able to do that, but I want to know if the cooling will be able to support the specs under those conditions. Is anyone here able to tell if the cooling in this system is sufficient enough to cool the cpu/gpu while playing 1440p gaming?

One more thing worth noting is that I've heard several times that the cooling fans used are different based on whether or not you select the "K" version of the processor, or the regular one. If this is the case, does the "K" processor model have better cooling, or worse? I'd assume better since that's the one that can be overclocked. But if it's the case that the "K" processor model has better cooling, I'd rather spend the extra money to get that to have better cooling through the system.

Any help at all would be GREATLY appreciated, as this is my biggest concern at the moment! :)