Buying a new system?

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Mr. Lemming

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I'll be frank, with a lot of the crap that's been going on lately IRL around me I'm not wanting to sit down in an environment that's ill-suited for it to put together a bunch of new hardware into a new system. So I've been looking at premade machines trying to find my best bang for the buck.

But instead of just going off into the jungle alone, I'd really appreciate some input as to what others think is the best gaming rig one can buy for under $2k.

The one I'd noticed during the book fair week was a CyberPower PC setup that was pretty close (if not slightly cheaper) than buying the components seperately, but I looking around at more I think I could probably get more oomph for not much more cash.

And considering I've also been pondering a new monitor so as to give my sister this system (she's basically on a tablet and phone as I don't think she knows where her laptop is) that input is also appreciated.
 
If you've got 2K to spend, i'd suggest trying to find a good deal on a pre-build GTX 1070(TI) PC, compared to the 1080/1080TI it's the best price to performance you can get at the moment.

I did find this one by IBuyPower, which seems to be a decent deal for the price https://www.amazon.com/iBUYPOWER-Ul...rd_wg=kQfxU&psc=1&refRID=65HCHKER4XM9PZZ7RKW2

If i can make one recommendation though, try getting a high resolution/refreshrate monitor (Preferably IPS/AM-VA panels) It makes a world of difference for gaming, although they can be pricey, they often go on sale and are a worthwhile investment.
 
Four builders that I can name off the top of my head to check out:
Origin PC
Digital Storm
Maingear
Doghouse Systems

Those four I have heard good things about or reliable reviews on.

Other possible companies (besides iBuypower) is Falcon Northwest, XoticPC, and Xidax. Falcon used to be a pretty good brand, but they've been quiet to me over the past decade. The other two I've heard about more along the custom builder route, so I don't know how good or bad they are as a complete PC builder. I would argue to go with a 1080 over a 1070/1070 Ti just because of the prices/performance favors the 1080 now. Keeping an eye on the GPU market is like playing a game to see if your blood pressure is going to sky rocket or ease off when you see prices jumping all the over place since Black Friday...
 
Thanks you two. I pick up my inheritance check Saturday so I'll likely be shopping around more seriously after that (assuming my parents didn't opt to get me a system for Christmas...).

I was eyeballing Xidax for a while building a system that was a wee bit over what I wanted to spend, but was pretty powerful with an i7, 16GB RAM, and a 1080.
 
Hey Mr Lemming, any update on things or thought of any configuration options yet?
 
Was actually just going to sit down and dink around with it again tonight. The check I put in yesterday was cleared sometime today, so I have the full amount in my account now.

/edit

Okay, was in the process of buying a Xidax this loadout (suggestions?), and ran into a roadblock of my bank needing a call before shelling out the $2,600.

So that all happens tomorrow as BECU's call center isn't open on Sundays at nearly 10:30PM for some odd reason (who'd a thunk it?).
 
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Snipeye said:
One question I will ask: Is the Blu-ray player even necessary?
Click to expand...

Not really, but it'd be nice to have another place to sit down and watch videos if the TV upstairs is monopolized as sitting on my bed doing so is a little awkward.
 
Because everybody's got an opinion: can you afford it in your budget to upgrade to a 500 GB SSD. You'd be surprised how quickly that 250 GB SSD will fill up. With recent games consuming so much space you'll find that your 250 GB will run out of space more quickly than anticipated. For some recent game examples on my own PC:

  1. Fallout 4: 35 GB
  2. XCOM 2: 32 GB
  3. Doom: 67 GB
Those three games alone would consume over half of a 250 GB SSD. Considering games are just getting bigger and bigger, I can't see that situation getting any better either.

Anyway, no matter what you go with, congrats on the new rig. Either way, you'll really enjoy it.
 
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Bought the CyberPower one with a few tweaks (went away from the generic PSU to an 850 EVGA and upped the SSD to 500GB as per what Respawn suggested). I still have to look at monitors (and possibly a simple keyboard as this old Razer's 'a' button has been working intermittently for some reason even after unplugging), but that'll be a wee bit later as, after calling the bank this morning, there's a limit of $2500 per day on my card (hence why the Xotic one didn't go through).
 
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Mr. Lemming said:
Bought the CyberPower one with a few tweaks (went away from the generic PSU to an 850 EVGA and upped the SSD to 500GB as per what Respawn suggested). I still have to look at monitors (and possibly a simple keyboard as this old Razar's 'a' button has been working intermittently for some reason even after unplugging), but that'll be a wee bit later as, after calling the bank this morning, there's a limit of $2500 per day on my card (hence why the Xotic one didn't go through).
Click to expand...

Solid choices there. EVGA PSU's have never done me wrong.

Congrats on the new rig! I'm sure you'll really enjoy it!
 
Mr. Lemming said:
Not really, but it'd be nice to have another place to sit down and watch videos if the TV upstairs is monopolized as sitting on my bed doing so is a little awkward.
Click to expand...

You do realize that you will likely have to buy software to play the blu-rays on the desktop. I didn't see anything on the website that indicated that it came pre-installed with Blu-ray software, much less if you would have to repurchase licenses for it in the future to get updates/upgrades to the software. Something to keep in mind, hell, I would suggest that if you don't plan on exporting media files (like videos if you're a videographer) onto a blu-ray disk, then skip the drive, throw in another $100 and buy an Xbox or PS4.

Edit: Congrats on the purchase!
 
There, coming sometime around the 28th from Best Buy is a Dell S2716DGR. I thought about dropping down to the 24" one instead of the 27", but the larger one is $200 off right now on the site which doesn't even lead to a question on which the choice was.
 
Good to see you made the jump to a 144hz monitor, because a lot of people don't realize is that if you have your fps meter saying you are getting 100 fps, but you have a monitor that has a 60hz refresh rate. You are really only getting 60fps because the screen image is only refreshed 60x per second
 
I'm finally transitioning out of 1920 x 1080 60hz to 165hz gaming.

I'll be starting a new build tomorrow when my graphics card arrives.

Lian Li D600BK Case
Intel i7-8700k Coffee Lake Processor
Asus Apex X Motherboard
Asus PG279Q Gaming Monitor
Corsair Dominator Platinum 16 gig of 3200mhz (2 sticks)
Samsung 960 Pro 1 Terrabyte drive for games
EK M.2 Heatsink
EVGA Kingpin Hydro Copper GPU
Lite-On Blu-Ray writer with Lightscribe
Corsair RM850i PSU
Xonar Xense Sound Card
Sennheiser PC350 Headphones

My old Koolance ERM-3K3UC Liquid to Air Cooler
Three Noctua 1500 RPM fans for the front of my case
And a 10 (4 pin) PWM Header which will be connected to my PSU instead of my motherboard. Will be using 9 fans in total.

Windows 10 Pro

Will be overclocking my CPU, GPU and RAM. Probably RAM to 3600mhz. Don't want to take it any higher than that.
 
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Cigarjohn said:
I'm finally transitioning out of 1920 x 1080 60hz to 165hz gaming.

I'll be starting a new build tomorrow when my graphics card arrives.
Click to expand...

Looks like a cool build John! Post some pics/numbers when it's done!
 
For some reason, it won't allow me to upload my photos. There jpg format.
 
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