Current Events > considering building a new pc

(+) Yeah! (+)

mine is now like 8-9 years old with some replacement/update stuff along the way that i did
some simple things replaced a video card, added a hard drive, replaced power source and i think a fan

i've never built a pc and i know nothing about it

is there a best time of year to buy parts?
my budget will be pretty substantial but i'm not in a rush so i may as well try to time it

is this a difficult thing for a totally inept fool (me) to do?
i'm relatively patient and pretty high usually so i can soldier through shit but i have shaky hands in general and not super mechanical

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Ground yourself or make sure to discharge static properly and you can't really mess it up.

I wouldn't say there's really a time better than others to buy parts, besides maybe the usuals like Black Friday. It can be frustrating to do a build and then immediately after a new CPU line comes out though, so just do some research on upcoming hardware if that would bother you.
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i don't keep up with hardware at all
if i can be in front of a curve that'd be good, but if i miss new hardware by 3 months i probably wouldn't even notice that it happened

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i built a new pc about 6 months ago, ryzen was too big a not temptation to upgrade to. my overclocked 2500k was feeling the age.

just remember to test everything before it goes in the case. essentially build the pc on the mobo box and make sure everything boots.

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Best time is probably after the new stuff comes out. The new Ryzen 4-series processors will be coming out later this year and the b-550 motherboards that will support them are either already out or coming out in a week. I also believe NVIDIA will be releasing new Graphics cards this year too.

The price of older stuff will likely go down when the new stuff comes out and you can still build a monster machine comparable to a ps5 or xbox whatever with stuff that's already out now. So I'd wait until the holiday season for the sales to start up and supply chains to recover from covid.


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so when you're saying "later this year" on stuff releasing, do they not put out dates or months that product will release?
basically just wait until black friday to start buying parts at all?

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It's not much harder than plugging stuff in and screwing things in. You're close to the end of a console gen though so I'd wait a bit for new tech if I were you.

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You might be able to find an i7 used for cheap. Power Supply, cheap. Maybe around $250 for a good used graphics card.

Refurbished RAM, also cheap.

At $500-700 you could build a beefy machine if you are willing to be patient.

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how long is "a bit" when you say that

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We're on the cusp of having DDR5 memory I think. I need to build a new computer but I'm holding off until I can get my hands on some DDR5 memory and a PCIE Gen 4 nvme drive

my shitty DDR3 memory i got right now isnt even a 1ghz frequency

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Wii_Shaker posted...

You might be able to find an i7 used for cheap. Power Supply, cheap. Maybe around $250 for a good used graphics card.

Refurbished RAM, also cheap.

At $500-700 you could build a beefy machine if you are willing to be patient.

my budget will be like 1700 or something i don't know

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The Trent posted...

my budget will be like 1700 or something i don't know

Easy. You could probably get new parts if you like. I've had good luck with refurbished and they are much cheaper and only lightly used.

Just make sure your components are compatible. I feel silly saying it but you don't want to drop $500 on a GPU that isn't compatible with your mobo.

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The Trent posted...

my budget will be like 1700 or something i don't know

Well knowing that if you wait for the new stuff to come out you can build a lasting rig that you can ride into the next gen after ps5/xbox whatever.

Also idk the release dates for the cpu and graphics cards but I'm sure the cpu release date is set. I haven't seen any info about release dates for the gpus other than "maybe august".

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yeah my intent is to build something that can last another 8-9 years with some tune up along the way

the pc i have now, i bought from some korean kid who lived on top of a church that his family ran
he was like 15 and built the machine for a church auction and no one bought it
it's turned out to be a great machine, reliable and had enough under the hood to get me to now
and it still doesn't struggle with much, though i tried to play planet zoo and that was kinda slow

but i didn't build any of that so that makes me nervous to try from scratch


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It's very easy honestly. It's like a big expensive lego. There are plenty of guides out there to help. Just dont use the one from The Verge.

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I would also steer clear of used or refurb parts. I know the one guy was saying he's had good luck with them, but you have very little if any warranty with them and no guarantee they were handled well beforehand.
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Oh ill buy all new parts thats not at issue

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With that budget you wont have any problem.

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If you want part recommendations, you could get an i7-10700k or wait for the 3rd gen Ryzen R7's and maybe wait until later this year to get one of the new GPUs from Nvidia or AMD and that should last you quite some time & put you on par or better than the PS5 or Xbox Series X depending on what GPU you get.

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That being said for the price, Ryzen CPUs will be the go-to imo the difference is negligible but AMD is making some kick-ass cpus nowadays. But amd vs intel is a HUGE debate in the pc world so do your own research and make a judgment call on that.

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Right nows a kinda bad time to buy. A lot of parts have inflated covid pricing and a bunch of new cpus and GPUs are about to be released

Altho i do say u should budget for a good monitor. LG has a sick 4k 144hz ips that's like 400

FabIemaster posted...

That being said for the price, Ryzen CPUs will be the go-to imo the difference is negligible but AMD is making some kick-ass cpus nowadays. But amd vs intel is a HUGE debate in the pc world so do your own research and make a judgment call on that.

Also ryzen come with a cpu cooler which will save you a few bucks unless you're paranoid and wanna buy a hella beefy cooler anyway

Lanzol posted...

Also ryzen come with a cpu cooler which will save you a few bucks unless you're paranoid and wanna buy a hella beefy cooler anyway

For a 1700 budget he can get a nice aio and never have to worry about cpu temps.

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FabIemaster posted...

Lanzol posted...

Also ryzen come with a cpu cooler which will save you a few bucks unless you're paranoid and wanna buy a hella beefy cooler anyway

For a 1700 budget he can get a nice aio and never have to worry about cpu temps.

FWIW, in real world head-to-head testing, AIOs provide maybe a few degrees difference compared to a decent tower air cooler, but often cost 5x more.

Edit: that being said, I have an AIO in my rig. Just something to be aware of.
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They look prettier. He can get the ROG one with the programmable led screen. I use a stock amd fan in mine tho tbh cuz imma cheap bastard.

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Ya, I'm not sure what his budget is really for

I just built a computer with a r 7 3700x with the stock fan and a 2070 super and spent like 1500 (and that's with someone buying me the cpu and I got a hand me down 4k monitor)

1700 seems like a lot until it doesn't

Ryzen 4000 and Nvidia RTX 3000 parts should be out in October-ish, maybe September or November. I'd just wait

Also taxes don't get accounted for in budgets for whatever reason rip

Taxes arent real

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I paid like 250 in taxes

My bank account isn't real :(

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YXdYGc

Quick build I just did to give you an idea. You can actually get a lot of pc for $1700. Theres a few things you can do to lower the price such as getting a windows key for cheaper or going with a 2070 super. Also Im sure the case isnt fully utilizing the motherboard in regards to USB ports.

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Good stuff guys thanks
Also I pulled that number out of my ass theres probably no real budget but I'm not spending 2500 on it cause principle not principal

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Well in that case make sure to get a 4k monitor.

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