$2000 budget on a prebuilt

[Zioniah]

Budget (including currency): $2000 us dollars

 

Country: usa

 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: dota 2,league of legends, HOA4,stellaris, wow,(wife blogs) photo editing software,I buy a lot of random games in beta from steam. Mostly whatever looks good on a given day that will take my mind off getting my butt kicked in dota 2.

 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

My wife has had a generic $500 pc from walmart that is now 7 yrs old and is barely working. I had a Samsung odyssey for the last few years but the motherboard is now junk. We are looking to replace those with a prebuilt pc. I have a nice steelseries wireless mouse at the moment. The monitor and keyboard could use an update but would rather go cheaper on those and not sacrifice performance of the pc itself. I dont know enough about PCs to feel confident in building my own. I could really use some help being pointed in the right direction of getting the best deal/performance in my current budget. There are so many parts and options out there that I'm concerned I would select the wrong parts and over pay and under perform if I was to set it all up myself. I'm not big on lights or it looking cool. I prefer what's inside of it. If anyone could help point me in the right direction of websites and/or prebuilt rigs I would greatly appreciate it.

[Kanna]

There is some cheap services that build a pc for you as long as you get the parts, it still won’t match the cost of a prebuilt with the same parts

[SpookyCitrus]

Most repair shops and even some computer parts stores will charge you a small fee to put the computer together for you if you bring in the parts, which still may be cheaper than getting a prebuilt. We recommend anyone building a computer, especially a gaming computer with that sort of budget to build their own because typically you're looking at overpaying by at least $200 to $300 minimum I've seen prebuilt computers from "reliable" companies sell for $500 over the cost of buying it yourself. Places like repair shops and Microcenter I believe usually have a charge of $150 or close to it to put the computer together for you. If you have a Microcenter near you I would recommend going that route otherwise call around to some repair shops and see how much they would charge to just put the computer together for you. If you find a place that will build it for you for a reasonable price we can link you a build list with the best components for your needs and budget. If you want to save money or put more of your budget into the build instead of throwing it away I'd recommend you watch some YouTube and try building the computer yourself it's a lot easier(especially with YouTube guides) than you think.

[Nena Trinity]

I think most prebuilt machines I see come with i5-9400F + some GTX or RTX card...

[Zioniah]

15 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Most repair shops and even some computer parts stores will charge you a small fee to put the computer together for you if you bring in the parts, which still may be cheaper than getting a prebuilt. We recommend anyone building a computer, especially a gaming computer with that sort of budget to build their own because typically you're looking at overpaying by at least $200 to $300 minimum I've seen prebuilt computers from "reliable" companies sell for $500 over the cost of buying it yourself. Places like repair shops and Microcenter I believe usually have a charge of $150 or close to it to put the computer together for you. If you have a Microcenter near you I would recommend going that route otherwise call around to some repair shops and see how much they would charge to just put the computer together for you. If you find a place that will build it for you for a reasonable price we can link you a build list with the best components for your needs and budget. If you want to save money or put more of your budget into the build instead of throwing it away I'd recommend you watch some YouTube and try building the computer yourself it's a lot easier(especially with YouTube guides) than you think.

I literally have 0 experience in building pcs. My main concern is things like paste,power supply,and air flow,are those fairly easy to get right. I wouldnt want to fry it right away. The closest shop is 35 mins from me and i visited it today. The guy seemed disinterested in even doing it by how he talked. The next closest is 3 hrs from me. Would it still be worth having them build it and going to pick it up

[SpookyCitrus]

33 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

I literally have 0 experience in building pcs. My main concern is things like paste,power supply,and air flow,are those fairly easy to get right. I wouldnt want to fry it right away. The closest shop is 35 mins from me and i visited it today. The guy seemed disinterested in even doing it by how he talked. The next closest is 3 hrs from me. Would it still be worth having them build it and going to pick it up

Depends on the price they'd charge to put it together and how long they say it will take. You'd have to drive there to take them the parts and then go back when it's done, unless they say its going to take longer than you can wait that's 6 hours of drive time minimum. I built my first computer at 13 with no experience whatsoever all I had was a YouTube video. Depending on the parts you get it's only a matter of knowing where everything goes, thermal past is pre applied to most coolers, power supply cables are usually labeled, and cases can be bought with the fans preinstalled with the correct configuration out of the box. For most people it's more nerve racking thinking about building your first computer than actually building it. When I went into it and started watching videos I was like how am I going to do this, but once I watched a video or two about building them step by step and followed the video step by step while actually building it I was a lot more at ease. It can be scary but there are thousands of videos on how to build computers, how to install specific parts, install Windows, you have a masterclass of build guides and step by step instructions on one website.

[Zioniah]

1 hour ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Depends on the price they'd charge to put it together and how long they say it will take. You'd have to drive there to take them the parts and then go back when it's done, unless they say its going to take longer than you can wait that's 6 hours of drive time minimum. I built my first computer at 13 with no experience whatsoever all I had was a YouTube video. Depending on the parts you get it's only a matter of knowing where everything goes, thermal past is pre applied to most coolers, power supply cables are usually labeled, and cases can be bought with the fans preinstalled with the correct configuration out of the box. For most people it's more nerve racking thinking about building your first computer than actually building it. When I went into it and started watching videos I was like how am I going to do this, but once I watched a video or two about building them step by step and followed the video step by step while actually building it I was a lot more at ease. It can be scary but there are thousands of videos on how to build computers, how to install specific parts, install Windows, you have a masterclass of build guides and step by step instructions on one website.

Ya that makes a lot of sense. I definantly wanna get the most bang for my buck. How easy is it to understand what motherboard works with which graphics card and other components? I see there are millions of parts on the market.I know that each has something it will and wont work with as well as what it works best with. Is there a good place to start to gain understanding of that? As well as fully understanding what components are gonna have the greatest impact of performance? 

[Mateimm]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor	$399.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$109.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$189.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	PNY GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Edition Video Card	$729.99 @ Adorama
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$104.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1882.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 21:11 EDT-0400

Something like this is complete overkill. for what you want to do, if you want I can make a list that would be closer to 1,000 dollars which would still be more than enough for what you want to do. As for building your own PC I would do it, there are so many youtube videos and channels that give a step by step guide for anything, there are solutions to almost every single problem anywhere, or you could always ask the forums. 

[Mateimm]

20 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

Ya that makes a lot of sense. I definantly wanna get the most bang for my buck. How easy is it to understand what motherboard works with which graphics card and other components? I see there are millions of parts on the market.I know that each has something it will and wont work with as well as what it works best with. Is there a good place to start to gain understanding of that? As well as fully understanding what components are gonna have the greatest impact of performance? 

Go watch some tech youtube channels and you will slowly pick up on what everything is and what goes with what and so on. 

[SpookyCitrus]

57 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

Ya that makes a lot of sense. I definantly wanna get the most bang for my buck. How easy is it to understand what motherboard works with which graphics card and other components? I see there are millions of parts on the market.I know that each has something it will and wont work with as well as what it works best with. Is there a good place to start to gain understanding of that? As well as fully understanding what components are gonna have the greatest impact of performance? 

We can make you a part list that will have no incompatibilities and be the best bang for your buck if you want to build it.

[SpookyCitrus]

1 hour ago, Mateimm said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor	$399.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$109.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$189.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	PNY GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Edition Video Card	$729.99 @ Adorama
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$104.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1882.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 21:11 EDT-0400

 

This is a good list, however, you can get the 3950X for the same price as the 3800XT. That and it's complete overkill, would probably be better off going for something like this for what you want to do. You don't have to spend the full $2000 unless you want to, other than that it's not necessary. The 3600 only has a 5-10 fps difference between the 3800XT in games and is $250 less. If it was a video editing and rendering station, I'd say hell yeah go balls to the walls but it's not, it's mainly for gaming and some photo editing. If you feel the need, for speed, the 3800X would also be suitable as it is at the same price as the the 3700X right now and is still less than the 3800XT. This is the worst time to computer components of the year, the new GPUs and CPUs launch in September and personally I'd wait until then.

P.S. Went with an EVGA card because PNY has ass level QC and terrible customer support.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$154.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$124.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$117.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card	$749.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1421.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 22:10 EDT-0400

 

[Zioniah]

1 hour ago, Mateimm said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor	$399.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$109.99 @ B&H
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$189.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	PNY GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Edition Video Card	$729.99 @ Adorama
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$104.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1882.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 21:11 EDT-0400

Something like this is complete overkill. for what you want to do, if you want I can make a list that would be closer to 1,000 dollars which would still be more than enough for what you want to do. As for building your own PC I would do it, there are so many youtube videos and channels that give a step by step guide for anything, there are solutions to almost every single problem anywhere, or you could always ask the forums. 

When you say overkill do you mean it's possible to run top titles at 60fps. How do you figure out case it all fits into as well as how much cooling is necessary or how to properly set that up. I suppose if I could get away with something closer to 1500 that would leave room for a newer monitor n keyboard

[Zioniah]

35 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

This is a good list, however, you can get the 3950X for the same price as the 3800XT. That and it's complete overkill, would probably be better off going for something like this for what you want to do. You don't have to spend the full $2000 unless you want to, other than that it's not necessary. The 3600 only has a 5-10 fps difference between the 3800XT in games and is $250 less. If it was a video editing and rendering station, I'd say hell yeah go balls to the walls but it's not, it's mainly for gaming and some photo editing. If you feel the need, for speed, the 3800X would also be suitable as it is at the same price as the the 3700X right now and is still less than the 3800XT. This is the worst time to computer components of the year, the new GPUs and CPUs launch in September and personally I'd wait until then.

P.S. Went with an EVGA card because PNY has ass level QC and terrible customer support.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$154.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$124.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$74.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$117.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card	$749.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1421.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 22:10 EDT-0400

 

Appreciate everyone's input on this and yall putting build lists together it's a really big help. I dont mind a little overkill incase I want to play something outside my norm but at same time I dont want to never fully utilize my rig. Ya the software my wife uses right now runs fine on her old pc so I know that wont change much.  Is there an easy way to tell the differences in overall performance between the different sets listed?

[Mateimm]

36 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

Appreciate everyone's input on this and yall putting build lists together it's a really big help. I dont mind a little overkill incase I want to play something outside my norm but at same time I dont want to never fully utilize my rig. Ya the software my wife uses right now runs fine on her old pc so I know that wont change much.  Is there an easy way to tell the differences in overall performance between the different sets listed?

The cheaper one has less performance but not by much, much better value. By @SpookyCitrus

[Zioniah]

Just now, Mateimm said:

The cheaper one has less performance but not by much, much better value. 

between the 2 full builds listed. is there a game i cant run at 60fps at  max or close to max settings. sorry probably not the easiest question to answer just trying to gain an understanding of the capabilities of each. also i seen a comment about new GPU and CPU being released in september. im going to assume that would lower the price for older parts getting me more performance. 

[SpookyCitrus]

46 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

between the 2 full builds listed. is there a game i cant run at 60fps at  max or close to max settings. sorry probably not the easiest question to answer just trying to gain an understanding of the capabilities of each. also i seen a comment about new GPU and CPU being released in september. im going to assume that would lower the price for older parts getting me more performance. 

Either system could run really anything you wanted at 1080p well over 60fps, hell 1440p over 60fps would be a breeze at max settings. Some older parts will be cheaper, and the newer components will most likely be much better performers for around the same price their older counterparts are listed at now.

[Zioniah]

2 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Either system could run really anything you wanted at 1080p well over 60fps, hell 1440p over 60fps would be a breeze at max settings. Some older parts will be cheaper, and the newer components will most likely be much better performers for around the same price their older counterparts are listed at now.

makes sense. looking at the lists compiled everything looks cheap minus the graphics card which is understandable and i suppose replaceable in the future. being that im only around 75% of my current budget, i do have some room to play with RGB effects. is it best to do that with the front and rear fans and leave the components alone? and if i do that is it better to get a different case that has those preinstalled or order those myself and do it that way 

[SpookyCitrus]

7 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

makes sense. looking at the lists compiled everything looks cheap minus the graphics card which is understandable and i suppose replaceable in the future. being that im only around 75% of my current budget, i do have some room to play with RGB effects. is it best to do that with the front and rear fans and leave the components alone? and if i do that is it better to get a different case that has those preinstalled or order those myself and do it that way 

You could go for something like this if you want RGB fans preinstalled, but yes I would just go for fans personally, the GPU will also have RGB.

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Airflow-Tempered-Glass-Mid-Tower/dp/B07RW8GLQJ

[Zioniah]

1 minute ago, SpookyCitrus said:

You could go for something like this if you want RGB fans preinstalled, but yes I would just go for fans personally, the GPU will also have RGB.

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Airflow-Tempered-Glass-Mid-Tower/dp/B07RW8GLQJ

can you control fan speed in those or no and is that very important in that location? i seen a few fans that were 360mm w/ liquid cooling. is that difficult the set up or maintain? do i need a specific motherboard or other parts to control the lighting? 

sorry thats a lot of questions at once i kind of opened my own can of worms on that one 

[Mateimm]

37 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

makes sense. looking at the lists compiled everything looks cheap minus the graphics card which is understandable and i suppose replaceable in the future. being that im only around 75% of my current budget, i do have some room to play with RGB effects. is it best to do that with the front and rear fans and leave the components alone? and if i do that is it better to get a different case that has those preinstalled or order those myself and do it that way 

You could also get rgb ram, the stock cooler wont cover the ram and a kit of corsair vengeance or g.skill trident would look nice.

[Zioniah]

8 minutes ago, Mateimm said:

You could also get rgb ram, the stock cooler wont cover the ram and a kit of corsair vengeance or g.skill trident would look nice.

Is it difficult to set up controls for all that. Also I seen listed in both builds 16gb ram,is it worth going up to 32gb or 64gb of ram in those builds or are the returns diminished at that point

[SpookyCitrus]

9 hours ago, Zioniah said:

Is it difficult to set up controls for all that. Also I seen listed in both builds 16gb ram,is it worth going up to 32gb or 64gb of ram in those builds or are the returns diminished at that point

No, it's not difficult to control, but RGB does tend to add to the build time and difficulty, as long as the RGB components are setup correctly and can use the same control software you should be fine. The Corsair ICUE software will control the case fans, speed, and RGB, and if you were to get Corsair RGB ram it would control that too. A liquid cooler would be more difficult for a novice to install and would add an extra $120+ to the part cost while not necessarily being needed. For what you're doing with the computer 16GB is more than enough.

[Zioniah]

1 hour ago, SpookyCitrus said:

No, it's not difficult to control, but RGB does tend to add to the build time and difficulty, as long as the RGB components are setup correctly and can use the same control software you should be fine. The Corsair ICUE software will control the case fans, speed, and RGB, and if you were to get Corsair RGB ram it would control that too. A liquid cooler would be more difficult for a novice to install and would add an extra $120+ to the part cost while not necessarily being needed. For what you're doing with the computer 16GB is more than enough.

Thank you that answers a lot and getting back to a previous point you made. I found a shop that will assemble my parts for $150 in a day. If I go with a different case for the pc how do I figure out if everything will fit correctly and stay cool

[SpookyCitrus]

4 minutes ago, Zioniah said:

Thank you that answers a lot and getting back to a previous point you made. I found a shop that will assemble my parts for $150 in a day. If I go with a different case for the pc how do I figure out if everything will fit correctly and stay cool

Standard computer parts are typically universal, usually the only worry is sizing, whether the motherboard is too big for the case or your GPU is too big for the case, etc, but when using PCPartpicker it automatically checks fit and build compatibility, the builds I list they should be 100% compatible and have no issues with fitting or working together.

[SpookyCitrus]

@Zioniah Here is a complete build list of the better price to performance PC with the updated RGB case that I linked you earlier and the extra case fan as it doesn't come with a rear exhaust fan installed so you will need to buy one, I also swapped the regular memory to RGB memory that will also be compatible with the RGB control software since you seemed interested. If you found a shop that charges $150 that's good, that's the most I'd say to pay for someone to build it for you. I'd still wait until September but if you can't I think you'll be happy with this. Since I came in under budget you could also upgrade your monitor and keyboard if you wanted, I'd recommend going with a 1080p 144hz if you don't already have one.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$154.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$124.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$117.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card	$845.00 @ Amazon
Case	Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case	$99.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.99 @ Best Buy
Case Fan	Corsair iCUE SP120 RGB Pro 52 CFM 120 mm Fan
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1527.94
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-28 13:02 EDT-0400