Gaming pc or laptop?

[GlizzardWizard]

Budget (including currency): $700

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Mostly Forza

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): All I have is a mouse and Xbox controller. Looking to switch over from console so I will need everything including monitor and keyboard. Locally, I’ve found used gaming laptops for a great deal, but I’m wondering if I can build a decent rig for cheaper, even with monitor and keyboard included. If my budget is unrealistic let me know.
 

I’m capable of putting together a pc, but I’m open to pre-built ones. I don’t mind used parts if it’s in good/working condition, in case I want to sell it I’ll lose less money. If used parts are a no-no for PCs feel free to educate me, since I build race cars so I think everything is somewhat reusable...

[Kanna]

If you don’t need the laptop for portability it’s a poor choice not upgradable 

[Aereldor]

At $700 building will be way cheaper than buying. AMD's overwhelmingly likely to launch a $350-400 card to undercut the RTX 3070, which will fit right in with a Ryzen 3300x (or its successor) for a nice $700ish build.

[boggy77]

used 1070 cards are $200

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$114.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$74.99 @ B&H
Memory	ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$49.99 @ Amazon
Storage	TCSunBow X3 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$43.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Black Video Card	$200.00
Case	HEC HX310 ATX Mid Tower Case	$31.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.94 @ Newegg
Monitor	Asus VA24EHE 23.8" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$112.49 @ Staples
Keyboard	Redragon K552 Wired Gaming Keyboard	$37.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$731.36
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-16 08:30 EDT-0400

 

[boggy77]

5 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

At $700 building will be way cheaper than buying. AMD's overwhelmingly likely to launch a $350-400 card to undercut the RTX 3070, which will fit right in with a Ryzen 3300x (or its successor) for a nice $700ish build.

can't really fit a 350$ card in a 700$ budget that needs to include monitor and keyboard

[YT_DomDaBomb20]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$114.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$84.99 @ Newegg
Memory	ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$49.99 @ Amazon
Storage	TCSunBow X3 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$16.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate 500 GB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive	$23.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Black Video Card	$200.00
Case	HEC HX310 ATX Mid Tower Case	$31.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$64.94 @ Newegg
Monitor	LG 22MK430H-B 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Redragon K552 Wired Gaming Keyboard	$37.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$715.83
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-16 08:36 EDT-0400

 

[Aereldor]

18 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

can't really fit a 350$ card in a 700$ budget that needs to include monitor and keyboard

I didn't realize he needs a monitor and a keyboard, if so I recommend this-

 

i3 10100 is $80 at Micro Center with the purchase of a compatible motherboard. Around 3300x performance.
 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i3-10100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$80.00
Motherboard	ASRock H410M-HDV Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Amazon
Memory	ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$49.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Inland 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$43.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	ASRock Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB Challenger D OC Video Card	$273.98 @ Newegg
Case	CiT F3 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$32.97 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$49.99 @ Walmart
Monitor	LG 22MK430H-B 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Redragon S113 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard With Optical Mouse	$38.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$719.89
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-16 08:49 EDT-0400

 

[GlizzardWizard]

Are three builds mostly future proof? Or will I be looking to upgrade a lot of it in the next year. 

[VeganJoy]

1 hour ago, GlizzardWizard said:

Are three builds mostly future proof? Or will I be looking to upgrade a lot of it in the next year. 

its difficult to fit "futureproof" aka good parts into the given budget. ideally youd buy everything used unless there are specific parts that are as cheap new. depending on your location in the US you may have access to great local deals. cases, monitors, and other big heavy parts go for super cheap locally as shipping is a pain. if you lurk /r/hardwareswap on reddit i wouldnt be surprised if you couldnt get a very upgradable build with good performance. going off of average prices on HWS that i see recently:

 

cpu: microcenter deal on 10100 or used ryzen 1600 or 3100 for <100

mobo: microcenter deal with a z490 (150 i think is the cheapest?) or a used b450 for <100

ram: 16gb 3200c16 for <50

storage: 500gb nvme for <50,

gpu: 1080, 2060, or 5600xt for 200-250

local deal on a case: depending on how nice of a case you want, 50 or under

psu: evga b stock or used 600-700w bronze for <70

local deal on a monitor: 1080p 60-75hz for 30-75 bucks depending on quality, a nice 1080p 144hz ips goes for around 120 local

keyboard: get a new redragon mechanical for 50 bucks

 

keep taxes in mind, makes your whole build 10% cheaper than it looks when you buy used

 

the most "futureproof" part youll wanna invest in is the motherboard as itll be the platform for future memory and cpu upgrades. so if you go with the 10100 but get a b or h series board youre stuck with 2666mhz ram and locked cpus (no overclocking, which is kind of a big deal with intel). with ryzen a 100 dollar b450 will support a wide variety of cpus with overclocking, at which point the best cpu you can use depends on if the motherboard circuitry can handle it. most b450s can handle a 3700x (8 cores) with ease and many decent ones will handle a 3900x (12 cores). additionally, zen 3 will be supported on the b450 chipset at some point after release, and msi has guaranteed a zen 3 bios update for their b450 boards giving you even more options in the future.