PC Build $2,000 or less

[Jamesb88]

Budget (including currency): $2,000

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: AAA Titles and some lower end titles 

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): I just bought a ASUS G14 and I’m returning it to get a desktop instead. I have no clue what I’m supposed to look for to be able to run pretty much any game without issue. If you guys can make a bulletin style list that would be much appreciated!!

 

[Omar.B]

This one will run everything https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gKvKrr but the only problem is if you can find the GPU at MSRP or near it 

[YoungBlade]

I'd still say that, in this market, you're better off getting a pre-built. For $2000, you should be able to get a computer with an RTX 3070, which is more than sufficient for AAA gaming.

 

Newegg ABS with Intel i7 10700F, 16GB RAM, and RTX 3070 on sale for $1700, which is probably the cheapest you'll find right now from a reputable seller

 

If you want to be able to customize, there are also CyberPower and iBuyPower:

 

CyberPower has a Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM, and RX 6700XT on an early 4th of July special for $1800

 

iBuyPower has a Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM, and RTX 3070 as their Daily Deal today for $1970

 

 

[Jamesb88]

6 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I'd still say that, in this market, you're better off getting a pre-built. For $2000, you should be able to get a computer with an RTX 3070, which is more than sufficient for AAA gaming.

 

Newegg ABS with Intel i7 10700F, 16GB RAM, and RTX 3070 on sale for $1700, which is probably the cheapest you'll find right now from a reputable seller

 

If you want to be able to customize, there are also CyberPower and iBuyPower:

 

CyberPower has a Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM, and RX 6700XT on an early 4th of July special for $1800

 

iBuyPower has a Ryzen 7 3700X, 16GB RAM, and RTX 3070 as their Daily Deal today for $1970

 

 

With the prebuilt ones I keep seeing that some have some solid components but other parts are trash. Is it kind of a hit or miss with these?

[Jamesb88]

11 minutes ago, Omar.B said:

This one will run everything https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gKvKrr but the only problem is if you can find the GPU at MSRP or near it 

Thanks for putting that together. Sucks that these graphics cards are out of stock for who knows how long

[Omar.B]

6 minutes ago, Jamesb88 said:

Thanks for putting that together. Sucks that these graphics cards are out of stock for who knows how long

Now you can find in stock but the prices is still scalper the 3070 tuf oc was being sold for 1660$ now it dropped to 1k there's an improvement  

[Somerandomtechyboi]

23 minutes ago, Jamesb88 said:

With the prebuilt ones I keep seeing that some have some solid components but other parts are trash. Is it kind of a hit or miss with these?

Things youd problably want to upgrade when getting a prebuilt are usually

 

The case cause most prebuilts come with god awful case airflow in the name of rainbow puke and asthetics

 

Add an 8gb stick of ram cause most prebuilts come with a single stick which is also really dumb.

 

The optional upgrades are

 

Motherboard cause most prebuilts co.e with basic motherboards

 

Cpu cooler cause they are mostly trash

[YoungBlade]

29 minutes ago, Jamesb88 said:

With the prebuilt ones I keep seeing that some have some solid components but other parts are trash. Is it kind of a hit or miss with these?

It can be. I've got an ABS computer, myself, and the biggest thing was that I needed to upgrade the CPU cooler to keep the CPU from throttling under full load. The case airflow also isn't great, though not terrible. I was able to fix it by buying some more fans. And the PSU is D-Tier on the Tier List here, although I haven't bothered to replace it.

 

With that particular ABS, the thing to watch out for would be if it comes with a B460 motherboard, because then you wouldn't be able to clock the RAM higher than 2933. That said, it only comes with DDR4-3000, so it isn't like you're losing much at time of purchase. It would only be a concern if you wanted to upgrade the RAM later. Also, you might have to configure the BIOS to remove power limits, which would then mean you might need a better CPU cooler. And since the motherboard isn't designed to run high power parts, you could have VRM throttling.

 

But let's assume you need a new motherboard, CPU cooler, and a new power supply. That's $150 for the motherboard, $30 for a cheap tower cooler, and $80 for a new 700W PSU. $260 in total, which still puts the total cost at just $1960 before you go and sell the old mobo on eBay for $50 and the old cooler for $10. If you did that, you'd be looking at a total cost of $1900, which in this market is reasonable for an i7 and 3070.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

It can be. I've got an ABS computer, myself, and the biggest thing was that I needed to upgrade the CPU cooler to keep the CPU from throttling under full load. The case airflow also isn't great, though not terrible. I was able to fix it by buying some more fans. And the PSU is D-Tier on the Tier List here, although I haven't bothered to replace it.

 

With that particular ABS, the thing to watch out for would be if it comes with a B460 motherboard, because then you wouldn't be able to clock the RAM higher than 2933. That said, it only comes with DDR4-3000, so it isn't like you're losing much at time of purchase. It would only be a concern if you wanted to upgrade the RAM later. Also, you might have to configure the BIOS to remove power limits, which would then mean you might need a better CPU cooler. And since the motherboard isn't designed to run high power parts, you could have VRM throttling.

 

But let's assume you need a new motherboard, CPU cooler, and a new power supply. That's $150 for the motherboard, $30 for a cheap tower cooler, and $80 for a new 700W PSU. $260 in total, which still puts the total cost at just $1960 before you go and sell the old mobo on eBay for $50 and the old cooler for $10. If you did that, you'd be looking at a total cost of $1900, which in this market is reasonable for an i7 and 3070.

If you swap out any major components after purchase then say goodbye to your warranty. It is better to get it right from the start.

[YoungBlade]

15 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

If you swap out any major components after purchase then say goodbye to your warranty. It is better to get it right from the start.

I agree. It would be better if companies just built computers that actually make sense.

 

I'm not saying that the mobo has to be switched out. Some B460 boards handle removing power limits just fine. And while 2933 isn't blazing fast RAM, it should be good enough. Honestly, in gaming, you could probably get away with a power limited 10700f with 2933 RAM in most situations without noticing any difference compared to an unleashed 10700k with 3600 RAM. It just depends on the game.

 

All I'm trying to say is that, if performance isn't up to snuff because of the motherboard, in the current market, replacing it is still cheaper than building the computer yourself. Once graphics card prices are back to normal, the whole discussion changes, but that's not the world we're in right now, unfortunately.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

I agree. It would be better if companies just built computers that actually make sense.

 

I'm not saying that the mobo has to be switched out. Some B460 boards handle removing power limits just fine. And while 2933 isn't blazing fast RAM, it should be good enough. Honestly, in gaming, you could probably get away with a power limited 10700f with 2933 RAM in most situations without noticing any difference compared to an unleashed 10700k with 3600 RAM. It just depends on the game.

 

All I'm trying to say is that, if performance isn't up to snuff because of the motherboard, in the current market, replacing it is still cheaper than building the computer yourself. Once graphics card prices are back to normal, the whole discussion changes, but that's not the world we're in right now, unfortunately.

Cheaper components means more profit for them. If you can find a place that lets you customise the build then that is a much better option. If you are paying out ~$2000 for a system then you want it to run at it's max performance. If you get a crappy board that has a bad VRM and can't run the cpu properly with power limits removed then you are not getting what you paid for.

 

I am not familiar with USA pc stores but there must be some that let you pick your own components.

[YoungBlade]

12 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

Cheaper components means more profit for them. If you can find a place that lets you customise the build then that is a much better option. If you are paying out ~$2000 for a system then you want it to run at it's max performance. If you get a crappy board that has a bad VRM and can't run the cpu properly with power limits removed then you are not getting what you paid for.

 

I am not familiar with USA pc stores but there must be some that let you pick your own components.

The other two options I posted let you customize the PC. You are paying more to have that freedom of choice, which may be worth it. My experience with pre-builts has tended to be decent on-the-whole, especially when it comes to price-to-performance. I always buy them at a steep discount. I don't get exactly what I want, but I get enough performance to meet my needs without going over budget.

 

The computer I'm currently using I got for just $1017 as an open box deal. It came with a Z390 mobo, i5 9600k, RTX 2060 Super, 16GB DDR4-3000, and 512GB SATA SSD. At the time, an equivalent system would've cost me at least $1300 to DIY. Right now, it would be even more expensive thanks to the GPU shortage (the 2060S alone is going for $650-800 used), so I'm really glad I pulled the trigger when I did.

 

Before that, I got a $450 Lenovo refurb with an i5 4440, GT 635, 8GB DDR3-1333, and 1TB HDD as the core components in 2014. That CPU had an MSRP of $187, the RAM would've been about $100, the comparable GT 640 was another $100, and the 1TB HDD was around $80. That's $467 for just the major components before factoring in the PSU, mobo, case, DVD drive, Windows license (if you care about that), and the built-in SD card reader it had, which I wanted at the time. Even if I found parts on sale, I'm not sure I could've beaten that level of value, which is why I went with the pre-built.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

4 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

The other two options I posted let you customize the PC. You are paying more to have that freedom of choice, which may be worth it. My experience with pre-builts has tended to be decent on-the-whole, especially when it comes to price-to-performance. I always buy them at a steep discount. I don't get exactly what I want, but I get enough performance to meet my needs without going over budget.

 

The computer I'm currently using I got for just $1017 as an open box deal. It came with a Z390 mobo, i5 9600k, RTX 2060 Super, 16GB DDR4-3000, and 512GB SATA SSD. At the time, an equivalent system would've cost me at least $1300 to DIY. Right now, it would be even more expensive thanks to the GPU shortage (the 2060S alone is going for $650-800 used), so I'm really glad I pulled the trigger when I did.

 

Before that, I got a $450 Lenovo refurb with an i5 4440, GT 635, 8GB DDR3-1333, and 1TB HDD as the core components in 2014. That CPU had an MSRP of $187, the RAM would've been about $100, the comparable GT 640 was another $100, and the 1TB HDD was around $80. That's $467 for just the major components before factoring in the PSU, mobo, case, DVD drive, Windows license (if you care about that), and the built-in SD card reader it had, which I wanted at the time. Even if I found parts on sale, I'm not sure I could've beaten that level of value, which is why I went with the pre-built.

Pre builts when the market is not scalping gpus are usually trash with cheapo components and single channel ram, unless you get them at a steep discount or when the market has come to scalping gpus.

 

Another example on why prebuilts might be better than building a computer

 

optiplex 380s will make for cheap ultrabudget gaming pcs in most areas, in my area they cost around 20-35$, since its ddr3 you can just add a 4gb stick of ram to make it 6gb or swap both sticks with 4gb and make it 8gb, shove a q6600 and bsel it, shove an rx 460 and undervolt it, and youve got a decent ultrabudget gaming machine.

 

The board alone will cost 8$, not to mention the case, the ram, or dvd drive.

 

So in this instance prebuilt wins over diy, only reason to even go diy is for ocing, and most people only go to 4ghz anyways which is not much of an improvement over the 3ghz or with a bit of setfsb tweaking and voltmodding 3.1 or 3.2ghz.

 

So the upgraded prebuilt wins

[Jamesb88]

30 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

The other two options I posted let you customize the PC. You are paying more to have that freedom of choice, which may be worth it. My experience with pre-builts has tended to be decent on-the-whole, especially when it comes to price-to-performance. I always buy them at a steep discount. I don't get exactly what I want, but I get enough performance to meet my needs without going over budget.

 

The computer I'm currently using I got for just $1017 as an open box deal. It came with a Z390 mobo, i5 9600k, RTX 2060 Super, 16GB DDR4-3000, and 512GB SATA SSD. At the time, an equivalent system would've cost me at least $1300 to DIY. Right now, it would be even more expensive thanks to the GPU shortage (the 2060S alone is going for $650-800 used), so I'm really glad I pulled the trigger when I did.

 

Before that, I got a $450 Lenovo refurb with an i5 4440, GT 635, 8GB DDR3-1333, and 1TB HDD as the core components in 2014. That CPU had an MSRP of $187, the RAM would've been about $100, the comparable GT 640 was another $100, and the 1TB HDD was around $80. That's $467 for just the major components before factoring in the PSU, mobo, case, DVD drive, Windows license (if you care about that), and the built-in SD card reader it had, which I wanted at the time. Even if I found parts on sale, I'm not sure I could've beaten that level of value, which is why I went with the pre-built.

Wish I understood most of what everything means or does. Could you set up one of the IBUYPOWER prebuilts with the correct stuff needed? Wayyyyyy too many options and it gets me questioning what do I even choose haha. I appreciate the help!

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

The other two options I posted let you customize the PC. You are paying more to have that freedom of choice, which may be worth it. My experience with pre-builts has tended to be decent on-the-whole, especially when it comes to price-to-performance. I always buy them at a steep discount. I don't get exactly what I want, but I get enough performance to meet my needs without going over budget.

 

The computer I'm currently using I got for just $1017 as an open box deal. It came with a Z390 mobo, i5 9600k, RTX 2060 Super, 16GB DDR4-3000, and 512GB SATA SSD. At the time, an equivalent system would've cost me at least $1300 to DIY. Right now, it would be even more expensive thanks to the GPU shortage (the 2060S alone is going for $650-800 used), so I'm really glad I pulled the trigger when I did.

 

Before that, I got a $450 Lenovo refurb with an i5 4440, GT 635, 8GB DDR3-1333, and 1TB HDD as the core components in 2014. That CPU had an MSRP of $187, the RAM would've been about $100, the comparable GT 640 was another $100, and the 1TB HDD was around $80. That's $467 for just the major components before factoring in the PSU, mobo, case, DVD drive, Windows license (if you care about that), and the built-in SD card reader it had, which I wanted at the time. Even if I found parts on sale, I'm not sure I could've beaten that level of value, which is why I went with the pre-built.

The Cyberpower website seems to be the better of the two, as at least they have some good board and psu options like the B550 Gaming Edge and Enermax Revolution D.F. You also have the option to change the cpu to the 5600X if just gaming.

 

**On second glance it seems I misread the ibuypower site  they have decent options too**

[YoungBlade]

16 minutes ago, Jamesb88 said:

Wish I understood most of what everything means or does. Could you set up one of the IBUYPOWER prebuilts with the correct stuff needed? Wayyyyyy too many options and it gets me questioning what do I even choose haha. I appreciate the help!

If you want to go with the iBuyPower, here's one I pre-configured for $1983.

 

I upgraded it to a 5800X in exchange for downgrading the RAM to DDR4-3200. With the RAM, in most games you'd be looking at up to a 5% difference in terms of performance between 3200 and 3600 at 1080p, whereas the 5800X is about 15-20% faster in games compared to the 3700X at 1080p, so that trade made sense to me. It also left room in the budget for a much better AIO cooler (previous it was just a 120mm, which is pretty much pointless compared to an air cooler) and increasing the storage drive from a 1TB HDD to a 2TB HDD. The boot drive is still the default Seagate Barracuda 500GB NVMe one.

[Jamesb88]

1 hour ago, YoungBlade said:

If you want to go with the iBuyPower, here's one I pre-configured for $1983.

 

I upgraded it to a 5800X in exchange for downgrading the RAM to DDR4-3200. With the RAM, in most games you'd be looking at up to a 5% difference in terms of performance between 3200 and 3600 at 1080p, whereas the 5800X is about 15-20% faster in games compared to the 3700X at 1080p, so that trade made sense to me. It also left room in the budget for a much better AIO cooler (previous it was just a 120mm, which is pretty much pointless compared to an air cooler) and increasing the storage drive from a 1TB HDD to a 2TB HDD. The boot drive is still the default Seagate Barracuda 500GB NVMe one.

Thanks I appreciate you setting that up for me! Last couple things. I already have a keyboard and mouse but when it comes to monitors what do you suggest and also am I able to easily upgrade this pre built PC. As said above I should look into maybe getting a better case as well for it maybe down the road

[YoungBlade]

5 minutes ago, Jamesb88 said:

Thanks I appreciate you setting that up for me! Last couple things. I already have a keyboard and mouse but when it comes to monitors what do you suggest and also am I able to easily upgrade this pre built PC. As said above I should look into maybe getting a better case as well for it maybe down the road

If you're planning to swap out the case, you can save some money there and downgrade it back to the AeroCool Cylon on the first row to save $38. I actually upgraded the case to the Pure Base 500 so that the case had better airflow. Sorry I forgot to mention that in my post.

 

For a monitor, I almost always recommend the Gigabyte M27Q if your GPU can do 1440p gaming. It's 27" 1440p 170Hz with adjustable height stand and G-Sync compatible, with a single, optimal set-and-forget overdrive setting, all for under $350. I don't think it can be beaten in terms of features at its price point, and I think it would pair really well with a 3070, considering it works alright with my 2060 Super. I got one on sale for $330 and I'm really happy with the purchase. It's currently on sale at Newegg for just $320, plus you get a copy of Outriders if you're interested in that game. There's also a refurbished one for $260, if you're willing to go that route.

[Jamesb88]

3 hours ago, YoungBlade said:

If you're planning to swap out the case, you can save some money there and downgrade it back to the AeroCool Cylon on the first row to save $38. I actually upgraded the case to the Pure Base 500 so that the case had better airflow. Sorry I forgot to mention that in my post.

 

For a monitor, I almost always recommend the Gigabyte M27Q if your GPU can do 1440p gaming. It's 27" 1440p 170Hz with adjustable height stand and G-Sync compatible, with a single, optimal set-and-forget overdrive setting, all for under $350. I don't think it can be beaten in terms of features at its price point, and I think it would pair really well with a 3070, considering it works alright with my 2060 Super. I got one on sale for $330 and I'm really happy with the purchase. It's currently on sale at Newegg for just $320, plus you get a copy of Outriders if you're interested in that game. There's also a refurbished one for $260, if you're willing to go that route.

Alright perfect! I’m gonna purchase it and it will be shipping sometime in August unfortunately