Looking for a Gaming Desktop at $1300 USD (Prebuilt / Build Service)

[RainingStars]

I am making this post for a friend. Hopefully I'm sticking this in an acceptable place?

 

Budget (including currency): USD, around $1,300

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, recording gameplay (NOT streaming) - Cities Skylines, Planet Zoo, Cyberpunk 2077, Minecraft, Sims, GTA 4 & 5, Genshin Impact, often plays modded and likes shaders in Minecraft.

 

What she Wants: She's looking for a prebuilt or an online store that can put her computer together for her. She's pretty set on it being a desktop computer for upgradability and repair, but she's not picky about FPS or graphics settings, seems content with low FPS on medium settings.

 

Current Setup and Issues: Said friend of mine is currently using a Gateway laptop. It's unfriendly about repairs and upgrades, and the closest shop she can take it to is about an hour's drive away and is known for its poor quality. She's uncomfortable working on computers herself but does want to try, at least for basic upgrades and repairs.

 

Her current setup is very underpowered for her use, with 8GB ram, 250GB storage, a constantly rising heat output even after cleaning, and some strange bugs such as the storage seemingly reading incorrectly. Not to mention it's a Gateway, this part's coming from me - I don't know what the status on Gateways is today but I had one in the past that totally crapped out on me and it sounds like hers might slowly be going the same direction.

 

Cities Skylines is a particular point of interest here. It's similar to Anno, with her current setup she can't even launch the game. The recommended system requirements include 16 GB of ram, but apparently this is outdated and does not include modding or recording. My friend however has said that she's okay with getting the bare minimum 16 GB and upgrading the ram later, after she sees how it actually performs. If anyone's got more familiarity with this game though, any input here would be appreciated.

 

Existing Parts: I believe she only has an SSD and a mouse.

 

Peripherals: She will need a keyboard and monitor. She's not picky about either, as long as the keyboard includes the control keys and numpad. Seems content with 1080p, no preference for monitor size.

When to Buy: She was looking at probably buying during Cyber Monday, so late November.

 

 

At the moment we're considering going through BuildRedux for this, this is the setup we're currently looking at:

[Ryuikko]

 I'd highly suggest building the pc yourself and pay yourself 25 bucks an hour to assemble it. It's not too hard since there's a lot of videos on YouTube that can guide you through the process step by step if needed.

 The second most nost ideal thing would be a shop nearby that can assemble chosen parts themselves, or even a microcenter.

Otherwise, if you're adamant of not  building the pc yourself, the build above looks ~fine. City skylines is a cpu intensive game so the 12600k is a decent choice.

[Omar.B]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/29BPgb

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-214-XT 68.2 CFM CPU Cooler  ($21.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($46.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($88.79 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card  ($518.49 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.98 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Gigabyte AORUS K1 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($79.98 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech G305 (Black) Wireless Optical Mouse  ($38.49 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1249.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-07-09 02:48 EDT-0400

 

Better build over all just get the parts, go to any local store and ask them to assemble it for you & everything it wont cost you much also even for windows 11 you can get it cheaper than 120$ max is like 35$ I'm not sure.

[maartendc]

11 hours ago, RainingStars said:

When to Buy: She was looking at probably buying during Cyber Monday, so late November.

 

 

At the moment we're considering going through BuildRedux for this, this is the setup we're currently looking at:

 

This place charging a "build fee" is a little disingenuous, as all the parts are allready marked up in price in my opinion.

As the build by @Omar.Bshows, you can get a lot better for less money. Especially the GPU, the 3050 is really a weak choice, and I would want a lot better for the  budget of 1400 USD.

 

I would agree, try and find a better deal online, or if you live near a Microcenter, get your parts there and have them assemble it for you.

 

I would also agree that building it yourself is NOT hard, especially nowadays. When I got into PC building 20 years ago, it was a lot harder. Now everything is really just plug it in and go. But I understand some people are not comfortable or don't want to learn / deal with it. So getting a local shop or Microcenter to build it for you is probably the best bet.

 

If you are going online prebuilt, take a look at Gamers' nexus reviews of the prebuilts. The quality and cost varies WILDLY. Some are good, some are terrible and rip you off. There were a handful of prebuilt supliers that were actually decent, so do some research.

 

Good luck!

[RainingStars]

Thank you all for your suggestions~

 

Unfortunately she really doesn't have a local shop around her, the only computer store around her is over an hour's drive away and has a reputation for bricking hardware. She's wanting to avoid building it herself out of anxiety for messing it up, but if she does decide to build it herself she'll also have me there to help walk her through it via call.

 

On 7/9/2022 at 12:51 PM, maartendc said:

If you are going online prebuilt, take a look at Gamers' nexus reviews of the prebuilts. The quality and cost varies WILDLY. Some are good, some are terrible and rip you off. There were a handful of prebuilt supliers that were actually decent, so do some research.

 

Good luck!

Thank you for the recommendation! I'll have to give it a look then, in case we ultimately decide to stick with a prebuilt.