Is it worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop?

[lordpoophead2.0]

Is it worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop? Personally, I don't think it's worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop with the current price to performance value for hardware. I would like to see your opinions on if it's worth spending that much. Thanks!

[Radium_Angel]

I spent 300$ to build a not-current (Xeon e5-2690 v4) Chinese salvage x99 system with a GTX 1060 6GB that plays Cyberpunk 2077 on high settings at plus 80 FPS in even the most dense population areas. SO spending 2k for a system to me is weapons-grade lunacy 

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, lordpoophead2.0 said:

Is it worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop? Personally, I don't think it's worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop with the current price to performance value for hardware. I would like to see your opinions on if it's worth spending that much. Thanks!

Personally? Yes.

 

What I recommend for others? No.

 

Its different for people who get gaming PCs to game and people who like to drag race their gaming PC and/or overclock (like me).

 

Its not a simple yes or no, its specifically dependent on the subjectivity of the individual.

 

$2k budget is a good high end budget, but no everyone is willing nor should spend $2k on just a rig. $2k is my usual top end budget which does include a monitor that's anywhere from $250-$700.

[wasab]

Good games > good hardwares. 

[YoungBlade]

It depends on what your goals are. If you want to build a system to game a bit when you get home from work/school, a $2000 computer is a dubious purchase. You can spend half that and get 80% of the way there.

 

However, if you are an e-sports professional or streamer, then getting a top-of-the-line rig makes good financial sense, as you need it to work for the sake of your livelihood. This can also apply if you're not just gaming.

 

Then, for some people who are very wealthy, spending $500 or $2000 on a computer is a meaningless distinction. When you make $500K+ a year, what does it matter to you? You can just buy the best and not worry about the hassle of an inferior solution.

 

And there's the mid-life crisis situation - some people buy sports cars or go on a big European vacation when they reach mid-life and want to do something significant. I think a $2000 dream gaming system is a reasonable option for that, if that person feels it's necessary. I haven't gotten to that stage of life yet, and I'm not going to judge people for it - it's their money.

[dilpickle]

Is it worth spending $100,000 on a car? Obviously it depends on the person. 

[GuiltySpark_]

Think about it this way. To some, PC gaming and hardware is a hobby. Maybe their only hobby. Think about what some people spend on other hobbies. $2000 might get you a set of nice wheels for a car. A nice carbon fiver kayak (probably not enough actually). 
 

Once you out it into perspective like this $2-4k isn’t a big deal if it’s your sole hobby. 

[8tg]

14 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

Then, for some people who are very wealthy, spending $500 or $2000 on a computer is a meaningless distinction. When you make $500K+ a year, what does it matter to you? You can just buy the best and not worry about the hassle of an inferior solution.

I think the idea of the spending market buying $2000 PCs making that much money is a bit off. A $2000 pc is not that expensive in the larger scale of high end PCs.

Especially if you start considering the whole system, monitor, peripherals, etc.

Hell, I have $1800 in audio equipment that’s technically part of my pc. I don’t make anywhere near 500 grand a year, I just have enough disposable income in my living situation to buy computer stuff kinda whenever.

As for OP I don’t think a $2000 pc is unreasonable but work with both your budget and goals in mind, not one or the other. If you work with just budget you end up going overkill, and if you go just by goals you can end up with a very mediocre system overall, beyond core specs.

Know what you’re trying to get out of a system, and what non performance factors matter to you, and build from there.

[YoungBlade]

22 minutes ago, 8tg said:

I think the idea of the spending market buying $2000 PCs making that much money is a bit off. A $2000 pc is not that expensive in the larger scale of high end PCs.

Especially if you start considering the whole system, monitor, peripherals, etc.

Hell, I have $1800 in audio equipment that’s technically part of my pc. I don’t make anywhere near 500 grand a year, I just have enough disposable income in my living situation to buy computer stuff kinda whenever.

As for OP I don’t think a $2000 pc is unreasonable but work with both your budget and goals in mind, not one or the other. If you work with just budget you end up going overkill, and if you go just by goals you can end up with a very mediocre system overall, beyond core specs.

Know what you’re trying to get out of a system, and what non performance factors matter to you, and build from there.

I was just throwing out a number to get my point across. The point being: to some people, $2000 is not a lot of money for a computer. That might be because they make a lot, or because their life circumstances make their cost of living low, or because they don't use their disposable income for much else.

 

When I built my computer last year, I had nearly $20,000 in the bank despite earning about $30,000 a year for the past several years. All tolled, the computer probably cost me around $1800 over the course of several upgrades. So I definitely understand that people buying $2000 computers don't need to make $500K a year - I'm basically one of them.

[Monkey Dust]

Depends on if you have other things you need to spend the money on, or if it's just competing against other discretionary spending.

 

These days, it is disturbingly easy to spend over £100 on a night out, standard night out, no flexing nonsense. So $2000 is approx £1600-1700, or about 16 nights out.

 

Another way of looking at it is if you expect it to last 4 years before needing upgrading, or replacing, that's only $500 a year, or $10 a week. 

[Touch My Hamm]

very subjective. Depends what you want out of it and what its use case is. You could in theory use the argument of price to X for many things. Do most people who have trucks NEED trucks? How about large houses? Expensive cars? Luxury watches, shoes, the list can go on forever. Each person must decide what its worth to them and its use case and what you can afford and budget.

[cmndr]

Depends on what's being given up for those funds. 

Let's say hypothetically you're playing stuff that runs on a potato... then probably not


If you make $20/hour it's 100 hours of sacrifices. 
If you use the computer for 3000 hours over the next 5 years then it's a question of "was it worth sacrificing 1 hour of time to get an enhancement for 30 hours of time?" relative to what you had already. Note that many of those hours the enhancement WILL NOT matter - think CSGO, Rocket League, email, etc. If 80% of your time is spent on areas where extra enhancement doesn't matter then the calculus shifts to "was it worth sacrificing 1 hour of time to get an enhanced 6 hours?"

You can scale this down as well (e.g. comparing a $1000 computer/upgrade) at which point you'd be comparing 1 hour of time sacrifice for 60 hours of augmented performance.
You can also scale this to income. If you make $100/hour then your time sacrifice is smaller BUT if you spend less time using the device, then the benefit is also smaller. 

I want to say that when I was ~18ish I put in an inflation adjusted $1500 into a computer and made around $12/hr inflation adjusted. I probably used it around 3000 hours over the next 2 years. It was 125 hours (probably 150 after tax) of sacrifice for 3000 hours of computing. Around a 20:1 ratio. At that time the gap in experience between a GOOD computer and a mediocre one mattered more than it does now. 720p was considered a high resolution and the gap between medium and high settings was much more profound. Also general use wasn't as blazing fast as it is these days. You could feel a difference doing things like web browsing. 

--
This also doesn't consider opportunity cost. If you have credit card debt you could pay off with a rate of 20%... 5 years of having that computer actually costs double. Go for a cheaper option if you're in that position. 

[R3ckless]

If you look at it 2000 dollars spent on something that you get hundreds if not thousands of hours of entertainment out of it turns out to be one of the cheapest forms of entertainment. I would do it again in a heartbeat and its something i can use for the next 3 or 4 years (yes i upgrade and get top of the line stuff far more often then most)

 

I have no regrets spending that and much more on my gaming hobby, id rather that then a 1 week experience for 2,000 dollars for an all inclusive resort. It really depends on what you enjoy doing most.

 

I always look at upgrades cost as a "investment" in fun. A form of fun i enjoy every day. It only makes sense that i want that 2k pc (and more) to have the best experience i can afford. The experience from a 500 potatoe pc and running everything on a 2k and up machine there is no comparison. I always see people complaining about the low tier low end experience when you see what hardware they use its like no crap you hate games or have a bad experience. Your pc was barely built for minecraft.

 

 

[Donut417]

On 3/1/2023 at 4:38 PM, lordpoophead2.0 said:

o see your opinions on if it's worth spending that much. Thanks!

For me it's not worth it. I only game about once a week and thats only because I join my friend who lives out of state. With the cost of parts and games going up, it's getting less and less compelling to spend that kind of money. My machine does struggle a bit now but Ive decided to put upgrades on the back burner. 

 

I know my friend is kinda disappointed in this, because he's big in to gaming. But over the last decade Id say, I've kinda falling out of love with gaming. I do enjoy playing multiplayer games with my friend, but the only day we can do this is Sunday, due to his work schedule and my work schedule. During the holidays my PC wasn't turned on for at least a month because we put gaming on the back burner. So I will stick with the machine I have for as long as I can and at some point I'll make the decision if I want to spend the money or not. 

[SamuelHBRowland]

I think it always depends on your application. For me it's a lot more than just a Gaming PC. I use mine for school, non-gaming hobbies, work, and it's also just a passion project for me. That being said, no, for me it's not worth it. I have no need to spend that much on a computer(I also don't have that much to spare), including periferals but that doesn't mean that it won't work for everyone.

 

As a rule, I don't judge what makes others happy and if it makes them happy enough to blow 2000 dollars, I wish them the best. I just don't have that kind of money or passion for gaming.

[Real_PhillBert]

It really depends on who you're asking. 

 

People who are interested in a hobby will spend money on it. I have friends who has $10k+ in golf clubs, I dont play golf so that doesn't make sense to me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing for them to do.

 

The same is true for a Gaming PC, if you're interested in it and going to spend time on it, it may be worth it. 

[Agall]

21 minutes ago, Real_PhillBert said:

It really depends on who you're asking. 

 

People who are interested in a hobby will spend money on it. I have friends who has $10k+ in golf clubs, I dont play golf so that doesn't make sense to me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing for them to do.

 

The same is true for a Gaming PC, if you're interested in it and going to spend time on it, it may be worth it. 

Same with having $2000-$3000 in each individual firearm I own, hobbies are what you spend your time and money in, doesn't always have to be 'price to performance' minded.

 

I have a coworker who's into PC hardware as much as I am with custom watercooling yet just replaced his R7 2700/ 2070S system with a budget R5 7600 build, he'd rather splurge on precision rifle parts than PC parts.

[Erioch]

If you can afford it, sure, why not?  Many spend far more than that (don't tell my wife).

[tkitch]

It depends.  
You can justify in the neighborhood of 2K and still not be wasting money hand over fist.

But if you end up looking at a 4K+ PC?  You can def make smarter purchases.

[IRMacGuyver]

Not when you can get a console for $500.

[wasab]

If you are rich, go for it. 

[Jerakl]

If doable I will try to have hardware to maintain the standards to which I've become accustomed.

[05032-Mendicant-Bias]

How I see the various price points:
500€) Basic machine that can do some light e-sport gaming. Used hardware is a must here, it'll get you vastly superior performance/euro.
1000€) Cheap machine. You get a discrete GPU and can play new 1080p games if you build it right. A used GPU can get you a lot more performance here.

1500€) Good machine. You get a new (not used) discrete GPU and decide what to prioritize. 1440p/1080p? high refresh rate? monitor?

2000€) Great machine. You can get high refresh rate at high resolution depending on component choice and games you play.

3000€) Overkill top of the line machine. 

More) Heavily diminishing returns. Additional money doesn't give you more performance. (Looks, RGB, IO, fast components, etc...)

Riley made a great video about the topic. The hardware changed but the overall experience still stand.

 

[lordpoophead2.0]

imo you guys have way better answers than google

thank you for answering my question and giving your opinions since google kept giving me results like "best gaming desktops for under 2000$"

[papajo]

On 3/1/2023 at 11:38 PM, lordpoophead2.0 said:

Is it worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop? Personally, I don't think it's worth spending over $2000 on a gaming desktop with the current price to performance value for hardware. I would like to see your opinions on if it's worth spending that much. Thanks!

At todays prices it is NOT.

And now worth as in value has nothing to do if you are rich or not that only means that you dont care still doesnt make it worth though.

E.g I can spend easily $10 on sweets or what not per day... but a single chewing gum isnt worth $10 so I wouldnt buy one simply because it isnt worth it not because I cant afford it.. 

Also there is no way one can conince me that a jewing gum is worth $10 for an individual that bought because he has money to waste... again its not about how wealthy you are but if this thing has worth that reflects the pricetag. 


with $2000 one should (and once upon a time not far ago) be able to buy the most frivolous over the top PC tower or one of the best desktops with a very good monitor 5.1 speakers and top mice and keyboard

Now you barely can buy a 3090 ti which isnt even the best or newest GPU...

 

The best consumer CPU should go for 400-450 max the best GPU about the same the best/fastest ram at atleast 32GB should go 120 max the best case should cost 150 max the best mobo 250 max the best psu 120 max an 12TB HDD should cost 100 a 2TB Nvme 80-100 max 

The best 32" monitor should go for 500 euro max the best mouse 80-100 and the best keyboard** 80-100 ...


Then yes it would be worth it to buy a $2000 gaming PC 



**now buying a Chinese keyboard from china costs 120 and it is plastic with cherry mx clones.. (e.g keychron v6 with palmrest <-- which should come free in a keyboard but it doesnt nowadays.. ) and it is considered a good deal best bang for the buck LOL ridiculous! such keyboard should go for 30-50 max...