PC parts people overspend on

[Mooshi]

Upon browsing some threads with users asking suggestions for their new rig part selection, I kept silently telling myself some selections were overpriced for the intended function. Does anyone else do this and what parts do you feel get over spent on? 

 

This isn't a thread to mock people's budgets or to start any flame wars, it's mostly for observation. By all means if you have the money, go all out if you can afford it! For me personally, I think it's the CPU coolers and RAM. My kit is nothing special, it's a G.Skill Ripjawz set running at 2666mhz--I can not justify for the life of me a Platinum 3200+ kit when considering real world performance to price difference. Same for CPU coolers. I can understand the AIO aesthetic, but $100 vs $30 for a modestly overclocked system..H7 will do haha. 

 

How does the LTT community feel about certain parts and their price tags? 

[Guest]

I think me buying a prebuilt is already overspending 

But for i5 4460 8gb ram and gtx 760 all $500 is nice actually w/win8 and blue backlit kb w/mouse

[dragoon20005]

4 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

I think me buying a prebuilt is already overspending 

But for i5 4460 8gb ram and gtx 760 all $500 is nice actually w/win8 and blue backlit kb w/mouse

you left out Prebuild Gaming PCs

 

like the Acer Predator or Alienware PCs

[Mooshi]

Do prebuilts even count in this? I mean not all are bad, but the Best Buy/Walmart stuff is sketch. 

[kaiju_wars]

10 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

you left out Prebuild Gaming PCs

 

like the Acer Predator or Alienware PCs

There's some decently priced prebuilts, like that Asus Linus did a review of.

Personally, it's storage.  SSDs in particular.  I've seen a lot of people buy Samsung 850 EVOs and other more expensive brands because that's what YouTubers use.

(Granted, I have one, but I got it on sale and I needed the migration software)

I'd also argue RAM, cases, GPUs, and power supplies.  Now, I'm not saying don't get at least a decent PSU... but some people think if you run anything more than a GT 710, you need the top of the line, most expensive PSU money can buy.  Same with RAM.  I understand sticking to a brand you trust. (For example, Crucial for me, I've had the best luck with them).  But I've seen others who have to buy, yet again, the most expensive with the highest speeds, and the fanciest of fancy heat spreaders.  Cases I've seen similar.  I'm not saying don't buy a nice case.  But does you really need to give the death star competition, in terms of looks?

GPUs too.  You have, say, a $600 budget.  Okay, buy either RX 4XX or GTX 10XX for that price range.  Oh, you spoiled most of your budget on a Titan X?  (I'm exaggerating).  Now you have to cheap out on everything else and you paired a Celeron with it..
(Keep in mind, if you have the money for these parts, by all means buy them.  But I'm exclusively talking about people who have a set budget and bought these because, "they're the bestest and Yutuberz said so!")

 

[aisle9]

GPUs. Don't flame me, just hear me out. NVIDIA and AMD push hard to make you think that you need a 1080 for 3D pinball or a 480 for Minesweeper (and they owe Linus a commission in that regard). The typical PC gamer would get by just fine with a $100 GTX 1050 or RX 460, hell, even a $60 GTX 750 Ti. DOTA2, LoL and CS:GO do not require a GTX 1070, but NVIDIA thanks you for spreading the myth that they do.

 

I don't really see people overspending on RAM in most circumstances. It's usually either the guy who needs 32GB of RAM to watch porn or the assclown who wants Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM and will not consider anything else that ends up overspending on that. I very rarely see people overspend on CPU coolers, because there's typically a degree of research that goes in there before a purchase. There's also not really a "sexy" factor with coolers the way there is GPUs, RAM and case fans. Unless BBW is your thing, in which case there's an NH-D15 with your Celeron's name on it.

 

Don't Google that.

 

I'll admit that 90% of the time, I see people painfully underspending on a PSU. I mean, come on, you really think a $30 600W spark plug belongs in your $1,500 i7/GTX 1080 setup? That said, when people overspend on a PSU, they overspend, and it's usually on jigawatts rather than quality. I don't care if that 1000W Raidmax is on sale for $100 after the mail-in rebate that you'll never get, your i3/RX 470 combo does not need it. Besides, it's still going to set your house on fire.

[dragoon20005]

5 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

There's some decently priced prebuilts, like that Asus Linus did a review of.

Personally, it's storage.  SSDs in particular.  I've seen a lot of people buy Samsung 850 EVOs and other more expensive brands because that's what YouTubers use.

(Granted, I have one, but I got it on sale and I needed the migration software)

I'd also argue RAM, cases, GPUs, and power supplies.  Now, I'm not saying don't get at least a decent PSU... but some people think if you run anything more than a GT 710, you need the top of the line, most expensive PSU money can buy.  Same with RAM.  I understand sticking to a brand you trust. (For example, Crucial for me, I've had the best luck with them).  But I've seen others who have to buy, yet again, the most expensive with the highest speeds, and the fanciest of fancy heat spreaders.  Cases I've seen similar.  I'm not saying don't buy a nice case.  But does you really need to give the death star competition, in terms of looks?

GPUs too.  You have, say, a $600 GPU.  Okay, buy either RX 4XX or GTX 10XX for that price range.  Oh, you spoiled most of your budget on a Titan X?  (I'm exaggerating).  Now you have to cheap out on everything else and you paired a Celeron with it..
(Keep in mind, if you have the money for these parts, by all means buy them.  But I'm exclusively talking about people who have a set budget and bought these because, "they're the bestest and Yutuberz said so!")

 

overspend and overused are two different thing thou

 

The 850 Evo no matter what youtube reviews or not, I swear by them because of the drive performance

 

i using them on my own Q6600 desktop and my dad's i5 4460 PC

 

I did overkill on the PSU on my dad's PC because we need the power savings i can get from the Gold Rated 550W PSU even thou my dad uses only Intel HD graphics.

 

I dont get why ppl still pick the Corsair Dominators in their builds

 

and the NZXT H440 is the most common casing used where ever i go

 

 

[kaiju_wars]

2 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

overspend and overused are two different thing thou

 

The 850 Evo no matter what youtube reviews or not, I swear by them because of the drive performance

 

I still think the average joe overspends on even them.  They're great drives, but not everyone needs that much for an SSD, when say an ADATA will be perfect for them.  

I like 850 Evos, I swear by mine.  But I realize the ADATA SSD is perfect for my main rig, and it was a lot less money.

 

 

 

[dragoon20005]

1 minute ago, kaiju_wars said:

I still think the average joe overspends on even them.  They're great drives, but not everyone needs that much for an SSD, when say an ADATA will be perfect for them.  

I like 850 Evos, I swear by mine.  But I realize the ADATA SSD is perfect for my main rig, and it was a lot less money.

 

 

 

yes this is true

 

normal users will not feel the difference between a ADATA or Sandisk SSD

 

all will boot to Windows in under 10 secs and load IE/Chrome the same

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

yes this is true

 

normal users will not feel the difference between a ADATA or Sandisk SSD

 

all will boot to Windows in under 10 secs and load IE/Chrome the same

Exactly, tis why my main rig has an ADATA and my laptop has an 850 Evo.

[B16CXHatch]

I will freely admit I overspent on my RAM. Dominator Platinum is completely and utterly unnecessary but I thought it looked cool. Eh. Whatever. I'm an adult, I can waste money on whatever I want. Also my PSU is overkill but in this case, it was on sale and I wanted quality so yeah. EVGA 850 G2. Coulda got something a little cheaper, but I won't need another for a long time.

 

I am with you on the coolers. I tried, very briefly, an H100i and those things are a waste of money. Granted my NH-U14S isn't exactly cheap but is sill considerably less expensive and QUIETER while only running slightly warmer (like 2 degrees) than the H100i (4790K by the way). It just weighs an butt-ton. I considered an H80i for my HTPC but man am I glad I went with a Cryorig M9i instead. Threw a Noctua NF-A9 on it and I had a dead silent, decent performing cooler for $35 (funny that the fan cost nearly as much as the entire cooler but totally worth it to me for an HTPC).

 

Motherboards are another thing. But it goes both ways to me. People seem to either overspend or underspend. I always aim right for the middle. My Asus Z97-A/USB 3.1 may not be a "gaming" board but it has all the features I wanted and handles a mild OC just fine and is higher quality than the cheaper boards. But crucially, it isn't covered in all the red nonsense that practically every gaming oriented board charges you extra for.

 

[Mooshi]

I remember once (unsure if it was on the LTT forums or PCPartpicker) seeing a user with a 6600k paired with one of the more expensive AIO coolers avaliable and the entire time thinking for the same cash they could have gotten a 6700k with a Cryorig H7 instead. I cri every tim

[dragoon20005]

more like i cringe when i see i7 builds with a GTX 1060

 

when they could have easily fit a GTX1070 with the i5 6600K

 

and yes the Corsair H100i is the MOST common AIO cooler in every PC builds i have seen

[Mooshi]

4 minutes ago, dragoon20005 said:

more like i cringe when i see i7 builds with a GTX 1060

 

when they could have easily fit a GTX1070 with the i5 6600K

 

and yes the Corsair H100i is the MOST common AIO cooler in every PC builds i have seen

lmao I have an i7 with a 1060. To be fair, I can afford to get a more expensive GPU, I simply don't get to use my PC as much as I'd like due to work and tend to upgrade every 4ish years so I went with an i7 and will upgrade the GPU and monitor sometime 2017 when the new gen comes out. 

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, deXxterlab97 said:

I think me buying a prebuilt is already overspending 

But for i5 4460 8gb ram and gtx 760 all $500 is nice actually w/win8 and blue backlit kb w/mouse

Is this a computer you saw recently or a while ago?  

 

At Best Buy I'd guess?    That sounds like a Best Buy prebuilt to me.  lol

 

53 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Do prebuilts even count in this? I mean not all are bad, but the Best Buy/Walmart stuff is sketch. 

"Gaming" ones for sure I'd say.  lol

 

They charge you an arm and both your legs more often than not if you want something with better than a 700 series GPU.  

 

Though last January I got this for $999 on sale from Best Buy.  Ignore where it says 6700 it came with a 6700K.  

Spoiler

I should mention the motherboard was a H110 chipset mATX Gigabyte, the wifi was a no name brand USB adapter adapter about the size of the end segment of my thumb rigged up on a USB cable plugged into the motherboard, and the PSU was a 500 watt allied brand that I was told is poo quality.

 

Though the 970 was not a reference model (some basic MSI brand 970) so that was nice and the HDD was a 1TB WD Blue so I was happy about that too.  

 

I've since upgraded the heck out of it.  The updated specs are what's on my profile.   

 

 

19 minutes ago, B16CXHatch said:

I will freely admit I overspent on my RAM. Dominator Platinum is completely and utterly unnecessary but I thought it looked cool. Eh. Whatever. I'm an adult, I can waste money on whatever I want. Also my PSU is overkill but in this case, it was on sale and I wanted quality so yeah. EVGA 850 G2. Coulda got something a little cheaper, but I won't need another for a long time.

 

I am with you on the coolers. I tried, very briefly, an H100i and those things are a waste of money. Granted my NH-U14S isn't exactly cheap but is sill considerably less expensive and QUIETER while only running slightly warmer (like 2 degrees) than the H100i (4790K by the way). It just weighs an butt-ton. I considered an H80i for my HTPC but man am I glad I went with a Cryorig M9i instead. Threw a Noctua NF-A9 on it and I had a dead silent, decent performing cooler for $35 (funny that the fan cost nearly as much as the entire cooler but totally worth it to me for an HTPC).

 

Motherboards are another thing. But it goes both ways to me. People seem to either overspend or underspend. I always aim right for the middle. My Asus Z97-A/USB 3.1 may not be a "gaming" board but it has all the features I wanted and handles a mild OC just fine and is higher quality than the cheaper boards. But crucially, it isn't covered in all the red nonsense that practically every gaming oriented board charges you extra for.

 

I wouldn't say a gold rated PSU is overspending though perhaps you just mean the wattage which even that isn't bad.  I'd gotten a 750W B2 last spring because it was only $65 on Amazon even if I didn't need 750W.  Though having the higher wattage probably has helped it be quieter than a lower wattage PSU would've been.

 

Do you mind if I ask why you got a M9i instead of a C7?    I believe Cryorig markets the C7 as being for HTPCs among other things.  I'm not saying you made a bad purchase I guess it's that I guess I'd think C7 would fit better in a HTPC size case compared to a tower cooler.  

 

I agree with you about motherboards.  I'll admit I got my Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 partly for the color but also because I didn't (still don't) know anything about choosing a motherboard or what I really needed so I figured overkill was a good idea to ensure I was getting something that was defintely as good or better than I needed.  I'm sure a cheaper board would've done that job plenty well enough.  

 

19 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

I remember once (unsure if it was on the LTT forums or PCPartpicker) seeing a user with a 6600k paired with one of the more expensive AIO coolers avaliable and the entire time thinking for the same cash they could have gotten a 6700k with a Cryorig H7 instead. I cri every tim

I'd cry too if someone could get a better CPU if they could've.  ?

 

Which brings me to my own possible overspending story:

 

I'd gotten a 6700K for the Usagi build I'd given my friend for her birthday last October which was probably overspending for what my friend needed.

 

She likely would've been fine with a 6600K or maybe less than that even but I figured this way if nothing else she can go a bit longer before upgrading would be needed.  

[Guest]

@Bleedingyamato Bhphotovideo

[Bleedingyamato]

12 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

@Bleedingyamato Bhphotovideo

This was a while ago I assume?

 

I tried looking just now out of curiously but I can't find it.  

 

Not a big deal though.  Not like I don't have other things to spend $500 on.

 

Like a shiny new 4K tv.  Or waffles.  ?

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

This was a while ago I assume?

 

I tried looking just now out of curiously but I can't find it.  

 

Not a big deal though.  Not like I don't have other things to spend $500 on.

 

Like a shiny new 4K tv.  Or waffles.  ?

It was on sale. Independence day iirc. Look up Asus m32ad u019s

[Bleedingyamato]

16 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

It was on sale. Independence day iirc. Look up Asus m32ad u019s

Ah.  Ok.  Thank you.  

[sazrocks]

2 hours ago, aisle9 said:

   I'll admit that 90% of the time, I see people painfully underspending on a PSU. I mean, come on, you really think a $30 600W spark plug belongs in your $1,500 i7/GTX 1080 setup? That said, when people overspend on a PSU, they overspend, and it's usually on jigawatts rather than quality. I don't care if that 1000W Raidmax is on sale for $100 after the mail-in rebate that you'll never get, your i3/RX 470 combo does not need it. Besides, it's still going to set your house on fire.

You, sir, have pretty much summed up the power supply section of this forum (heck, all tech forums).

[SCHISCHKA]

people overspend on dodgy product activation keys from reddit and various websites based out of hong kong & china. Their true value is $0

[B16CXHatch]

2 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I wouldn't say a gold rated PSU is overspending though perhaps you just mean the wattage which even that isn't bad.  I'd gotten a 750W B2 last spring because it was only $65 on Amazon even if I didn't need 750W.  Though having the higher wattage probably has helped it be quieter than a lower wattage PSU would've been.

 

Do you mind if I ask why you got a M9i instead of a C7?    I believe Cryorig markets the C7 as being for HTPCs among other things.  I'm not saying you made a bad purchase I guess it's that I guess I'd think C7 would fit better in a HTPC size case compared to a tower cooler.  

 

I agree with you about motherboards.  I'll admit I got my Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 partly for the color but also because I didn't (still don't) know anything about choosing a motherboard or what I really needed so I figured overkill was a good idea to ensure I was getting something that was defintely as good or better than I needed.  I'm sure a cheaper board would've done that job plenty well enough. 

I got a good deal on the PSU but I could have spent less and got a 650 G2 and been more than fine. Under full load this thing pulls 400W, maybe 450W. Even my HTPCs 550 G2 could easily handle it (which is actually super overkill for the HTPC, though again, got a good deal plus I wanted the fanless mode).

 

M9i was cheaper and uses a standard 92mm fan. The C7 uses a low-pro fan with what looks like non-standard mounting. I prefer stuff using standardized parts. I'm also using a large HTPC chassis since I am using a standard ATX board. More than enough room for the M9i (but NOT enough room for the Hyper 212 Evo I had laying around). I did wind up changing the fan as I said. There wasn't anything wrong with it. Decent fan for a $20 cooler. Fairly quiet, but still the loudest fan in the thing. So, an extra $15 for an NF-A9 and near perfection achieved. Way cheaper than buying an NH-U9 cooler and I bet the performance is pretty close with the new fan.

[dragoon20005]

about the Prebuild Gaming PCs

 

My friend went to buy a Acer Predator Gaming Desktop which has this specs

 

i7 6700 non-K

B150 mobo

16GB DDR4 2133MHz

128GB SSD and 1TB HDD

but the facepalm moment was the GPU

 

Geforce GTX950 2GB...

[Scitesh]

6 hours ago, dragoon20005 said:

you left out Prebuild Gaming PCs

 

like the Acer Predator or Alienware PCs

I  have never seen anyone recommending a pre built on LTT

 

[dragoon20005]

1 minute ago, Scitesh said:

I  have never seen anyone recommending a pre built on LTT

 

well this is a given

 

but my buddy did buy a pre build gaming PC without consulting me and boy did he regretted his buy

 

i7 6700 paired with a GTX 950