Is this the worst time to build a gaming PC?

[maximumzero]

Back when I worked retail in the mid-2000s I used to tell customers that technology is like a river; It's always flowing. At some point you just have to hold your nose and jump in and make the best of it.

There's certain things you can set a watch by...Apple's iPhone releases, for example, but for most tech it's simply a matter of deciding when you're ready to drop the cash, because they'll always be something better around the corner.

Personally I'm waiting to see how the 4000 series APUs pan out. I'd love to build a tiny integrated graphics-based PC to dink around with from time to time.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I build one 2 months ago and it's fine, it's always a good and bad time to build a PC.

 

[Lingering Will]

I think you should wait until next-gen consoles come out so you can properly look over what newer games will need to run well on your new PC!

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I feel like this is a smart choice, because you should probably find out what is the baseline specs needed to make a game run at 60 frames per second on your PC before to undershot/overpay on your PC

 

[Earvin Infinity]

It's a great time to buy CPUs (AMD 3xxx series). As for GPUs, wait on Big Navi and Ampere later this year. No need for DDR5 and PCIe 4.0/5.0 any time soon.

 

[Vitamin_B_Complex]

I really think that right now, just before full hdmi2.1 any tech is a risky investment. Be it TV, AVR, PCs anything. The only sure bet is the next gen consoles. That is something I love about consoles. They offer stability.
So I will buy a ps5 next and then wait.

Having said that, I plan on making a huge upgrade in 2023. New TV, AVR, PC (and maybe ps5pro if it is ready by then). I am already saving up for that huge investment. A quick calculation brings me to around 5000€ which is a fuckton of money for me (considering it's just for entertainment), but slow and steady wins the race and I am pretty good at saving money. Just 3 more years to go...

 

[jett]

It's never great to build a PC just before the next generation wave of games is about to come. Unless you have money to burn.

 

[Klaw]

Not the worst time, but with new Nvidia and AMD cards around the corner, it is certainly not the best time.

 

[MazeHaze]

No matter when you build a PC, absolutely WHENEVER it is, people here will tell you to wait/you shoulve waited. There is always something on the horizon. Just build a nice PC and play it, you'll be fine for a few years no matter what. Hell my gtx980 I54690k still stomps most things and it's like 6 years old.

 

[tusharngf]

Ampere and BIG navi coming this year. Also rtx2060 will be outdated soon. You will need something close to 2070 super or higher for running next gen games.

 

[Maple]

Yes. Zen 3 CPUs, Ampere GPUs, and new Navi GPUs are all coming within ~6 months.

 

[Meia]

Definitely wondering this myself, as I've finally started running into games that run really pooly after I built my comp in 2011. So far the only thing I changed out was for a GTX 970 from a 560 Ti. Think the processor is more the problem atm.


I could probably just gut what I currently have, re-use the power supply(though I kind of want to do modular), the SSD and HDDs, and maybe even the case, so all I'd need is the motherboard and cpu. 970 isn't the best obviously, but I may be better off just upgrading the two I know I need to just have a new comp now. Lord knows those two are the biggest problems I have atm, as my Ivy 2500k probably isn't holding up anymore. :p

 

[Deleted member 25042]

GPU wise, yes.
NV will launch their 7nm GPUs (first real node jump since Pascal in 2016)
You could buy a $700 2080S now and not be able to sell it for $500 in just a few months because a 3070 would be faster at that same price for example.
And AMD will also launch big Navi.

 

[Deleted member 10795]

I built my rig in October and I don't think it's a bad time at all. I even actively "cheaped out" with a 1660ti instead of a 2070 or 2080, in anticipation for saving that money for this years GPU's, and I still get 60-100fps, high/ultra settings at 1440p on a 21:9 ultrawide.

You can build a PC today, even making some price and power concessions, and get an amazing experience. And honestly I'm not expecting my set up to rendered obsolete by the new consoles.

 

[Komo]

Yes the best time is in the summer after all the reveals and what not come out.

 

[Graven]

I feel that building one in the middle of a gen transition is not the best time. Im no expert but in my experience, it's better to give some time into next gen, so you can build something that can hold up without expending a fortune.

 

[PandaShake]

If you're going intel, the new cpus will need a lga1200 socket so you'll need a new mobo if you want comet lake+, but current high end cpu is more than enough for gaming. Amd route would make it simpler.

 

[RadioJoNES]

I'd hold out for the next GPUs, if at least for the reason that the 2000 series will be cheaper.

 

[OldBenKenobi]

I would say wait till next gen consoles get their full reveal with specs and everything.

I know for damn sure my 2070 is gonna be switched out when the Nvidia 3xxx series hits. My 9700k will be fine for a coupe years.

 

[Tacitus]

While I think that there's always going to be that next thing coming soon with PC hardware and if you keep waiting for them you'll never build one, now would be a good time to wait for the new stuff.

 

[Bosch]

only GPU wise.... When DDR5 be a pattern(2022) it will be time for a new build(i was make a new build every 3 years)
I made my build last year Ryzen 7 3700X 32gb DRR4 3200 and 3tb SSD, this year will grab a RTX 3080 and stays with this pc until 2022 for sure 2x any new console perf for the next 3 years.

 

[Wraith]

Good: RAM and SSDs are cheap! Budget NVMe's are roughly the same price as SATA. PCI-E 4.0 NVMe drives are available.

Good: 6- and 8-core consumer CPUs are plentiful, affordable. Even budget builds can fit a Ryzen 5.

Less-good: While price of entry for X570 boards have come down a bit since launch, the B550's aren't out yet (supposedly Q2). Budget choice for Ryzen 3000 remains B450 MAX.

Less-good: You missed the Thanksgiving-to-New-Years sales season.

Less-good: The next big step for nvidia GPUs is coming later this year. Early RTX cards have been out for a year and a half, but the newer SUPER cards offer a decent bump in performance. If you want to go all in on Ampere, but building now, you can either carry over your current GPU or get a budget GPU to tide you over.

Bad: Tariffs have affected prices on some components. (Ex. A PSU I got for $65 after rebate in 2018 is $105 today. Cryorig, once a great choice for budget coolers, had to change its U.S. distribution and now prices are noticeably higher; though other companies still have good options in that price range.)

 

[Agamon]

The worst time to build a PC was back when mining rigs were a thing. This is paradise in comparison.

 

[AmFreak]

Yes, everything is price gauged compared to the past since AMD has released Ryzen 3xxx and Navi without up to date competition.

 

[Duxxy3]

Might want to look into the EVGA step up program if you're worried that new hardware will be released in the next few months.

 

[Allietraa]

None of the new standards matter at all yet outside of HDMI 2.1. PCI 4.0 JUST released and it's still a complete niche item. USB 4.0 is irrelevant when 3.2 is still required for basically nothing and you can buy a PCIE USB card later if you really need it anyway. DDR5 isnt coming for a couple years and will likely be substantially more expensive than DDR4 is, and will almost certainly not provide a proportional performance uplift for the typical gamer. RTX is really the only point I agree on, 2nd gen RTX cards should provide a substantial uplift in ray tracing performance so that makes sense to wait. But the other stuff is easily more than 6 months away from being on gear you'd actually want to buy, so fretting over what is coming in 2021/2022 is silly. Waiting for new releases only makes sense when 1. They're going to provide a tangible performance(or pricing) improvement over what currently exists, and 2. Is coming in the time between now and whenever you'd want to actually have the system in your hands. Waiting 2 years for DDR5 and PCI 5.0 is moronic if you want a PC to play games in 2020 and 2021. Just a build your PC now and make the needed updates in 2-3 years if you find it lacking lol

 

[F34R]

I don't think I'll be upgrading any thing other than gpu this year.

Last August, I went from a 4770/980ti/16GB ddr3/1TB ssd to Ryzen 3700x/2080ti/32GB ddr4/2TB nvme m.2.

 

[Dinjoralo]

Hmm... I want to say the worst time to build a PC was a few years ago, when any decently powerful graphics cards were getting snatched up by people riding the cryptocurrency craze, leading to insane prices. RAM was overly expensive then too, right?

 

[Teiresias]

In a holistic market sense I'm not sure if it's actually a horrible time, but personally, for me, I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth upgrading a 4790k to something more recent, since it would involve a mobo and RAM upgrade as well. I keep going back and forth since it doesn't seem to be hampering anything I play on that particular PC (mainly FFXIV at this point).

 

[thewienke]

Have to consider supply constraints on new graphics cards making them unavailable for a few months maybe? There's definitely going to be a massive rush for the 3000 series.

 

[snausages]

What are people expecting exactly on the CPU front? Will AMD's success pave the way towards more games taking advantage of more cores?

 

[Duxxy3]

Have to consider supply constraints on new graphics cards making them unavailable for a few months maybe? There's definitely going to be a massive rush for the 3000 series.

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Also not guarantee that they'll be priced reasonably or that the old cards will receive a price drop. Shit, you can still get a GTX 1060 for the price of a GTX 1660.

 

[Windu]

Better tech will always be around the corner. No use in worrying about it, just build a new pc when you want.

 

[Metfanant]

Great thread!...I've been out of the PC game for a very long time. and recently have been starting to dig around on PC Part Picker just trying to see what kind of build I could put together with my ~$1500 budget...

I'm also out of the loop in terms of whats on the near horizon in terms of new CPUs and GPUs, so its good to know that we're expecting updates soon.

 

[Oleander]

It's awkward since we're in the middle of a technological shift into the next Biggest and Best. As long as you don't feel the need to be on the cutting edge, the current generation of parts is actually pretty good value for their performance. It's a shame that, for me, Biggest and Best is what I like.

Still rocking a 1080ti which, while still amazing, makes me wish for things like ray-tracing and 4K/60 with the latest titles. Still, unless the next gen cards have HDMI 2.1 support, I'm going to hold out. And before anyone tries to tell me that DisplayPort is faster, I don't care: I have an LG C9, and with the capabilities of that set, I put no value in getting an additional monitor.

 

[Wraith]

Hmm... I want to say the worst time to build a PC was a few years ago, when any decently powerful graphics cards were getting snatched up by people riding the cryptocurrency craze, leading to insane prices. RAM was overly expensive then too, right?

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RAM/SSD prices remained high for a while after GPU prices came back down to earth.

I remember seeing an RX570 in Best Buy for $500 during the mining craze.

 

[Mullet2000]

I think it's a good time for everything except for GPUs which are generally overpriced right now. Ryzen 3000 is excellent. Ram is pretty well priced. NVMe SSDs are getting very affordable. Etc.

So the GPU market kinda stinks, but we don't know how much of a pain in the ass it'll be to even get one of the new cards when they release, how they'll be priced, etc. I needed an upgrade so I did a new build and I got a 2070 Super and will just sell it and upgrade the GPU in 1-2 years.

I don't want to be sitting on my 2015 PC, wanting to play new next gen games, desperately trying to hunt down an RTX 3080 for weeks. I'll use the 2070 Super till I'm not happy with it and now I'm not waiting months for a new card.

 

[Duxxy3]

Great thread!...I've been out of the PC game for a very long time. and recently have been starting to dig around on PC Part Picker just trying to see what kind of build I could put together with my ~$1500 budget...

I'm also out of the loop in terms of whats on the near horizon in terms of new CPUs and GPUs, so its good to know that we're expecting updates soon.

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We are always expecting updates soon. Literally always.

 

[Wamb0wneD]

I made one last week. I went with a 1660 super and 2700x, and will go with a 3 series gpu after prices have come down a bit in 2 years or something

 

[Deleted member 1839]

In a holistic market sense I'm not sure if it's actually a horrible time, but personally, for me, I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth upgrading a 4790k to something more recent, since it would involve a mobo and RAM upgrade as well. I keep going back and forth since it doesn't seem to be hampering anything I play on that particular PC (mainly FFXIV at this point).

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Probably not if that's the one game you play. Upgrading really depends on what games and what performance you want. Like for example, if someone is heavily investing in VR gaming and using something like the vive or index then I would say investing a top line cpu is needed.

 

[Flandy]

I'd wait it out until the second half of the year for ampere and Ryzen 4000 series. You might see if PCIE 4 will be important for next gen SSDs too so you can see if it's worth getting a motherboard that supports it.

 

[Devilgunman]

It's been 6 years since I built a gaming PC. Look like I'll wait longer.

 

[JigglesBunny]

Just wait for the next round of NVIDIA GPUs and you'll be fine.

 

[Dysun]

I would hold off on buying the GPU, but the rest of the components seem like a fine time to buy

 

[Deleted member 2834]

GPU prices are still inflated, most other components are in a good spot though. Awesome Ryzen CPUs and 16 to 32 GB RAM are available at crazy value.

 

[Kuro]

Never upgrade right before next gen. Always a bad idea. A least when it comes to GPU and possible RAM requirements.

 

[defaltoption]

Generally option 2 is correct but right before new gpu launches and console launches is a particularly bad time. So option 1 is correct. At minimum wait for nvidias new gpus but you really should wait for console comparisons or at least specs.

 

[Bruceleeroy]

I was actually just building a system for Half Life so this thread is perfect timing. A friend of mine is selling this for $500.00 is it a decent stop gap while waiting for new stuff to be released?


DEEPCOOL MATREXX 55 RGB Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case w/ Tempered Glass Front and Side
6X 120mm case fans
MSI X470 GAMING PLUS AM4 ATX w/ RGB, USB 3.1, Gbt LAN, 3 PCIe x16, 3 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe
16gb DDR4 3200 Ram
1,000 Watts - Standard 80 Plus Gold Power Supply
MSI RX5700 Mech OC GPU
MasterLiquid Lite 120mm ARGB CPU Liquid Cooler with Dual Chamber Pump & Copper Cold Plate
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz [3.6GHz Turbo] Six-Core 16MB

 

[ShiningBash]

If you're building something that will work great for the next 3-4 years, then that's definitely possible for under $1,000. Waiting 6-8 months will get you something better, but that's almost always true with PCs.

 

[Wetalo]

I have a $1000 budget, and I was planning on getting a laptop with an RTX 2060 but Era convinced me not to (because it was a laptop).

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Quick piece of advice. Don't buy into the peer pressure. If buying a laptop is more convenient for you and your way of life, buy a laptop. I bought a desktop in 2015 cause of this mindset and I seriously regret it. I caved and bought a nice gaming laptop this past August and I love it. It fits my lifestyle so much better given I live in multiple homes, and even minor things like being able to use my computer in the living room /kitchen /wherever the hell I want to use my computer is so convenient. Don't think I'm ever buying a desktop again.

 

[Deleted member 364]

Yes. There are few games that require a good GPU right now. Buy 3-6 months after the new consoles come out.