# High-end gaming PC enthusiasm **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739 "2017-09-19T17:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/1 "2017-09-19T17:27:46Z")
Since I was young (even before starting primary school) I loved playing video games. As time goes by, I started getting interested in building a system, programming, and doing small stuff with electronics too. I was craving for a good gaming system.Around 6th or 7th grade, my father told me he would buy me a graphics card if I got very good grades and good score from the cram school’s exam (as if I was getting anything below what is called “good”). I was excited as it gets. I got good grades again and he bought me a graphic cards only a notch better than what I already had. I was so disappointed. I thought about getting a job during the summer and/or the holiday between the semesters in order to afford one. But it was already difficult to find a “mini-job” at my age and also my parents did not allow me to get one because I was supposed to do something more productive for my future and my school. Also, my country’s currency was so devalued that it was difficult even for a person with a full-time job to buy what is considered in the US “high end electronics”. The same thing happened when I was high school student as well. Now I am 24 years old and I started my first full time job. I spent lots of money to buy my first high end gaming PC. Now I am happy and relieved. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/2 "2017-09-19T17:46:52Z")
It’s pretty exciting to fulfill a childhood dream. Congrats! ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/3 "2017-09-19T17:53:57Z")
I dunno man, if you had REALLY just built a new rig you wouldn’t have been able to stop yourself from spilling the specs 😉 Just kidding, of course. Congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/4 "2017-09-20T19:09:53Z")
I mean, every five or seven years I really crunch the numbers and ask for tons of advice around here and build myself a really county-of-the-art middle-of-the-line gaming PC, like $600 or less for the whole thing, and I’m pleased as punch with myself every time. So I can’t even imagine the thrill of building an actual high-end one. Have fun with it! ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/5 "2017-09-21T00:42:09Z")
Good for you! I am 46 and I am still happy and relieved that I put together a pretty high end gaming rig back in January. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/6 "2017-09-21T00:44:55Z")
Specs or it didn’t happen ! . ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/7 "2017-09-21T01:05:52Z")
I know you are referring to the OP, but I’ll throw in my rig specs to get the ball rolling. I went with an older chipset thinking I had a killer deal on RAM, but it fell through and I was committed before I realized. MSI Z97 board I7-4790K - 4.0 GHz Overclockable to 4.4 but I am running at stock speed, saving the boost for when my machine feels like it’s slowing down. Be Quiet - Dark Rock 3 cooler - This thing is SILENT! and keeps the CPU around 50 C at high load. G-Skills Ripjaws - 16GB 2400DDR3 RAM Samsung 850 SSD EVGA - 1070 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 - also not overclocked, same reasoning as CPU, also silent, fans only kick in at 30 C and I haven’t ever had it climb higher than 58 C, at full load. All wrapped up in a Phantex Eclipse case with a Rosewell PSU. Monitor is a 1080p and games like Doom 2016 run at 180+ fps with all settings maxed out Corsair Strafe keyboard, Logitech G502 mouse, H.O.T.A.S x52 Pro flight controllers. I know it’s not the super high end, and I may have gone a little overboard for an old geezer who doesn’t play more than a couple hours a week typically, but with a PassMark score in the 98 percentile overall, I am pretty happy 🙂 I have named her Peaches, for any fans of the Expanse series. She’s a high-strung, lean, mean killing machine 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/8 "2017-09-21T01:49:59Z")
Sweet. I was asking anyone in the thread but was interested to see what you had. I’m 45 and have what was a rocking rig ,3 years ago. I am starting to think about a major upgrade but I am kind of waiting to see what happens with monitors. I see big size increases with big cost drops comming through so don’t want to upgrade the graphics card and then have monitor issues when I get a couple of crazy sized cinema screens for monitors. It is my home system but I do use it for work stuff as I work at home a fair bit. Anyway Nanoxia deep silent case. This is an awesome case, quiet , ton of room and good cable routes and good dust filtering. It will stay for a long while. It’s big but makes changing stuff easy. I7 3770k , yeah it’s getting long in the tooth, but for work I do a lot of matlab big array processing and it’s hanging in there. Motherboard is a gigabytebH8 something something. Probably goes with the processor. 16gigs of memory , work wise getting marginal, that needs to go to 32 Cooling is a H80, just had to change it as my old one died and needed it asap. GeForce 660ti. Yeah I know time for an upgrade. But what order to go in (cpu ,memory, monitor, graphics? Or risk spousal disapproval and do it in one fell swoop) Keyboard is a apple keyboard. I know I know, it was all I had when the old one died. Power supply is a no name 700w. Seams to be doing ok but upgrade there will depend on what happens with the graphics card. It’s running off a UPS so is probably helping stability. Anyway KSP and planetside2 run decently and I haven’t found the game that will push me over the edge yet, but having the rig ready is important so looking forward to seeing what people are running and taking notes. . ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/9 "2017-09-21T07:55:54Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > GeForce 660ti. Yeah I know time for an upgrade. But what order to go in (cpu ,memory, monitor, graphics? This is the only component that is really in need of an upgrade for modern games. I’m still rocking an i7-3770S and the 2xxx CPUs are still competitive when overclocked. Look at the Nvidia GTX 1070 or better. I don’t see big price drops coming for monitors in the next year or two. Indeed the new crop of 144 Hz UHD monitors are expected to cost $2000. They’ll drop from that after a year or so, of course, but they’ll still be spendy for a long while. The gaming monitors to look at right now are the 3440x1440 ones. If you get a GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti, look at the G-Sync 4K monitors. I don’t know if you’ll benefit from high numbers of cores, but AMD’s Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs are being well received. > [@](#): > > Power supply is a no name 700w. Ooh. I almost missed this. Do yourself a real favour and get yourself a decent PSU. A bad PSU has the ability to destroy all the components inside the PC. If you’re going for a complete upgrade, you should consider it a business expense. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/10 "2017-09-21T15:39:20Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m still rocking an i7-3770S Heh. I’m still rocking an i7-860 (overclocked to 3.6Ghz) from 2009 and it holds up. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/11 "2017-09-22T01:19:05Z")
Congratulations! Here in the first world, I’m embarrassed that I have four five (including one former high-end home-built PC) that I have no idea what to do with. They just sit about doing nothing. When I was your age, I would have been so envious to have even one of them. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/12 "2017-09-22T02:29:14Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > Sweet. > […] > GeForce 660ti. Yeah I know time for an upgrade. But what order to go in (cpu ,memory, monitor, graphics? Or risk spousal disapproval and do it in one fell swoop) > […] > Power supply is a no name 700w. Seams to be doing ok but upgrade there will depend on what happens with the graphics card. > . I agree with **Quartz** , all you really need to bump up is the GPU, aside from your need for more RAM. For what I do on my machine, 16 GB is enough, which is great because my CPU cooler completely blocks one RAM slot ☹ As far as PSU goes, the new GPUs use way less power, so you have enough watts but I would also take **Quartz’s** warning to heart and get something certified. My 650W GPU is “gold certified” and only cost me 90 CDN bones. ---
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/13 "2017-09-22T08:50:23Z")
My rig specs: Asrock X370 Taichi AMD Ryzen R7 1700@3500MHz@1.184V G.SKILL Trident Z (F4-3200C14D-16GTZ) DDR4 3200MHz C14 Asus RoG Strix GTX1070 O8G Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD NZXT CA-S340W-B3 S340 Elite Steel Seasonic PRIME FOCUS Modular (80+Gold) 650W ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/14 "2017-09-23T15:20:08Z")
Nice! Sounds like a very capable rig. I like the case too, understated with clean lines. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/15 "2017-09-25T12:14:26Z")
No RGB? Personally, I’m not big on the fad, but I also am not big on displaying the innards of my computers, either. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-end-gaming-pc-enthusiasm/796739/16 "2017-09-26T20:07:00Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > I agree with **Quartz** , all you really need to bump up is the GPU, aside from your need for more RAM. For what I do on my machine, 16 GB is enough, which is great because my CPU cooler completely blocks one RAM slot ☹ > > As far as PSU goes, the new GPUs use way less power, so you have enough watts but I would also take **Quartz’s** warning to heart and get something certified. My 650W GPU is “gold certified” and only cost me 90 CDN bones. Yes agree, I should probably do something about the PSU first. .