# Let's do another "help me buy a gaming PC" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [July 9, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812 "2023-07-09T12:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/21 "2023-07-09T16:49:44Z")
Honestly it’ll be fine. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/22 "2023-07-09T16:52:27Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I don’t know what that’s about, but I just like the idea of having two 16 GB sticks. The memory controller in the CPU struggles a little under four slots of RAM. When you enable XMP, you’ll get a lower than max clock speed out of the sticks. > [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Will that 16GB of RAM be a bottleneck for current stuff Nah, not really. I rarely go over 16GB on my system except for some specific circumstances. More of a future proofing and headroom thing than a real limitation right now. 16GB is a good point for a standard build. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/23 "2023-07-09T16:52:33Z")
What you really want to consider is after you get it in your possession and everything’s working, verify you can put in a second M.2 drive. I can tell you from recent personal experience that adding a 2 TB drive just for games is _\*chef’s kiss\*_. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/24 "2023-07-09T16:55:21Z")
Per the [mobo’s page](https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B760-P-WIFI/Specification), it has 2x M.2 capacity. And, on reflection, I agree to first get more storage. You’ll fill up 1TB before you find that 16GB is a limitation. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/25 "2023-07-09T16:55:43Z")
What do you have now? If I was buying a new gaming PC right now, I’d probably ignore the GPU scene since it’s a mess right now and focus on being ready for tomorrow. That probably means getting something based around a 7800X3D and tolerable GPU. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/26 "2023-07-09T16:59:01Z")
Yeah I mean when he gets it and verifies that that’s what the actual motherboard is. Also, do some M.2 slots steel bandwidth from a PCIe slot? I know it’s typical for them to share bandwidth with sata ports (irrelevant), but I’m unclear on the underlying bus architecture and if there could be potential conflicts with your… PCIe lanes? I don’t even know if that’s the right terminology. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/27 "2023-07-09T17:03:08Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > What do you have now? An old girl who can run most new stuff if and only if all settings are at their lowest and I don’t mind a bit of stutter. I don’t remember all its internals but the GPU is a 1080 6GB and that’s not what it originally had. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/28 "2023-07-09T17:09:11Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > 7800X3D The prebuilts I’m seeing with a 7800X3D tend to be in the $2200 range. The 13700 isn’t far behind, and given the option of an $1800 system seems to be a much better value. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/29 "2023-07-09T17:09:45Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Also, do some M.2 slots steel bandwidth from a PCIe slot? Some do, but it won’t be off the 16x main slot and I doubt he’ll be using the rest for anything since the board has its own Wifi. I saw that (on this board), the second M.2 will disable one of the SATA ports but nothing about it affecting PCIe. I think that’s mainly when you get to 3+ M.2 slots. > [@Palooka](#): > > That probably means getting something based around a 7800X3D and tolerable GPU. The issue there is that, for a prebuilt, you’re paying for a 4060Ti or similar (since it’s being paired with a 7800X3D, there’s a floor here) which is a heck of an outlay for a placeholder card. I think the 4070Ti is a better option with its 12GB GDDR6X which should last for a good solid while. Trying to pair the 7800X3D with a comparable card will blow the budget. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/30 "2023-07-09T17:30:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I just pulled the trigger I forgot to ask: Estimated delivery date? Curious to hear how it pans out. And based on what @Jophiel is saying about the motherboard, I might order a 2 TB drive to arrive at the same time. I would say you don’t have to get a Samsung but could get something cheaper, but oddly enough that Samsung 980 pro is the cheapest 2 TB Gen 4 drive with DRAM cache on all of pcpartpicker. There are cheaper ones without the cache, which would probably be fine, but it just serves to show that you wouldn’t be paying a premium for the Samsung brand, but instead for two tangible benefits: PCIE Gen 4 and DRAM cache. > **[Do SSDs With DRAM Cache Matter and How to Identify Them - TechWiser](https://techwiser.com/do-ssds-with-dram-matter-and-how-to-identify-them/)** > > An SSD with DRAM is superior to an SSD without DRAM. This article explains the difference between the two and which one is right for you. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/31 "2023-07-09T17:38:35Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Estimated delivery date? This Friday. I’ll probably leave the storage as is for now. I don’t currently have a terabyte worth of stuff I want to install and my wallet is feeling quite bruised after this purchase. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/32 "2023-07-09T17:40:05Z")
Ha! I bet. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/33 "2023-07-10T19:58:25Z")
As a slight followup, PC Gamer has articles for Prime Day sales (both on Amazon and all the tag-along sales from other sites) and so far the systems in the same $1750-$1799 price tier have been ones with worse processors (i7-12700K and Ryzen 7 5800X) but otherwise identical in broad specs (4070Ti, 1TB, 16GB). Which makes me think that there’s not some super amazing discount waiting around the bend. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/34 "2023-07-17T19:48:27Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Curious to hear how it pans out. Forgot to come back here. It showed up on Friday and was as advertised. The GPU is an MSI, which I’m very happy with. The innards are identical to the linked photo with the exception of some cable management choices. The RGB lighting is the silliest damned thing and I don’t understand how people can stand playing a game while a planetarium laser light show is flashing just to their right. I tamped that shit down real quick. To test things out I reinstalled Cyberpunk 2077 and cranked everything all the way up, and yeah. Wow. It is very pretty. My save happened to be the mission with the parade full of holographic floats and it was insanely good. Of course now I need a new monitor to replace the 1080p I’m using now. Anybody have thoughts on 4k downscaled when necessary vs just using a native 1440p? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/35 "2023-07-17T20:17:10Z")
Awesome! What cheerful news for a Monday. I would recommend 1440p, and I would aim for 144 Hz as opposed to 165 or higher. That’s just me personally, though. My reasoning is this: modern games at max/ultra settings (without ray tracing) will probably run around 100 to 120 FPS at 1440p. You can lower settings to max out the frames, but the higher frames your monitor can handle, the more you have to lower settings to reach it. In the end, it’s always a trade-off. The higher refresh rate your monitor can handle, the bigger the trade-offs you will have to decide. Why aggravate yourself that way? You can run 4K, absolutely, but now we’re probably talking about 50 to 70 FPS. A 4K monitor might only be 60 Hz, but falling short of that is bordering on a problem compared to falling a couple dozen frames short of 144 being more of an “Oh well, who cares” kind of situation. Trade-offs are now much larger. Just feels like more aggravation to me. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/36 "2023-07-17T20:55:43Z")
Monitors are in a bad place right now. Excellent features from the television space are just starting to show up in monitors. (Stuff like HDR and FALD.) There is also OLED, but I think that’s unproven in the PC space with respect to burn-in. You can find monitors advertising these features, but they’re poorly implemented. You may as well get the cheapest 1440p/144Hz G-Sync Compatible monitor you can find. The difference between that and a 4K monitor with half-baked features is minimal since they’re not really useable. If you’re set on investing in a top-notch monitor ($999+), definitely wait another year or so and get an OLED one. The issue with the current OLED monitors is that they’re only 1440p. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2023, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/37 "2023-07-17T21:20:24Z")
Did you make sure to check your BIOS memory profile and make sure XMP is on? Pretty common for system builders to neglect that. For desktop PC gaming, I’d get a 1440p screen unless you’re going for a big panel (like 32" or more) then maybe consider 4K. But for your average 24-27" screen, 1440 is the sweet spot for looks versus frame rate performance and refresh rate for your money than a 4K screen would provide. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/38 "2023-07-17T21:45:10Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Did you make sure to check your BIOS memory profile and make sure XMP is on? Good call. I checked and we appear to be firing on all cylinders. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/39 "2023-07-18T13:51:21Z")
If anybody sees any great deals on a g-sync compatible 1440 in the next month or so, would they pop back in here? I feel like Starfield is the nearest upcoming game that’ll really benefit from the higher resolution, so I don’t feel rushed to pick one up immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-do-another-help-me-buy-a-gaming-pc-thread/986812/40 "2023-07-18T14:24:52Z")
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