What Gaming pc can I get for an 1200$ US Budget?

[Bill_Bright]

While I recommend building your own, there is a lot to be said to buying a pre-built computer. First and foremost, the builder is responsible for all warranty support, to include 1 year support for Windows. It is nice to have to deal with only 1 number, regardless if the problems arise with Windows, the drive, motherboard, graphics or whatever.

That said, one of the biggest problems (IMO) with "factory" built computers - errr, two problems are (1) all the extra bloat (programs and junk you don't need or want) they pre-load on the computer that is often near impossible to remove and (2) the compromises they make in component selection to reduce costs (read: increase their profits). For example, it is common for factory made computers to come with power supplies that are barely adequate to support the components they come with. And factory cases typically have limited cooling options.

With that in mind, most local computer shops will, for a relatively small fee, assemble a custom computer for you using parts you select. If you don't want to put it together yourself, I recommend this option.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

those viper sticks must be better.they're the cheapest samsung b-dies.

At the XMPs it won't make any difference.

If you are going to tweak the timings b-die will win because you can pull down subtimings a lot, but you will run the B-dies at faster than 3400 anyway. My point still stands, 3600 kits are better for running XMP irrespective of timings.

 

[cucker tarlson]

At the XMPs it won't make any difference.

If you are going to tweak the timings b-die will win because you can pull down subtimings a lot, but you will run the B-dies at faster than 3400 anyway. My point still stands, 3600 kits are better for running XMP irrespective of timings.

your point ?
there's 30$ difference in favor of 3400 16-18-16-36 ram versus 3600 18-22-22-42.
end of story,those trident z sticks are worse but carry a big premium for the brand name and rgb.
if you think 3600 c18 is better,which it isn't,just run those viper rams at 3600 c18,they won't even flinch,and save 30 bucks.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

I don't know really how to download windows 10 and when I checked the price, all the compnents price added up was higher than the actual prebuilt pc , the prebuilt was cheaper for the parts that were inside
Thanks for the support, I'm having trouble deciding my pc, building one is easy to assemble but afterwards Windows 10 is harder, a perassembled one, you can already have it all built and afterwards modify it from the built one


thx great deal!

its just that the power supply is cheap a bit with only 550W, only 500gb SSD, just for that I'll have to upgrade it afterwards and so makes it more expensive

Im not getting into PSU chat here.
Gonna have lots of people say 550w is plenty, I feel different, but just trying to head ya in the right direction.

Ultimately your decision, these guys can help you piece a nice rig together, lets home to keep a 2070 in the picture IMO

 

[cucker tarlson]

decent 550w can handle ryzen 5 with ANY single card.well,excluding radeon VII OC,but that's not an option.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

your point ?

Cheaper 3600 non B-die sticks?

 

[cucker tarlson]

Cheaper 3600 non B-die sticks?

it's the viper 3400 c16 that's cheaper,not the 3600 c18 man

 

[Bill_Bright]

Im not getting into PSU chat here.
Gonna have lots of people say 550w is plenty, I feel different, but just trying to head ya in the right direction.

And yet there you go chatting about PSUs!

PSU requirements are based on facts, not opinions. And those requirements are easy to determine. If the maximum the components will draw is 350W, then technically, you only need a 350W supply. This is especially true since it is extremely rare that all connected devices would pull their maximum draw at the exact same point in time.

That said, buying a supply with a little headroom makes sense as you then have some wiggle room for future upgrades, capacitor aging, and to help keep fan noise down. So 550W would be plenty for a 350W maximum demand Getting larger would be wasting money.

That said, most would agree to get a quality PSU from a reputable maker, not a "cheap", no-name generic. And I generally recommend at least a 80-PLUS Bronze, though I prefer Golds. Platinum and Titanium generally are also a waste of money.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

I dont know the PSU in the pre built system I linked actually meets or not requirements. I didnt look that deep into it.
So other than that, I agree with you... Thanks.

 

[dirtyferret]

And yet there you go chatting about PSUs!

PSU requirements are based on facts, not opinions. And those requirements are easy to determine. If the maximum the components will draw is 350W, then technically, you only need a 350W supply. This is especially true since it is extremely rare that all connected devices would pull their maximum draw at the exact same point in time.

Not to mention you really need to have power sucking gear just to even reach 350w at peak. Too many people believe power equals better performance so lets over estimate how much power my PC uses and how much power I need.

Even with the i9-9900k OC to 5ghz you can't break 350w at peak with an RTX 2080 and average power consumption would be another 50w lower then that.

 

[phanbuey]

550w is fine, you can get a higher rated one for cheapish so if you're really worried about it then the extra $30 is well spent.

If the $30 to go from 550w to 650w will make you feel better about your $1200 rig then it's 100% worth it.

 

[Splinterdog]

The issue with the two pre-built rigs linked here is that the makes of the mobo and PSU are not specified. You're throwing caution to the wind by buying a pre-built on those terms.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Not to mention you really need to have power sucking gear just to even reach 350w at peak.

Most people would be amazed at how little their system demands the vast majority of the time. A nice little kill-o-watt meter or UPS with a display panel or monitoring software can be very revealing.

According to my UPS, this system (see system specs) is pulling right now just 111W - and that includes my modem, wireless router, 4-port Ethernet switch, and two 24 inch monitors. Of course, typing text into a forum text box it hardly tasking, but it does illustrate the point.

 

[Totally]

If I want to buy myself a prebuilt gaming pc, what is my best choice for 1200$ budget.

I found that one which I find good:

https://www.amazon.com/iBUYPOWER-Computer-Element-9260-i7-9700F/dp/B07V34QQ3C/ref=sr_1_18?imprToken=4.1b.t3PoM5x9AVgoX7A8w&keywords=GTX%2B1660&linkCode=sl2&linkId=e5a681f6dc35f7d22e6ff1bc41f7e9ff&qid=1572307880&s=electronics&slotNum=8&sr=1-18&th=1

is there any better for the budget offered that I can get?

1200 is enough for a very good pc , that said nowhere near enough if you are shopping Amazon, looking to get fleeced there.

 

[Vayra86]

An important point about PSUs - get one with a good, silent fan. Some extra juice is always good as well to keep noise down. 550W is plenty, 600W is great, and more doesn't hurt. But more importantly, invest the money into quality parts; not wattage.

A PSU with crappy fan can easily be the louder/loudest part in a system.

 

[Bill_Bright]

A PSU with crappy fan can easily be the louder/loudest part in a system.

Especially since the metal case of the PSU is mounted directly to the metal computer case and the PSU fan is typically mounted right at the rear of the PSU. So not only do you get the actual fan motor noise, you hear the air moving past the vents and the blades "chopping" at the air. Plus any vibration from the fan motor bearings then resonate through the PC case too.

Case fans tend to be pretty quiet - especially with quality cases. CPU fan noise, since CPU fans are located in the middle of the case and are not mounted directly to the case, tend to be muffled by the case. That leaves graphics card fans and they can get noisy too.

Fortunately, most chipsets these days are passively (no fan) cooled. Back in the old day those tiny 40mm fans could really whine and make a racket.

I really don't like fan noise.

 

[phanbuey]

1200 is enough for a very good pc , that said nowhere near enough if you are shopping Amazon, looking to get fleeced there.

Just add a case, and maybe swap for faster ram, -- still about $180 to play with before taxes.

With Prime shipping !

It makes me so sad to see how nice this machine is vs the $1k i paid just for my videocard lol.

 

[cucker tarlson]

View attachment 135164
Just add a case, and maybe swap for faster ram, -- still about $180 to play with before taxes

p1 is a good idea for a gaming drive
I'd try for 2070fe,those zotac cards are quite bad by nvidia aib standards

 

[phanbuey]

Cheaper and faster

The gunmetal/black monster:

 

[cucker tarlson]

excellent find for the asus 2080 at 480
but phanteks p cases are notorius for lack of airflow
rl06 is a very good mid range case with great airflow
asrock b450 k4 is a very good mobo under 100usd
imo should get a $30-40 cooler,wraith stealth suuucks

 

[Bill_Bright]

I would recommend avoiding the CX series PSUs from Corsair. They are not of the same quality or reliability as their upper tier models. Plus 650W is more than you need, and so is $80.
There are several better quality 550W supplies that cost less.

 

[phanbuey]

excellent find for the asus 2080 at 480
but phanteks p cases are notorius for lack of airflow

Yeah i mean the case is a personal pref tbh - I just like the look and super tiny atx cases. You have money in the budget even for a Fractal or something even nicer. Phanteks 350X (a bit too big for my taste)

I would recommend avoiding the CX series PSUs from Corsair. They are not of the same quality or reliability as their upper tier models. Plus 650W is more than you need, and so is $80.
There are several better quality 550W supplies that cost less.

650w CX with a 300w to 350W peak load is fine, even if they aren't as good as their high end stuff it's more than made up by the overspec. You can get something @ 500-550 around $65 that's a better fit but if the OP feels better with more wattage then this is a decent option.

Plus they look nice with braided modular cables. Most AIB's will recommend a 600 - 650W PSU on the box for a high end card, so it's understandable that peeps want to see that number (even if it's bs).

 

[dirtyferret]

but phanteks p cases are notorius for lack of airflow

you can say that about virtually every case designed more for AiO cooling and uses just two air slits in the front panel
NZXT 510, Corsair 275r, thermaltake V200 just to mention a few

this Phanteks P400A is currently tops in terms of airflow @ Gamers Nexus and PC Perspective

PC Perspective
In the standardized airflow test, things got interesting. The P400A gave the lowest CPU temperatures of any system I’ve tested so far. In fact, they bettered the open test bed results, showing that a case with proper airflow design is actually better cooling than an open system with no direct airflow on it. For the standardized airflow tests the GPU was mounted in its standard orientation. While these temperatures were not as impressive as the CPU temperatures, they were still the second best of any enclosure tested.

Phanteks Eclipse P400A Mid Tower Case Review: Cool Runnings - PC Perspective

Phanteks Eclipse P400A Mid Tower Case Review: Cool Runnings In case you’re just getting into PC building, or you’ve not been paying attention, Phanteks has

pcper.com

 

[Bill_Bright]

650w CX with a 300w to 350W peak load is fine, even if they aren't as good as their high end stuff it's more than made up by the overspec.

Huh? Sorry but that's bad logic.

550W with a 300W to 350W peak load is fine too. So is 450W for that matter - assuming a quality supply. The problem is the CX series from Corsair has not had the reputation for quality or reliability since they changed OEM suppliers a few years ago.

And overspecing does not make up for anything! Sorry, but to suggest it does indicates a lack of understanding of how PSUs work. If the computer (motherboard, CPU, graphics, RAM and drives) demands 350W, it will pull from the supply 350W regardless if the supply is a 550W supply, a 650W supply or 1000W supply. And if those same 3 supplies have the same 80% efficiency with a 350W load, they will pull the exact same 437.5W from the wall (437.5 x .8 = 350) with that extra 87.5W being wasted in the form of heat.

And poor reliability and dirty power is still poor reliability and dirty power regardless the wattage capability of the supply. So going with 650W instead of 550W makes up for nothing.

Lots of supplies come with braided modular cables. They still don't compensate for poor reliability or dirty power. Plus only the main cable is braided. And besides, proper cable management tends to hide most of the cables and not sure about you, but I'm more concerned with what's being displayed on my monitors.

This Seasonic 550W Bronze has a braided main power cable and is $25 cheaper which can be put towards the Windows license you omitted from your list.

 

[phanbuey]

Huh? Sorry but that's bad logic.

550W with a 300W to 350W peak load is fine too. So is 450W for that matter - assuming a quality supply. The problem is the CX series from Corsair has not had the reputation for quality or reliability since they changed OEM suppliers a few years ago.

And overspecing does not make up for anything! Sorry, but to suggest it does indicates a lack of understanding of how PSUs work. If the computer (motherboard, CPU, graphics, RAM and drives) demands 350W, it will pull from the supply 350W regardless if the supply is a 550W supply, a 650W supply or 1000W supply. And if those same 3 supplies have the same 80% efficiency with a 350W load, they will pull the exact same 437.5W from the wall (437.5 x .8 = 350) with that extra 87.5W being wasted in the form of heat.

And poor reliability and dirty power is still poor reliability and dirty power regardless the wattage capability of the supply. So going with 650W instead of 550W makes up for nothing.

Lots of supplies come with braided modular cables. They still don't compensate for poor reliability or dirty power. Plus only the main cable is braided. And besides, proper cable management tends to hide most of the cables and not sure about you, but I'm more concerned with what's being displayed on my monitors.

This Seasonic 550W Bronze has a braided main power cable and is $25 cheaper which can be put towards the Windows license you omitted from your list.

Do you actually have any experience building with this PSU or are you just talking about stuff you read online in like 2014 about the CX 430 and the switch to CWT? There is nothing suggesting the 650W modular models have any issues, it's a nice single rail PSU - read some reviews. Both of those PSUs are fine, and the OP already stated he wants more than 550W. Whoo... congrats you put $25 whole dollars towards his windows license

Braided main cable lmfao.