Hello!
So my current gaming rig is about 3 years old (Alienware r11 3080). Every few years I typically upgrade claim on tax etc.
I normally do all the research myself, and look for deals. However this time I figured I'd ask the community!
If you were spending $3k give or take on a gaming PC what would you buy? I've been leaning towards Aftershock pre builts as I've heard quite a few good things!
Thanks for any advice!
Hybroid is on the money. 3080 can still crush most things you throw at it. Unless you go to a 4090, you won't get any appreciable increase in performance.
I appreciate the fact the 3080 is still good, i have just been underwhelmed with the alienware system and upgradeability etc.
If im to upgrade now, i would still get decent money selling the R11.
I don't think so… most PCs on marketplace are overpriced and don't move much unless it's really cheap. Why don't you just put it up to see how much interest you get ?
I dont have any tips other than dont buy alienware desktops (you tube dot com slash gamers nexus)
I honestly havnt had to many issues with it except for the fact upgrading the unit itself is difficult due to room in case etc.
14th gen intel cpus coming out in a month or so. I would wait for the next gen, as previous gens prices will also drop accordingly.
all 'reviews' so far indicate gen14 is crap, very little gain over 13
even if that is the case, it should cause a 10-20% drop in cost for previous gens
Sell the thing if you dont like it, no regrets!
Buy MSI B650 WiFi motherboard and XFX 7900 XT and hunt for speedy RAM and the rest. Satisfaction guaranteed, and you get to play with ARGB :)
If you want a pre-build I'd recommend going with one of the TechFast deals - like this 4080… just upgrade the CPU and RAM on that one
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/800701
I haven't ever bought a pre-build but TechFast seem to have a good rep here and every comment I've seen from someone who's bought one has been happy. This thing would crush any latest release you throw at it, and could easily be upgraded yourself down the track if you want.
If you want to build yourself let us know and I can help get a parts list together! But I'd recommend going a 7800X3D CPU with a RTX 4080 then choose your other parts based on that, but that might go slightly over your $3k mark depending on what deals you can find.
Maybe i should build another pc, the only issue is being in tassie most of the parts would need to be shipped from the mainland. So if there were any issues id have to ship back!
Ive always been an intel user, but im intrigued by amd, why do you recommend the 7800x3d?
EDIT: i just put this together quickly with PCPP, what do you think of it? https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/GPkwz6
I currently have a 3080 which can do everything i want, and the 4070ti is showing around 39% improvement so i figured that would suit me and save about $600+ instead of buying a 4080l.
Thanks!
Yeah that's a solid build. I say 7800x3d because it's currently the best gaming CPU on the market. Very power efficient and the 3d cache is great in certain games. Check the cooler - you don't need an AIO with it - because of it's low power draw an air cooler would do the job I'm sure… although I haven't looked into this so just do some research there.
Also the 7800x3D is on the new AM5 socket, which generally last longer than intel's sockets so you'll likely be able to upgrade the CPU in a few years without having to get a new mobo.
With DDR5 RAM - just make sure that the motherboard you're getting specifically states that the exact RAM sticks you're buying are compatible with it. You can find this info on the manufacturer's website
Yep the 4070ti is solid, and has frame gen so that's definitely a winner. check some benchmarks and be sure you don't want the extra horsepower that a 4080 has, you can generally find a 4080 for around AUD$1600 (on "sale") - not sure about NZ$ but keep an eye out for bargains. If you're running 1440p then a 4070ti should be fine, but if you're running 4k you might need the 4080 if you're wanting to push above 120fps.
But yeah - always better building yourself. And I don't see an issue with needing to ship parts back, there's a very low chance of that happening, and if you got a pre-build it would be more hassle as you'd be sending the whole machine back!
If you're wanting to trim some $$$ off that build here's my recco's:
1/ see if you can find a cheaper mobo
2/ SSD - you don't need blazing fast for games so I'd get a 1TB (or 512gb) 980 or so fast drive for your OS (and the one or two games that support direct storage), then get a 2TB SATA III SSD for all your games
3/ CPU cooler - don't spend $200 on an AIO, a good ~$90 air cooler will do the job
4/ if you really want to save some $$$ then intel mobos are cheaper so you could go a 13600k instead of the 7800x3d
and of course with the 40xx series cards - get the cheapest one you can find, brands do not matter - just buy the cheapest, they're all the same!
With the RAM I believe that's XMP ram, you need EXPO ram for AMD. Look into it and see if it is.
Do you really need an upgrade?
I have a 5 year old desktop Pc and can play every modern game without issue at high settings.
I don't think technology has really improved that much in 3 years to justify an upgrade but to each their own.
cpu wise I'm still rocking my 3930k (6 cores) that was the flagship 12 years ago, back then I thought the mainstream would have moved to at least something like 10 cores in 10 years, guess I was a little optimistic
13600KF + 4080?
I'd stick with the 3080. You'll want to upgrade a lot more than you do now next gen (DP 2.1 on Nvidia, rumoured big performance uplifts) and it will be harder to justify. There just aren't that many things that a 3080 can't do if you turn down some settings. Is going from medium to high shadow quality worth $3000?
Why do you feel the need to upgrade from an RTX 3080 yet?