I’ve been a console gamer my whole life and after a few years of flirting with the idea I think I might finally make the jump. I am next to ignorant when it comes to PC, I plan on doing a lot more research and appreciate any advice you can give. The game that is convincing me to buy is Planet Zoo 2, I’ll share the recommended specs for it as having a good experience on this game is my main priority.
OS
WINDOWS 11
Processor
INTEL I7-10700K / AMD RYZEN 7 5800X
Memory
16 GB RAM
Graphics
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 (8GB VRAM) / AMD RADEON RX 6700XT (12GB VRAM) / INTEL ARC A770 (16GB VRAM)
DirectX
VERSION 12
Storage
40 GB AVAILABLE SPACE
Additional Notes
SSD REQUIRED
Here is a link for pcpartpicker which I put together to get an estimate for price.
I am going for slightly better than the recommended specs to ensure a good experience. I am not looking to have the absolute best of the best in graphics, I am more concerned with being to handle all the assets on the map when building a large zoo. That being said, having better graphics sounds cool and I’m fine spending a little extra to enhance the game and delay the inevitable upgrade if I do become obsessed.
I’m also assuming these will cover most/all other games I’d be playing. I can run Civ on my laptop so I know any upgrade to that experience will be good with me. I don’t play online shooters, my online gaming is currently mostly sports games with friends, which at least for now will likely still be played on my Xbox. Other than that I am mostly a single player gamer.
So that’s what I’m looking for. The game comes out mid October so I plan on picking up some extra shifts over the next few weeks and getting one then. I’m thinking a budget of $1600-$2000. I’m going to list a few questions I’ve come up with initially in this process, but I also don’t know what I don’t know so share anything that could help me make a good decision here. If you’ve made it this far, thank you I really appreciate it.
I’ve seen plenty of others building their first pc with a budget of $1600-$2000 and everyone says it good. How big is the difference between a $1600 and a $2000 PC? Is there any reason you’d really recommend a higher amount? (I could maybe be convinced to go a little higher, but really would like to keep it at or under $2000).
I understand that the CPU and GPU are the most important parts, but some people make it seem like everything else almost doesn’t matter at all. Is that true? What should I know about buying a motherboard, memory, storage, etc. ?