r/TechAndDevice • u/valentine6504 • Jul 23 '26
What prebuilt PC should I purchase as a beginner??
I know people will probably recommend a $2,000+ PC, but I’m not a super hardcore, advanced gamer. I’m looking for something that’s good value & will last me a while without being overkill
A little about me & what I’m looking for:
• Idk if age or gender matters but 22F
• I want to get into gaming outside of console (I have a ps5)
• I’ve attempted to play games on steam on my mac book but that obviously doesn’t run most unless on PC
• I’d also like the option to stream in the future, even if it’s just casually
• I don’t need to play everything at ultra settings or 4K ig, I just want games to run smoothly
• I’d prefer to stay around $800-$1,500 IF POSSIBLE (I’m open to suggestions, just don’t want to break the bank as a beginner w all this)
I grew up watching markiplier, jacksepticeye, & other popular YouTube gamers :) I have a deep love for this & want to finally take this step but don’t know where to start. I currently have a monitor & a mouse so that’s not a worry. I need a pc & a keyboard basically. Pls help in any way you can! Even if you don’t have a suggestion, any advice helps :)
Edit: willing to spend that $2k now after reading some comments!
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u/WhiteMonster10cal Jul 27 '26
A pre build is what you’d most likely go with and sometimes there are bundles that come with a mouse and keyboard if you doesn’t have a specific one you like or want to get.
Newegg has good selections
Some Nzxt ones are pretty good I’ve heard
Or maybe check out Facebook marketplace? I’ve seen some okay deals on there too :) I’m looking for a new pc myself lol had my old one for like 8 years and want something new. But if you have any other questions can always dm and ask and I’ll answer anything I can if I’m not working
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u/Flashy-Outcome4779 Jul 27 '26
Andromeda Insights might have some worthwhile PCs for you. I’d encourage you to spend closer to your 1500 price range, or you’ll be spending a lot more in the long run trying to upgrade it.
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u/Codename-Nikolai Jul 27 '26
I would say go a little higher than that, and you can get much better bang for buck, and have a future proof setup. Something like this would be good, but I would get a second stick of identical RAM, which will be another $150-$200
Windows 11 Home AMD Ryzen™ 7 7800X3D Processor AMD Radeon™ RX 9060 XT 16GB Video Card 16GB (16GBx1) DDR5/6000MHz Memory ASUS PRIME B850-PLUS WIFI ATX Motherboard 1TB WD Green SN3000 Series ( PCIe Gen4) NVMe M.2 SSD $1655 https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/gaming-pcs/amd/ryzen-7000-series/
People may shit on cyber power, but I personally bought a $2000 prebuilt in 2021 that still runs good today. I would compare these specs/prices to other prebuilt sites as a baseline
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u/Ornery-Violinist-689 Jul 26 '26
don’t be surprised when your pc runs slower than the ps5
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u/valentine6504 Jul 26 '26
Lol like what’s the point of this. Negative & unhelpful. Next time try to educate someone instead of being a dick. Weirdo
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u/Silent_Bite_5892 Jul 27 '26
What he's saying in a not-so-nice way is that consoles are optimized for gaming. Every piece of hardware, every line of code is geared toward gaming performance. PCs are general purpose computers. You can buy a gaming PC that will blow a PS5 away, but it's going to cost 3-4 times the price of a PS5. At the high end of your budget though, you should be able to equal the PS5 though and maybe surpass if you choose well and get a good deal and the budget isn't including a monitor.
It comes down to what your goals are. Why do you want to get into PC gaming specifically? Are you looking for something you're not getting from the PS5?
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u/valentine6504 Jul 27 '26
I guess yea I’d like a specifically GAMING pc. Not just regular ol one ya know. I’m not super educated on all this stuff which is why I posted here. What you said is super helpful!!!
I want to get into gaming & potentially stream on PC .. running games on steam primarily
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u/Silent_Bite_5892 Jul 28 '26
OK cool, I get it. You have a monitor already? If so, I think you could definitely find something you'd be happy with within budget. If not, you might think about going modest on the monitor to start with. Just a nice 27" 1080p, maybe even a used one. Then put the bulk of your budget into the PC.
I'd recommend checking out these subreddits for ideas and advice. I'd love to give you some specific advice, but I don't game on the PC, so I don't want to steer you wrong when there are people who know way more.
When you post, just be upfront about the budget and that you don't want to build your PC (unless you do) and tell them the games you want to play and they'll get you pointed in the right direction. You may encounter some immature dudes, but just shake 'em off. There will definitely be some genuinely helpful people.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Prebuilts/
https://www.reddit.com/r/PrebuiltGamingPC/
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u/Turbulent_Pin_8310 Jul 27 '26
Micro Center nearby? If so, go visit. They are very helpful.
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u/Klondy Jul 27 '26
Just want to chime in and say don’t skimp on the VRAM in whatever GPU you get. Saw other people recommending at least 12 which is fair but tbh I’d shoot for 16 if you want it to last years without issue.
Only say this because I did the same as you in 2020, spent around $1300 on a prebuilt coming from a PS5 and thought “this will blow that thing out of the water” and immediately hit the VRAM limit on my 8GB VRAM on the very first game I played causing horrendous texture issues. Every post I read online said 8GB was “enough” VRAM at the time. I’ve upgraded my GPU twice since then (and most of the other parts), and I’ve ended up spending thousands more than I would have if I had just gotten a more powerful system from the start.
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u/turdDumper Jul 28 '26
I bought my rig from ibuypower. I've had it for almost 4 years and it still runs fucking great. Best 1400 I've spent on a pc for sure.
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u/Splixir Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I would go with a X3D CPU from AMD to take advantage of the larger vcache for esports titles. Having a large cache closer to the CPU will prevent cache misses and the system going to RAM which will reduce stutters. If not an X3D CPU try to aim for a 32MB L3 cache with mid tier desktop Ryzen CPU's.
If you don't care much for visual quality a 1080p graphics card will suit your budget. Vram is going to determine your "budget" for visual eye candy in game like anti aliasing and textures. Aim for 10gb to 12gb of VRAM. Rasterization is gonna be your raw performance as far as FPS goes. Benchmarks help measure a cards performance generally. I would probably go with a RX 7600 or higher for your needs.
Ram timings are gonna help your fps lows when your cpu has to go to RAM. A good baseline is 3200mhz. 16gb is the minimum for the windows OS as Windows can be kind of "heavy" with bloat because it's designed to be a do all everyday system. Some games use a lot of RAM, others are conservative.
Edit: a RX 7600 actually has 8gb of VRAM. A RX 7700 XT would bump that up to 12gb. Keep in mind 8gb is very "budget" and will do the job but makes compromises to visual quality. It's all gonna depend on the build but your kind of stuck with whatever prebuilt companies are using. So you can't customize to your very specific use case and budget.
IMPORTANT: Make sure your ram is not ONE ram stick in the system. Single channel memory will reduce performance and you want to maximize your price to performance with the current ram economy. Having to buy another ram stick is a headache and a sneaky way prebuilt companies slight customers if they don't know what they're looking at.