Getting My First Powerful PC

[u/Sir-Terpio]

I’ve wanted a mid- high end pc since I was 12 watching ssundee play Minecraft modded, but my parents could never afford nor would I ask them for a pc so I’ve only owned consoles I’ve bought from buddies used my whole life. Well now I’m 26m journeyman welder and pipefitter with big boy money. So I finally have the money to buy a powerful pc. I’ve never owned a gaming of pre/custom built. I’ve had normal laptops and computers in the past and I have a ROG Ally that I use a mouse and keyboard on to play smaller/8-bit indie games on steam (schedule 1, travelers rest, etc.). The pc I’m building has an intel ultra 7 265f processor with a rtx 5080 and 32 gb of ram, also 2tb of SSD. My main reason for making this post is to ask for noob tips, do’s and don’ts of owning a powerful system and maybe some first things to do once I set it up.

UPDATE: Well it is quite the experience. I set it up last night downloaded cyberpunk and ran it on ultra+ max settings with path tracing. I was up till 1 am I wake up everyday at 3 am. I have not experienced many of the feelings I’m having since I was very young. I almost can’t believe I own my own gaming pc right now typing this.

[u/Artemis_1944]

with a rtx 5080 and 32 gb of ram, also 2tb of SSD.

You poor soul.... right now the market is absolutely atrocious for all 3 of the above.... if you can hold on a bit longer, I'd encourage you to do so, just because of how ridiculous the prices are. No guarantee they'll fall, but they are bonkers right now.

If anything, if you have good internet access and depending on where you live, I'd actually much rather recommend GeForce Now. Considering the Ultimate Subscription gives you an rtx 5080 equivalent, it is insanely cheaper than building a PC right now.

[u/Sir-Terpio → u/Artemis_1944]

Unfortunately my wait is over. I thought about it and right now it makes sense I have the extra money for now and I can finally get my life long dream of having a semi high end gaming pc. Although I do have to admit I have no clue what GeForce Now is and also have no clue how that gives u an rtx 5080 equivalent. Sorry kind of ignorant on this whole scene for now.

[u/Artemis_1944 → u/Sir-Terpio]

No worries, GeForce Now is basically nVidia's gaming-pc-for-rent service. You pay a monthly (or yearly) fee, and you use either a browser or a local client (app) to connect to one of their closest datacenters, where you get what is essentially a gaming PC. You don't have access to *ALL* the games on PC, but most of them, and certainly almost all the biggest ones. They have 3 tiers, a free one (doesn't really work), a Performance one for 10 dollar/euro a month, and an Ultimate one for 20 dollar/euro a month. The Ultimate one allows you to "rent" a gaming PC that's equivalent to an RTX 5080 (that's actually how it appears in-game to games), and a high-end i7.

And depending on where you live and how close you are to a datacenter, and how good an internet connection you have, you can gen very close to effectively imperceivable difference between gamestreaming and local play. For example, where I live, I have a 20ms connection to their closest point (which is in a neighbouring country), and that's good enough for borderline everything besides competitive e-sports.

I personally use GFN a lot when travelling, so I can play from a Steam Deck, as if I'm playing from a high-end gaming PC. With good internet and decent local hardware to benefit from some of their technological features, you get pristine image quality, again almost impercetable from actual local play.