Hi all, and Rageinator in particular,

Maarten from Belgium here. I have been listening to the e-mails sent in to the show by Rageinator over the last few weeks regarding the purchase of a new PC. I am pretty experienced in building PC's, so I thought I would share some advice.

In particular, I heard that he is thinking of a $1300 price point for a new gaming PC, while I also understand that he is having to save up for a while before making this purchase. My biggest piece of advice: you don't need to spend $1300 to get a powerful gaming PC! Maybe 10 or even 5 years ago this was the case (I spent such an amount myself over 10 years ago), but in recent years, computer hardware has gotten a lot cheaper!

Below you will find a couple of lists I put together at PCPartpicker, with various PC's at various price points. ALL of the PC's below, whether $500, $700, or $1000 are VERY capable, even powerful gaming PC's that will handle all games for a number of years. They include everything you need to be up and running (besides a copy of windows, which you can pick up for $89). You don't have to take my word for it: these lists are based on the picks of a hardware forum with 10.000's of users which I frequent (http://www.tweakers.net), where people who are very knowledgeable debate which are the best components for each price range. Which one you go with depends on what you want to use it for, and how much you ultimately want to spend. Without further ado, lets get into it:


When on a tight budget: AROUND $500
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/maartendc/saved/qrHcCJ

This is a cheap AMD quad core based system, with every basic functionality that you would need to play modern games. The graphics card is a Nvidia GTX 960, which is a pretty solid mid-range card. It will run Triple A titles (Witcher 3, Fallout 4, etc.) at medium to high settings (not ultra) at 1080p. Probably you would want to upgrade the graphics card within let's say 2-3 years, if you play demanding games. For MMO's and other less demanding games it will be okay for a long time. The motherboard, case, RAM, and power supply are all basic but solid and quality components. The system also has an SSD for faster loading times. This can be replaced with a bigger version, or with a regular hard drive, depending on storage requirements or budget.


The sweet spot: AROUND $700
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/maartendc/saved/n8dLrH

This is probably the system with the most 'bang-for-the-buck', the sweet spot in terms of price/performance. If I were to build a machine for myself, this is what I would get probably. The money you save versus the $1000 system can be used to upgrade the graphics card in a few years' time, which will make this sytem faster at that point than the $1000 system.
This is a Intel Skylake based i5 Quad-Core system, which is the latest and greatest architecture from intel. This is quite a step up from the AMD processor in the $500 build. The graphics card is a AMD R9 380. This card has 4GB of Ram, vs only 2GB for the GTX 960, which makes it more future proof. It is also just a faster card all around. You will be able to play all modern games at the highest settings (high-ultra) at 1080p with this system. Perhaps you would want to upgrade the graphics after a few years, but the CPU will keep up with the pack for a very long time. The case and power supply are a small step up from the previous system, and very solid. The system also has an SSD for faster boot and loading times, as well as a 2TB regular hard drive to store large files.


The no compromises: AROUND $1000
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/maartendc/saved/XMp6Mp

This is the most expensive system you should build that still makes sense in terms of price/performance. Beyond this price point, you start to get less and less bang-for-the-buck, and the performance you gain won't really be worth the extra cost. This is the system to get if you want only the latest and greatest, and want to future-proof the system a bit more.
This is a Intel Skylake based i5 Quad-Core system, which is the latest and greatest architecture from intel. It features a AMD R9 390 graphics card, which is again quite a step up from the previous system. With 8GB of VRAM, it will handle any games you throw at it at highest ultra settings, and at higher resolutions than 1080p (1440p and up for example) and will do so for quite some time. This card would also be fast enough to handle VR (Oculus Rift), unlike previous machines' cards. It has 16GB of DDR4 system RAM, versus 8GB DDR3 in previous machines. This will give you headroom going into the future, or when running lots of applications at the same time. The case and Power supply are again a step up, and very nice and luxurious indeed. The system has an SSD for fast booting and loading, as well as a large 3TB regular hard drive for storing large files.


There you have it. Three capable machines at 3 different price points.

Honestly building your own PC is not much more difficult than connecting a couple of wires and screwing in some screws, so I DO recommend doing it yourself. It is easier than you think, and much easier than it was 10+ years ago. Get a friend or neighbor to help you if you need.

If you really want an off-the-shelf PC, look for PC's with similar components to the ones mentioned above, and you'll be fine. Expect to pay quite a premium for an off-the shelf brand-name PC though. You could try to find a local hardware shop that sells you the components and charges a small fee for assembling the computer for you as well.

Good luck, and happy gaming!