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  1. #1

    Is now the time to build? What could you build with $1500 TODAY?

    It seems like there are a TON of "sales" going on, although I suspect that some of those are displaying a "normal price" that's way higher than it actually should be. Still, Prime Day(s) is going on, and it sure looks like Best Buy, Dell, and other online sellers are doing some pretty massive deals right now.

    I'm not sure what's really even possible with $1500 anymore (we've basically seen the equivalent of 7 years of inflation, just in the past year), but I figured I'll let people way smarter than me let me know?

    My HOPE would be something that to include the following:

    - Torrent Fractal case (fan-cooling only; had a bad experience with liquid cooling a few years back, and this got glowing reviews from GamersNexus)

    - Two SSD's (one for the OS, so could be way smaller), an additional HDD might not be bad (just for "other files" that aren't gaming-related)

    - RTX 3080 would obviously be pretty sweet, but assuming I'd be lucky to get a 3070

    - 32gb RAM

    The goal would be gaming and streaming, and some video-editing, if that plays a role.

    I'm assuming this would be a pretty lofty goal to try and accomplish, or maybe even completely unrealistic?

    I would say, I don't HAVE to build it today, if you think a GPU could realistically be found at a better price? But since I'm not super tech-savvy, I wouldn't want to leave anything else up in the air.

    And if that build IS just completely unrealistic for that budget, then no worries, just let me know. I'm honestly not PERSONALLY in any sort of rush, but with all the deals I've been seeing online (and I just bought two new monitors myself), I thought I would see if I should pull the trigger on building a PC.

  2. #2
    Can't see the future, but assuming rumors of next gen GPUs being way faster than current gen will make anything sold atm drop in price as used market will flood instantly. Sort of same with CPUs but to a lesser extent. What will go up though are other stuff like Cases, PSUs, SSDs and DDR5 will probably spike for a bit.

    As to what is possible, a 1080p gaming system is way possible. 1440p quite close to $1500. It depends what you want and what your need is really. I'd recommend waiting for next gen for anyone who do not need a new rig. And then if you want stuff cheap, buy used or new budget offerings. That said Nvidia likely won't be releasing their budget options till very late this year or early next year, because of the flood of 30 series cards on the 2nd hand market.

  3. #3
    Cool, good to know. I think any time I see "CRAZY SALES!!!" going on, I get antsy and wonder "should I jump on it now?!". If anything though, that's honestly a sigh of relief for me, since I didn't *quite* feel ready to jump into building a PC right now anyways.

    I'll have to make sure I keep an eye out whenever new graphics cards get released, though. I imagine the new stuff will indeed be expensive, but yeah if the current stuff drops significantly, it'll definitely be worth it.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by mrgreenthump View Post
    Can't see the future, but assuming rumors of next gen GPUs being way faster than current gen will make anything sold atm drop in price as used market will flood instantly.
    Which only matters if you are OK with buying used. There wont be significant stock of any worthwhile 30-series cards left by the time the 40-series launches. Jay (Jayz2Cents) literally just did a video on this where he went over why you should never make a plan to "buy last gen when the new gen launches because it will be cheap!" because that literally never happens.

    Sort of same with CPUs but to a lesser extent. What will go up though are other stuff like Cases, PSUs, SSDs and DDR5 will probably spike for a bit.

    As to what is possible, a 1080p gaming system is way possible. 1440p quite close to $1500.
    Might want to keep up with the market.

    It depends what you want and what your need is really. I'd recommend waiting for next gen for anyone who do not need a new rig. And then if you want stuff cheap, buy used or new budget offerings. That said Nvidia likely won't be releasing their budget options till very late this year or early next year, because of the flood of 30 series cards on the 2nd hand market.
    Bad advice as very few people are confortable buying used.



    Quote Originally Posted by Claymore View Post
    I imagine the new stuff will indeed be expensive,
    4080FE is tipped at 750. Which, given the increase in tarrifs and costs for some of the parts, is right in line with what the 3080 FE costs. So... yeah.

    but yeah if the current stuff drops significantly, it'll definitely be worth it.
    It doesn't. It goes out of stock. Itll only drop if you're comfy buying used.

    And since they are likely pushing back the launch specifically to clear out most of the 30 series stock first, you're going to end up waiting until November, at the earliest, for a GPU if you try to get second hand 30 series cards.

    Anyway:

    PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GBvkgb

    CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor ($349.99 @ Best Buy)
    CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Amazon)
    Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M BAZOOKA DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ B&H)
    Memory: TEAMGROUP T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($79.98 @ Amazon)
    Storage: Gigabyte AORUS RGB 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($62.98 @ Newegg)
    Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
    Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card ($500.00)
    Case: Fractal Design Torrent Compact ATX Mid Tower Case ($133.98 @ Newegg)
    Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GT 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
    Total: $1511.79
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-07-13 23:19 EDT-0400
    Note on the GPU: You have to get one from Best Buy on Thursdays when they restock. Theyve been reliably coming in every Thursday and usually dont sell out till later in the day so as long as you get on in the AM you should be fine. Otherwise, all the AiB partner boards are 100+$ more expensive.

    Note on the Motherboard: Yes, its a B660 board. Yes, that means you cant overclock the CPU on it. But there's not really a reason to, to be honest (and you can still run the RAM at its rated 3200) - the 12700K will boost to 5+ghz on two cores and IIRC 4.7 or 4.8 on all cores all on its own. At best, manually OCing would get you to all-core 5.0 or 5.1 but probably require you to dump a ton of voltage into it and maybe even upgrade the cooling as Alder Lake runs hot when manually OCed.

    Somewhat price limited by a few of your wants (two SSDs vs one, case choice) but thats what 1500$ gets you right now.

    You can grab a 3080 for 200$ more (also the Founders Edition at Best Buy - again, youll have to hit the site on Thursday for restock but its been reliable for a few weeks).

    If you seriously want to grab the 3080 and literally cannot go overbudget:

    PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LxbfFg

    CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor ($349.99 @ Best Buy)
    CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler ($44.90 @ Amazon)
    Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M BAZOOKA DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ B&H)
    Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($46.97 @ Amazon)
    Storage: Silicon Power A60 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($134.99 @ Amazon)
    Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB 10 GB Founders Edition Video Card ($700.00)
    Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon)
    Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GT 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
    Total: $1561.80
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-07-13 23:32 EDT-0400
    Changes:

    Cut the RAM to 16GB. If you really need 32 for some reason (certainly dont for gaming and streaming, but might for Video Editing depending on how much of that you do) just save some coin for 4-6 weeks and buy another identical kit and youll be fine.

    Cut the cooler to the smaller Pure Rock 2 vs the Dark Rock 4. Pure Rock 2 is enough to cool this CPU, but the fan may run at a higher speed, so it might be noisier. The Dark Rock 4, you'd likely never have heard it. Scythe Mugen or one of its variants would also do well here.

    Went with a single large SSD that doesn't have a DRAM cache. Shouldn't impact performance much (most drives can leverage your system RAM just fine), and unless you're hitting the drive all the damn time, you wont notice any speed difference in the real world anyway.

    Same deal with the GPU - gonna have to hit Best Buy on restock day, but theyve been reliably coming in every week.

    Cheaper (but still very functional) case. Plenty of airflow, just not as snazzy looking.

    But it gets you a solid 12 core, 20 thread CPU with fast clocks and a 3080 for 1500$, so... yeah.

    Edit: Also, if you live near a Micro Center, you can shave off a few bucks on the MoBo/CPU as a combo there. (About 60$)
    Last edited by Kagthul; 2022-07-14 at 03:48 AM.

  5. #5
    The Unstoppable Force Gaidax's Avatar
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    I think at some point people should stop trying to chase after their own shadow.

    Now is ok time to build, GPU prices are low, new gen will still take some time to come and current gen GPUs are already powerful AF.

    Sure you can wait lets say another half a year for new gen and then get stuck with low supply, high prices another half a year and then have remorse because new new gen is coming "soon", it's a never-ending cycle and IMO it's just fine to cut it at some point and go for it.

    The reality if you grab something alongside 3070/3080 now, you can rest assured that GPU will be good enough for 3-4 years to come anyway, unless you are 4k max fps max quality crackhead - then you never will be happy anyway.

  6. #6
    Immortal Evolixe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    It doesn't. It goes out of stock. Itll only drop if you're comfy buying used.
    It only goes out of stock if that stock is actually moving. All things indicate that while it may be moving, its moving extremely slowly.
    If that keeps up, prices will drop more until the stock moves quick enough to be gone by the time the new line releases. Delayed launch or not.


    Quote Originally Posted by Gaidax View Post
    Sure you can wait lets say another half a year for new gen and then get stuck with low supply
    Not likely with nvidia having purchased fab capacity volume way over what they need now. If anything its looking like there will be significant overcapacity on 4k series as well. Which likely means prices are going to drop to current gen MSRP levels even for next gen GPUs. Unless they find another buyer for that 5nm fab capacity with TSMC and that doesn't seem likely.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Evolixe View Post
    Not likely with nvidia having purchased fab capacity volume way over what they need now.
    There is no historical precedence for this even when there is oversupply of the previous gen.

    Even producing more than 4x the usual launch numbers, Ampere still sold out in minutes.

  8. #8
    The Unstoppable Force Gaidax's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Evolixe View Post
    Not likely with nvidia having purchased fab capacity volume way over what they need now. If anything its looking like there will be significant overcapacity on 4k series as well. Which likely means prices are going to drop to current gen MSRP levels even for next gen GPUs. Unless they find another buyer for that 5nm fab capacity with TSMC and that doesn't seem likely.
    Keep hearing this for decades "oh it will be fine now because they purchased more fab capacity".

    Still same shit every time - release, cards at MSRP sold out in 5 seconds and it's scalper heaven next few months the least. I can guarantee you it will happen again, simply because scalpers and people who are ready to pay 1.5x or even double the price for new shiny.

  9. #9
    If you are going to build a system soon, I would say BUY EVERYTHING BUT THE VIDEO CARD NOW. The reason for this is that a literal TON of video cards will be coming on the market from the virtual currency farms that will no longer be profitable, and the shortage will be on the other parts for building computers.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by khazmodan View Post
    If you are going to build a system soon, I would say BUY EVERYTHING BUT THE VIDEO CARD NOW. The reason for this is that a literal TON of video cards will be coming on the market from the virtual currency farms that will no longer be profitable, and the shortage will be on the other parts for building computers.
    Most people dont buy used. And Etherium is now 3 years late or so on switching to Proof of Stake.

  11. #11
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    I bought a stupid powerful, absolute top of the line PC in January as a reward for my promotion. I legit could have saved a lot if I waited, but my old PC was legit starting to pop. My titan x fried an on board chip (had to take that one into the shop, no way I could fix that myself) and one of my memory sticks went bad.

    That being said, I could have saved a lot of money if I bought now. Just an FYI, there's a massive stockpile of supply of items right now due to bad forecasting by retailers, and GPUs are on that list (crypto crash also tanking prices). It wouldn't be a bad idea to buy a GPU now by itself if you see a good deal on NewEgg or something.

  12. #12
    Immortal Evolixe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    There is no historical precedence for this even when there is oversupply of the previous gen.

    Even producing more than 4x the usual launch numbers, Ampere still sold out in minutes.
    There wouldn't be historical precedence because what we saw happen between early 2020 and now isn't something we have seen before.
    It was just a perfect storm between the popularity rise of scalping electronics, crypto mining and people sitting at home (perhaps with extra funds since no vacation) because of covid.

    What we have now is a perfect storm of a crypto crash, a massive oversupply and not a lot of people wanting to buy graphics cards to begin with as a new line of products is on the horizon. Prices will come down more, unless the lot of you start frantically buying up this old stock because you think its a good deal to buy outdated cards at slightly above MSRP


    Quote Originally Posted by Gaidax View Post
    Keep hearing this for decades "oh it will be fine now because they purchased more fab capacity".

    Still same shit every time - release, cards at MSRP sold out in 5 seconds and it's scalper heaven next few months the least. I can guarantee you it will happen again, simply because scalpers and people who are ready to pay 1.5x or even double the price for new shiny.
    Those didn't account for the volumes they had been moving this past release cycle though. This time they did. $10Bn in fab capacity just for a single product line like this is unheard of. Nvidia wouldn't be frantically trying to get rid of the brunt of it if they didn't think they way overcommitted.
    Last edited by Evolixe; 2022-07-17 at 10:27 PM.

  13. #13
    The thing that people need to realize is that the 3000 cards will have production stopped or SIGNIFICANTLY reduced long enough before the 40 series release that it creates an artificial shortage on top of the typical new GPU hype. What will happen is that the new cards will INSTANTLY sell out and then all of the people who thought they were clever will mostly feel really dumb when they're buying 30 series cards back used for likely more than they sold their own card for leading up to that moment. Happens every time. Nvidia and the rest simply won't release a new series of cards during an oversupply of the previous generation lol. They're here to make money they aren't going to step on their own feet
    Last edited by Erolian; 2022-07-18 at 03:29 AM.

  14. #14
    Immortal Evolixe's Avatar
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    Well yeah you don't sell your old before you got a new in hand. Thats just dumb. But that is besides the point.
    A shortage to the magnitude we saw with ampere will not be repeating itself with 4k series.

  15. #15
    - - - Updated - - -

    Think Hardware Unboxed explains my PoV better than I can so here's their video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsIjenUF380

    Part starting at 8:12 is particularly relevant.


    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    There is no historical precedence for this even when there is oversupply of the previous gen.

    Even producing more than 4x the usual launch numbers, Ampere still sold out in minutes.
    There is a historical precedence for used GPU flood paired with massive overproduction of GPUs and massively faster next gen cards. Look what happened to 290X. Think Nvidia is doing their hardest to avoid the same, but from all indications the used market is going to get flooded even more as asian mining farms are reaching Ebay. And you might say nobody buys used. But when a used 3070 is over 2x cheaper than a new one and there's no shortage of said GPUs, you can just buy 2 of them and if one fails you still got another ready.

  16. #16
    I was waiting for a 4000 but after i've read that NVIDIA has reduced the orders from TSMC i don't expect prices to be anywhere near MSRP and scalper will be a thing. Especially because NVIDIA itself has stocks of 3000 cards that are competing with the flooded used market.

    Managed to find a nice deal on a 3080 (new, paid MSRP of release) so i bit the bullet and called it a day. Now i'm waiting for new CPUs so i can rebuild (i'm just getting cpu/mobo/ram as everything else will be reused or is basically new like the PSU which is 1 year old).
    Last edited by Coldkil; 2022-07-19 at 01:17 PM.
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  17. #17
    Immortal Evolixe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coldkil View Post
    I was waiting for a 4000 but after i've read that NVIDIA has reduced the orders from TSMC i don't expect prices to be anywhere near MSRP and scalper will be a thing. Especially because NVIDIA itself has stocks of 3000 cards that are competing with the flooded used market.
    They havn't though, TSMC told Nvidia to stick it and if they want out of the order they have to find a buyer for the waver space themselves.
    Which is not looking like its happening right now

    And with billion dollar commitments, I think thats more than fair. Remember TSMC build entirely new fabrication plants to meet modern day chip demands as there was a shortage on chips even before covid ever made an entry

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Evolixe View Post
    They havn't though, TSMC told Nvidia to stick it and if they want out of the order they have to find a buyer for the waver space themselves.
    Which is not looking like its happening right now

    And with billion dollar commitments, I think thats more than fair. Remember TSMC build entirely new fabrication plants to meet modern day chip demands as there was a shortage on chips even before covid ever made an entry
    Well, now it's too late for me then. In the end i play at 1440p and a 3080 is going to serve me well anyway.

    I am still nor sure we'll find a lot of 4000 available at the start, and scalpers are still a thing crypto boom or not.
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  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by mrgreenthump View Post
    - - - Updated - - -

    Think Hardware Unboxed explains my PoV better than I can so here's their video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsIjenUF380
    Not even going to click on it. They are basically never right. Stop using them as proof of anything. Their methodology is absolute joke level and they never fact check anything.

    And you might say nobody buys used.
    Because no one does. There's like... actual data on that. Most people buy new.

    But when a used 3070 is over 2x cheaper than a new one and there's no shortage of said GPUs, you can just buy 2 of them and if one fails you still got another ready.
    And that would be throwing away cash when you didn't need to. And isn't going to suddenly make the average consumer (which is precisely no one posting on this forum apart from the occasional newbie coming here asking for advice) buy used.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Evolixe View Post
    A shortage to the magnitude we saw with ampere will not be repeating itself with 4k series.
    What shortage?

    They produced 4x as many Ampere cards for launch as they had for any prior launch.

    And they still sold out in minutes.

    And it wasn't because of Crypto or the Pandemic, which hadn't kicked up yet (Pandemic didn't become a worldwide issue until December or January, and not until almost March in the US), and Crypto wasn't rising that fast at the launch of the 3090 or 3080 (Etherium didnt pick up until early the next year).

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    Not even going to click on it. They are basically never right. Stop using them as proof of anything. Their methodology is absolute joke level and they never fact check anything.
    Could say the very same about Jaystwocents(which you quoted earlier). You didn't watch the vid, so you don't even know what they did. Just gonna put this there, how does one fact check the price on Newegg? Are they lying about the price they put on their page?


    What shortage?

    They produced 4x as many Ampere cards for launch as they had for any prior launch.

    And they still sold out in minutes.

    And it wasn't because of Crypto or the Pandemic, which hadn't kicked up yet (Pandemic didn't become a worldwide issue until December or January, and not until almost March in the US), and Crypto wasn't rising that fast at the launch of the 3090 or 3080 (Etherium didnt pick up until early the next year).
    It's hard to say what went on and what didn't at the start. When 3080 launched there were multiple report of smaller retailers getting under 5 of them when they ordered 50+. Distributors just didn't get stuff till a lot later and then we already were in a situation where prices were increasing and crypto boom was at the door. Biggest retailer here got under 10 of 1 SKU and they had over 200 pre-orders. They didn't get additional stuff till weeks later. Think we atribute the quote of producing 4x than previous launch to Nvidia PR.

    From what I remember supply chain was utterly broken back then with planes not flying(because of Covid) and containers costing a lot more and being full. So that might have resulted in not having GPUs.

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