Gaming PC advice

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lyndondrake

236 posts

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#303802 10-Mar-2023 08:27

Kia ora, at the moment my kids are using my workstation PC for gaming. It's an i9 with 32GB of RAM and an RTX 4000 8GB. Can anyone suggest a minimum spec for a gaming PC that will be at least *as* good gaming as this? I don't want to overspend on it, but I need my PC and my guess is that I can get something faster at gaming for less than the workstation cost me.

ShinyChrome

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#3048403 10-Mar-2023 08:48

The most important spec for gaming is of course the GPU and that RTX 4000 is roughly around the performance of an Nvidia RTX 3060 or AMD RX 6600. Definitely don't need anything as meaty as an i9, an Ryzen 5/Core i5 CPU from the last few years will be plenty.

You didn't mention what sort of frame rate/resolution you are targeting, but based on that spec I can roughly suggest anything with a Ryzen 5 5000 series/12th gen i5 CPU or above, 16GB RAM, and an NVME SSD pair with a GPU as above or better is going to give a similar or better gaming experience.

TradeMe will be your best bet for value as older gaming rigs depreciate fast, but if you want a warranty/don't DIY, you would be looking at some prebuilts around the $2k mark to hit equivalance in my estimation, as below:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/WKSGGPC10325/GGPC-RX-6700-XT-Gaming-PC-AMD-Ryzen-5-5600-6-Core

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/WKSGGPC50028A/GGPC-RTX-3060-Gaming-PC-Intel-Core-i5-12400F-6-Cor

If you want higher resolutions, higher frame rates etc; obviously you will need to start leaning towards the better (and more expensive) column.

If you aren't afraid to DIY, $1.5-2k will buy you a pretty good mid-range gaming rig.

gehenna

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#3048406 10-Mar-2023 08:48

Do you mean an A4000 GPU? You don't need an i9 CPU for gaming. Sure, you can, but an i7 or i5 even, or a Ryzen equivalent will be fine. Some games are CPU bound and perform poorly on any CPU anyway, you'll want to steer clear of those games. An RTX3090, 4070 or 4080 will run you $1000-$3000ish alone depending on what you go for.

lyndondrake

236 posts

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#3048602 10-Mar-2023 11:55

That's super helpful. In fact it looks like for my budget I can get an improvement in gaming performance.

ShinyChrome

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#3048652 10-Mar-2023 14:16

I see Computer Lounge has a few on special as well, this one stands out in particular: https://www.computerlounge.co.nz/shop/ready-to-ship/banshee-rx-6700-ryzen-7-5800x3d-gaming-pc

For the extra $250 over that first PB Tech one, you are getting:

the 8c/16t 5800x3d with 3D V-cache - it's one of the best CPU's you can buy today that actually makes a difference in gaming (depending on the game ofc), and will only be super-ceded by the next-gen one. For gaming, this will hold strong for longer than the other
1TB SSD - more storage, not the fastest one but good enough
drop to XFX branded RX 6700 vs unspecified RX6700 XT - looks like a roughly 10% performance difference, again depending on what resolution/frame-rate whether that is big enough to make a difference
Fractal design PSU + case - IMO one of the best mass market case manufacturers and the PSU's are good as well

IMO for the slight GPU perf drop, it will be a stronger base, and with a GPU upgrade in the near future (2-3years, which you would want to do either way), it will chugging along for a lot longer before it starts to show its age.

lyndondrake

236 posts

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#3049369 12-Mar-2023 21:24

I've ended up going for the PB Tech i5 one with a slightly lower RAM graphics card (8GB instead of 12GB) partly because it was $50 cheaper, but mostly because it was in stock and the 12GB one wasn't. Seems pretty good so far. Thanks again for the advice.

Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3049661 13-Mar-2023 16:42

RIP I can't read good, I thought you got the 6700XT as per the PB tech link.

Didn't click the first time reading it, I don't know what 8GB card you got but if you got an 6600XT it should run most things at high / ultra at 1080p.

I got one at launch and it was a huge jump from my 2GB 960GT.

lyndondrake

236 posts

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#3049665 13-Mar-2023 17:02

It was an RTX 3060 (but 8GB of VRAM not 12GB). Seems pretty quick.

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cruxis

480 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3049672 13-Mar-2023 17:24

RTX 3060 8gb vs 12Gb are not the same, They have a different memory bus, something I wish the comsumer protection authorities around the world should deal with Nvidia for the scammy naming schemes. A better name for it should have been RTX 3050Ti.

But at least it was cheaper as it should be.

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-with-8gb-memory-has-been-tested-17-performance-difference-vs-12gb-model

Mershroom

17 posts

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#3050270 15-Mar-2023 09:22

My thoughts on the ideal mid-range gaming device.

RTX3060 or RX6600/6700

SSD hard drive

27inch 144hz monitor

16GB+

The rest is really up to you in terms of CPU, PSU, etc

lyndondrake

236 posts

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#3050288 15-Mar-2023 10:34

Hmm, I hadn't realised that about the 8GB 3060. I agree that it's pretty misleading. Having said which, it seems to be doing what we wanted fine, and I suppose I'd always expected that I would have to upgrade the GPU at some point in the future.

The 500GB SSD is going to be too small at some point too, but that's a much cheaper (eventual) upgrade.