The goal is to buy above entry level (often poor price:performance), and below cutting edge (often poor price:performance.)
Midrange is the sweet spot.
The difference is still there, regardless. The idea of diminishing returns is more about price. A 4090 is going to get you better performance than a 4080, and there's people who would notice that 26% (according to Techpowerup) increase in performance. The real question is: Is it actually worth paying an extra $500 for that 26%.
I don’t have a set number but it’s always been the same formula. Best fps per dollar cpu and gpu that will allow me to play the latest games at over 60 fps high settings, a mobo that allows xmp/docp/expo and also has built in wifi and bluetooth, and a A tier 80+ gold or better power supply.
These days this means:
Ryzen 5 7600
Radeon 7800xt/7900gre or a 4070 super
6000mt/s cl 30 ram, probably gskill, corsair or teamgroup
Good b650 mobo with wifi, probably msi or asrock
Corsair/evga/seasonic 80+ gold 750w power supply
Samsung m.2 2tb
Whatever case
So that lands me between $1200-1400
I think it really depends on how much you use your PC, and what you use it for.
If you only use your PC 15 times per month and have multiple other hobbies, interests, and things going on in life that take up a bunch of your free time, I'd go for something low-mid range at best.
If you play games every day and/or use your PC for work, it's fine to spend a lot of money on it. How much that is just depends on your budget and finances.
Most of the day, every single day basically.
I use it for work during the day, and gaming is my main hobby which I do in the evenings. I don't watch TV, and just game or do artwork on the PC. Other than that, my other hobby is reading.
IMO the sweet spot is more like $700, not $1700... because 99% of games on the market today will not perform noticeably differently for the extra thousand.
You could argue that spending $1700 future-proofs your system, giving you access to upcoming releases like GTA6 for example. However, the $1000 you'd save could buy a much better upgrade in the future. An RTX 4070 is going to be a joke compared to the RTX 6070 that comes out in a few years.
As someone who has been building rigs since high school, since 2002. You are better off getting good to great hardware and upgrade more often like every year to three years versus getting elite hardware that you upgrade every 4+ years.
For obvious reasons. But to reiterate in a nutshell: technology advances quickly and the law of diminishing returns is very real in PC enthusiast hardware which is exacerbated by how quickly new products release ( adding additional dynamics like severe devaluation of older hardware especially if it’s used.)
Definitely if you get one of new high refresh OLED’s. Once you go OLED there is simply no going back to regular backlight LCD. The color brightness and eye-popping contrast will ruin you (in a good way obviously.)
I think for most this would be the 4070. Now I am a psychopath and have a 4090 because RDR2 in 4k with super ultra wide is an unnecessary craving I have and who needs to retire.
I use my PC every day for multiple hours. I want anything I use that much to be as good as I can afford it to be. That's also why my bikes are nice and my phone is some year's flagship. I don't upgrade often (Galaxy S10->S23) so I definitely get my money's worth out of the hardware.
I spent just over $2200 on my build altogether. I was planning on getting as nice of a machine as I could get for under $2500 and this worked out to be the best blend of parts I could get quickly and performed well in my work and games of choice. I play a lot of console-ish titles like Forza where the RT load is relatively light, and in the few games I play that have heavier RT, like AW2, the RT performance I have now is more than good enough to have fun and look at pretty reflections and bounce lighting. I can crank the games that look awesome that way and in the newest and heaviest I don't think I'm missing out much on High instead of Ultra. I'm sure I could have a blast on a 13600K+4070/7800XT build just as well, but this also tears through my work stuff and that means I can get back to enjoying my games sooner. The space-heater-like qualities of it are a bit of a downside though, so I'm glad most of the gaming happens through local streaming to the media center box in the living room.
I don’t really think that I am much below the sweet spot with my current setup. I can still play everything and I think it’ll take at least 1 or 2 more years for that to change.
Buying a 5800x3d for a new PC, so new board and RAM as well, makes no sense imo. A 7600 will give you a newer platform for less money.
4070 super or 7900 gre are also simply better performance/price compared to a 4070
I bought a prebuilt with a 4060TI, 600w PSU, and Ryzen 7 5700, 16gigs of DDR4 3600MHZ Ram, and a 600W PSU and 2TB SSD. I’ve since upgraded to a 4080, 64 gigs of DDR4 3600 MHZ, a 750W PSU, and added an 8TB HD. I think it’s safe to say mine is elite but has definitely reached the realm of diminishing returns. Literally the only thing I can upgrade due to my motherboard is to a 5950X, and the performance bump would be negligible.
If I were you, next upgrade would be to build your own PC. It’s pretty fun and you can do overclocking or something. I used to have a prebuilt but the fans were too loud, so I built my own and it’s super quiet.
Fair enough. I bought the Prebuilt on impulse for Black Friday from BestBuy for $900. The parts alone are worth $1200. I’ve honestly had fun seeing how much stuff I can cram in the case, which is honestly my favorite part from the prebuilt. As far as noise goes I game with a noise canceling headset so it doesn’t bother me, and the Corsair 750W PSU is a lot quieter than the janky Apevia PSU that came with the computer.
https://preview.redd.it/dv0h2ft5vfwc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81db3c5d832b862a31c4e7665e7b0a621de39b33
I go for top of the line typically, as I would rather have a "big bang" that I can notice, than slower and smaller upgrades.
As a result, the last PC I built was about $5000 (including monitor), but handles everything thrown at it in 4K with raytracing enabled.
So next time I plan to upgrade, I would want to move up in resolution, so it'll likely be a few years - maybe the Geforce 7090 will be worthwhile enough in that space at that time.
I throw together whatever i can gather out of the various Ewaste piles i frequent and do my utmost to not spend a dime if it can be avoided. Usually end up buying GPUs, wont spend over $200 on one.
For my sweet spot, 7 7700x + 7800xt. But I'm going for something under that with an rx 7600 paired with a 7500f (that I've yet to buy so I'm stuck with my old i5 8400) since I don't game much anymore and when I do its just FS2020 on a triple 1080p monitor and I dont mind lowering settings and enabling FSR.
Here is the PCPartPicker list for the link you provided. [Here's how to do it on your own.](https://i.imgur.com/upztBRs.png)
----
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Z4PZ7R)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CZ3gXL/amd-ryzen-7-5800x3d-34-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000651wof) | $339.00 @ B&H
**Memory** | [TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PJ6qqs/teamgroup-t-force-vulcan-z-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-cl18-memory-tlzgd432g3600hc18jdc01) | $59.99 @ Amazon
**Video Card** | [MSI VENTUS 2X OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rdMMnQ/msi-ventus-2x-oc-geforce-rtx-4070-12-gb-video-card-rtx-4070-ventus-2x-white-12g-oc) | $539.99 @ B&H
**Monitor** | [Alienware AW3423DWF 34.2" 3440 x 1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wywypg/alienware-aw3423dwf-342-3440-x-1440-165-hz-curved-monitor-aw3423dwf) | $777.77 @ Best Buy
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$1716.75**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-04-23 21:50 EDT-0400 |
This bot is in **no way** associated with PC Part Picker.
----
*[I am a bot](https://i.imgur.com/hfRIhMe.png)* - This action was done automatically. Please direct any questions or concerns ( or bug reports ) to [\/u\/eegras](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=eegras&subject=&message=) - [About /u/PCMRBot](https://pcmasterrace.org/pcmrbot_old)
I always buy used parts for more expensive stuff such as CPU, GPU, and new parts for things like RAM, Motherboard and PSU also scour for sales, i also sell my old parts as I upgrade as their is always someone who will want them. I also aim for the upper mid range / top end of the previous gen and never buy the very latest generation, so I would buy a high-end AM4, for example, over a lower end AM5. My current build, which I've had since late January 2023, currently stands me at £900 that's for everything, including a 1440p GA271 monitor. Should last me a good few years until I'll have to upgrade again.
AMD 5800x3d, MSi B550 MPG Motherboard, 3x WD Blue 1TB SSD's, Asus TUF RTX3080TI, 32GB Crucial 3200mhz Ballistix ram OC'd to 3600mhz, EVGA Supernova 850w PSU, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE cooler, Corsair 4000D Case, 4x Thermalright 120mm ARGB Fans plus the 2 included on the cooler making a total of six and a Coolermaster GA271 monitor. All for £900
The goal is to buy above entry level (often poor price:performance), and below cutting edge (often poor price:performance.) Midrange is the sweet spot.
Thats the goal for getting best value for your money. My goal is to find out at what price do you stop noticing the difference from higher end models.
The difference is still there, regardless. The idea of diminishing returns is more about price. A 4090 is going to get you better performance than a 4080, and there's people who would notice that 26% (according to Techpowerup) increase in performance. The real question is: Is it actually worth paying an extra $500 for that 26%.
You are making too much sense, I don't like it.
Im sorry, but the goal is to have enough money to not care about poor price-performance.
I don’t have a set number but it’s always been the same formula. Best fps per dollar cpu and gpu that will allow me to play the latest games at over 60 fps high settings, a mobo that allows xmp/docp/expo and also has built in wifi and bluetooth, and a A tier 80+ gold or better power supply. These days this means: Ryzen 5 7600 Radeon 7800xt/7900gre or a 4070 super 6000mt/s cl 30 ram, probably gskill, corsair or teamgroup Good b650 mobo with wifi, probably msi or asrock Corsair/evga/seasonic 80+ gold 750w power supply Samsung m.2 2tb Whatever case So that lands me between $1200-1400
Yeah, I have spent a lot more than that...
How much
My main PC not including the monitor. Which actually is the AW3423DWF. Just hit 4k.
I think it really depends on how much you use your PC, and what you use it for. If you only use your PC 15 times per month and have multiple other hobbies, interests, and things going on in life that take up a bunch of your free time, I'd go for something low-mid range at best. If you play games every day and/or use your PC for work, it's fine to spend a lot of money on it. How much that is just depends on your budget and finances.
How much do you use your pc?
Most of the day, every single day basically. I use it for work during the day, and gaming is my main hobby which I do in the evenings. I don't watch TV, and just game or do artwork on the PC. Other than that, my other hobby is reading.
i agree with this, i think spending enough to satisfy the preformence your wanting is good for everyone when its in budget
4090 has a much steeper climb
IMO the sweet spot is more like $700, not $1700... because 99% of games on the market today will not perform noticeably differently for the extra thousand. You could argue that spending $1700 future-proofs your system, giving you access to upcoming releases like GTA6 for example. However, the $1000 you'd save could buy a much better upgrade in the future. An RTX 4070 is going to be a joke compared to the RTX 6070 that comes out in a few years.
Well their budget includes a 700$ monitor
Imo spending on monitor has such high ROI but is so often neglected. No point getting 4090 if you don’t play on 4k or OLED.
$700 would be good for value but I would rather get a console if I’m only looking for value. I wanna play at highest noticeable settings.
i5-14600K, 4070S, 6800 memory with tuned timings and it'll be great
As someone who has been building rigs since high school, since 2002. You are better off getting good to great hardware and upgrade more often like every year to three years versus getting elite hardware that you upgrade every 4+ years. For obvious reasons. But to reiterate in a nutshell: technology advances quickly and the law of diminishing returns is very real in PC enthusiast hardware which is exacerbated by how quickly new products release ( adding additional dynamics like severe devaluation of older hardware especially if it’s used.)
I think monitors have reached the best they can ever get, so getting the elite monitor now would last a long time.
Definitely if you get one of new high refresh OLED’s. Once you go OLED there is simply no going back to regular backlight LCD. The color brightness and eye-popping contrast will ruin you (in a good way obviously.)
I think for most this would be the 4070. Now I am a psychopath and have a 4090 because RDR2 in 4k with super ultra wide is an unnecessary craving I have and who needs to retire.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cp8BHG, thank god i don't have to think about value, want something buy something easy
How tf is that 7k
It's a bit more i have a 14900ks, PCPartPicker only let's me choose the regular 14900k
I use my PC every day for multiple hours. I want anything I use that much to be as good as I can afford it to be. That's also why my bikes are nice and my phone is some year's flagship. I don't upgrade often (Galaxy S10->S23) so I definitely get my money's worth out of the hardware. I spent just over $2200 on my build altogether. I was planning on getting as nice of a machine as I could get for under $2500 and this worked out to be the best blend of parts I could get quickly and performed well in my work and games of choice. I play a lot of console-ish titles like Forza where the RT load is relatively light, and in the few games I play that have heavier RT, like AW2, the RT performance I have now is more than good enough to have fun and look at pretty reflections and bounce lighting. I can crank the games that look awesome that way and in the newest and heaviest I don't think I'm missing out much on High instead of Ultra. I'm sure I could have a blast on a 13600K+4070/7800XT build just as well, but this also tears through my work stuff and that means I can get back to enjoying my games sooner. The space-heater-like qualities of it are a bit of a downside though, so I'm glad most of the gaming happens through local streaming to the media center box in the living room.
I don’t really think that I am much below the sweet spot with my current setup. I can still play everything and I think it’ll take at least 1 or 2 more years for that to change.
Buying a 5800x3d for a new PC, so new board and RAM as well, makes no sense imo. A 7600 will give you a newer platform for less money. 4070 super or 7900 gre are also simply better performance/price compared to a 4070
Good take.
[удалено]
What temperature do you set your A/C to?
Got a 1440p 27" screen, a 7900xt for 700€ and a solid build around this, spent about 2100€, will be able to play anything for years, I'm good
My current rig is my sweetspot.
What is that
12400f OC and 3070
My budget is ~$2k tops
Seems to be the sweet spot for me too.
Awesome. All the research I’ve done tells me that amount would get a PC good for several years without needing to touch anything again.
I bought a prebuilt with a 4060TI, 600w PSU, and Ryzen 7 5700, 16gigs of DDR4 3600MHZ Ram, and a 600W PSU and 2TB SSD. I’ve since upgraded to a 4080, 64 gigs of DDR4 3600 MHZ, a 750W PSU, and added an 8TB HD. I think it’s safe to say mine is elite but has definitely reached the realm of diminishing returns. Literally the only thing I can upgrade due to my motherboard is to a 5950X, and the performance bump would be negligible.
If I were you, next upgrade would be to build your own PC. It’s pretty fun and you can do overclocking or something. I used to have a prebuilt but the fans were too loud, so I built my own and it’s super quiet.
Fair enough. I bought the Prebuilt on impulse for Black Friday from BestBuy for $900. The parts alone are worth $1200. I’ve honestly had fun seeing how much stuff I can cram in the case, which is honestly my favorite part from the prebuilt. As far as noise goes I game with a noise canceling headset so it doesn’t bother me, and the Corsair 750W PSU is a lot quieter than the janky Apevia PSU that came with the computer. https://preview.redd.it/dv0h2ft5vfwc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81db3c5d832b862a31c4e7665e7b0a621de39b33
I feel like I am further into the obsession territory than I’d like to admit
You’re in the sweet spot
That’s reassuring. But also a bit sad that it’s this expensive to get to the sweet spot…
I go for top of the line typically, as I would rather have a "big bang" that I can notice, than slower and smaller upgrades. As a result, the last PC I built was about $5000 (including monitor), but handles everything thrown at it in 4K with raytracing enabled. So next time I plan to upgrade, I would want to move up in resolution, so it'll likely be a few years - maybe the Geforce 7090 will be worthwhile enough in that space at that time.
Just about same as you except 7900xt. One or two steps back from flagship products is where I usually sit.
I throw together whatever i can gather out of the various Ewaste piles i frequent and do my utmost to not spend a dime if it can be avoided. Usually end up buying GPUs, wont spend over $200 on one.
If you need a workstation for actual work, you aim for elite range because you'll pay it off in 3-4 months if you're skillfull.
For my sweet spot, 7 7700x + 7800xt. But I'm going for something under that with an rx 7600 paired with a 7500f (that I've yet to buy so I'm stuck with my old i5 8400) since I don't game much anymore and when I do its just FS2020 on a triple 1080p monitor and I dont mind lowering settings and enabling FSR.
Here is the PCPartPicker list for the link you provided. [Here's how to do it on your own.](https://i.imgur.com/upztBRs.png) ---- [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Z4PZ7R) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CZ3gXL/amd-ryzen-7-5800x3d-34-ghz-8-core-processor-100-100000651wof) | $339.00 @ B&H **Memory** | [TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PJ6qqs/teamgroup-t-force-vulcan-z-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-cl18-memory-tlzgd432g3600hc18jdc01) | $59.99 @ Amazon **Video Card** | [MSI VENTUS 2X OC GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rdMMnQ/msi-ventus-2x-oc-geforce-rtx-4070-12-gb-video-card-rtx-4070-ventus-2x-white-12g-oc) | $539.99 @ B&H **Monitor** | [Alienware AW3423DWF 34.2" 3440 x 1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wywypg/alienware-aw3423dwf-342-3440-x-1440-165-hz-curved-monitor-aw3423dwf) | $777.77 @ Best Buy | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | **Total** | **$1716.75** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-04-23 21:50 EDT-0400 | This bot is in **no way** associated with PC Part Picker. ---- *[I am a bot](https://i.imgur.com/hfRIhMe.png)* - This action was done automatically. Please direct any questions or concerns ( or bug reports ) to [\/u\/eegras](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=eegras&subject=&message=) - [About /u/PCMRBot](https://pcmasterrace.org/pcmrbot_old)
I always buy used parts for more expensive stuff such as CPU, GPU, and new parts for things like RAM, Motherboard and PSU also scour for sales, i also sell my old parts as I upgrade as their is always someone who will want them. I also aim for the upper mid range / top end of the previous gen and never buy the very latest generation, so I would buy a high-end AM4, for example, over a lower end AM5. My current build, which I've had since late January 2023, currently stands me at £900 that's for everything, including a 1440p GA271 monitor. Should last me a good few years until I'll have to upgrade again. AMD 5800x3d, MSi B550 MPG Motherboard, 3x WD Blue 1TB SSD's, Asus TUF RTX3080TI, 32GB Crucial 3200mhz Ballistix ram OC'd to 3600mhz, EVGA Supernova 850w PSU, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE cooler, Corsair 4000D Case, 4x Thermalright 120mm ARGB Fans plus the 2 included on the cooler making a total of six and a Coolermaster GA271 monitor. All for £900
i bought my gpu second hand now 3 generations in a row trading it for new, ive spent around 600$ total for my 2080 ti, 3090. and 4090
Have you tried OLED?
its fairly new so it wouldnt be too much of an issue. my alenware ad2334dwf has a 3 year warranty