Updated: December 12th, 2024
Computer Builds That Make Sense
Gaming PC Builds
Notes
I'd recommend this setup for those looking for decent PC gaming on a tight budget or those looking to get into PC Gaming. Graphics wise, you should be able to play any game at 1080p high, or even 1440p medium in most games. However in Next Gen games like Starfield or any Unreal Engine 5 game, expect to play on 1080p Low/Medium settings.
Notes
This would be the recommended build for the majority of people for PC Gaming on a budget. Graphics settings on this build are expected to be 1440p medium on any game. This also provides a platform with future CPU upgrades, and enough PSU wattage for future GPU upgrades. The CPU cooler may need to be upgraded for better CPUs later.
Notes
This build is the best cost to performance value currently. Ray Tracing is usable at this level. 4K in many titles is possible. Future upgrades on GPU may require a 850w or higher PSU.
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This build is for those that want 4K gaming, but want to stay under $2000. Ray Tracing is usable at this level. You are only a bit off from a more top end system. You can swap in a RX 7900 XTX into this build and achieve top end performance.
Notes
This is one of the best gaming experience you're going to get for your money. Expect to be able to play any game you'd like at 4K high settings and Ray Tracing where available. While the GEFORCE RTX 4090 is a faster GPU, the cost to performance difference doesn't make it a recommended buy until the last tier.
Notes
If you want the absolute best and you have no budget, this is it.
Market Retail Prices for PC Parts
Notes
These are only currently available new GPUs from retailers. This is only showing typical rasterization performance, not ray tracing performance. Per game performance varies. Some games perfer Radeon or GeForce.
Do now that all GPUs on this list will play modern games well at at least 1080p high, so even if the card is labeled low tier, don't be fooled into thinking it is a bad card.
Disclaimers
Workstation Builds
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Good entry workstation for professional workloads like compiling, photo editing and graphic design, occasional video editing, occasional 3D rendering.
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This is the best tier for price to performance for workstations, before you start getting into much more expensive Threadripper based systems. You can also game on this and use this for AI generation like Stable Diffusion.
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This is where we get into a more crazy high end workstation performance and pricing. I chose 32-cores instead of 24 cores as newer 16-core Ryzens are hitting similar performance as these older Threadripper 24 cores can do in multi-threaded applications. You can also choose to do 3 or 4 of these workstation GPUs or get a better GPU in this setup. The PSU setup allows it and the motherboard has plenty of PCI-E slots. The RTX A5000 is not as powerful as the RTX 4090, but this is a workstation card with ECC memory and can easily be mixed with multiple GPUs. The precision and stability will be wanted for serious production work.
Notes
This is probably the best workstation build you can do for now until a nw generation of Threadripper comes along. You could technically do a dual socket EPYC setup, but it is much more complex to setup since it's not designed for workstation use.