I’m looking at this deal for a prebuilt:
Lenovo LOQ 17IRR9 Tower PC — $749.99
- Intel Core i5-14400F (10 cores, 16 threads, up to 4.7GHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (8GB GDDR6)
- RAM 16GB DDR5
- 512GB SSD
- PSU 500W
For some context, my PC has a 1070 in it. I’m a budget conscious gamer, usually playing at 1080p. With ram prices skyrocketing and steam betting on steam machines with low vram going forwards, I feel like it’s an okay deal for a guy who upgrades basically never.
It seems like a nice deal to me. Anyone want to talk me out of it?
Can you build it yourself for cheaper?
Also, IMO 16GB is bare minimum in 2026 if you are using Windows. I’d really go to 32GB.
who has $1000 extra to spend on 32gb of RAM… (joke, but not really…)
DDR4 is still somewhat affordable (I stress “somewhat”), and it should still be plenty fast enough for gaming. You can get a 32GB kit for ≈$200, which is only double (lol) what it was a few years ago.
It’s a bit of a toss up. If I go with ddr4, I can probably build something with a similar cost, maybe just a tiny bit more. I guess it might be silly to buy now. I’m kind of anxious about the price of PC parts.
I’m on DDR4 and have no problems running the games I want, although I’m on Linux.
That’s a pretty good price for components from the future, if that includes shipping. You have to keep in mind Wormhole Post has really high fees.
You could try Blackhole Express, but they tend to always stretch things.Lol 🤣 I see the typo now. I’m ancient and old, you see!
I’m really curious about what that typo was now :D
I said 2016 instead of 2026 😬😬😬😬😬
10 cores, 16 threads. How does that work out, is it some bigLittle system?
Just curious, last intel I used was like gen 8.
Yes. Intel now splits their CPU’s with “P” cores (performance) that function like normal x86 processors with hyperthreading, and “E” cores (efficiency) that are lower clocked, less feature rich cores without HT.
Most OS and background tasks can be loaded on E cores while P cores work strictly on high performance programs. Its not bad, except for the fact that its Intel building them.
Can you wait until the current bubble crashes and prices come back down?
Yes; however, I’m getting the personal vibe that gaming hardware progress is massively plateauing. Still, I may hold off. Tbh, I’ve kind of been waffling on buying a new PC since 2017. My 1070 is juuuust old enough now that I’m starting to see some games I straight up can’t run at 30 fps.
This whole manufacturing crisis in the USA (that’s where I live) coupled with depressed wages and aaa games not interesting me… It’s all kind of discouraging. I’m tempted to just buy something good enough and sit for another 10 years. Perhaps I’m just being reactionary to the increasing prices and looking for a ‘deal.’
If you want to build a “New” system you might be better served picking up an intel arc discrete GPU and seeing how that does in your current system. Also if you have older RAM, you might be best served upgrading that before buying into a whole new ecosystem.
That’s my problem with the 1070 as well. It’s not bad enough. I’m also getting the upgrade itch, but then I can still play all the games I’ve wanted to at good enough settings.
Depending on how quickly you need a PC it might be worth waiting for the Steam PC that’s not out yet and we have no idea on price or availability.
From that I can find online the steam PC will be less powerful than the desktop 4060 and probably be comparable in price to this PC. I do intend on installing Linux on this computer.
Go with AMD for the GPU, life will be easier. I regret not doing this.
Also, go with AMD for the processor. The 7800X3D is stupidly good for gaming and not THAT much more than the i5-14400F (well, okay, it’s like $150ish more, but so much better). You can also find other AMD CPUs closer in price to that one which will outperform it. Intel’s kinda gone to shit.
I do intend on installing Linux on this computer.
In that case I strongly suggest you look at an AMD GPU. Nvidia is usable on Linux, but not pleasant.
I haven’t had trouble with Debian
