I want to escape consoles and finally build a gaming pc but I’ve seen the prices…

Everything is really overwhelming for me and I have no clue what I should go for and everyone is giving me differing answers so I ask you.

Is building a PC ACTUALLY cheaper than buying one?

What specs would I even need? All I wanna do is play arc raiders comfortably at high settings and play heavily modded Garry’s mod.

  • Zahille7@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    18 hours ago

    I was in your position, and was lucky enough to have a roommate at the time who actually knew about and built his own PC. His advice to me was to buy a pre-built one if you really don’t know what you’re doing or getting into, which I didn’t. So far I’ve been using it happily almost every day for the last 6+ years, and I’ve only replaced the cooling unit in it. Though I do tend to play games that aren’t super intensive, I think the only game(s) I have/played that are are Spider-Man 2 and Jedi Survivor

    • Glurk@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      18 hours ago

      The entry fee kinda hurts but ig once you buy one you don’t really replace the whole thing right?

      If you get tired of a component you just replace it easily (at least I’ve been told it’s just “adult nerd Lego”

      Any suggestions of where I should try shopping for one?

      • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        17 hours ago

        Can you just replace parts as you go with a PC? Yes, but not indefinitely. There will become a point where you would likely have to replace almost all of the components in a PC in order to upgrade, like when a new RAM or CPU socket type is introduced.

        • Glurk@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          2·
          17 hours ago

          But that’s probably not often…

          I assume at that point buying a new one is recommended.

          • Zahille7@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            16 hours ago

            I remember my roommate once had to upgrade his entire PC because the components weren’t compatible when he got a new motherboard. At that point it was basically just a second PC he built, using only a few parts from his old one that could work with the new stuff.

            I got mine from iBuyPower, which he recommended to me. I got mine for about $2500 including the monitor, and it came in a couple weeks. It was basically just plug and play when I got it.

            • Glurk@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              1·
              16 hours ago

              Interesting. Definitely don’t feel like spending 2000$ lmao.

              100% just buying a new prebuilt if that happens