TechSpot PC Buying Guide: A quick CPU/platform update for late 2017

[Julio Franco]

The TechSpot PC Buying Guide offers a comprehensive analysis of today's best desktop PC hardware spanning five well differentiated budgets. Starting at ~$400 for an affordable PC, followed by two well-balanced enthusiast-oriented machines, a premium high-end build, and finally a dream machine packing the baddest hardware available, period.

The Budget Box

• Decent performance • For everyday computing • Gaming with add-on GPU

The Entry-Level Rig

• Good performance • Fast for everyday computing • Casual gaming

The Enthusiast's PC

• Excellent performance • Great Multitasker • Perfect for gaming

The Luxury System

• High-end performance • Heavy multitasking • Hardcore gaming

The Extreme System

• Workstation-like performance • Extreme multitasking • Extreme gaming

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/guides/buying/

 

[Kinkoyaburi]

Your prices for the luxury system, which mostly interests me, seemed weirdly cheap so I made the effort to see how much the components cost here in my country(Bulgaria) and here's the result:
CPU - $398 - $98 overcharge
motherboard $278 - $78 overcharge
cooler $104 - $21 overcharge
memory $175 - $12 cheaper because different brand but same specs
graphics $1177 - $627 overcharge
sound $110 - $13 overcharge
SSD - $727 - $277 overcharge
HDD - $171 - $53 overcharge
power $156 - $66 overcharge
case - the same
Whopping $1221 more when you have in mind Bulgaria has the shittiest economy and lowest salries in Europe. I am speechless.

 

[failbekir]

Your prices for the luxury system, which mostly interests me, seemed weirdly cheap so I made the effort to see how much the components cost here in my country(Bulgaria) ...

Created an account to just reply . Congrats, you partially figured out how you are enslaved. Now next is to figure out why this is happening. Sincerely good luck on getting your desired components.

 

[ernorator]

CPU - $374
motherboard $267
cooler $96
memory $248
graphics $1068
sound $80
SSD - $534
HDD - $144
power $160
case - $171

Poland

 

[Vito05]

TOTAL for luxury system for Croatia = $2943 ($718 more)

 

[Greg S]

For you guys saying it's so much more expensive for tech, you also have different tax systems. All products should be at minimum 12-15% more expensive for you just because of how your tax systems work compared to the United States.

If you have a VAT, automatically add 15% right there. So, the real cost you should be comparing to is $2560.

 

[VitalyT]

I always go for a machine that seats between that Luxury and Extreme, and costs about 3.5k.

That's what I call a professional choice. How come it was missed in the article? Instead, you listed some setups that most likely are of no interest to anyone.

 

[oldikes]

I always go for a machine that seats between that Luxury and Extreme, and costs about 3.5k.

That's what I call a professional choice. How come it was missed in the article? Instead, you listed some setups that most likely are of no interest to anyone.

3.5k isnt at all more popular budget than 2.2k or 7+k. usually, either you have a budget or you dont - and the budget isnt much higher than 2.5k if there is one.

 

[Raoul Duke]

For you guys saying it's so much more expensive for tech, you also have different tax systems. All products should be at minimum 12-15% more expensive for you just because of how your tax systems work compared to the United States.

If you have a VAT, automatically add 15% right there. So, the real cost you should be comparing to is $2560.

Where I live there is no sales tax, only 5% Goods and Services Tax and this stuff is either only available by mailorder/internet or priced quite a bit higher.

 

[noel24]

Well, You have to agree that till ethereum mining on middle-to-high end GPUs is a big thing and SSDs keep getting priceyer, no upgrade to those two is justified. Your're better off sticking to your old GTX9X0 or buying used one. By the way, Techspots own links are bogus. Gigabyte GTX1070 starts at $665 at amazon, not 420, so I agree with European guys at the top. Most of the US prices are phony for the rest of the world. US is either subsidised by big corporations to keep their stake in there or they lower their prices at the expense of the shorter warranty/lower quality product. Or prices are lower just by the fact that bigger retailers can offer better prices. But be aware of buying something on Amazon or online from another country. I for once personally tried warranty-replace a WD HDD bought on a trip to Canada, in my home Poland. Western Digital made it impossible to do that at the reasonable cost. While they had a service in Poland, their rep told Me to send it off by courier of their choice to their European headquarters (or Canada). Of course that was years ago, still, We were part of EU, so not sure if the procedure has changed.

 

[soulsassassin]

Your prices for the luxury system, which mostly interests me, seemed weirdly cheap so I made the effort to see how much the components cost here in my country(Bulgaria) ...

if the economy are bad the government puts more taxes on luxury products its very simple you dont need to complain about that its either you live like the rest of the population just work eat and sleep or you pay more taxes for luxury life style and yes owning an expensive pc is a luxury item in poor countries

 

[Forebode]

Enthusiast and "G.Skill Flare X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400" no. get the 3200 or the 3600. sure it's hit or miss for actually hitting their speeds (at 1.0.0.6) but 2933 is better than 2400. Ryzen performs better and better as you increase the ram speed.

 

[Brenton]

Your prices for the luxury system, which mostly interests me, seemed weirdly cheap so I made the effort to see how much the components cost here in my country(Bulgaria) ...

I live in Australia and I recon it would cost even more. I know a gtx 1080 starts at around $800 a budget one here. Chuck in mid range specs and usually ig will be a $2,500 pc. If we wanted a gtx 1080ti ($1,200) plus some some other fancy tech with it like i7 7700k and 32gb ram generally cost us in the $4,000 mark. Makes me so sad seeing such amazing computers sold so cheap in the u.s and people say they are expensive haha.

 

[Verencius]

Your prices for the luxury system, which mostly interests me, seemed weirdly cheap so I made the effort to see how much the components cost here in my country(Bulgaria) ...

Have you accounted for taxes? Prices for the US are usually given excluding Value Added Tax.

 

[Verencius]

For you guys saying it's so much more expensive for tech, you also have different tax systems. All products should be at minimum 12-15% more expensive for you just because of how your tax systems work compared to the United States.

If you have a VAT, automatically add 15% right there. So, the real cost you should be comparing to is $2560.

To be honest you need to multiply x 1,23 ~ 1,26 to get the correct figures for Europe. Those prices are not adjusted for local and VAT taxes.

 

[TrevorD]

I live in Australia and I recon it would cost even more. I know a gtx 1080 starts at around $800 a budget one here. Chuck in mid range specs and usually ig will be a $2,500 pc. If we wanted a gtx 1080ti ($1,200) plus some some other fancy tech with it like i7 7700k and 32gb ram generally cost us in the $4,000 mark. Makes me so sad seeing such amazing computers sold so cheap in the u.s and people say they are expensive haha.

At least we get our Adobe apps at a reasonable, non price-gouged, rate nowadays, thanks to your Ed Husic. (I am in NZ). I have an NZ$10K budget waiting for the 7920X to be released, and a bit more lead time on the hardware to see the X299 motherboards sorted out and properly tested. I will use two smaller M.2 drives, no sound card, and I'll bump the GTX970 from my 3930K system while waiting for the GTX1100 series. This will be for video and graphics, so only one GPU.

 

[B5S46M]

The U.S. has no VAT. We have sales tax that varies from state to state, and even at the county and municipal levels.

 

[Jeramond]

Make sure the CPU cooler is AM4 compliant as a lot of those enthusiast CPU coolers aren't.

 

[Nokor]

(Re: Article update 17th October 2017) You might want to update the Budget Box article more, because despite changing it from the Pentium, it makes no reference to needing a discreet GPU for the Ryzen 3 in the component list, and also in the Graphics section (where it mentions the Intel iGPU still). Price is wrong as a result.

 

[Skjorn]

I honestly cannot suggest building anything at the moment. Prices are way too high on everything. the 1070 should be $300 bottom line. RAM is stupid expensive.

You're better off looking for 2nd hand hardware.

 

[andy06shake]

Does the Fractal Design Define R5 have a see-through side panel?

Dont see one in the review.

Reason I mention it is there is not much point in paying for mainboards with RGB LED capability if you cant see them.

 

[Squid Surprise]

The extreme build uses a Threadripper.... why? If money is no object, I'd be putting in the stupid i9 from Intel for two grand.... no, it isn't worth it - but if money is no object, why not get the best?

GPU is a little murkier, as the 1080Ti often equals or outperforms the Titan X.... and costs way less (and can actually be purchased!)... still, this IS a dream machine and assuming your dreams can come true, I'd be going for 2 Titans - especially as this PC is more workstation than gaming (otherwise we'd be going with the Intel 8700 CPU).


Oh... and why are we "limited" to a 1200 watt power supply? Yes, I know 1500 is overkill.... but hey, what if I want to plug in a bunch of "expensive crap" later? Let's put in a 1500 watt beast...

Lastly, why aren't we including the Monitor/mouse/keyboard to the price of the extreme build? Or at least having a separate total including them? That's almost $1500 on top of the already insane price

 

[amstech]

I honestly cannot suggest building anything at the moment. Prices are way too high on everything. the 1070 should be $300 bottom line. RAM is stupid expensive.

You're better off looking for 2nd hand hardware.

Agreed.
The 1070 is a $330 card at best considering its performance.

 

[Colonel Blimp]

Why would you spend $75 (£60) on a case for a budget build?

Personally, I've just bought a Corsair 270r for £47 and I thought that was at the top end for my budget and pretty damn decent.

Plenty of good cases between 30-40 quid on Scan in the UK.

When you're on a small budget every saving counts. In my case saving £15 meant I could buy a better quality motherboard.

 

[BigMack70]

The luxury system really should have a 1080 Ti, not a 1080, especially if you are suggesting it be capable of 4k gaming. The 1080 can't really do 4k well, but the 1080 Ti can.