WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.720 The holidays are coming in hot, which means it's exactly the right time to get the gamer in your 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:10.640 life their dream gift, especially if that gamer is you. But gamers, they're a fussy bunch, 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:15.840 and with infinite combinations that you could pick from for a gaming PC, it is easy to get 00:00:15.840 --> 00:00:20.880 overwhelmed. Well, good news, everyone! By clicking this video, you've already gotten the hardest 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:27.360 part out of the way, so sit back as we unleash this blizzard of tech tips upon you. We're building 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:32.000 three PCs at three different price points, and when we're done, you're going to be equipped 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:37.600 to make an informed decision and to save some serious money along the way, just like this 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.760 serious segue to our sponsor. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:55.600 First stop on today's Holiday Express is $500 station. Now, one option is to turn to the 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:01.440 secondhand market like our PS5 killers. Craig's List and Marketplace are a great way to maximize 00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:06.960 your dollar, but they also come with risks. No takebacks on person-to-person dealings could burn 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:12.240 you today, and no warranty could burn you tomorrow. So I don't blame anyone for choosing something 00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:18.960 like our Game Today machine that includes discrete graphics at a very appealing price, but believe 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:25.440 it or not, this isn't our recommendation either. At this price, we like the long-term value of 00:01:25.440 --> 00:01:32.160 our Game Tomorrow machine. You may already know that an APU, or Accelerated Processing Unit, 00:01:32.160 --> 00:01:39.280 combines a CPU and a GPU onto one chip, generally keeping both power consumption and costs down. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:44.240 But what you might not know is that over the last couple of generations, their gaming prowess has 00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:52.160 gotten very impressive, and the Ryzen 5 8600G is capable of playing even modern titles in HD 00:01:52.160 --> 00:01:56.480 while leaving us with enough budget to build an upgrade-friendly platform that we can take with 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:02.160 us for years to come. AMD's current AM5 socket has some really solid options for entry-level 00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:09.040 motherboards these days. A-series chipsets used to be A for avoid, but now they come with support 00:02:09.040 --> 00:02:14.960 for memory overclocking and PCI Express Gen 4, the latter of which is particularly important 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:21.680 because our APU limits any future GPU upgrades to just eight lanes. RAM is going to cost us around 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:27.760 $60 if we're targeting the DDR5 price-to-performance sweet spot, 40 bucks for an entry-level case, 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:34.320 around $40 for a 500-gig Gen 4 SSD, and then one area where we're going to need to overspend a little 00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:41.200 is our power supply. We like these two units from Corsair and EVGA for around $65. Either one will 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:47.680 give us the headroom we need to add a performance-tier GPU later on down the line. But they both come 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:53.680 with some compromises. While every power supply we're recommending today was able to go from zero 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.920 to 110% load multiple times without issue, these particular units performed poorly for 00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:05.120 output ripple. It's not likely to kill anything, and it probably won't cause problems for a system 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:09.840 at this price point. But if you want a little bit of extra peace of mind, you can spend an extra 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:14.880 $20 or so on one of these units that tested better while still fitting in our budget. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:23.040 And here's the parts list. Upscaled gaming today, upscale gaming tomorrow once you slot in a GPU. 00:03:23.040 --> 00:03:27.200 Maybe we should have called this the Merry Christmas. Now wait for your birthday machine. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:36.880 Oh, you guys! It's not even my birthday. Which, wait, means there must be a secret bonus machine. 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:44.000 That's right, my friends. We've got an all-new price point for our holiday guide this year. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:51.680 We've got the GameHard machine, an $800 rig that will run modern games at 1440p right now, 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.240 as long as you don't mind being locked out of some future upgrades. For our CPU then, 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:04.960 we've gone with the 5700X3D on AMD's older AM4 platform. That means no future CPU upgrades. But 00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:10.240 being honest, I think it's going to be a few years before that really starts to sting anyway, 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:16.160 and it frees us a lot of budget for our GPU. Rounding out the system, we settled on a BIOS 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.840 compatible B450 motherboard, 16 gigs of reputable 3,600 mega-transfer per second RAM, 00:04:21.840 --> 00:04:27.360 and a decent PCIe NVMe SSD. Ideally here, you want to find one with a DRAM cache, 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.240 but failing that, look for HMB support to ensure stutter-free operation. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:36.720 We settled on this case, but it's worth noting that deals in this price bracket 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:41.760 can tend to be pretty volatile, often changing on Tuesdays for some reason, so be ready to be 00:04:41.760 --> 00:04:46.560 a little flexible on that. Now for this build, and all the ones that are still coming, you're 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.520 going to need to budget for a CPU cooler, and we feel that the thermal write phantom spirit is worth 00:04:51.520 --> 00:04:57.840 the $10-15 premium over popular choices like the CoolerMaster 212. What isn't worth it at this 00:04:57.840 --> 00:05:04.880 budget is water cooling, because you want every possible dollar going into the right GPU. This 00:05:04.880 --> 00:05:12.560 ASUS dual OC 7700 XT was the right GPU for us, because we got a great deal for it at $350. 00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:18.080 But that might not always be around, so we'd recommend taking a look at Tom's Hardware's 00:05:18.080 --> 00:05:23.120 super handy GPU hierarchy chart to help you understand how any prospective deals that you 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:28.240 find might match up at a glance. We'd also recommend you check out LTTstore.com for some 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.840 great gift ideas at much lower prices than any of the PCs featured today. We've got stocking stuff 00:05:34.080 --> 00:05:37.760 like these stick locks or the tech sack for your favorite tech bro on the go. 00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:46.080 Now it's time for our next up on the deal train, the game harder $1,000 balanced PC. Here you can 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:52.960 expect superior 1440p performance in new games and even 4k gaming for older titles that you'd love 00:05:52.960 --> 00:05:58.400 to see look their best. Perhaps most importantly though, it does all of that while also providing 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:03.040 a well-rounded foundation for future upgrades. We'll kick off our parts list with a deal we 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:12.160 found on an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU that comes with a free 1TB Kingston NV2 SSD. Now by the time you're 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:18.480 watching this video, that deal might have expired, but the mentality behind our pick won't. You gotta 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:24.000 be flexible, educate yourself on what you need, and then dig for the deals that are sometimes 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.960 buried in bundles. And most importantly, ask yourself, what games am I actually playing? 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:34.400 For example, if you're a competitive gamer and you use low graphic settings to get high frame 00:06:34.400 --> 00:06:39.520 rates, you might want to look at an X3D chip, at least once the scalpers get bored with their 00:06:39.520 --> 00:06:45.680 latest plaything. However, if you're building a machine for AAA 1440p gaming, you should stick 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:50.160 with our recommendation, which brings us to one of the hardest choices, our motherboard. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:57.440 Let me break this down. The Ryzen 7600X is AM5 again, but we're no longer budget limited to 00:06:57.440 --> 00:07:02.640 just entry level boards. That means we need to choose between the nine available motherboard 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:07.280 chipsets. At least the naming scheme is somewhat useful, even if the first letter is redundant. 00:07:07.280 --> 00:07:12.320 So for now, let's ignore the letter and jump to the first digit, which tells us the generation. 00:07:12.320 --> 00:07:18.080 Either 6 or 8 is going to work for our CPU. So then, let's look at the next two digits. 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:24.240 These tell us the tier of the chipset. Higher number means more tiers, and an E indicates 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:31.040 better connectivity with more PCIe lanes, but none of those things necessarily mean better board. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:34.720 The chipset informs the feature set, not the build quality. 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:39.920 So bottom line then, unless you know you need something else, a good B650 board, 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:45.280 like this one, is a great choice for about $100. It has good enough power delivery for a light 00:07:45.280 --> 00:07:52.240 CPU overclock and support for a PCIe Gen 5 SSD, even if it lacks a Gen 5 GPU slot. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:58.000 The good news is that likely won't impact real-world GPU performance for quite a few years, 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.880 looking at how long it took for Gen 4 to matter. Now, we could go for a Gen 5 board, 00:08:02.880 --> 00:08:07.520 but it would cost us twice as much, which at this price point, we don't think is worth it. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:12.640 Our RAM and our cooler get carried forward. We've already got our SSD, and that leaves 00:08:12.640 --> 00:08:18.640 us to sort out case and power. I like the Phanteks XT Pro, and we can comfortably afford one of the 00:08:18.640 --> 00:08:24.720 good 750 watt power supplies from last time. That leaves us $450 for a GPU. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:30.880 So let's have a look at our options. On the team green side, we can get a RTX 4060 Ti, 00:08:30.880 --> 00:08:38.320 or on the team red side, this excellent XFX Speedster 7800 XT. Now, to be clear, 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:44.080 neither of these is a wrong choice, but it is worth noting that while the GeForce card includes 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:49.920 NVIDIA's excellent suite of features, it's a less-performance card to begin with, and it's 00:08:49.920 --> 00:08:55.840 going to rely on AI upscaling in order to deliver comparable in-game performance. So I leave that 00:08:55.840 --> 00:09:01.200 up to you. Now it's time to open the throttle a little. If you're after a superior PC gaming 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:06.640 experience, the kind of 4K horsepower your console locks friends can only dream of, 00:09:06.640 --> 00:09:15.120 we have finally arrived at the best without wasting money station. This $2,000 PC is stacked, 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:20.080 and without throwing away some serious extra money, I don't think you can get a much better 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:26.320 experience. To kick things off then, this behemoth starts with the absolute best gaming CPU the 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:35.200 world has ever seen, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800 X3D. Oh, that's right, those are out of stock everywhere. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:42.640 What I meant to say was the second best, the 7800 X3D. No, all the deals are bad. 00:09:42.640 --> 00:09:50.240 Oh right, we went with the 9700 X. Now, I get it. Those first two would outperform our 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:57.280 practical pick here, but at the cost of how you say, more money. And as we discussed in our 00:09:57.280 --> 00:10:04.240 recent 9800 X3D review, once you go above 1080p low settings, you're better off spending that extra 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:12.960 money on a better GPU. Besides, we've still got eight fast Zen 5 cores, and AMD's mismanaged 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:17.360 launch of this thing has resulted in some aggressive deals to help clear inventory. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.960 Which is good, because motherboards have gotten pretty expensive these days. We've got yet 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:29.600 another AM5 chip, so let's buy the most expensive thing. Not, I know we could afford it, but guys, 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.520 if you look closely, the main difference for the eboards is more PCIe lanes, which unless we know 00:10:35.520 --> 00:10:40.720 we need them, we don't need them. And there's no performance difference between 600 series 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.160 or 800 series, at least not on the chips that are available today. So we'd recommend going for 00:10:46.160 --> 00:10:52.000 whatever you can find at a good price. We ended up with this one, but after procuring it, we found 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:57.760 this great deal that includes a 32 gig kit of G-Skill Flare X5, which is a good reminder that 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:02.320 we should always be flexible if we want to get the best value. It's too late for us, but hey, 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:07.280 our loss is your gain. By the way, it's worth noting that during the holiday season, a lot of 00:11:07.280 --> 00:11:11.840 retailers will extend their return window on select items so that you can shop with a little bit of 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:16.560 extra confidence when you see a good deal. That's something that might be especially important this 00:11:16.560 --> 00:11:21.760 year with the looming threat of new tariffs on overseas manufactured electronics. We're not 00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:26.160 going to say that things are definitely going to be more expensive next year, but we also can't say 00:11:26.160 --> 00:11:30.960 for sure that they won't be. And this will especially impact you if you're splurging on some 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:37.840 style points with an AIO cooler and a very glass forward case. We've doubled the capacity of our 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:43.760 RAM and SSD, and we've jumped up to a 1000 watt platinum efficient power supply to keep our power 00:11:43.760 --> 00:11:50.960 hungry GPU fed. Realistically, we probably could still get away with a quality 750 watt unit, 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:56.960 but 1000 is such a nice round number. And at this budget, we can afford to spend extra on 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.520 something that we can hopefully bring forward to our next upgrade. We can also afford to spend 00:12:01.520 --> 00:12:08.560 a thousand dollars on our GPU, which gives us a choice between AMD's 7900 XTX and NVIDIA's 00:12:08.560 --> 00:12:15.440 RTX 4080 Super. Now on the one hand, we've got better rasterized performance and more than $100 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:20.800 in savings. But on the other hand, we've got better ray tracing and upscaling hardware 00:12:20.800 --> 00:12:25.600 not to mention NVIDIA's long history of solid software support. I don't think either of them 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:30.240 is a bad choice. So I'm going to leave this one up to you. But we ended up going team green for 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.560 this one. We also ended up leaving all the links to everything that we've talked about down below. 00:12:34.560 --> 00:12:40.240 Just remember that because of the nature and timing of sales, the prices will be different every week. 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:44.720 But if you were to start with any of these builds as a springboard, we're confident that you should 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:50.320 end up with an amazing PC. And I'm also confident you'll end up with an amazing segue to an amazing 00:12:50.400 --> 00:12:54.960 sponsor. If you guys are buying the parts for a new PC, but you want some help putting it together, 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:00.320 why don't you check out our ultimate guide on how to build a PC. It really is the last one you will 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:01.120 ever need.