Recommendation on gaming PC that can be upgraded over time

woodyclutchfan

I am looking at gaming desktops for my son and want to ensure that if he wants to upgrade components in a couple years that we do not purchase something now that prevents it, e.g. no room for that cool new graphics card, not enough power or cooling for the desired upgrade, etc.

I am not experienced in building PCs or replacing parts other than upgrading RAM which is quite easy. I want this PC to last as long as possible through upgrading components when we can. Is there a way to think about what i choose today that leaves flexibility for the future?

Thanks for the help.

JS_MC

Hello, @woodyclutchfan Welcome to the community!

You're definitely asking the right questions here, but I have a few for you as well!

Are you looking for a prebuilt system or did you want to build your own?

What kind of budget did you have set for this build or system?

Lastly, should the budget include a mouse, keyboard, and monitor or did you have those already?

Look forward to your reply!

woodyclutchfan

Thanks for the assistance. Looking at prebuilt machines in the $1000-1200 range, just for the PC. Already set on the other accessories for now as older brother has handed down ones he had before upgrading. ;-)

The way my guys like to look ahead and try to get the next greatest thing, I want them thinking at least about the possibility of replacing parts rather than just selling the old PC cheap and spending big money again for the whole thing.

JS_MC

Currently, our selection of gaming PCs in this price range is sold out at your local store. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more arrive shortly. I do see we have a desktop that's a bit below your budget (https://www.microcenter.com/product/625000/acer-nitro-50-gaming-computer) The issue, and the reason I can't recommend it here is that the motherboard appears to be a customer board from Acer. The case does not seem to fit a standard motherboard form factor.

I'd recommend the MSI Codex R 10SI-026US Gaming Computer; Intel Core i5 10400F 2.9GHz Processor; NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6; 16GB DDR4 RAM; 1TB HDD + 512GB SSD which is available for shipping. Just choose "Shippable Items" as your store. It's got everything that you've mentioned and it's in a mid-sized case that will allow you to upgrade easily in the future.

It's possible that we'll be getting more of this and other items in stock at your local store soon, but I don't have a specific ETA for these desktops.

Here's a link to our selection of gaming desktops that we carry currently.

https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294967292+4294819035+45+44&myStore=false

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!

woodyclutchfan

Thanks so much for the guidance LandShark, particularly on the guidance about the Acer computer and the motherboard configuration. I like the ling you shared for the MSi and my last question is you thoughts on this one: https://www.microcenter.com/product/631691/powerspec-g164-gaming-computer?rf=PDP_altSell+%3e+Cross_Sell+%3e+Cross+Sell+Desktop+Computers+Gaming+Specific

It has many similarities to the MSi, but one is NVidia graphics card and the other is AMD. Obvious price difference too. I am not trying to be cheap, but just wondering about the PowerSpec line and how it measures up.

JS_MC

The item you've linked is great! However, as you correctly mentioned, there is a difference in the performance of these two GPUs.

Here's a video I found with some benchmarks comparing the two against each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnptfjFEdZk

PowerSpec is our house brand and is something that I can confidently recommend!

In this price range, I'd normally recommend either PowerSpec G508 or the PowerSpec G228 but unfortunately, we're currently sold out.

woodyclutchfan

Thanks for the benchmark video and the other two recommended PowerSpec machines. We will look through these and make a choice soon.

JS_MC

You're welcome! Do let me know if you have any other questions!