Need help, which pre-built should I buy?

M

MSNBC22

n00b
Joined
Oct 20, 2021
Messages
10
I'm a casual gamer looking for a rig that I can use to work from home and day trade. I'm a casual gamer with a capital C, so that's not my focus so much as the system just being able to handle everything else. My current system is a $1400 Dell gaming rig that I bought about 5 years ago from best-buy. It honestly still serves me very well. But I'd like to play upcoming games at high settings and it'd be nice to start the new year off with a new system. The system will support 2-3 monitors eventually. The problem I'm having is deciding on where and what to buy, I don't like buying systems online due to potential damage(i worked at UPS for 2 years) but I have no good local options.

My first thought was to try Best Buy again but the only appealing system was HP's Omen 30L at $1699. I looked for the same brand online and found a more robust version on Amazon for $2600: Omen 30L GT13-0092. Despite the overall good reviews, it shows that the seller is based in China which makes me nervous. This pushed me to the HP website where I customized a build that came to $3200. But I wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to buy the system I found at Best Buy and just add more ram(32gb) and hard drives(2tb) later? What makes me hesitate is the fact that the Best Buy option only has a RTX 3060 and isn't liquid cooled. I'm unsure as to how important liquid cooling will be down the road.

Thanks in advance for any help you all provide.

fyi, i'm not dead set on my purchase being an Omen, it's just seems to be a prevalent option right now.


Just in case you're wondering, here is my current system:

Windows 10 Home 64-bit
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X Eight-Core Processor 3.60 GHz
AMD Radeon RX 580
RAM 16.0 GB
225gb ssd
1tb hd
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
It's a good thing you're not set on that Omen 30, because it's a complete joke. It has an i9-10850k with a single fan 120mm AIO, this is all you need to know how terrible the system is. The case is a joke as well, intake fans behind a glass plate. I guess it gets its airflow from the dark ether stream. Those tiny triangles on the sides are hilarious if they think the fan will pull anything through that. There's also something not quite right about the video card in the Amazon listing, it looks more like a GTX 16xx, yet farther down the page it has what at least looks like some sort of RTX series card in another picture. They can't even be honest what comes in the system.

To put it into perspective, I have an i9-10850k under a 240mm Cooler Master AIO running stock and it is barely able to keep up under peak loads, with the CPU going into the 180-195F range. I honestly wouldn't recommend any high end 10 or 11th gen Intel chip on any less than a 360mm rad if you plan on pushing it hard.

Gamer's Nexus has an ongoing series where they cold buy prebuilt systems and tear them down for an in-depth analysis. So far, most of the prebuilts they've reviewed have been terrible from a range of issues. Thermal issues is high up on the list, but parts quality is another problem, as is system misconfiguration. Some even had what you dread, shipping damage. There are a few systems that are "OK", but you'd be better off building your own from parts as much as you seem to not want to.

Dell's 110C video card memory


Prebuilt reviews:



If you do go with a prebuilt, treat every single one as being sold in some dark back alley by some guy in a mask and trench coat. Because that's about how bad the modern prebuilt market is. Scrutinize a system with a magnifying glass before you decide to buy it.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
It's a good thing you're not set on that Omen 30, because it's a complete joke. It has an i9-10850k with a single fan 120mm AIO, this is all you need to know how terrible the system is. The case is a joke as well, intake fans behind a glass plate. I guess it gets its airflow from the dark ether stream. Those tiny triangles on the sides are hilarious if they think the fan will pull anything through that. There's also something not quite right about the video card in the Amazon listing, it looks more like a GTX 16xx, yet farther down the page it has what at least looks like some sort of RTX series card in another picture. They can't even be honest what comes in the system.

To put it into perspective, I have an i9-10850k under a 240mm Cooler Master AIO running stock and it is barely able to keep up under peak loads, with the CPU going into the 180-195F range. I honestly wouldn't recommend any high end 10 or 11th gen Intel chip on any less than a 360mm rad if you plan on pushing it hard.

Gamer's Nexus has an ongoing series where they cold buy prebuilt systems and tear them down for an in-depth analysis. So far, most of the prebuilts they've reviewed have been terrible from a range of issues. Thermal issues is high up on the list, but parts quality is another problem, as is system misconfiguration. Some even had what you dread, shipping damage. There are a few systems that are "OK", but you'd be better off building your own from parts as much as you seem to not want to.

Dell's 110C video card memory


Prebuilt reviews:



If you do go with a prebuilt, treat every single one as being sold in some dark back alley by some guy in a mask and trench coat. Because that's about how bad the modern prebuilt market is. Scrutinize a system with a magnifying glass before you decide to buy it.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice, what about the Omen in the bestbuy link? Is that bad also? What do you think of adding more ram to that one as well as a hard drive? It's relatively cheap compared to the others.
 
It's a bad system no matter what they put inside the box. The case has basically no airflow and will be a sauna inside. If you look at side shots, the SSD trays block 75% of the front of the case, and the single front fan is already blocked by the glass panel. So the only air the case is getting is being pulled back in from the top by the rear 80mm fan, or the bottom if it's not obstructed by the desk or floor.

It also uses the same grossly inadequate 120mm AIO. While the 5800x is slightly less power hungry than the 10/11th gen Intel parts, it still puts out quite a bit of heat under load. The only advantage the 120mm AIO has is that it rejects all of that heat outside the case, rather than a blow down or tower cooler inside the case. But then the motherboard VRMs aren't getting any cooling and are cooking instead.

The system is not a good buy in any configuration. About the only thing I could recommend doing with it is to buy it and tear it down for parts, then trash the case and AIO and put the guts in another better case, but that's just a roundabout method of building a computer from parts, and a lot more expensive.

While you can put more RAM in the system, it doesn't look like the case has anything for drive bays besides the two 2.5" SSD mounts on the front face of the case.
 
If you're buying a pre-built adding ram & storage yourself is usually the way to go. They love to rip you off on those. Once in a while you'll run across a pre-configured machine that has what you want for a decent price, but most of the time it's pay too much unless you like not enough ram and storage.

If all you have around is a Best Buy and you don't want to have a machine shipped or build one you can always do ship to store for pick-up. You can't evaluate a desktop computer in-store anyway. They don't let you take them apart and good luck finding a proper spec sheet. Online at least you get pictures, specs, and a service manual and can search the web for reviews. I've never personally bought a desktop, but I look over the manuals before buying a laptop or mainboard.

Specs on that Omen look ok. It doesn't have OC grade cooling but that's standard for pre-builts and they still tend to work ok at stock clocks if you don't go barrel scraping, so I'd look for some reviews of that model.

The vid card in that Omen is a 3060Ti, not a 3060. A 3060Ti is quite a bit quicker than a 3060. They're fast at 1080p and solid at 1440p. I have one and it's fine for the stuff I play, which is mostly single player RPGs and strategy games. High settings, raytracing on, haven't hit anything it couldn't hold 60fps at 1440p in yet, etc... though I'll admit I haven't played Cyberpunk 2077.

The specs say that Omen has 2 3.5" drive bays and 3 M.2 slots. Looking at the pics it looks like the mounts on the front of the case are for 3.5" drives. The SATA and power connectors don't take up enough space on the back of the drive for them to be 2.5". No 2.5" drive support though unless you get a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.

The problem with the pre-built market is the same as with airlines. Too many people just look for the cheapest. So they compare some of the specs and buy the cheapest one. But the mewling masses don't check seat width, cooling, legroom, or whether a machine has dual channel memory before buying. That's on a good day. On a bad day they think a 12GB vid card must be faster than an 8GB vid card and just ignore system ram entirely even though enough ram > *. That Gamer's Nexus review GiGBiTe posted looks like barrel scraping. They bought 6 shitboxes and one of them was made with leftover, unwanted gaming rig parts and worked properly. It even had that Oloy ram Newegg's been putting in shuffle bundles with vid cards. Dell, HP, etc. know how to build a machine but there's a big market for basic economy shitboxes for barrel scrapers.

I'm not going to recommend for or against buying that Omen. I skimmed a couple reviews of Omen 30Ls and they looked ok for a pre-built in that price range, but there is probably other stuff out there that's more ok and I am no expert on pre-built gaming rigs. Also, welcome to [H]. Now that you're here you're supposed to build a machine. It's just how we do things. :D
 
I plan to use the system for education, gaming , and trading. As stated earlier, I'll be adding some more drives. Here are the spec's of the system:

Ryzen 7 5800x 3.8GHz
Radeon RX 6900XT
G. Skill Trident Z 32gb DDR4 3600 RGB
Seagate FireCuda 520 NVMe M.2 2280 ssd 1tb (ZP1000GM30002)
MPG X570S Edge Max Wifi(MS-7D53)


The plan is to add two drives, the mobo has three m.2 slots. The ssd that came with the system is in the first slot. I would like to add one 2tb ssd and a 6tb hdd for games and videos.

My questions are as follows:

Is there a BIG difference between the Samsung 970 and the 980? Only difference i've noticed is the 980's about $100 more.

Should I use the second m.2 slot on the mobo or is it substantially slower? Should I just get a regular ssd instead?

What brand hdd would you recommend? I hear a lot about Seagate's Ironwolf and Barracuda brands, how does Western Digital stand up to them? HDD prices are cheap, should I go bigger?



Monitors

I'm eyeing Samsung's Odyssey G7 in a dual configuration. Should I go with two 27" monitors or two 32" ones.
Is this even the best monitor for my video card?
 
Have you checked out sabrent nvme drives. Generally a bit cheaper than samsung and they are quite fast as well. I have 2 1TB in raid0 and they are amazing. Just picked up 2 more to expand the array to 4 drives and increase storage capacity because modern games gobble up storage like mad. Overall I've been very happy with the sabrent drives and had no issues with them.
 
learners permit said:
Have you checked out sabrent nvme drives. Generally a bit cheaper than samsung and they are quite fast as well. I have 2 1TB in raid0 and they are amazing. Just picked up 2 more to expand the array to 4 drives and increase storage capacity because modern games gobble up storage like mad. Overall I've been very happy with the sabrent drives and had no issues with them.
Click to expand...
Does appear to be slightly cheaper over at Amazon. What all should I be looking at to know that this is compatible with my mobo? I see that it's size is 2280, but is there anything else I should know?

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rock...28832011&s=pc&sprefix=nvme+2tb,aps,119&sr=1-3
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top