90K+ Building a full gaming PC vs getting a 27" iMac?

[letmein]

Guys,

I posted this thread a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, stuff happened and I was out of India for the past 2 years and I couldn't build the PC.

Now that I'm back, hopefully for good, I still need a PC.

The earlier requirements still stand.
- I need only the cabinet and it's components. No peripherals required.
- I plan on using the build with two (or one?) 27" UHD Monitors.
- I require a full tower cabinet. Enough space for 1 SSD and 5 HDDs at least.
- Main usage will be browsing and HD videos and perhaps occasional gaming, depending on how much time I have.
- I will be purchasing it from SMC Int. in Nehru Place, and getting it assembled there.

This is the config I came up with for the PC:

(All prices from Amazon/ Cost to Cost in Nehru Place, Delhi).

CPU: Intel 8th Gen Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz Processor - 30,000
Motherboard: MSI Z370 Tomahawk ATX Motherboard - 14,500
GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDRR6 - 33,200
PSU: Corsair CX Series CX650M PSU - 7,600
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3000 Mhz - 7,200
Cabinet: Corsair Obsidian 750D - 15,000
SSD: Western Digital Blue 500GB M.2 Internal SSD - 6,800
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED CPU Cooler - 3,000
UPS: APC 1.1 KVA UPS - 6,000

Total: ~1.25

To this, add a 27" 4k monitor, which I have not decided on yet, but which will probably cost around ~35-40k (probably this).

Connect the 5 Hard Drives (which I already have) to the PC and live happily ever after.


Now there is a voice at the back of my mind telling me that why not go for a 27" iMac instead?

Because I'm not sure how much the 'gaming' part of the PC I'm building will be utilized. It's super nice to have, sure, but mostly my time would be reading articles, watching HD cat videos and editing spreadsheets.

The Mac is the easy way out. The 5K display is universally acclaimed. Dual boot Win10 on it. Add extra AppleCare for 3 years and have peace of mind. Otherwise if any components in my PC fail I have to go running to Nehru Place and go through the entire RMA hassle, which was fun when I was young but now I don't have the time or patience for it. The final price will be the same, around ~1.75 I reckon.

The only thing I haven't figured out is how to integrate the 5 HDDs into the Mac... they are of different sizes (2 x 1TB and 3 x 2TB). So one thing I can look into later is to get 2 x 4TB drives and run a NAS and connect it to the Mac?

Ideas? Opinions? Because I'm super confused right now.

Thanks for reading.

 

[vishalrao]

I'm thinking that since you are mainly going to be staring at the screen for browsing/videos then go for the iMac for its pretty screen and put your HDDs in a NAS as you are thinking about.

 

[karanarya98]

Any day Full Custom Gaming Pc as a person who had an imac , i can tell you with personal experience that imac is good for programming or video editing but even that is now on par in windows pc ,Buy the gaming pc and you'll be happy since you can do everything in a custom pc that you can do on an imac but you cant do everything on an imac that you can do on a custom pc.

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

Why don't you go the hackintosh way? here is a link to high end hackintosh: https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersgu...ntosh-the-ultimate-buyers-guide/#CustoMac_Pro
You can go with the same config apart from motherboard and graphics card. For motherboards, choose any one of the recommended Z390 boards and a sapphire RX580 Pulse.
You can install both Mac OS mojave and windows on the hardware on indivdual SSD. You may game on windows and do other activites on Mac OS mojave

 

[vishalrao]

OP says he is no longer young and has no time or patience for such stuff, hence iMac is the way to go

 

[mach9]

I was in exactly the same phase as you. Spent the better part of 3 years in the sandpit flying back and forth but basically sucked the life out of me. Can barely get an hour's worth of gaming in a week these days. That aside, I found a proper rig is still the best way to go plus a longer life without the A tax, imacs drop in value like hell anyway and with the way cpu development has gone recently plus affordability for to notch performance getting better than ever thanks to AMD, i'd still pick a rig if I were you

 

[letmein]

Thanks for the responses everyone, but does anyone have comments on the PC build as such? Anything I should replace?

Why don't you go the hackintosh way? here is a link to high end hackintosh: https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersgu...ntosh-the-ultimate-buyers-guide/#CustoMac_Pro
You can go with the same config apart from motherboard and graphics card. For motherboards, choose any one of the recommended Z390 boards and a sapphire RX580 Pulse.
You can install both Mac OS mojave and windows on the hardware on indivdual SSD. You may game on windows and do other activites on Mac OS mojave

I don't need MacOS really. So if I do build a PC, I would only install Windows on it.

I'm thinking that since you are mainly going to be staring at the screen for browsing/videos then go for the iMac for its pretty screen and put your HDDs in a NAS as you are thinking about.

Any day Full Custom Gaming Pc as a person who had an imac , i can tell you with personal experience that imac is good for programming or video editing but even that is now on par in windows pc ,Buy the gaming pc and you'll be happy since you can do everything in a custom pc that you can do on an imac but you cant do everything on an imac that you can do on a custom pc.

I was in exactly the same phase as you. Spent the better part of 3 years in the sandpit flying back and forth but basically sucked the life out of me. Can barely get an hour's worth of gaming in a week these days. That aside, I found a proper rig is still the best way to go plus a longer life without the A tax, imacs drop in value like hell anyway and with the way cpu development has gone recently plus affordability for to notch performance getting better than ever thanks to AMD, i'd still pick a rig if I were you

That's really what I'm concerned about. I really don't see myself gaming too much. But it would be good to have. And having a high end rig sitting on my desk would give me mental satisfaction even if I barely play it.

On the other hand, the Mac would be more convinient (not having to take apart the rig and clean it every few months, not running around for RMAs if something fails, great display etc.)

I'm leaning more towards the PC now though. I saw the iMac at a store in person, and it looks fantastic. sigh.[DOUBLEPOST=1558311747][/DOUBLEPOST]Also I think I can save some $$$ by going for the 8700 instead of the 8700k, which will run cooler as well.

Probably can get a cheaper cabinet too, but everything these days is covered in damn LEDs.

 

[mach9]

Bro i think you're tad overthinking it. The dust wont be too much of an issue ( fu*k i know i keep cribbing about it myself, just waiting to get rid of my NZXT Phantom 410) but yeah the latest fad in cases with the glass bit leaves a lot of exposed gaps for dust to sit, especially in our wonderful country.

Nevertheless all things considered, get a good dust blower from Amazon and it should take out a lot of your stress in regular cleaning. I got the stanley air blower - works well for me (it's adjustable speed as well).

I always find having control over my rig as more satisfying emotionally, mentally and well financially. With the mac - there's no chance in hell to do either of those things. Besides, you'll pay Acare tax as well every year you wanna keep it going.. let's face it, anything kaput will require only a professional Apple centre to sort it out. Anyone else - good luck with the risk. One mistake with them and there goes your Apple warranty.

Plus the dosh you save on building your own PC even if it's in phases is a fair deal! think about it.. you're likely to extract more value from your PC components life over time (plus the ability to sell them off individually - no such luck with the mac) will far outweigh the drop in the value you can expect with the mac. that warranty stress alone will wipe off a big chunk of its value.

long story short - go with the PC.

here's my specs - sorry i can't put the exact $ value at the side of it - but i estimate it cost me close to a 1.2 lakh give or take (has a mix of parts from here as well as UAE over a period of time). Damn satisfied with it though..

CPU: Core i5 9600k OC'd
Mobo: Asus Z390 Maximus XI Hero
RAM: 4x 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz Corsair Vengeance LED (non RGB)
HDD: primary boot - Samsung 960EVO 250GB // gaming Samsung 850 EVO 500GB // Storage 1 WD Black 1TB // Storage2 Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212EVO LED
Cabinet: NZXT Phantom 410 (the shittiest cabinet I ever owned)
GPU: Asus Strix GTX 1080A8G
Display: DELL S2215H
Cooling fans: 2x Corsair ML140 PRO LED (white)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB LUX mechanical

serves me faithfully at the snap of a finger and can run pretty much anything I want when I want

 

[nRiTeCh]

Cabinet: NZXT Phantom 410 (the shittiest cabinet I ever owned)

Get rid of this crap it actually spoils your rig config as well.

@letmein stay with windows and you rightfully said, we do need That inch of mental satisfaction which keeps counting over the years without getting any fear factor.
Mac is anyday ltd compared to windows, is fragile, delicate and big shit when it comes to warranties and messing up.

 

[mach9]

Get rid of this crap it actually spoils your rig config as well.

Trust me. I've been looking. Still can't make up my mind which to go for. Either the design ruins it or the practicality factors. Plus a lot of good cases are not available in India

 

[soulweaver]

My vote is for getting a PC too. I have a Hackintosh which is lying almost unused. I still use my PC. I added mechanical keyboards (getting a generic rgb mecha keyboards to work with a Mac is still anyone's guess) and a 43inch screen (4k) (plus two more one 27 and one 24) and it can beat any Mac to bits. Also from first hand experience, I can say that Macs are really good so long as you use them regularly and use them carefully.

Multi-monitor support is still terrible (as compared to windows) and if you have three monitors, there is nothing like windows to play around (Game on one, stats on another, and if you are that way inclined rainmeter on the other you will feel like fcuking Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible).

The warranty experience is usually great, but if they decide to **** it up, you will pay dearly. My MBP was given for repair (just out of extended warranty), they fixed the problem but returned my unit with nonfunctioning ports on one side. When I got back to them, they said it was a motherboard issue and I needed t o replace the entire logic board. The cost? 70k.

This will barely if even happen with a PC. Something gone wrong? remove, replace, fix.

Not to mention the fcuking printer woes. Everytime I have to install a nonstandard printer / copier, it is a bleeding nightmare! I have to sift through a million sites to find a bloody driver that works properly.

And then, there is the sound. in a PC you get a motherboard with soundcards that have a built in dac, or put one in. I have never seen a Mac produce sound that matches a PC with a good soundcard.

Figure out a way to get a good case or look at one of those custom builds from scanpc https://www.scan.co.uk/ or the like, and you get something that is just as good and in many ways a lot better.

And then imagine telling all and sundry that you built the baby!

 

[LDC]

I used to Google 'PC vs Mac' so often many years back because I brought into the hype of how awesome and smooth out of the box Macs are and would love window shopping because I couldn't afford it. Then I got lucky and have been working on a 2013 iMac at work with the latest updates installed from the last three years in the graphics field. This might feel like an exagerration, but I think even Windows 7 is smoother than any version of MacOS in the recent years.

Also, I can see some kind of smudges on the inside of the sceen and I wonder when it developed and how it developed on such 'hi-end' products that are supposed to have well-audited manufacturing processes.

I used to think that biggest drawback of having a PC is the dust collection, but I was also using a shitty, local branded cabinet. Now, with the Corsair SPEC 01 cabinet and Ryzen 3's stock cooler (thanks to this forum), I am usually at 45 C after not having cleant the system for 7 months, even though there's a lot of visible dust. So, I imagine that I might have to do regular cleaning less than yearly.

mach9 said:
Cabinet: NZXT Phantom 410 (the shittiest cabinet I ever owned)

Get rid of this crap it actually spoils your rig config as well.

Noob here. So, why do you say that?

 

[letmein]

Thanks for the inputs everyone. Just to clarify I was not really interested in MacOS as such, would have booted Win10 had I decided to buy it.

Decided to go for the PC. Got my SSD and Cabinet, planning to buy the remaining parts over the next week.

Going for i7 8700-RTX 2060 with single stick of 16GB RAM. Let's hope it goes smoothly. Fingers crossed.

Monitor I will purchase at the very last, I need to do extensive R&D before splurging.

 

[cute.bandar]

but does anyone have comments on the PC build as such? Anything I should replace?

I think that rig is a massive overkill for your needs. Except for the RAM and SSD, all the items can be replaced by items that cost half and still feel 0 difference in everyday performance.

 

[vishalrao]

Are you not looking at the new AMD Zen2 Ryzen 3000 series CPUs going on sale next month?

 

[soulweaver]

I think that rig is a massive overkill for your needs. Except for the RAM and SSD, all the items can be replaced by items that cost half and still feel 0 difference in everyday performance.

Such rigs aren't about overkill. They are about building things because we can...
Like a dragster.

 

[mach9]

Thanks for the inputs everyone. Just to clarify I was not really interested in MacOS as such, would have booted Win10 had I decided to buy it.

Decided to go for the PC. Got my SSD and Cabinet, planning to buy the remaining parts over the next week.

Going for i7 8700-RTX 2060 with single stick of 16GB RAM. Let's hope it goes smoothly. Fingers crossed.

Monitor I will purchase at the very last, I need to do extensive R&D before splurging.

Nice. Post pics. What cabinet did you choose?

Why are you opting for the 8 series? Given that you'll need to patch them for the exploits that they are susceptible to.. there's bound to be some drop in performance plus the damn patches have been known to cause issues (at least I had them with my 6600k skylake build) .. if you can.. go with the 9 series on the Intel side, else Ryzen is quite competing as well

 

[letmein]

Nice. Post pics. What cabinet did you choose?

Corsair Carbide 100R Silent Edition

Why are you opting for the 8 series? Given that you'll need to patch them for the exploits that they are susceptible to.. there's bound to be some drop in performance plus the damn patches have been known to cause issues (at least I had them with my 6600k skylake build) .. if you can.. go with the 9 series on the Intel side, else Ryzen is quite competing as well

Okay, any suggestions within the 22-28k range? I was planning on going to Nehru Place tomorrow and getting the rest of the parts, below is what the build I was planning on. Things struck though I've already purchased.

 

[mach9]

Corsair Carbide 100R Silent Edition

View attachment 80540

View attachment 80541



Okay, any suggestions within the 22-28k range? I was planning on going to Nehru Place tomorrow and getting the rest of the parts, below is what the build I was planning on. Things struck though I've already purchased.

View attachment 80542

The 9600k should be more than sufficient. If you can stretch the 9700k will be in reach with the recent correction but then again, will be an overkill for your needs. The 9600k can handle enough as it is.

GPU - dunno what the Indian price differences between the 1080 and the 2xxx series are but the 1080's should be a good deal now I think. Perhaps some room there too.

Mobo - don't really care. All comes down to what you want to get out of your memory and storage frankly. Too many models to choose from. I tend to stick with Asus but they're just getting atrocious with their premium pricing lately. If you plan on going higher than 3200Mhz on the RAM and up to full 4 slot use to 32GB or so then pick a good board accordingly.

RAM - choose anything that's in your budget.. way too many choices

 

[letmein]

The 9600k should be more than sufficient. If you can stretch the 9700k will be in reach with the recent correction but then again, will be an overkill for your needs. The 9600k can handle enough as it is.

GPU - dunno what the Indian price differences between the 1080 and the 2xxx series are but the 1080's should be a good deal now I think. Perhaps some room there too.

Mobo - don't really care. All comes down to what you want to get out of your memory and storage frankly. Too many models to choose from. I tend to stick with Asus but they're just getting atrocious with their premium pricing lately. If you plan on going higher than 3200Mhz on the RAM and up to full 4 slot use to 32GB or so then pick a good board accordingly.

RAM - choose anything that's in your budget.. way too many choices

I've done some cursory research (1, 2, 3) , seems opinion is split between 8700 vs 9600k.