https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ibuypower-gaming-desktop-intel-i7-10700f-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660ti-6gb-480gb-ssd-1tb-hdd/6437986.p?skuId=6437986

I tried to do a bit of research on the specs before purchasing, but I thought it was a decent price for what seemed like good specs. Should this run most anything well? Should I have not gotten it? It was 200 bucks off of normal price. Also as far as monitors go, what should I be looking for?

Congrats. Looks comparable to what I am currently running (i7 4790k because I am stupid and gtx 1070). Google makes it look like the 1660ti is comparable to a 1070 https://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-review/ and the cpu should be "fine" with the potential to be a bit overkill if you overclock it. I am only just now reaching the point where I need to run 1440p games at medium-high so you should be good for at least a year or two and it will run your back catalog beautifully.

Personally? I probably wouldn't have gotten that. But for a 900 buck prebuilt it isn't a horrible deal and I acknowledge not everyone takes "medium" settings as the insult I do. I would be wary on how little storage you have (480 GB of the good stuff and presumably the OS is on there so that gives it a hit) but that is the easiest thing to upgrade.

Monitor wise: I would say to prioritize something in the 1080/1440 range with either gsync or freesync (and to verify that nvidia can utilize freesync). I forget what the catch-all term is (variable refresh rate?) but basically, at a high level, it will update the display as it receives a new frame from your computer. It is hard to really grok without seeing but it goes a LONG way toward making fluctuating or even low framerates matter a lot less. You should be able to get away with vsync and capping the framerate at 60-ish but gsync is just frigging good and one of those things that are REALLY hard to set aside once you have experienced it.

@gundato: so backcatalog stuff should be able to run on high settings ok? I realize stuff from the last year or two is more demanding, but I have stuff from like 4 plus years ago and I play a lot of blizzard games and older steam games. Honestly I’m coming from a 2015 5K iMac so I’m sure this will blow that out of the water.

And yeah I’ll more than likely replace the SSD sooner rather than later, but should be ok for right now. The other one I was looking at was 300 dollars cheaper but only had a 250 SSD and 8gb ram and was a GeForce 1650, so I figure this was worth getting and paying the extra money.

@ravensword: My GF bought a similar computer on Newegg with a 3070. I know people like to make a big deal out of building your own computer instead but computer parts aren't exactly easy to find right now, mainly gfx cards. I did a quick search and it looked like even the 1660ti was relatively hard to get now. Buying a prebuilt PC that has professional build quality and not having to worry about hunting like crazy for a graphics card sounds like a good deal to me.

@xanadu: From googling this it looks like it might not be the highest quality builds. But it is also unclear how much of that has to do with putting a case in a box with some styrofoam and hoping for the best.

@gundato: like as far as it being broken when taken out of the box? I’m doing I store pickup so hopefully that would help mitigate some it being damaged in transit. But it also isn’t going to be there u til the 30th to be picked up so it’s still being shipped to the store.

@ravensword: I think it was the amazon page that had a lot of complaints? Just the usual stuff like "these screws were loose" that tend to be a result of not properly tightening stuff that jostles around a lot.

So you're PROBABLY fine but make sure it boots up and the like before you throw away the receipt. And probably be ready to tighten some stuff or potentially properly seat some ram (just push it down. plenty of youtubes on the subject)

Do you feel good?

I wouldn't expect much as is because the 1660 Ti is a 1080p card. But the CPU allows for a good amount of upgradeability, so swapping out the GPU for either an RTX 3070 starting at $500 or an RX 6800 starting at $600 will get you into 1440p and 2160p territory.

As for monitors, this depends on what you value more: What you're okay with having now compared to what you want to have later down the line.

If there's either not much cash left in your budget, you don't feel like trying to sell the 1660 Ti, or you just think you'll be good with 1080p for a while, then picking up a 24" 1080p >60Hz monitor with G-sync/G-Sync Compatible will suffice. I can't offer a specific recommendation, but here are the options that I'm seeing.

If you want to get to a higher resolution, I personally like 1440p (specifically with the ASUS PG348Q) since it was the most balanced option in regards to having high and ultra graphics settings while maintaining a higher than 60 frame rate with an RTX 2080 Ti. But with newer GPUs either matching or surpassing the 2080 Ti for $500 or $600, 1440p is basically the new 1080p (give or take ray-tracing), and 2160p investment is more viable these days. That said, however, the availability for the newer GPUs are garbage at the moment, so those upgrades might have to happen early next year as an optimistic prediction.

@facelessvixen: yeah, for the moment I’m ok with 1080p. If I want 4K I’ll obviously need to upgrade the GOU, but I assume the 1660 is good for at least 1080p and will run games well like that? I’m not expecting to run new stuff on ultra, but I’d like to at least do medium or high. And yeah, since GPU availability is screed up right now I’m cool with waiting and saving up to get a better one sometime next year or so, but I assume the 1660 is at least good for the foreseeable future if I stick to 1080p?

Also if I do upgrade the GPU, I assume most will work with the power supply and CPU I have? Or am I going to need to see what the wattage is on the PSU before I upgrade the GPU?

Seems good enough for 1080 ultra or 1440 med-high with some drops below 60.

Nobody has 3070s in stock, and prebuilts with them would cost as much as buying what you did and a separate 3070 down the line. You might even be able to sell the 1660ti for $100-150 to help pay for the 3070 or 3080. Theres not gonna be a real bottleneck with those specks for a while, games are more GPU based than ever, oh and that case looks nice.

@lilnatureboyx: yeah I like the tempered glass case. And yeah I’m sure that when I eventually upgrade the GPU I’m sure I could sell it. Worse part is waiting a week until it gets to the Best Buy for pick up, assuming there isn’t some delay. I got a monitor I bought from Costco coming in on Friday. 165hz refresh, 1080P 32 inch LG monitor with gsync.

@ravensword: So the Mandela effect wouldn't be much of a thing, some some quick benches with 32GBs of RAM (clocked at 2666), a 9900K (no OC), my old Strix 1060 (no OC) and a Lepow 15.6" 1080p portable monitor:

Trying to optimize Ass Creed Odyssey for 60 frames is pretty indicative of what I got for more demanding games with similar settings, specifically Watch_Dogs 2, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Final Fantasy XV, and Monster Hunter World, so I'd expect some similar tinkering is needed with similarly designed games. Less open world games like Doom Eternal on Nightmare settings gave me a locked 60 with v-sync and about 135 frames without using Vulkan, and maxed out DMC 5 yielded 60 with v-sync. Most other less Ubisoft style of games should be able to maintain 60, and iffy ports like Nier Automata should be okay as well, provided that you use FAR to turn down its global illumination. In sort, yeah; the 1660 Ti is a better 1060.

And, yeah; good catch since the 500w nondescript PSU wasn't mentioned in the description or on iBP's site, but in Best Buy's Q&A section. 3070s and RX 6800s are both asking for 650w, some 6800 XTs want 750w, and some 3080s and are asking for 850w, so 500w doesn't leave much of an upgrade path. But since you're sticking with 1080p and COVID quarantine won't last forever, +$150 for 850w PSUs probably/hopefully won't still be a thing when you're ready to upgrade to a higher resolution.

@facelessvixen: oh yeah just saw that they said was 500 watt and not gold plus. Is that bad?

@ravensword: Not to make a big deal out of it, but I don't really know, at least not first hand.

On one hand, I've only built my own desktops over the past five years using the Corsair CX500M for my i5 4690K/1060 with no PSU related issues, and my current PC which is powered by a Corsair RM750x is still going strong without issues, so I have the most faith in name brands like Corsair, EVGA and Seasonic, while the sometimes nameless bands that you might get from a system integrator on the same level as iBuyPower and CyberPower can seem a little sketchy to me because of the limited provided details at times.

But on the other hand, my skepticism and fear of any PSU related issues happening are probably based on the minority of forum posts that I might have come across when considering buying from an SI in 2014, and the reality is that SI provided PSUs are more or less as reliable as the name brand counterparts of similar 80 Plus certification, otherwise those SI's wouldn't be in business anymore for really cheaping out on that component, and I probably would have heard about it from the many tech YouTube channels that I'm subbed to if it were a widespread issue; same for HP, Dell and Lenovo for that matter.

And as for the specifics of 80 Plus, it's all Greek to me outside of Wikipedia's first paragraph.

@facelessvixen: yeah. Honestly if anything does happen I’m at least covered under the year warranty from ibuypower, and I’m sure I can take it in for repairs after that and just pay if anything.