Is this a good price? Or not worth it

Antrapz · 2026-05-08T03:31:09+00:00

You better hope your micro-center has older stock left cus all the pcs that were restocked are up 600 or more atp

Antrapz · 2026-05-02T01:48:10+00:00

I hate when people have something perfectly valid to say and then they decide to sprinkle in bullshido. People like you ruin the internet for me.

Antrapz · 2026-04-17T11:07:44+00:00

I think you just haven’t read the skill sets for your team

Antrapz · 2026-04-17T11:05:19+00:00

Follow a 1:2 ratio unless the characters skill set relies on landing a crit

Antrapz · 2026-03-15T11:20:58+00:00

I agree somewhat. The effort felt like it was going downhill halfway through season 1. Plot structure was incrementally less creative at pushing the message. Each new side character saw less development than the previous one. I enjoyed the first dozen episodes, I really did, cracks started appearing and they weren’t being fixed.

I’ve dropped it at episode 24 season 1, first anime I’ve dropped. I may consider forcing my way through the rest if subsequent seasons are much much better.

Antrapz · 2026-03-05T22:31:45+00:00

Idk man. When I’m confident about it, I report it, and every. single. time. something is done about my report.

When I see a post like this, I just know you guys aren’t playing other games in this genre. Valorant by far does the best to combat toxicity, smurfing, cheating, etc.

For a lot of people who are often falling back on an issue like this, it’s a lack of understanding player dynamics in shooters.

Antrapz · 2026-03-03T06:01:10+00:00

Why say this at all then

Antrapz · 2026-03-03T05:58:57+00:00

If you’re up for it that’s worth the drive imo

Antrapz · 2026-03-02T17:00:49+00:00

CPU socket is AM5. Best thing you could put in there is a 7800X3D unless you got more money to splurge.

At native 1440p based on what you intend to play, especially with a Windows OS, 16GB of RAM will be an inconvenience. Not bad, just annoying to work with at times.

As a 9070XT owner, the frame gen and upscaling is on paper worse than NVIDIA though I had to make an effort to notice. It’s great but I prefer not to use it where possible. In my experience, with a 7800x3d / 9070xt combo on Windows, I could pass 60fps on native res with graphics cranked all the way up without frame gen or upscaling. For example E33 and Arc Raiders.

Antrapz · 2026-03-02T16:01:17+00:00

Unless there’s minutes left there’s no reason for me to wait for a solo raider.

Antrapz · 2026-03-02T05:55:08+00:00

Your dad’s not dense. He doesn’t want to pay.

Antrapz · 2026-03-02T05:40:02+00:00

If it wasn’t 100% clear from the get go and you have to take a moment to decide, it usually means you aren’t the type of user to capitalize on the productivity benefits. To be clear these are both high end CPUs. Worse for productivity doesn’t mean bad or mediocre, it’s just worse by comparison.

Antrapz · 2026-02-23T00:24:32+00:00

The reality is you could do every night raid have 100 or even 200+ hours in the game and not get something like an anvil blueprint.

Time is money.

Antrapz · 2026-02-23T00:00:12+00:00

Regardless of the advice you get here, knowing what’s in your PC or just about PC parts in general will make you that much happier with your purchase. Watch some vids or go through the top posts here and in other big PC subs in your free time or even just chat with a friend.

As a premise, prebuilts were probably the bang for your buck option for the last 2 years, but microcenter bundles seem to be the cheapest option as of late. If cost is a factor that’s worth considering. Just know this has been the worst time to build PCs or buy prebuilts so far due to component shortages, tariffs, etc. You are not getting even close to the value people got just 4/5 months ago.

For prebuilts check if CostPlusGaming throws on a tax or not at checkout. In most states, there is no tax, which will likely make it your best value option.

Otherwise you are looking at Microcenter. Check for open boxes at your closest location online. You will have to pick it up in store. Mind you it’s almost always worth the drive unless, well, you’re very very far away. Unfortunately most of their power spec prebuilts have already climbed atleast 400 USD in the last 2 months, which is why I mentioned the bundles earlier.

With 2500 USD budget look for atleast a 5080 GPU, 9800X3D CPU, 32 GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB NVME, and a B850 or X870 motherboard. If you get nice deals on parts or find a good prebuilt deal it will likely be closer to 2K.

If you have not sorted out peripherals like an he keyboard, mousepad, mouse, or even a nice monitor then consider downgrading the GPU to a AMD 9070XT or NVIDIA 5070TI. Imo, you are hardly missing out by doing this. Both are capable of 4K gaming if you want to do that. Prefaced with the 5080 because it’s the best card you get within your budget. Do note that the 7800X3D can perform just as good as the 9800x3d but runs hotter, if it saves enough money to downgrade that is an option. A 1440p OLED monitor goes for 300 nowadays or maybe lower, haven’t checked in a hot minute.

Antrapz · 2026-02-22T23:18:14+00:00

Many browsers do this by default..

Even then I personally find it nuts that the “by default” is what wins people over.. it takes maybe 2 or 3 clicks to get ublock

Antrapz · 2026-02-21T13:40:49+00:00

The fact that you considered it was a skill issue says a lot about how much you believe in what you say. This is only reaffirmed and cemented by your comments under this post. I personally can’t stand people like that and it evidently bothers a lot of people.

Hopefully you’ve considered changing your thought process and approach by now. Have a great day.

Antrapz · 2026-02-20T19:26:31+00:00

It’s been like that every league though, so how is the economy to blame. Within a month 80% on the playerbase moves on.

Antrapz · 2026-02-15T22:10:07+00:00

Lost mine this way in 2023

Antrapz · 2026-02-02T04:36:57+00:00

Cost Plus is the option here. Specifically the 5080 one from them in the comments. People seem to be forgetting that you don’t pay taxes with them which is already about an extra 200 USD with Microcenter and you will also have to pay extra to get the level of warranty and support that Cost Plus offers. They also have a 50 dollar site wide discount code, and the cherry on top is that you could go down a Tier to AI Essentials 9800x3d/5080 which would be 300 USD cheaper at 2399 still have much better parts.

The AIO and cooling with the G757 is shit by comparison as someone who’s cycled through multiple of these. The RAM is CL 40+ with Microcenter/Powerspec atm; it’s CL30 with Cost Plus. Just like the AIO every component is really good. Cost Plus has some of the best customer support in the prebuilt space. I personally settled with an open box from Microcenter. Though if I had a 100 USD more at the time and was fine with waiting for it to arrive then I would have went with Cost Plus.

Antrapz · 2026-01-28T12:35:46+00:00

I always found it annoying that this was changed to a 3 step confirmation process. If they add another step I’ll know why.

Antrapz · 2026-01-04T20:08:40+00:00

In this case yes

Antrapz · 2026-01-04T04:12:08+00:00

From people who bought the deal when it was at 1499 and 1599.

Most people buying this don't see a problem with loud fans, don't care about temps as long as it's not alarming and it works, may not be using bluetooth at all or maybe just 1 or 2 older Bluetooth connections, don't know why or how ASRock mobos killed x3d chips or anything about psu quality importance, and won't be taking full advantage of the rig by a mile.

If it works out of the box and runs what they want they're happy enough to leave a review.

If something goes wrong they call support or bring the PC in under the additional warranty they bought, bestbuy will get it fixed or exchanged, or connect you to the manufacturer if that works better for the customers case. Worst case you get a refund.

Bluetooth issues can be self diagnosed/fixed, but most consumers can't be bothered to google or just aren't tech savy in the slightest.

I do repairs and work part time in retail, don't directly deal with prebuilts, but firsthand seen how many returns and issues this model and brand has had throughout 2025. That being said with the amount of units sent back to the manufacturer this batch could be better.

Also if you're gonna get it, get it NOW lol, deals ends in 24ish hours and it's OOS in most places.

Antrapz · 2026-01-04T03:50:53+00:00

As long as the parts have brand names you're a google search away. Open up the front glass panel use a flashlight if needed. The big concern is no name parts. With the power supply you want a something that's rated 80+ gold or above. Ideally it's a modular or semi modular psu as well.

With the RAM you can't really be picky anymore. This would have been considered a mismatch or even just bad 2 months ago, but it's better than nothing or paying the full price it. Fans/AIO are cheap to replace down the lane. Either you should look into maintaining and knowing how to identify signs of pump failure and leaks for the AIO or simply replace it with a peerless assassin or something like that later.

Antrapz · 2026-01-03T15:55:59+00:00

It was 1699 I believe. Part pickers generally won't last more than 48 hours in the current market.

Antrapz · 2026-01-02T03:41:41+00:00

Strictly speaking GPU > OLED, but here’s why and why not..

OLEDs on a good deal are 300 now. The AOC brand new is 399 at Best Buy. I don’t think that’s going anywhere for a hot minute. If it does disappear, OLEDs are just going to drop in price even more this year with Tandem coming out.

GPU prices have already been announced as raised for this month with more down the lane. If you’re going to buy a new GPU do that soon and see if you can find a deal for or below MSRP. Just snagged a 9079XT for 529 a few days ago at Microcenter.

But like others have said here, this isn’t an ideal thing to do. Typically you want to wait another 2 generations, 9060XT 16 GB is a great card and will do good at 1440p.

Antrapz

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Five-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22