What components should I focus on when talking about a budget PC? Should I look at the CPU-GPU balance, RAM, storage, etc., or is there a different equation? Compared to the 5000 TL machine of the past, what has changed today? I also want to build one, but I'm confused about where to start. What do you think?
What should I look for when buying a budget PC?
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Bro, I went through the exact same confusion last year when I was building a PC with a budget of around 6000 TL. Back then everyone was saying "GPU first, CPU later," so I just grabbed a 3060 straight away and then cheaped out on the CPU. In the end, I had to swap the CPU just to keep my FPS up in GTA 5. In my opinion, the most important equation is: focus on what you get for your GPU performance, and grab a CPU that's a bit above the bare minimum — otherwise you're stuck waiting in queue during games or renders. Back in the day, you could play games on medium settings at 1080p with a 5000 TL machine, but now with the same money you can barely scrape by at 1440p.
But are you even thinking about the CPU-GPU balance? Back in the day, with a 5000 TL PC, you'd sacrifice the GPU and just focus on the CPU, and that was enough. But these days, especially for gaming or graphics work, CPU-GPU harmony is crucial. For example, if you pair a latest-gen Ryzen 5 7600 with an old GTX 1650, the GPU becomes a bottleneck and it's nothing but throwing money away. Honestly, in my experience, when buying a GPU, you absolutely have to choose it according to the CPU – otherwise, you'll be pulling your hair out.
When it comes to storage, SSD is an absolute must these days. Back in the day, with 5000 TL you could get an HDD plus a lower-end CPU-RAM combo, but today 1TB NVMe SSD prices have dropped. Check this out: the performance difference between a 1TB HDD and a 256GB SSD is so massive that even a small investment in storage revolutionizes the entire system. So, unless your budget is killing you, definitely go with an SSD.