Gaming PC

[AlexLaw76]

For years I have had the urge to invest/build one of these (to a pretty good spec).

Has anyone else done this recently, or in the past?

I know it costs a fair bit, but reckon I could build something that is future-proof for the next 5+ years, without getting ridiculous with the costs (which I know is subjective)

[S-Clarke]

To be totally honest with you, this is probably the worst time to be looking at building your own gaming PC (you may have already done it though!). RAM/SSD/GPU shortages have ramped the prices up, RAM its's self has gone up 150% in some cases compared to last year.

Pre-builds are better value as some of those companies have residual stock, but these are still creeping up in price compared to a year ago. I'd say give it a few months and check the market, maybe late spring/early summer. Avoid any PC World nonsense, look at places like PC Specialist or overlockers. I've used PC Specialist in the past and they're very good.

Depends what you're looking for gaming wise/what games you play when it comes to the spec, but budget for 1.5-2.5k for something that will last 5-10 years. As long as your PC can keep ahead of the consoles (future proof when you spec it) then they'll have no issues with the latest games for years.

Edited Wednesday at 11:18 by S-Clarke

[AlexLaw76]

On 28/01/2026 at 11:17, S-Clarke said:

To be totally honest with you, this is probably the worst time to be looking at building your own gaming PC (you may have already done it though!). RAM/SSD/GPU shortages have ramped the prices up, RAM its's self has gone up 150% in some cases compared to last year.

Pre-builds are better value as some of those companies have residual stock, but these are still creeping up in price compared to a year ago. I'd say give it a few months and check the market, maybe late spring/early summer. Avoid any PC World nonsense, look at places like PC Specialist or overlockers. I've used PC Specialist in the past and they're very good.

Depends what you're looking for gaming wise/what games you play when it comes to the spec, but budget for 1.5-2.5k for something that will last 5-10 years. As long as your PC can keep ahead of the consoles (future proof when you spec it) then they'll have no issues with the latest games for years.

You are bang on about RAM. This obviously hits both the main memory modules and the GPUs. Even SSDs are creeping up.

whilst I could still build a very good machine, the value tells me no… for now at least.

Will wait out for a while yet, but the new Xbox seems interesting….