3 ms·

Note the web site title: > How to Buy a Gaming PC in 2021 Best Gaming PCs, GPUs, and more I clicked on this in my Feedly expecting a "how to build" guide, but

Note the web site title: > How to Buy a Gaming PC in 2021 Best Gaming PCs, GPUs, and more I clicked on this in my Feedly expecting a "how to build" guide, but it's a "how to buy" guide! For the builders, motherboards seem to have returned to Earth, and some Ryzen 5xxx desktop CPUs are starting to show availability at MSRP. It's only GPUs that still sting (stink?), though depending on what you have now, you may be able to reuse it and wait for GPU markets to also come back to Earth. Anecdote: Built my most recent PC two years ago with slightly aging stuff... X470 + Ryzen 2700X. Held off on video card and got that one year ago... RX 5600XT. Kind of itching to get an RX 6800 which is nearly double the performance of my card, but $290 is the most I've ever spent on a video card. RAM and storage are both pretty good value purchases these days!

alkonaut 6y ago
> "how to build" guide, but it's a "how to buy" You can't build these systems because you almost can't find these GPU's.
annoyingnoob 6y ago
Its Ars, it exists to sell you stuff. Its a digital advertising platform in the shape of a tech news site.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  I have noticed a change in tone on ars over the last few years, but I don't think this is fair. unless you think all tech review sites exist to sell hardware (true from a certain perspective). their hardware coverage is still pretty objective and I don't notice much obvious bias.
  - annoyingnoob 6y ago
    The front page, above the fold, of Ars for me right now has: 2 articles about Tesla (1 advertises another site), A system buying guide, Headphone review, Electric car review Its all product related. Below the fold I start to find something else, like the 'how to find a covid vaccine appointment' but that is from Wired. Ars really looks like more advertising than content to me. Kinda feeling like I aged out of Ars, I'm not the target market.
    - leetcrew 6y ago
      for sure, I don't appreciate the sometimes breathless coverage of current events. but unless you object to the existence of buying guides entirely on a tech news site, I don't find much issue with them. it's less dry than similar articles on anandtech, but usually consistent with them and the other hardware review sites. it's definitely not like wirecutter, where I usually find myself scratching my head when I see the recommended product for a domain I'm actually familiar with.

alkonaut 6y ago

> "how to build" guide, but it's a "how to buy" You can't build these systems because you almost can't find these GPU's.

annoyingnoob 6y ago

Its Ars, it exists to sell you stuff. Its a digital advertising platform in the shape of a tech news site.

leetcrew 6y ago
I have noticed a change in tone on ars over the last few years, but I don't think this is fair. unless you think all tech review sites exist to sell hardware (true from a certain perspective). their hardware coverage is still pretty objective and I don't notice much obvious bias.
- annoyingnoob 6y ago
  The front page, above the fold, of Ars for me right now has: 2 articles about Tesla (1 advertises another site), A system buying guide, Headphone review, Electric car review Its all product related. Below the fold I start to find something else, like the 'how to find a covid vaccine appointment' but that is from Wired. Ars really looks like more advertising than content to me. Kinda feeling like I aged out of Ars, I'm not the target market.
  - leetcrew 6y ago
    for sure, I don't appreciate the sometimes breathless coverage of current events. but unless you object to the existence of buying guides entirely on a tech news site, I don't find much issue with them. it's less dry than similar articles on anandtech, but usually consistent with them and the other hardware review sites. it's definitely not like wirecutter, where I usually find myself scratching my head when I see the recommended product for a domain I'm actually familiar with.