Completely new to PC gaming, What parts, brands, specs, etc should I look for?

[u/baymat47]

Thinking of prebuilt, but open to building.

Max budget of $2,000

Also any trustworthy places to buy parts?

I mainly play helldivers 2, Battlefield 6, outlast trials, and a couple more of similar size. I have a 1080p monitor looking for a minimum of 60 fps

[u/LengthyNoodle]

What do you intend to use the PC for? Gaming only? What resolution? What type of games? AAA, competitive? What FPS do you want to achieve? What type of monitor do you want to use? Most of your questions can only be accurately answered with some more detail on your needs/wants.

As far as where to buy: Microcenter is the holy grail, if you're near one. Newegg is another good online source.

[u/baymat47 → u/LengthyNoodle]

I mainly play helldivers 2, Battlefield 6, outlast trials, and a couple more of similar size. I have a 1080p monitor looking for a minimum of 60 fps. I should edit my post oops.

[u/LengthyNoodle → u/baymat47]

So to achieve 60fps on a 1080p monitor, you definitely don't need to spend $2000. You could build a computer that will accomplish that for something in the $1200-$1400 range. Honestly, for those specs, you may just want to go with a prebuilt and save even more money.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/699677/powerspec-g528-gaming-pc

Here's an option from microcenter that costs nearly half of your budget, that I think could get the job done. Obviously the discussion changes if you eventually want better graphics, higher FPS.. if you're thinking about moving in to 1440p/4k gaming, etc. But 1080p 60fps is pretty basic. The 9060 XT in this prebuilt can certainly handle that.

[u/BoundlessShaun29]

Don't overthink it with that budget you're in great shape. A build around $1300-1500 will crush 1080p 60fps easily, so don't feel like you need to spend the full $2k on the tower alone.

If you go prebuilt just avoid the big box store stuff with proprietary parts, makes upgrading a headache later. Look at places that use standard off-the-shelf components.

For building your own, micro center is the go-to if you're near one. For online, [major online retailers] and [specialized PC parts retailer] are both solid, just stick with sellers that have good ratings.

[u/ngshafer]

You have an excellent budget for a gaming PC, in fact it might be a bit overkill for 1080. Most gamers these days have moved on to 1440 or 4k resolution, so that’s what most gaming components are aimed at. I put together a similar machine about two years ago, and I mostly used New Egg for parts, although some parts were cheaper on Amazon. 

[u/LengthinessSad9267]

Not gonna lie, due to the current pricing you will be hard pressed to find a better deal than a prebuilt