I'm looking for a new gaming PC and came across this Costco prebuilt for about $1,500 before any applicable tax. The listed specifications are an Intel Core Ultra 7 265 processor, GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 8GB GDDR7, a 2TB NVMe SSD, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and an RGB air cooler. Costco hasn't provided the motherboard, power supply, case, or exact storage and memory models. Is this a worthwhile deal, or would I get substantially better gaming performance by choosing another prebuilt or building one myself?
4 Answers
If you’re committed to buying from Costco, I’d look at the model with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5070, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. It was around $2,000, and although you can probably build something better for that amount, it’s a much more balanced gaming system than the 5060 Ti option.
I’d be cautious at $1,500. The 5060 Ti 8GB is a fairly modest GPU for that budget, especially if your goal is 1440p or 4K gaming. Put the system into a parts-price comparison using reasonable estimates for the unknown motherboard, power supply, case, and cooler. If the total comes close to the prebuilt price, the warranty and convenience may be worthwhile, but the graphics card is where the build feels unbalanced.
You can find systems around this price with a Radeon 9070, which is a much stronger gaming GPU. Those alternatives may come with only 16GB of memory and a 1TB SSD, but both are easy to upgrade later. Paying about $1,450 to $1,500 for the better GPU could make more sense than prioritizing 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage from the start.
A rough parts list with a similar processor, 32GB of DDR5, a 2TB SSD, and an RTX 5060 Ti comes out near $1,550 using current pricing. That means the Costco machine isn’t automatically a terrible deal, but it also doesn’t look like a major bargain. I’d only buy it after confirming the power supply, motherboard, SSD model, and whether the memory is installed as two matching sticks.
I saw that model too, but I’m hesitant because the listing doesn’t show many of the other component details. I’d like to know exactly what motherboard and power supply it uses before spending that much.