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DDR4 gaming PCs are still capable of some excellent things in 2024, but I wouldn't blame you if yours is starting to feel like a frustrating dead-end. I have plenty of friends still using DDR4 machines, and while they're hardly lagging behind in terms of performance thanks to beefy GPUs, there's only so much upgrading available to them from here on out.
Unfortunately, most of my friends with DDR4 rigs don't want to hear the advice I'm about to give. At the moment, buying prebuilt DDR5 PCs is much better value than buying the parts separately and building from scratch. Take this excellent ABS Orkan Ruby, for example, which has been slashed down to just $1,399.99 at Newegg (was $1,699.99). It houses an RTX 4070 Super, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, an AMD Ryzen 7700X CPU, and a 1TB SSD.
Prime Day PC deals make this sort of PC so much more affordable, and it's night and day compared to adding up the individual MSRP costs of each component. Hell, even against other prebuilt PCs, this is an amazing price. I just reviewed the Maingear Zero Ruby which has very similar specs to this, and that's priced over $2,000.
So what's the big deal? Well, for people who have built their own PCs before, buying a prebuild doesn't seem that appealing. The irritation is understandable because although you need a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM to upgrade from DDR4, you don't want to give up the case, PSU, AIO cooler, and GPU you've likely spent a lot of money on.
Well, if your GPU is better than a 4070 Super, then you can always swap it out after jumping on this deal? Selling a DDR4 PC with a 4070 Super in it is bound to get you some serious second-hand profit.
Should you buy the ABS Orkan Ruby?
I'm getting hit with a lot of the same questions from DDR4 PC owners. "Is DDR5 worth upgrading to?" and, "Do you notice the difference?", and the most telling of all: "Will Prime Day gaming deals bring the right opportunity to upgrade?"
For this type of PC, the answer is all sorts of yes. I don't recall seeing an RTX 4070 Super gaming PC slouch down below $1,700, especially since that GPU is still pretty new. But even if you don't go for something on the upper end of mid-range, there are still loads of RTX 4060 PCs on offer for you.
As someone who reviews the best RAM for gaming, I can say that yes, it does offer a noticeable performance boost over DDR4. I've found in almost every review that playing around with XMP/EXPO profiles for DDR5 kits can give you more stable frame rates when gaming, but if you're a content creator or you like playing VR, you'll run into next to no stutter or performance drops with new-gen memory.
And in terms of that GPU, I'd argue that it's a steal in a rig of this price. Having just had a lot of hands-on time with it for my Maingear review, I can say it comfortably kicks out 4K60 frame rates in the majority of games. Provided you aren't running maxed-out settings across the board, you'll be able to enjoy loads of games in 4K, and triple-digit frame rates at 1440p thanks to DLSS.
If you don't upgrade at the moment, the next time we'll see these types of PC prices will be in November during Black Friday season. If you need to save up, then waiting until then might be a solid plan of attack. After all, even a discounted gaming PC is still a serious investment when we all have bills, rent, and life to pay for.
While you certainly shouldn't feel the rush to splash out that cash, now is still a great time to do it. Alternatively, if you're set on building, I've listed a few of my favorite DDR5 RAM below.
Catch more bargains with Prime Day Lego deals, Prime Day Meta Quest deals, and Prime Day Kindle deals.
