"DS:Are you a gamer?"

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@Dell-Jordan wrote:

If so, what configuration/system works best?

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This is ripe for the old Intel vs AMD debate. Personally I find Intel to be more stable and easier to configure in a custom built system (personal preference). So for gaming at the least an i7 gen 10 + CPU with at least 16GB of RAM though more gamers are now leaning toward 32GB for future proofing. A decent PSU preferably 1000W or more and a strong GPU such as a 3080 card or better. An SSD is a must of at least 1TB with a second SSD of 2TB or better to load games on. And a system with 2 M.2 SSD would be a plus but not a must if the boot drive alone is an M.2. Last of all a fast ISP speed of at least 1GB to enable fast downloads and no buffering. And a wired Ethernet connection as opposed to W-Fi. Now can I afford all of this, No but perchance to dream.

Tough to answer what config / system works best.

I'm a huge gamer still rocking a R7 and upgraded to a 2080Ti a couple years ago. LG C9 OLED as my monitor. I have zero issues with any game and usually can crank all the settings up. Can't really upgrade my GPU again since my 8700k could be a bottleneck, but not 100 convinced it would be. Quick specs I have in my sig at another forum.

Dell Alienware Aurora R7
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Motherboard: Alienware 0VDT73
CPU: Intel i7K 8700K Coffee Lake-S (6-Core/12-Thread, 12MB Cache up to 4.7GHz)
SSD: (OS) 512GB M.2 PCIe w/1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
HDD: (Games): 1TB HP External Drive
RAM: 16GB Dual Channel DDR4 @2666MHz
Graphics: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti XC Ultra Gaming 11GB GDDR6
Display: LG-65' C9 OLED
Power Supply: 850W EPA Bronze PSU Liquid Cooled Chassis
Logitech z506 5.1 Surround
Logitech Wireless Keyboard K800 / Steelseries RIVAL 650 Wireless gaming mouse
Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless gaming headset
nerdytec Couchmaster Gaming Lap Board

I've been a gamer since Pong. I too, am manufacturer agnostic. I try to buy the best that's available at the time I buy it, and not get caught up in the technology chase. I bought my R13 less than a year ago, and even though the R15s are now out, I don't regret my purchase. My R13 is and will be more than adequate for my general and my gaming needs for a while. I tend to not refresh my tech very often, as I posted in another thread, the computer that the R13 replaced was a fifteen year old Dell Studio XPS9000/435T.

I try to build with a long refresh cycle in mind. Right now, my new rig can game at 4k at max graphics settings without breaking a sweat. Still, games are not all coded the same...nor do they use the same gaming engines. Some are more CPU-intensive, others GPU-intensive. Some are better or worse at multithreading, others are behind the bleeding edge and only recently have updated from DX9 to DX11, not even DX12. Many vendors want to make their games available to as wide an audience as possible, so they try to code for the lowest common denominator, as far as minimum system requirements. They want the gamer with a five-year old rig to be able to play right along with players with elite rigs.

I play mostly the Guild Wars franchise. I've been playing for close to fifteen years, starting with the beta of GW1 and currently play high-level endgame content in GW2 (raids, strike missions, etc.). With my old rig, I had to turn my graphics settings way down to get any sort of playable frame rates. Even so, in a boss battle, with fifty or so players and massive particle effects going on, my frame rate would drop as low as five FPS, making the game pretty much unplayable. With my new rig, I can run max graphics settings (and yes, GW2 is heavily CPU based and only recently went to DX11) and get frame rates north of 110 FPS. Even in boss battles, my frame rate generally will not drop below 60 now, so I'm a very happy camper with this setup.