I think if you're buying a new full build, during this COVID situation - yeah, certain things, like laptops and desktop builds, went WAY UP in price.

You can do much better, if you catch a sale for parts - such as AMD Ryzen CPU's or their GPU's. Stuff's still regularly going n sale, for DIY people and builders. They (AMD) are really trying to put a dent in both Intel and Nvidia, being the real "bang for your $" guy. Many people, are going to flock to that, just to save some $. And not only that, they're finally competing really well with both, for the first time (especially since the Ryzen series, even more so now w/ the 3xxx series) in...well, maybe a decade or so?

If you go w/ a AMD build in the 3600x or better range - eh, I dunno if you really need a Intel i7 TBH. Sure, Intel's better for gaming in general, in most cases - but, how long w/ this reign of theirs last now? They're still refreshing old stuff in their new line (10000 series) and instead pushing higher GHz speed, to try to brute force their way above the AMD CPU's (kind of what AMD tried to do, with their Bulldozer series of CPU's...which didn't pan out, in the long run). Sure, that's great for more performance w/ Intel - but, not super efficient, as those new Intel surely can run hotter (especially the higher i7's and i9's in the new 10xxx series).

They (AMD) have done so well, especially since so many more newer games right now are being more dependent on having multiple cores on the CPU and especially the video card - that you can kind of get away w/ not having the best CPU and just throw more $ at a great video card....and you'd be all set, as long as you don't bottleneck the video card by putting in a too weak CPU for the video card.

On my aging gaming custom-built desktop, I still use a i7 950 (still hanging on!) with a GTX 970 and 16 GB RAM on W7 x64. Most games there, 30fps to 60fps. AC: Origins, was lucky at around 30-35fps on Medium at 1080p. Yeah, that PC's getting old - as some newer titles really want more than 3.5GB of VRAM to run some gamers properly at higher settings.

I have my SC15 laptop, if I need to run something on a better machine - as that thing's a champ on most games I toss at it for 1080p60fps or better. Few rare cases - A Plague's Tale and GR Breakpoint, as I need to lock those down to try and squeak 40fps out of them.

SC15 laptop link w/ specs - https://www.evga.com/articles/01113/evga-sc15-g-sync-gaming-laptop/

So, yeah - my desktop's getting old and unless there's an insane deal before all these new consoles and new hardware drop (i.e. next line of Nvidia 3000 cards and AMD Ryzen 4000) - I'll probably use my laptop for newer games needing the power to run those properly.

About Andromeda - yeah, that didn't run so hot on my aging desktop; lucky if I could get 40fps on that w/ a resolution render of 1080p (to keep the UI) and a scale down of a few perfent. ME:A runs very well on my SC15 laptop - 60fps no problem.

Thing is, from reading tons of articles online about ME:A and DAI's issues (see Kotaku and Jason's articles on problems w/ MEA & DAI on Frostbite) - yeah, that engine (Frostbite) is not really built for games w/ seamless insanely huge worlds, as that Engine's really meant for map-based games like Battlefield games, as those games handle insane amounts of detail and can run really well, when it's used for what it's supposed to be used for. Very huge open-world games like DA:I (back when it came out) and MEA which also have RPG stuff involved - eh, they really aren't meant for an Engine like Frostbite. To paraphrase some of the developers: Frostbite is more of a Ferrari (built for something very specific), not a SUV (built to a do a little of everything and anything - like Unreal Engine's used for).

Kotaku Articles on MEA, DAI, and Anthem problems w/ Frostbite:
MEA & DAI - https://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428
Anthem - https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

Never imagined that to be the problem with mass effect, dragon age inquisition runs so damn well! It is a shame one of my most precious games is just some xbox piece of garbage! Still i will be granting it another try, 105 hours atm, most with Sarah but i won't be backing down.

Concerning prices, with motherboard prices at outrages prices they do seem to reflect the current data transferral rates. I fear the first generations containing DDR 5 material will only become more expensive then they already are now. Not to mention graphics card that rival whole production studio's ( granted, a small one ) in capability not to mention the price on the wall. That is why i said, either in a couple of years from now ( or looking for the best deal i can use ddr4 memory with, such as a 10700(k) which offers a substantial improvement, i belief almost up to between 30 to 40% increase over the 2600 which is a lot ) a whole system rehaul might be what i'm looking for or...i stay true now and go with the option of the 3600X -3800XT or maybe even a 3900XT which will probably make me look grand in the coming 4x/grand strategy titles, not to mention the luxury such a cpu will bring for the desktop enviroment

DAI was a mess, not too long after it came out, performance-wise. For me, it ran poorly IMHO, barely getting 30-40fps on my desktop at 1080p at Medium. Same desktop that I listed (i7 950; W7 x64; 16 GB RAM), but instead with a 560 Ti 1GB VRAM card - this was way before I upgraded to the 4GB 960...and then later to a GTX 970. Was not impressed w/ the performance, despite loving the game.

It ran much better, once I got a 900 series card.

And it thankfully ran fantastic on modern hardware - I can get 60-90fps easy on DAI, when not in a town but actually in the open world - on my SC15 laptop. The 6GB GTX 1060 is a champ w/ this game.

The other thing w/ Frostbite, from the Kotaku articles - often, it does not come shipped w/ animation tools and RPG-tools (for dealing w/ inventory, saving, etc etc). So, basically, with each time BioWare used that engine for a new game, they had to re-invent the RPG-wheel for each title.

And of course, MEA didn't really have an animation tools - hence why, at launch, all of that stuff was a total mess.

I know w/ my desktop so old, I really want a new desktop; it's going to be a full blown new build or new purchase. Pricing is everything here, as my SC15 laptop is doing a good job holding me over, for now - and probably will do so, until the next consoles and/or new hardware roll around (i.e. AMD Ryzen 4000 series and NVidia 3000 cards).

But, if I see something crazy for not that expensive $ and/or crazy value and I can catch it in time (before it sells out) - I'll jump. Almost did a few times, earlier this year - but again, stuff was sold out when I saw the clearance deal type w/ that type of pricing.

Yeah, I'm thinking the high-end Ryzen 3000's paired w/ a modern vid card will really do you well on most stuff - but of course, pricing is going to everything.

If i remember correct da-i gave me no difficulties what so ever on the 920, only 6 gb's of ram ( 3x2gb ) and a GTX 770 card ( granted this one probably took the brunch of the deal )

You could always try upgrading to a xeon x5650 which should fit in your slot and will give you no problems in mass effect andromeda..... this was my next step next to adding a ( 3x4gb ) kit extra and using a xonar card... oh and replacing the costly 770 with a 1050T. I bought a refurbished xeon cpu one found at a local refurbisher for around 60 euro's but on aliexpress you can get them as cheap as 30 dollars. You can take a gamble for that pricing, there are a lot of youtubers who went ahead and tried one of those with pretty good result. Both warhammers worked pretty oke too as did other games

As you can see on this comparrison it doesn't look like a lot, only 10% but the added value of 2 cores extra is present

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-X5650-vs-Intel-Core-i7-950/m355vs617

after the 1050Ti i added an extra custom market air cooler replaced some fans and even ordered a special made x58 board from china.... bought a new win 10 pro version too and just a week later something happenend which made me built my current machine, turned out the r5 has its own right since the electricity bill dropped with about 15 euro's a week ;)

Just saying the xeon would have pulled me through on most games probably only now giving problems in the most newest of titles though... you never know, ddr 3 machines have another way of doing stuff ..... i can say most strategic games did became a lot more challenging with the new ryzen installed, had to really adjust to that