Brand gaming PC build for nephew

D1craig · Saturday at 13:15

My sister has asked me about a gaming PC for her son for Christmas and says she looked and saw prices of 4k. But im pretty sure that was PC world/Currys.

Can anybody gives me suggestions of some parts i could buy as cheap as possible with a mind not to scare them/him away from PC gaming because of peformance ( a stuttery mess ) or price.

Hes 11 years old and i think it would be games like fortnite maybe more modern versions of it and FIFA i also dont want to warn him off AAA games because he is starting secindary school next year so will likely play some more sophisticated story games.

The only thing on my mind is 16gb gpu and AM5 backbone. Id love it to be ITX aswell because massive pc boxes do tend to put newcomers off.

Games - FIFA, roblox, gta5/6
Monitor - 4k but will most likely have to play lower resolution.

D1craig · Saturday at 13:19

Roblox, fortnite and gta5 he has said so id imagine gta6 when thats out will be a must.

mickyflinn · Saturday at 13:19

Does he need a monitor and what resolution ?

Can you give us a budget ?

D1craig · Saturday at 13:29

mickyflinn said:
Does he need a monitor and what resolution ?

Can you give us a budget ?

Ive suggested he can just use his TV that he uses the ps5 on for now. Ive no idea about budget. But i think 1080 and 60fps would be a starting point.

Id say under 1k but i fear that wouldnt get anything good.

D1craig · Saturday at 13:37

Ok using TV is a no go. So if hes getting a monitor i think it has to be 4k. But option to lower it in more intense games.

mickyflinn · Saturday at 13:39

D1craig said:
Ive suggested he can just use his TV that he uses the ps5 on for now. Ive no idea about budget. But i think 1080 and 60fps would be a starting point.

Id say under 1k but i fear that wouldnt get anything good.

Done a £1000 build but added a monitor to get away from the TV.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99
1 x Asrock B850M-X WiFi R2.0 (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-05290) = £124.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £89.99
1 x XFX Swift 9060 XT Gaming OC Dual Fan 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05433) = £329.99
1 x Antec CX500M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04158) = £54.94
1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95
1 x Thermalright Assassin X 120 R Digital Black CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-04203) = £14.99
1 x AOC 25" 25G42E 1920x1080 Fast IPS 180Hz 0.5ms HDR10 Adaptive Sync HDR 10 Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-AOC-05749) = £78.95

Total: £1,067.74 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Tetras · Saturday at 13:40

D1craig said:
Id say under 1k but i fear that wouldnt get anything good.

D1craig said:
Id love it to be ITX aswell because massive pc boxes do tend to put newcomers off.

£1K is enough for a tower, with your ask of AM5 and a 9060 XT 16GB, but I would caution against ITX, because of more limited choice/availability of parts like the motherboard and SFX PSUs.

D1craig said:
Ok using TV is a no go. So if hes getting a monitor i think it has to be 4k. But option to lower it in more intense games.

If gaming at 4K or using upscaling through FSR4/DLSS, I'd up to the budget to whatever is needed to get a 5070 or 9070. Realistically, you're looking at least £1k5+ for a decent 4K monitor and tower capable of powering it.

D1craig · Saturday at 13:47

Ive looked and motherboards are a lot more expensive for itx. Atx and matx seen a lot less so.

Im nit sure how good ps5 looks when it does its upscaling thing. But i do recall it can do 4k? Even a pc game at 2560 or 3440 wpuld be better wouldnt it? Or the upscaling would be better aswell?

D1craig · Saturday at 13:50

What would i be sacrificing if i picked a lesser quality 4k monitor for the bigger screen. I think his TV is like 45" atleast. I know he'll be sat at the desk like.

mickyflinn · Saturday at 13:58

D1craig said:
What would i be sacrificing if i picked a lesser quality 4k monitor for the bigger screen. I think his TV is like 45" atleast. I know he'll be sat at the desk like.

1440p closer up will still look very good on a monitor , going to 4k is where things will struggle in AAA titles unless you have a £600 GPU.

1440p ips 180hz monitor , £128.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoc-27-q27g4xf-ips-2560x1440-180hz-1ms-hdmi-dp-ha-mon-aoc-03326.html

D1craig · Saturday at 14:01

What about an older am5 cpu?

mickyflinn · Saturday at 14:16

D1craig said:
What about an older am5 cpu?

Could do like a 7600 but you not saving that much but you could loose the cooler then as it comes with one but noise will be louder when gaming

if you also drop the m2 drive to 1tb theres £50 saved .

So you could probably save £100 with the above changes .

D1craig · Saturday at 14:30

Ok ive just had some bad news budget wise. Im trying to push for 2x price of a ps5. So like 600 quid... ignore the monitor and peris. Scrap my suggestions for resolution. And what would we suggest?

GTA5 has to be the most demanding of the 2 games he plays and that pretty old isnt it, roblox to me sounds very cpu intense rather than gpu. I suppose he could get a better gpu next Christmas.

D1craig · Saturday at 14:32

mickyflinn said:
Could do like a 7600 but you not saving that much but you could loose the cooler then as it comes with one but noise will be louder when gaming

if you also drop the m2 drive to 1tb theres £50 saved .

So you could probably save £100 with the above changes .

When new to pcs you will fill up that space so quick. I suppose he could get a sata ssd for his storage like.

mickyflinn · Saturday at 14:41

D1craig said:
When new to pcs you will fill up that space so quick. I suppose he could get a sata ssd for his storage like.

Sure .

The changes will pay for the monitor almost making it a £1000 ish build or stick with the original build with monitor making it £1140 .

Let his parents decide.

D1craig · Saturday at 14:59

What would we think about using my old i5 6600k mobo and ram and just get him a gpu? I could stick it in a case so it looks smart.

Or i have a ryzen 7 3700x and psu but no mobo or ram as i reused them.

Tetras · Saturday at 15:05

D1craig said:
What would we think about using my old i5 6600k mobo and ram and just get him a gpu? I could stick it in a case so it looks smart.

Or i have a ryzen 7 3700x and psu but no mobo or ram as i reused them.

Can you take the RAM from the 6600K and put it in the 3700X? Almost all 6th gen boards are DDR4 (a few early ones are DDR3).

The reason I say that is because DDR4 is expensive new right now.