£1000 first build for 9 year old

Vegeta · 17 Dec 2025 at 14:20

Hi guys my nephew is wanting a pc this Xmas. A budget off £1000 but this is by no means strict so can increase if needed.

Everything will be needed monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers and hardware I can build the system if best parts for the price is specced I haven't built a pc for a while so I don't really know where to start.

RGB preferred and probably a 85-65% keyboard would be best with a smaller sized mouse.

Gray2233 · 17 Dec 2025 at 14:43

You've picked the worst possible time to build a PC, RAM prices are through the roof and stock is very limited, storage such as NvME's isn't much different.

You'd probably be better off going for a prebuild or throwing out a hail Mary for second hand parts on the MM if you've access.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Glorious Model D USB RGB Optical Gaming Mouse - Glossy White (GD-GWHITE) (SKU: KB-017-GR) = £9.95
1 x GAMIAC TKL69G SF 65% USB RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Kailh Red - Black/Grey (UK) (SKU: PER-GAM-01730) = £39.95
1 x be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 11 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05640) = £54.94
1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £160.99
1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 XMP 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C32 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Si (SKU: MEM-GSK-01368) = £290.00
1 x Gigabyte Aorus 7300E 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-GIG-06500) = £94.99
1 x Asrock A620AM Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-06600) = £88.99
1 x Sparkle Intel ARC B570 GUARDIAN OC 10GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPK-03924) = £199.99
1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
1 x Edifier M1250 USB Powered 2.0 Speaker Set - Black (SKU: SP-05H-ER) = £14.99
1 x ASUS VA249HG 24" 1920x1080 IPS 120Hz 1ms A-Sync Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-ASU-05094) = £58.99

Total: £1,068.73 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Believe it or not but that's the cheapest 32gb set of RAM currently on OCUK.

The CPU isn't currently in stock for OCUK, it does come with a serviceable HSF.

Skimping in areas like the motherboard and NvME, ideally you're better off spending £150 on a better 2TB drive and another £30 on a good entry level B850 motherboard.

I'd prefer to spend another £130 or so on a 9060XT 16gb too, but for a 9 year old and depending on what he wants to play an 8gb model might be fine and offer good uplift.

You could save another £20 on the case but frankly it'd look like plap.

Honestly as mentioned, check the MM for some bundle deals or have a look in the attic for any old parts of your own you could possibly reuse. You might even be better off going for a prebuild, but I doubt you'll get one in time for Christmas at this short notice.

sastusbulbas · 17 Dec 2025 at 17:54

Bought two of those mice for £15 each during the Black Friday sale, now they are £10, what a cheek.

Gray2233 · 17 Dec 2025 at 18:17

sastusbulbas said:
Bought two of those mice for £15 each during the Black Friday sale, now they are £10, what a cheek.

Can't go wrong for £10-15 tbh, even if just as a back up to put in a drawer.

Quartz · 17 Dec 2025 at 20:03

Vegeta said:
Hi guys my nephew is wanting a pc this Xmas. A budget off £1000 but this is by no means strict so can increase if needed.

Make sure you build it with him. It will be a great experience for both of you.

Vegeta · 19 Dec 2025 at 02:03

Thanks for the post guys I've ordered the exact build quoted at the top and the CPU elsewhere.

I wish I had the time to build it with him I'll be building it at work when I get a chance and it's a surprise for his Christmas.

Just a quick one - I see the GPU is an intel I'm assuming for this price range it is ok? Last time I built a PC there was only Nvidia and AMD with cards.

mickyflinn · 19 Dec 2025 at 09:23

Vegeta said:
Thanks for the post guys I've ordered the exact build quoted at the top and the CPU elsewhere.

I wish I had the time to build it with him I'll be building it at work when I get a chance and it's a surprise for his Christmas.

Just a quick one - I see the GPU is an intel I'm assuming for this price range it is ok? Last time I built a PC there was only Nvidia and AMD with cards.

Yes intel GPU are good value as there drivers have improved over time giving better performance.

Roughneck · 19 Dec 2025 at 18:00

sastusbulbas said:
Bought two of those mice for £15 each during the Black Friday sale, now they are £10, what a cheek.

Great Mice though, i have two off them

freddie64 · 19 Dec 2025 at 22:33

Roughneck said:
Great Mice though, i have two off them

As long as it doesn't creak.

I got a B grade one for cheap that had a slight creak on the sides, but it got worse the more i used it.

Thought i could put up with it as it was not expensive but it did my head in.

In the end i lost my rag with it and stamped on it.

Roughneck · 20 Dec 2025 at 03:24

freddie64 said:
As long as it doesn't creak.

I got a B grade one for cheap that had a slight creak on the sides, but it got worse the more i used it.

Thought i could put up with it as it was not expensive but it did my head in.

In the end i lost my rag with it and stamped on it.

Big Smile on my face atm

Vegeta · 24 Dec 2025 at 02:17

System built very easy things are a lot easier these days. The 7600 didnt arrive in time but found a 9600 instead - im assuming this is a decent upgrade?

The spec was great he'll be able to upgrade things in future if required.

freddie64 · 24 Dec 2025 at 06:42

Glad the build went smoothly, am sure your nephew will love it.

Make sure Resizable Bar is enabled in bios as this is supposed to be a huge boost for Intel GPU's.

Vegeta · 25 Dec 2025 at 00:30

freddie64 said:
Glad the build went smoothly, am sure your nephew will love it.

Make sure Resizable Bar is enabled in bios as this is supposed to be a huge boost for Intel GPU's.

Thank you i'll get that enabled