£800 Gaming Build?

paulmapp8306

paulmapp8306

paulmapp8306

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Thinking of my son. He has a 3 year old laptop and a PS4 and hes coming up to 14 years of age.

He doesnt use the PS4 much anymore - and most of his games are PC games (nothing too taxing really - his i5 laptop handles them enough for him).

HOWEVER, having supplemented his sisters birthday month by some £500 (she really really wanted an apple XR, and she did OK in her GCSEs this summer) Im thinking about supplementing his Christmas money and getting him a proper gaming PC. Something he can expand his gaming on at decent levels, for the next 4 years or so.

He has a basic keyboard/mouse and 27" HD monitor - so we dont need those. We can always add later. I dont think hell want to go QHD/4k on this build. Maybe at 18 hell make that jump.

So - thinking a budget of £800ish would be what we could justify. The only caveat is his laptop has a 500MB SSD (possibly even NVMe - but only if its cost effective v SSD) - and Id want a LEAST that (preferably a 1TB) BUT I know that may not be the best use of the money. Just bear it in mind.

Im guessing Ryzen is the way to go for CPU but not sure which one. 2600, 2600+, 2700?? No idea on motherboards for this build.

GPU? something that can handle a solid (ie not below) 60 fps at 1080p on high/best graphics now as it needs to cover the next few years (his monitor is 1080po with 60hz refresh - so unless we change that I dont see the need for anything higher).

Games he plays - CURRENTLY Overwatch, Minecraft. Ones he wants to try at present - Subnautica, Arc, planet coaster - anything Manga based......

Having just sped's a 2k system for me - Im kind of in the loop BUT not at this lower level.

So - whats possible, what are the limitation, is it worth doing at this budget or do I need to push up the the £1000-£1200 mark (thats maybe possible but next year not this).

One more thing - I wont be building this myself I don think. Im more than capable of the actual physical build being an electrionics Tech by trade BUT 1. Im no IT man and the thought of fresh windows/driver install and set up scares the crap out of me and 2. If I get a DOA board Id stress too much. I know this is probably wasted money e- especially at this budget BUT Its a piece of mind thing.

Thanks all.
 
Yeah, for a younger audience, aesthetics is probably more important than outright performance.
You need to find out whether your son wants a hulking behemoth or a mini battlebox. And then also RGB or no RGB. Be prepared to spend a pretty large % of the budget on the case/RGB
 
paulmapp8306 said:
One more thing - I wont be building this myself I don think. Im more than capable of the actual physical build being an electrionics Tech by trade BUT 1. Im no IT man and the thought of fresh windows/driver install and set up scares the crap out of me and 2. If I get a DOA board Id stress too much. I know this is probably wasted money e- especially at this budget BUT Its a piece of mind thing.
Click to expand...
Missed the above - so you would need it add ~100/~£150 for build costs (could sub out V56 for RX 590)

Built around a kids liking - you could also add a matching extracting fan - i'll upload a pic.

I would sub out listed memory for Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3200MHz. You could get a 1TB NVMe drive ~£100 but if you needed to lose some money from the below build you could sub the v56 for a RX 590 ~£180.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £856.23 (includes shipping: £12.30)



44pWJNJl.jpg
 
If your son is 14 why not let him build it himself? It'd be a great learning experience for him, there's tons of solid step by step guides on youtube, it could be a fun project for the two of you. I was looking at speccing something myself but honestly, Plec has a near identical build outside of case choice so there's not much point in my posting it.

That Vega 56 with a 3600 will offer an excellent 1080p experience.
 
paulmapp8306 said:
Thinking of my son. He has a 3 year old laptop and a PS4 and hes coming up to 14 years of age.

He doesnt use the PS4 much anymore - and most of his games are PC games (nothing too taxing really - his i5 laptop handles them enough for him).

HOWEVER, having supplemented his sisters birthday month by some £500 (she really really wanted an apple XR, and she did OK in her GCSEs this summer) Im thinking about supplementing his Christmas money and getting him a proper gaming PC. Something he can expand his gaming on at decent levels, for the next 4 years or so.

He has a basic keyboard/mouse and 27" HD monitor - so we dont need those. We can always add later. I dont think hell want to go QHD/4k on this build. Maybe at 18 hell make that jump.

So - thinking a budget of £800ish would be what we could justify. The only caveat is his laptop has a 500MB SSD (possibly even NVMe - but only if its cost effective v SSD) - and Id want a LEAST that (preferably a 1TB) BUT I know that may not be the best use of the money. Just bear it in mind.

Im guessing Ryzen is the way to go for CPU but not sure which one. 2600, 2600+, 2700?? No idea on motherboards for this build.

GPU? something that can handle a solid (ie not below) 60 fps at 1080p on high/best graphics now as it needs to cover the next few years (his monitor is 1080po with 60hz refresh - so unless we change that I dont see the need for anything higher).

Games he plays - CURRENTLY Overwatch, Minecraft. Ones he wants to try at present - Subnautica, Arc, planet coaster - anything Manga based......

Having just sped's a 2k system for me - Im kind of in the loop BUT not at this lower level.

So - whats possible, what are the limitation, is it worth doing at this budget or do I need to push up the the £1000-£1200 mark (thats maybe possible but next year not this).

One more thing - I wont be building this myself I don think. Im more than capable of the actual physical build being an electrionics Tech by trade BUT 1. Im no IT man and the thought of fresh windows/driver install and set up scares the crap out of me and 2. If I get a DOA board Id stress too much. I know this is probably wasted money e- especially at this budget BUT Its a piece of mind thing.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Hallo,

This:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £757.13 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​
 
That looks decent. Id add a regular HD for mass storage, which is in budget.

Only question - is the GPU. Not sure how the older RXs hold up compared to similar priced intel cards. Need some comments on this - and Ill do some research as well.
 
paulmapp8306 said:
That looks decent. Id add a regular HD for mass storage, which is in budget.

Only question - is the GPU. Not sure how the older RXs hold up compared to similar priced intel cards. Need some comments on this - and Ill do some research as well.
Click to expand...

Are you addressing @4K8KW10 or myself?

The RX580/590 is the bang for buck card for within this price bracket - and zen-2 3600 is still within budget - with your £1000 possible (i would still sub memory for Crucial etc...). Plus, the MSI board has better VRMs and recently refreshed (Zen-2 orientated) and better geared towards future upgrades if/when required:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
 
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tamzzy said:
Yeah, for a younger audience, aesthetics is probably more important than outright performance.
You need to find out whether your son wants a hulking behemoth or a mini battlebox. And then also RGB or no RGB. Be prepared to spend a pretty large % of the budget on the case/RGB
Click to expand...

He wont get the choice :) No RGB. Doesnt add anything to performance and Im paying. If hes using his own money when he gets older he can do what he likes.

As for case, height doesnt matter. Were restricted to 515mm wide (which wouldnt be a problem) and 500m deep (again shouldnt be an issue). Apart from that, anything goes.
 
paulmapp8306 said:
That looks decent. Id add a regular HD for mass storage, which is in budget.

Only question - is the GPU. Not sure how the older RXs hold up compared to similar priced intel cards. Need some comments on this - and Ill do some research as well.
Click to expand...

opposite end to @Plec since hes a big spender



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £612.24 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​
 
Gray2233 said:
If your son is 14 why not let him build it himself? It'd be a great learning experience for him, there's tons of solid step by step guides on youtube, it could be a fun project for the two of you. I was looking at speccing something myself but honestly, Plec has a near identical build outside of case choice so there's not much point in my posting it.

That Vega 56 with a 3600 will offer an excellent 1080p experience.
Click to expand...

The build isnt the problem - and I d love to try one, its the it setup stuff and the possibility of a DOA board/fault finding if it doesnt work etc. Not keen on that however unlikely.
 
4K8KW10 said:
@orbitalwalsh It isn't a good idea to take a motherboard without warranty. It's the last component which needs to be b-grade.
Click to expand...

your not very bright with the amount of threads your read through. why would you go through OCUK rma.. ? Cant say any more on the matter...

and i did say cheap as chips :)


intel version- like above, needs some reading between lines



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £814.19 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
Plec said:
Are you addressing @4K8KW10 or myself?

The RX580/590 is the bang for buck card for within this price bracket - and zen-2 3600 is still within budget - with your £1000 possible (i would still sub memory for Crucial etc...). Plus, the MSI board has better VRMs and recently refreshed (Zen-2 orientated) and better geared towards future upgrades if/when required:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Click to expand...

Originally commenting on @4ks.

Either of those work - even with £100 build cost (based on MY PC parts list v built by OC cost its about £100) - £850 is fine. He has £400 for birthday an Christmas combined (his birthday is 16th Dec) and I added £450 to my daughters phone fund (my wife thinks she deserves it for her exam results - BUT we already re-did her bedroom at a £1000 cost when shed finished her exams as a reward for working hard) - for id happily go £850 all in (as long as hes happy with the one big thing - cant see why not he was when he got his PS4 4 years ago). Shame I couldnt stretch the vega - but the extra £100 pushes the build back year (Id get better kit for the money then - but were also another year down the tech tree).

He may decide to wait until next year anyway - Im getting the info which Ill then put to him.
 
orbitalwalsh said:
opposite end to @Plec since hes a big spender
Click to expand...
Hehe, for once it would appear so - doing 2 things at once and thought RGB was part of the brief.

paulmapp8306 said:
for id happily go £850 all in
Click to expand...


A tweak on Orbi's - with Zen-2 orientated board for the future - i.e. add ~£100/~£150:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £677.19 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​
 
 
paulmapp8306 said:
@orbitalwalsh

I think Id rather stick with AMD for the CPU (less concerned intel over Radeon for GPU). Its always been the value for money choice, and in this price range price beats the slight improvement you might get going Intel.
Click to expand...

no worries, at both £180 though is b-grade so no 3 yr warranty - not that i've had any intel or amd chips die within 6 yrs of running .

intel would find with high end GPU at 1080p 144hz monitors easily . Ryzen comes into its own at 1440p and even grounds at 4k

@Plec should be able to push vega 56 within £800 budget to your above . I was just going super cheap with AMD and max with intel :)
 
orbitalwalsh said:
@Plec should be able to push vega 56 within £800 budget to your above . I was just going super cheap with AMD and max with intel :)
Click to expand...
:p

Last attempt - vega 56:

Again, sub out memory for Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3000Mhz - same price, clocks well etc...

* May need to post in CS forum for lead times on motherboard as newly released/due.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £719.23 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
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