Cheap gaming pc for 8yo

Soldato
Joined
10 Jun 2006
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3,878
Location
Wigan
Hi all,

My girlfriends kid has been playing games on my PC and I would really like to pick him up his own but don't want to spend too much on it.

I wouldn't like to build anything crazy as it will be his first PC but was hoping you could point me in the right general direction of a PC that will handle Minecraft with a few mods and Fortnite with a handful of other games thrown in.

I'm hoping to get it as cheap as possible but obviously be able to handle those games around 1080p60,

Am I better picking up a cheap pre-built or is the lower end of the market competitive these days?

Thanks in advance.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2010
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5,231
What sort of budget do you have, and do you need a keyboard/mouse and monitor to be included?

If you build for him do you have any spare parts from your own builds?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
10 Jun 2006
Posts
3,878
Location
Wigan
What sort of budget do you have, and do you need a keyboard/mouse and monitor to be included?

If you build for him do you have any spare parts from your own builds?

Thanks for the reply.

I have an old R9 290 lying around but that's it at the moment. I could include that but one of the blades snapped off one of the fans so I would have to repair that.

As for monitor/keyboard etc, yes. I would unfortunately need these too. I have a couple of Windows keys free but that's it.

Budget wise, I would hopefully like to get as near to £500 as possible but I'm not sure if that's realistic, I could stretch if needed.

Thanks again
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2010
Posts
5,231
This could be worth considering if he uses his TV as a monitor:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £540.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)

It's a tad over but I'd argue it's worth it.

If you shop around you can get an RX580 8GB for around £140, would bring you down to £515 give or take.

The 1600 I've listed as I suspect OCUK might be using the old 1600 store page for the 1600 AF due in stock on the 7th, but I would recommend checking with OCUK to be sure, if not you can find it elsewhere for a similar price by looking for the product code: YD1600BBAFBOX.

More info on the 1600AF here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-us-85-ryzen-5-1600-af-6-core-12-thread-cpu.18874752/

It performs similarly to a 2600, bit of an odd naming choice on behalf of AMD but it's an excellent budget option.

All in all it'd be a stellar little 1080p machine.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
10 Jun 2006
Posts
3,878
Location
Wigan
This could be worth considering if he uses his TV as a monitor:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £540.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)

It's a tad over but I'd argue it's worth it.

If you shop around you can get an RX580 8GB for around £140, would bring you down to £515 give or take.

The 1600 I've listed as I suspect OCUK might be using the old 1600 store page for the 1600 AF due in stock on the 7th, but I would recommend checking with OCUK to be sure, if not you can find it elsewhere for a similar price by looking for the product code: YD1600BBAFBOX.

More info on the 1600AF here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-us-85-ryzen-5-1600-af-6-core-12-thread-cpu.18874752/

It performs similarly to a 2600, bit of an odd naming choice on behalf of AMD but it's an excellent budget option.

All in all it'd be a stellar little 1080p machine.

Cheers mate, this is awesome. Thank you.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Oct 2010
Posts
5,231
Cheers mate, this is awesome. Thank you.

No problem!

For what it's worth, the above spec has room for upgrading at some point if he ever needs more oomph. The Asrock Pro 4 is a fairly decent B450, you could pop in a 3700X or similar down the line without a problem, a GPU update wouldn't be an issue either if he ever needed it for a future game or due to a monitor upgrade to 1440p etc, although that would obviously be within the constraints of the PSU.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,659
TBH the games he'd likely want to play are Fortnite, maybe Rocket League and Minecraft. I'd pick up a cheap 2500K 8GB system and chuck your 290 into it once it's been repaired. If you wanted to 'ghetto' the fan break the opposite fan blade off so the fan is balanced. Doubt you'd even notice an increase in temps. The child may go off the PC in 2-3 months so I wouldn't spend a fortune. If they're still into it in 6 months or a years time, upgrade at Christmas.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Jan 2016
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3,727
Location
Derbyshire
could do what i did for my partners 11yr old, i upgraded an old Dell 620, so it has an i5 2400, 8gb ram, gtx 760 2gb and runs fortnite spot on, dont think minecraft has been installed yet, but its his first gaming computer.

im not saying to copy me, just the whole buy a decent used system and upgrade or just buy a used gaming pc all together, to me thats better than spending lots of stuff they might not get used much.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Oct 2019
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11,656
Location
Uk
A ps4 might be a cheaper option if you didn't want to go down the Pc route, I got my kids 5 and 6 a ps4 slim for Christmas with minecraft, fornite and Spider-Man etc and they absolutely love it. Gives me and the wife some peace and rest bite!.
 
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