Gaming Rig for Young Teenager £1000-1500

Franksi

Franksi

Franksi

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8 Jul 2009
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312
Hi guys, i've been out of the PC building scene for a while (last build was an OC'd Q6600!)

My partner's son starts secondary school in September so i'm looking to get him a PC for him to do homework and also to run games on. His main passion is F1 2020 and i'd like to be able to run this on as close to the highest settings as possible. Initially i have a Dell 24" 1080P monitor that he can use so i'd like to keep that out of the build price (unless you can fit something cool in!)

I've always been an Intel and NVidia guy but if AMD and Radeon are just as good these days i'm happy to hear suggestions on those too
 
Ryzen CPUs are the way to go now. Ryzen 5 3600 is still a best buy in terms of all round gaming, productivity and streaming.

Graphics card wise the RX 570 or RX 580 is still amazing value at under £200. While they are 1080p highest setting cards now they may start showing their in a years time. The next step up would be GTX 1660 ti or even a RX 5700 (but wait for custom coolers).
 
Burnt_Custard said:
Ryzen CPUs are the way to go now. Ryzen 5 3600 is still a best buy in terms of all round gaming, productivity and streaming.

Graphics card wise the RX 570 or RX 580 is still amazing value at under £200. While they are 1080p highest setting cards now they may start showing their in a years time. The next step up would be GTX 1660 ti or even a RX 5700 (but wait for custom coolers).
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Thanks for this - the intention is getting him a decent starting point and then he can earn upgrades later on through a paper round or using his birthday and christmas money. The initial outlay is just a bit out of his reach

EDIT: Looking at an OCUK build, what would you change on this?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £891.85
    • Processor:AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core/Twelve Thread 3.9GHz Processor (MPK)
    • Motherboard:Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • CPU Cooler:Raijintek Themis Red CPU Cooler for Ryzen
    • Optical Drive **Please Check Chassis Support**:Unwanted
    • Case Lighting:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 Home Advanced - Systems
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched in approx 7 working days
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30
    • Case:Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Window
    • Speakers:Unwanted
    • Gaming Chair:Unwanted
    • Soundcard:Unwanted
    • Network Adapter:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Unwanted
    • Solid State Drive 1:WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0A)
    • Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 1:Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - *System Stock*
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Graphics:PowerColor Radeon RX 580 Red Dragon V2 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Headset:Unwanted
    • Monitors:Unwanted
    • Power Supply:Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)
    • Keyboard:Unwanted
    • Mouse:Unwanted
Total: £905.95 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​
 
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chroniclard said:
Change to a 3600 cpu. Get a better GPU. Imo :)
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whats a better one? A 590 or something else?

EDIT: Did a bit of leg work myself - how does this look?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £953.02 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​
 
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Looking good. You may need to flash the bios on the mobo (or look out for newer ones out soon with the suffix MAX).

That's a lot to pay for a windows licence. "Grey" ones on auction sites are as little as £2 if that's something you'd be OK with.

My teens are ancient history, but I suspect he'd like a fancier case with RGB lighting etc.
 
Franksi said:
whats a better one? A 590 or something else?

EDIT: Did a bit of leg work myself - how does this look?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £953.02 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​
Click to expand...

very good build given your budget, can't really fault it!

Could possibly wait for some new gpu's to release which will of course make existing gpu's cheaper to get a hold of.
 
Praz94 said:
very good build given your budget, can't really fault it!

Could possibly wait for some new gpu's to release which will of course make existing gpu's cheaper to get a hold of.
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Agreed nice build.
As above is drop the windows 10, you can just install it without a code.
I would opt for a 1TB SSD, which is about the same price as the above SSD and mechanical bundle.
For that build you would need to know it's running the latest BIOS otherwise Zen 2 won't work out the box, the alternative is buy the Tomahawk Max B450 which is £99, or get the kit from AMD to flash it yourself if you can wait for it to arrive.
 
Quartz said:
When you come to build it, build it with him.
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That's 100% what i intend to do

I've taken on board the feedback re: case and storage so just doing a few tweaks. As its coming in under £900 i'm probably going to get him a 27" monitor too so i'll post a final spec for comment over the weekend

EDIT:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,035.83 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​
 
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Franksi said:
1 x DELL SE2717H 27" 1920x1080 IPS 6ms 75Hz FreeSync LED Backlit Gaming Monitor 3 Yrs Warranty= £154.99
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I'm not sure that 75 Hz is enough of a boost over your current monitor. And I would recommend against 1080p on a 27" monitor as to keen eyes it will look pixellated. You really want 1440p on a 27" monitor.

BTW the Ryzen comes with a Wraith cooler which I'm told is pretty good so you can save yourself £24 as you won't need the Rajintek. When he tries overclocking, get him a serious CPU cooler.
 
Quartz said:
I'm not sure that 75 Hz is enough of a boost over your current monitor. And I would recommend against 1080p on a 27" monitor as to keen eyes it will look pixellated. You really want 1440p on a 27" monitor.

BTW the Ryzen comes with a Wraith cooler which I'm told is pretty good so you can save yourself £24 as you won't need the Rajintek. When he tries overclocking, get him a serious CPU cooler.
Click to expand...

Thanks will save on the cooler - intending everything to run at stock for now. Can i run 1440p using the RX 590 or will i need a better card?
 
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