Gaming Rig for Young Teenager £1000-1500

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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).

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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When you come to build it, build it with him.
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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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.

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?
 
if you need me to explain the rationale for the parts chosen just say
if you don't mind, although i am doing some reading in parallel to do that myself :)

I assume you've wanted to set him up with a full gaming rig at 1440p so have found the right monitor/GPU combination at around the price point i've been talking about? Saved some money by going semi-modular on the PSU and getting a cheaper case?
 
Sorry for the thread necro, but I could do with updating the advice. The boy has got £200 to put towards the project himself and he’s also advised that he wants to get intro streaming.

Does that alter CPU and GPU requirements? Is it worth going to 8 cores and a 5770?

TIA
 
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