Help! Son wants to build a gaming PC and I am clueless

[Confused PArent]

Good morning.

My 11 year old has spent months researching PC parts for his build, and has presented me with a list for Christmas. When I have spoken with him about it, he explained that switching some parts is tricky as they may not be compatible together - it was at this point I realised that I needed help! I have zero knowledge on this and wondered if you wonderful people could help so that he gets the best for his money?

I have listed the parts he wants below:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700x processor = £139

Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 I Aorus Pro wise = £115

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 8 GB) 3200 6H = £50

Storage: Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 = £41.99

Video Card: MSI Geforce RTX 4060 ventus 2X Black 8GB = £254.99

Case: Montech XR ATX Mid Tower Case with fans - Black = £44.99

Power Supply: Gigabyte UD750GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified, Japanese capacitors, Fully Modular ATX 3.0 = £78.95

Cooling: Thermalright phantom spirit 120 Evo = £50

Total cost: £774.92

He has also asked for a monitor, but I'm less worried about that!
Thank you in advance - all help is appreciated!

 

[freddie64]

Is that your maximum budget?

CPU, motherboard and RAM is old tech. Can get better NVME drive as well.

@Tetras is very good at speccing builds to suit any budget.

 

[Tetras]

@Tetras is very good at speccing builds to suit any budget.

It is not bad, to be honest!

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700x processor = £139

Cooling: Thermalright phantom spirit 120 Evo = £50

The most obvious thing you could do to squeeze more out of the budget is downgrade to a 5600X or 5600 and use the stock cooler, which would free up maybe £90?

I'd then put that money into a better graphics card, which would get higher performance in the majority of games.

Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 I Aorus Pro wise = £115

You could save a bit on this too.

He has also asked for a monitor, but I'm less worried about that!

You can get 1440p monitors pretty affordably now, which is good for immersion and productivity, but maybe not so good for the cost of your build, since it increases the performance requirements in games too

An example of a squeezed spec:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £119.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550 Gaming X V2 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-594-GI) = £92.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18) (SKU: MY-4CL-CS) = £49.99
• 1 x SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7700 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 12GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture (SKU: GRA-SPR-00767) = £349.99
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £80.00

Total: £792.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Gray2233]

AM5 option:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 10 750W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: CA-14W-BQ) = £64.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4060 Twin Edge 8GB Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-03197) = £248.99

Total: £811.93 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I'd personally spend the extra on the Asus PSU above, you can also get a AMD 6750XT for around £290-300 which is much better than the 4060.

AM5 is better for future upgrades, AM4 is a dead socket now, the 7600 is a good deal faster than the 5600/5700X also.

 

[Confused PArent]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the replies.
As I mentioned, I am completely clueless, but want him to get the best that he can for his money. He definitely wants the option to easily (is that a thing?!) upgrade in the future.
The monitor he was looking to get is a FHD 1080P Gaming Monitor 165Hz, so i'm not sure how fussed he is about 1440p at the moment.

He compiled this list from watching Youtube videos and general google research - hence why I wanted to check with people who know their stuff.

I think the most critical things are:

- Best spec for the price.
- Suitable for general gaming and decent storage for games.
- Not too tricky to build (I am pretty good at putting things together, but I've seen some people saying some parts can be really tricky to fit)
- He can easily upgrade in the future if needed.

I could maybe stretch the budget slightly, but not by too much - perhaps £850 max - would that make much difference?

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the replies.
As I mentioned, I am completely clueless, but want him to get the best that he can for his money. He definitely wants the option to easily (is that a thing?!) upgrade in the future.
The monitor he was looking to get is a FHD 1080P Gaming Monitor 165Hz, so i'm not sure how fussed he is about 1440p at the moment.

He compiled this list from watching Youtube videos and general google research - hence why I wanted to check with people who know their stuff.

I think the most critical things are:

- Best spec for the price.
- Suitable for general gaming and decent storage for games.
- Not too tricky to build (I am pretty good at putting things together, but I've seen some people saying some parts can be really tricky to fit)
- He can easily upgrade in the future if needed.

I could maybe stretch the budget slightly, but not by too much - perhaps £850 max - would that make much difference?

I'd recommend the same as I did above but with the aforementioned Asus PSU Tetras listed, and the 6750XT graphics card, but you'd need to go elsewhere for that particular GPU and we can't link competitors.

The Asus power supply is modular and will make building the PC a fair bit easier, but beyond that it's a fairly straight forward procedure and a bit like playing with expensive Lego at this point in time. There's plenty of build guides on youtube that will show you what to do step by step, it's just a case of taking your time and being careful.

You will need an O/S, but you can download Windows 11 onto USB and run it without a licence with minor functionality loss, or alternatively buy a key online for £5-20 max.

 

[Tetras]

The monitor he was looking to get is a FHD 1080P Gaming Monitor 165Hz, so i'm not sure how fussed he is about 1440p at the moment.

If he does anything other than gaming I'd definitely recommend going 1440p, the extra "real estate" does make things easier for productivity.

He definitely wants the option to easily (is that a thing?!) upgrade in the future.

The problem with going AM4 is that if he buys a 5600/5600X/5700X, you really only have the 5700X3D as a decent gaming upgrade and that's your lot.

If you go with AM5 (like a 7600 or 7500F), there are currently lots of CPUs to choose from and hopefully some more coming in the future.

I could maybe stretch the budget slightly, but not by too much - perhaps £850 max - would that make much difference?

I wouldn't change my spec, unless 1080p was guaranteed.

If 1080p is for sure, then what Gray2233 said, the AM5 spec with the better TUF PSU and (if possible) the 6750 XT.

 

[Confused PArent]

If he does anything other than gaming I'd definitely recommend going 1440p, the extra "real estate" does make things easier for productivity.


The problem with going AM4 is that if he buys a 5600/5600X/5700X, you really only have the 5700X3D as a decent gaming upgrade and that's your lot.

If you go with AM5 (like a 7600 or 7500F), there are currently lots of CPUs to choose from and hopefully some more coming in the future.


I wouldn't change my spec, unless 1080p was guaranteed.

If 1080p is for sure, then what Gray2233 said, the AM5 spec with the better TUF PSU and (if possible) the 6750 XT.

Thank you everyone, this is all so helpful!

Can i ask what you mean by 'anything other than gaming'? At the moment the plans are to use it for gaming, school work and potentially editing videos to upload to Youtube
Currently he plays games like Minecraft, Ratchet and Clank, Plants vs Zombies, a tiny bit of Fortnite, and the Gears of War series - no idea what he might be interested in as he gets older though.. does wanting 1440p in the future an issue?

My head is spinning

 

[Tetras]

Can i ask what you mean by 'anything other than gaming'? At the moment the plans are to use it for gaming, school work and potentially editing videos to upload to Youtube
Currently he plays games like Minecraft, Ratchet and Clank, Plants vs Zombies, a tiny bit of Fortnite, and the Gears of War series - no idea what he might be interested in as he gets older though.. does wanting 1440p in the future an issue?

The deal is, with 1080p you have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, whereas 1440p is 2560 x 1440 pixels.

The extra pixels give you much more space to move things around and view them side-by-side, which can help you not have to keep switching windows, ALT+TAB and the like.

For school work it is not essential, but I think would still be handy in some circumstances, the same with editing videos.

The extra pixels does make it more demanding because the graphics card has a lot more pixels to push in your games, but the suggested 6750 XT or 7700 XT can handle running games at 1440p.

I find working with 1080p a bit cramped, but I suppose if 1080p is all you know, it is less of an issue.

 

[adrichardson81]

The AM5 (7600) build would give your son plenty of upgrade options further down the line (at least 2 generations).

A graphics card is an easy upgrade (pretty much drop-in). A higher resolution monitor will give him more usable space on screen, but needs a more powerful graphics card. 1080p is entry level these days and fine on any monitor under 27" (22"-24" typically). 1440p is a mid-range option and would look much better on a 27" monitor.

A 4060 is a good option for 1440p gaming, but overkill for 1080p.

 

[Confused PArent]

The AM5 (7600) build would give your son plenty of upgrade options further down the line (at least 2 generations).

A graphics card is an easy upgrade (pretty much drop-in). A higher resolution monitor will give him more usable space on screen, but needs a more powerful graphics card. 1080p is entry level these days and fine on any monitor under 27" (22"-24" typically). 1440p is a mid-range option and would look much better on a 27" monitor.

A 4060 is a good option for 1440p gaming, but overkill for 1080p.

Thanks for replying!
He is looking at getting a 24" 1080p FHD monitor - is pondering between regular and curved at present.

Can you tell me what you mean by the 4060 being overkill for 1080p? Will it affect anything? I'm sure that in the future he may choose to upgrade his monitor, but at present he is trying to keep costs down.
I'm not sure which is the best option out of the one my son suggested, the suggestions here and the 6750XT...

I just want to make sure he gets the best value, with room for future upgrades for his money.. budget could possibly stretch to £850ish, but I'd much rather keep it closer to £800 unless the extra 50 or so is making a very big difference.

I noticed a different tower was suggested, I think he likes fact there was glass on the front and sides, but the one suggested here only has glass on the side - are there any options similar to the one he liked?

I'll admit I'm a bit muddled by the various suggestions and swap snow and worrying I'll end up buying parts that aren't compatible!

I'm sorry to ask but would it be possible for someone to list the two?(or more!) Options that seemed to be agreed, and the differences? It would really help with my decision making, and I'm keen to get this purchased whilst the offers are on.

 

[adrichardson81]

I'd go flat for a 1080p screen - anything under 32" is really too small for a curve.

A 4060 would be more performance than he needs for 1080p (think owning a Ferrari but only driving at 40mph), but would come into its own if he upgraded the screen further down the line.

 

[Confused PArent]

I'd go flat for a 1080p screen - anything under 32" is really too small for a curve.

A 4060 would be more performance than he needs for 1080p (think owning a Ferrari but only driving at 40mph), but would come into its own if he upgraded the screen further down the line.

Thank you for explaining.

So if the 4060 would be more performance than he needed for his screen, why have others suggested that I get a better graphics card?

Am I right in thinking that the below is the best suggested build? I have upgraded the PSU and might consider the 6750XT if it was deemed worth it. Is everything here compatible?
I have an outstanding question about the tower too - I think he really likes the ARGB fans and it doesn't look like this one comes with them - how do i solve this?

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £80.00
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4060 Twin Edge 8GB Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-03197) = £248.99
  Total£826.94

 

[Tetras]

I think he really likes the ARGB fans and it doesn't look like this one comes with them - how do i solve this?

You can keep the case in your original spec (e.g. the XR or Air 100), I think it'll all fit.

might consider the 6750XT if it was deemed worth it

Personally I don't consider the 4060 a 1440p card, I consider it a 1080p card.

TPU's GPU database has the 6750 XT as 19% faster and the 7700 XT as 37% faster.

The minimum I'd buy for 1080p is a RX 6600, of which the 4060 is 27% faster.

Note that those numbers don't include ray tracing or upscaling, but ray tracing isn't really relevant at this performance level, in my opinion.

 

[Confused PArent]

OK, so based on what he will be using it for the 4060 would be fine? Or is it worth the extra pounds to future proof? I'm assuming he would be forking out 350 minimum if he wanted to upgrade in future (not taking into account inflation!)

I'm afraid I have no idea what upscaling or ray tracing is - off to Google!

How does the build I posted (with the case he wants) sound?

 

[Tetras]

OK, so based on what he will be using it for the 4060 would be fine?

Yes, it will be fine. I suggested the 7700 XT in post #3 partly just as an edit to optimise "bang for buck", since there was some wiggle room in the budget by removing the cooler, for example.

The original spec in your post was not "bad".

 

[Rob_B]

It's been covered pretty well but I'd personally go for AM5 (7600 so you get cooler included) and a 1440p monitor, you'll thank yourself down the line when it comes to the next upgrade and you don't have to swap everything. AM4 would be cheaper now but I'd be suggesting going with a 5700X3D for the most bang for the buck or a 5600 but your future upgrades are very limited.

Don't forget keyboard and mouse plus a Windows license if required.

2nd hand would save you some money on certain parts.

You could look on Facebook marketplace etc for a whole system but the usual warnings apply to buying on there, if anything comes up you'll get a blunt answer here if it's good value or not

 

[Confused PArent]

It's been covered pretty well but I'd personally go for AM5 (7600 so you get cooler included) and a 1440p monitor, you'll thank yourself down the line when it comes to the next upgrade and you don't have to swap everything. AM4 would be cheaper now but I'd be suggesting going with a 5700X3D for the most bang for the buck or a 5600 but your future upgrades are very limited.

Don't forget keyboard and mouse plus a Windows license if required.

2nd hand would save you some money on certain parts.

You could look on Facebook marketplace etc for a whole system but the usual warnings apply to buying on there, if anything comes up you'll get a blunt answer here if it's good value or not

Thanks! You are all so helpful!
I'm far too scared to spend this kind of money on FB marketplace!
He already has a keyboard and mouse

I showed him the final list and he seemed happy (so long as he could keep the case in his original list - although i can only seem to find it available to pre-order as it is out of stock everywhere!
He was also very chuffed that people said his initial list wasn't bad
I am hoping the below will do the trick, I want to get some of this stuff ordered tonight before the sales switch off - I have somewhere in the region of £400- £500 to spend tonight (The rest is being purchased as Christmas gifts from family) any suggestions which of these are currently the best deals so I can make the max savings? Oh, and what tools will we need to actually build it?!

Final decision ( I think!) is :

• Motherboard - Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £134.99
• CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• Memory- Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• Case - Montech XR ATX Mid Tower Case with fans - Black = £44.99
• Storage - Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• Power supply - Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £80.00
• Graphics Card - Zotac GeForce RTX 4060 Twin Edge 8GB Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-03197) = £248.99
  
  Total = £821.94

 

[mickyflinn]

£120 for that power supply is stupid money.

£85

Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black

Order Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[Confused PArent]

£120 for that power supply is stupid money.

£85

Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black

Order Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

thank you! I've just seen this > 850W ASUS TUF Gaming Gold, Fully Modular, 80PLUS Gold, Single Rail, 70.8A, 135mm Fan, ATX PSU for £89.99, no idea if compatible or if its better/worse than your suggestion...