I have no idea where to start, please help if you can

MidnightKisses

MidnightKisses

MidnightKisses

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Devon
Hi im looking for a pc for my son, hes 12 and loves editing his game footage / vlogging family trips etc. Would anyone be able to point me in the direction of a pc that would be ideal for this please
I'm not sure if I should have one built, I did contact someone that can do this and their advice was to go with low spec and build it up as he needs it, they said that they could do this for £800 not including monitor, keyboard & mouse.
Or should I buy one that's already pre built, If so which one should I buy?
I'm not up to date with pcs at all
I've spoken with a few people that have knowledge of pcs and each have a very different opinon, and I'm finding it very confusing
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Many thanks
 
Does your son have a TV he uses, and if so what is the exact model? While not ideal it could be used as a monitor until funds allow for a dedicated screen.

Is he wanting to game on the pc or is it mainly to edit game footage from a console? If he wants to game on it what sorts of things does he play?
 
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MidnightKisses said:
Hi im looking for a pc for my son, hes 12 and loves editing his game footage / vlogging family trips etc. Would anyone be able to point me in the direction of a pc that would be ideal for this please
I'm not sure if I should have one built, I did contact someone that can do this and their advice was to go with low spec and build it up as he needs it, they said that they could do this for £800 not including monitor, keyboard & mouse.
Or should I buy one that's already pre built, If so which one should I buy?
Click to expand...

It's difficult to say what is best without knowing how 'hardcore' his usage is, if the usage is pretty casual, then practically any pre-build (like a 4600G/5600G based system, which are fairly plentiful) would be fine as a starting point. But, if he's very serious, then he'll want something more capable with plenty of cores, RAM and storage.

This is an £800 self-build, to give you an idea of the spec. I chose the 13400 because it has an IGP, so no graphics card is needed and QuickSync might be handy for him.

Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £229.99
Gigabyte B760 DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard - £144.99
Lexar Hades 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit - £79.99

WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) - £149.99

Akasa Alucia H4 Plus Premium CPU Cooler - £38.95
Super Flower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black - £64.99
Lian Li LANCOOL 215 Mid-Tower aRGB Tempered Glass Black - £89.99

Grand Total: £810.88 (includes delivery charge, £11.99)

If upgradability is important then pre-built (or refurbished) OEM systems are probably not a good idea, especially if he plans to game on the PC at some point, since they often have proprietary parts and weak PSUs.
 
Gray2233 said:
Does your son have a TV he uses, and if so what is the exact model? While not ideal it could be used as a monitor until funds allow for a dedicated screen.

Is he wanting to game on the pc or is it mainly to edit game footage from a console? If he wants to game on it what sorts of things does he play?
Click to expand...
At the moment mainly for editing. He uses his nintendoswitch to play with his friends also he uses his tablet for a couple of games. He does have access to a ps4 and an xbox but he's really not interested in playing with his friends on these. He plays with a small group of the same friends online that he knows in person. He mainly plays fornite and minecraft so if he plays any games on the pc it would be these two. He has a 40inch samsung TV, I wouldnt like to use this as a monitor as its far to big. I'm mainly looking to get the tower part right then I can work on getting the monitor and other things that he needs. The tower I'm finding the most confusing.
 
Tetras said:
It's difficult to say what is best without knowing how 'hardcore' his usage is, if the usage is pretty casual, then practically any pre-build (like a 4600G/5600G based system, which are fairly plentiful) would be fine as a starting point. But, if he's very serious, then he'll want something more capable with plenty of cores, RAM and storage.

This is an £800 self-build, to give you an idea of the spec. I chose the 13400 because it has an IGP, so no graphics card is needed and QuickSync might be handy for him.

Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £229.99
Gigabyte B760 DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard - £144.99
Lexar Hades 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit - £79.99

WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) - £149.99

Akasa Alucia H4 Plus Premium CPU Cooler - £38.95
Super Flower Golden Green HX 650W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black - £64.99
Lian Li LANCOOL 215 Mid-Tower aRGB Tempered Glass Black - £89.99

Grand Total: £810.88 (includes delivery charge, £11.99)

If upgradability is important then pre-built (or refurbished) OEM systems are probably not a good idea, especially if he plans to game on the PC at some point, since they often have proprietary parts and weak PSUs.
Click to expand...
I don't think hel be hardcore gaming on it, maybe in a few years if that's what he gets into. He only plays with his friends in the evening at the moment. If he wants to play minecraft or fortnite on it with his friends, it would be nice if it was able to handle this. Its mainly editing at the moment, it needs to be able to take on a lot of recorded footage and edit it with ease. Thank you for showing me what an £800 pre built could look like, I wasn't given any idea of what it would have inside it, only that it could be done for £800 using lower specs and that we would be able to upgrade it over time as he needs it.
 
If future upgradability is of primary concern then an AM5 system offers a longer term upgrade path.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £743.89 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

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At a later date you can put in a gpu and would be an excellent PC for all uses and upgradeable for many years to come.


To keep the budget down you can instal Win10 for free , the instal ISO is available on the Microsoft website and is a free download. It works perfectly well with the above system and I am running it in 2 seperate PCs. I am now getting messages to update to win11 but I am staying on Win10 for now. To make the installation media you need an 8gb usb.
 
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Haz123 said:
To keep the budget down you can instal Win10 for free , the instal ISO is available on the Microsoft website and is a free download. It works perfectly well with the above system and I am running it in 2 seperate PCs. I am now getting messages to update to win11 but I am staying on Win10 for now. To make the installation media you need an 8gb usb.
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How can you get it for free? I have Windows 10 on my current PC but I'd imagine my son will want it so the current Windows licence can't be transferred?
 
MidnightKisses said:
I don't think hel be hardcore gaming on it, maybe in a few years if that's what he gets into. He only plays with his friends in the evening at the moment. If he wants to play minecraft or fortnite on it with his friends, it would be nice if it was able to handle this. Its mainly editing at the moment, it needs to be able to take on a lot of recorded footage and edit it with ease. Thank you for showing me what an £800 pre built could look like, I wasn't given any idea of what it would have inside it, only that it could be done for £800 using lower specs and that we would be able to upgrade it over time as he needs it.
Click to expand...
Honestly the bit what's concerning me the most is the parts I've put in bold. Gaming side is fairly easy, we just give you a list of the best options for your budget but editing recorded footage is a different situation because it has slightly different requirements.

What type of footage is being edited, I'm assuming the gaming is recorded from the pc/console (does he need video capture is another thing to consider) but you also mention vlogging, what camera is used and ideally things like the resolution being used. What software does he use to edit the footage.

My view is at the very least you're going to need more storage than you would have with a gaming machine, I'd be looking at a drive for the OS and maybe game, then probably another 2 drives purely for video editting, one being the scratch disk and the other the storage disk etc... size really depends on usage and budget. You'd also need 32GB ram minimum imo (2x16GB, so you have spare slots for upgrades) and an nvidia gpu with cuda imo (it's better supported in most video editing software, especially the free but highly regarded davinci resolve).

As for the 'suggested price' of £800 using lower specs.... honestly their suggestion is a bad idea, even more so if that's a company rather than a friend, you'll end up spending far more in the long run and potentially need to replace things like the motherboard, psu etc (I can see that being an am4 rig which has no real upgrade route).

IMO the best approach would be for you to give us your budget, what you need and we'll see what we can come up with... are you able to build a pc yourself?
 
Swarfega said:
How can you get it for free? I have Windows 10 on my current PC but I'd imagine my son will want it so the current Windows licence can't be transferred?
Click to expand...

Win 10 runs perfectly well without a product key. You can download and create the installation media yourself from the MS website.


If you have a windows machine then type license.rtf into the search box to see the license. Relevant points are.


4. Transfer. The provisions of this section do not apply if you acquired the software in Germany or in any of the countries listed on this site (aka.ms/transfer), in which case any transfer of the software to a third party, and the right to use it, must comply with applicable law.


a. Software preinstalled on device. If you acquired the software preinstalled on a device (and also if you upgraded from software preinstalled on a device), you may transfer the license to use the software directly to another user, only with the licensed device. The transfer must include the software and, if provided with the device, an authentic Windows label including the product key. Before any permitted transfer, the other party must agree that this agreement applies to the transfer and use of the software.


b. Stand-alone software. If you acquired the software as stand-alone software (and also if you upgraded from software you acquired as stand-alone software), you may transfer the software to another device that belongs to you. You may also transfer the software to a device owned by someone else if (i) you are the first licensed user of the software and (ii) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. You may use the backup copy we allow you to make or the media that the software came on to transfer the software. Every time you transfer the software to a new device, you must remove the software from the prior device. You may not transfer the software to share licenses between devices.

You are correct you have to delete windows from your current device if you want to use the license on a new device. Win 10 works just fine without a product key as well. You can purchase retail copy of Win11 from ocuk if you prefer.
 
lsg1r said:
Honestly the bit what's concerning me the most is the parts I've put in bold. Gaming side is fairly easy, we just give you a list of the best options for your budget but editing recorded footage is a different situation because it has slightly different requirements.

What type of footage is being edited, I'm assuming the gaming is recorded from the pc/console (does he need video capture is another thing to consider) but you also mention vlogging, what camera is used and ideally things like the resolution being used. What software does he use to edit the footage.

My view is at the very least you're going to need more storage than you would have with a gaming machine, I'd be looking at a drive for the OS and maybe game, then probably another 2 drives purely for video editting, one being the scratch disk and the other the storage disk etc... size really depends on usage and budget. You'd also need 32GB ram minimum imo (2x16GB, so you have spare slots for upgrades) and an nvidia gpu with cuda imo (it's better supported in most video editing software, especially the free but highly regarded davinci resolve).

As for the 'suggested price' of £800 using lower specs.... honestly their suggestion is a bad idea, even more so if that's a company rather than a friend, you'll end up spending far more in the long run and potentially need to replace things like the motherboard, psu etc (I can see that being an am4 rig which has no real upgrade route).

IMO the best approach would be for you to give us your budget, what you need and we'll see what we can come up with... are you able to build a pc yourself?
Click to expand...
Footage he takes is from pc gaming, playstation, phone, DSLR camera. Were talking on average an hour of footage each time. I'm not in the know when it comes to specs, software etc. I'm trying to reach out to someone that does without their being a money incentive. Unfortunately I'm not able to build a pc, im really doing my best to learn but I dont think building one will be an option. I tried to speak to a new local business today about a pc and they suggested an Intel i7 3.7 GHZ, Nvidia RTX Geforce 1650 4GB, 8GB Ram, 440GB Storage, Windows 10 Pro activated, Front RGB lighting - with various modes, Wifi, 6 USB Ports (2 Front 4 back), when i questioned if 8gb would be enough as iv previously been told it wouldn't be, the price jumped by £100, exactly the same computer but 16gb. It started off at £499 then. 8gb more took us to £599. I'm not sure at this point if this is something I'm going to be able to do, I had no idea how hard getting a pc for my boy would be. If it could be under a grand including monitor, keyboard and mouse that would be ideal. I'm not sure how much any of this should be costing, I think I may have a lot to learn before parting with any money for a pc in my area.
 
Ok I think we are trying to min max your situation too much and will just end up confusing you even more. I will see what the ocuk configurator can put together for a prebuild within your budget.
 
The bare minimum for gaming now is 16GB of RAM when on PC, many newer games are starting to benefit from more than that which means the new standard for modern gaming builds is verging into 32GB.

When dealing with video editing and content creation the RAM requirement tends to go up, although I'd still say it's perfectly viable on 16-32gb depending on what you're doing. The recommendation from your local business is very skewed, I wouldn't personally trust them when they're telling you to buy an i7 with 8gb of RAM and a 1650. Either they're clueless or they're trying to shift excess stock onto you because they assume that you are.

Your son might be better off with a laptop, a bunch have had some healthy discounts lately and £800 would get you something with a pretty good spec as well as a screen built into the equation. You can also connect a laptop to a monitor if a larger screen is desired, and a separate mouse and keyboard if that's necessary also. You should be able to get something along the lines of a 5600/16gb of ram/Nvidia 3060 for that sort of money.

I never thought I'd recommend a laptop to someone for £800 that wanted to do gaming and content creation, what a time to be alive.
 
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Thank you. Even if I could find someone local and say the parts I need in the tower ,knowing what theyl cost then plus their labour costs on top atleast I would know its exactly what I need and I'm not going to end up with something that is no use to us and with us being out of pocket.
 
Gray2233 said:
The bare minimum for gaming now is 16GB when on PC, many newer games are starting to benefit from more than that which means the new standard for modern gaming builds is verging into 32GB.

When dealing with video editing and content creation the RAM requirement tends to go up, although I'd still say it's perfectly viable on 16-32gb depending on what you're doing. The recommendation from your local business is very skewed, I wouldn't personally trust them when they're telling you to buy an i7 with 8gb of RAM and a 1650. Either they're clueless or they're trying to shift excess stock onto you because they assume that you are.

Your son might be better off with a laptop, a bunch have had some healthy discounts lately and £800 would get you something with a pretty good spec as well as a screen built into the equation. You can also connect a laptop to a monitor if a larger screen is desired, and a separate mouse and keyboard if that's necessary also. You should be able to get something along the lines of a 5600/16gb of ram/Nvidia 3060 for that sort of money.

I never thought I'd recommend a laptop to someone for £800 that wanted to do gaming and content creation, what a time to be alive.
Click to expand...
We actually started off looking at laptops however I quickly came to learn that they burn out easily and within 3 years itl be out dated and a new one would needed. I'm now looking at pcs as they don't burn out as quick and can easily be upgraded in 3 years where as a laptop cant be apparently. My first stop when starting this journey was Currys, they suggested the Acer Nitro 5 for just over a grand. Everyone I spoke to after that though said that was the worst idea ever.
 
MidnightKisses said:
Thank you. Even if I could find someone local and say the parts I need in the tower ,knowing what theyl cost then plus their labour costs on top atleast I would know its exactly what I need and I'm not going to end up with something that is no use to us and with us being out of pocket.
Click to expand...

PC recommendations pretty much always start from the software, for the simple reason that once you know the software (and the tasks that are being done with it) then you can measure it, which gives you a number to compare with other PCs. With something like video editing, we can even get down to "with this CPU it will take 2 hours, with this PC the same task will be 3 hours". That's why we're struggling to help you, because we're just guessing about exactly what the PC is going to be used for and the PC shops you're talking to are going to have the same problem.
 
Haz123 said:
Ok I think we are trying to min max your situation too much and will just end up confusing you even more. I will see what the ocuk configurator can put together for a prebuild within your budget.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Even if I could find someone local and say the parts I need in the tower ,knowing what theyl cost then plus their labour costs on top atleast I would know its exactly what I need and I'm not going to end up with something that is no use to us and with us being out of pocket.
 
Ok here you go.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £958.85 (includes delivery: £16.00)​



​

The above PC is perfectly useable and is built by OCUK so it will have a 3 year ocuk guarantee. The above build contains many parts I normally advise people to avoid but this is the only way to get within your budget with the OCUK configurators. Points I do not like in it are the PSU and GPU but it is what it is I am afraid. I even left in the OS so all you would have to do is plug it in and turn it on.
 
Tetras said:
PC recommendations pretty much always start from the software, for the simple reason that once you know the software (and the tasks that are being done with it) then you can measure it, which gives you a number to compare with other PCs. With something like video editing, we can even get down to "with this CPU it will take 2 hours, with this PC the same task will be 3 hours". That's why we're struggling to help you, because we're just guessing about exactly what the PC is going to be used for and the PC shops you're talking to are going to have the same problem.
Click to expand...
Basically editing footage thats most likely an hour long from a PlayStation or DSLR camera. It would be nice if he was able to play minecraft or fortnite on it as he's never had a pc at home before and I'm sure itl be something that he would like to do. He may use it for 2 hours each day, and longer on the weekends. Editing program wise would most likely be Movavi. He's no pro at this at the moment he's still learning but it's something he loves to do and would love to be able to do it at home.
 
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