Looking for advice for a cheap build for me and my son

Fifebloke

Fifebloke

Fifebloke

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14 Apr 2017
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My 13 year old son wants a "gaming" pc for his birthday. It is going to be father/son build it together thing. Got to be kinda cheap at around £500-600. We just need the tower and everything inside at the moment. I have access to a copy of windows.
I have built a couple in the past but have turned to the dark side and been with apple for the last few years. Have had a look around and formed a very tentative list. Any help or advice would be great.

EVGA 450B 450 W 80 plus £39.95
Kinston Red 8 BG DDR4 PC4-17000c14 2133 MHz £67.99
Asus Prime B250-Plus Intel B250 £89.99
Asus Radeon RX 480 Dual OC 8192MB GDDR5 £199.99
Pentium G4560 3.50GHz Kaby Lake Retail £64.99
Kolink Aviator M Micro ATX gaming case black £32.99
WD Blue 1TB 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s 64MB £48.95

He is your typical 13 year old, the flashier it looks the better. The list is not set in stone so any additions, alterations or general advice would be gratefully received.
 
Hi, welcome to the forum.

The case is micro-ATX and the Asus Prime B250-PLUS is ATX size.

If possible, you should start off with a faster SSD, and then add a HDD later when storage requirements grow.

You should get a decent PSU with 2 x 6+2 PCI-E connectors, instead of just one. Video card will be upgraded at some point and you'll have better options.

I would recommend a different CPU/mobo/GPU route - AMD AM4 Ryzen, with a second-hand video card of similar quality to an RX 480. As said, the video card is something typically upgraded every couple years. Sure, you can upgrade the Pentium too, but you're locked into over-priced Intel i5/i7 offerings, when Ryzen 5/7 is better value for money.

In other words, get a better/more future-proof base, and then somewhere down the line pop in a new video card, and you have a better PC than if you cheap out on PSU and no SSD and are stuck on a dead Intel socket.

Something like:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £517.24
(includes shipping: £12.30)



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That leaves around £100 for a used GTX 970, R9 290 or similar. The system itself would feel a lot snappier than the other, because of the SSD. And the extra CPU cores and threads would be of benefit in games that make use of more than just 2/4.

3200MHz RAM might be a tad too fast for the CPU/mobo but it's essentially the same cost as other 2400MHz kits, and gives you scope to go as high as possible, something like 2933 if lucky.
 
I agree with Danny75 build will have a lot more Cpu power and will feel a lot snappier because of ssd.

Second hand 970 is a good call which should be accessible for £100 or less.
 
Thanks guys. I knew i would make basic errors. I have been on youtube looking at the amd reviews but have always been with intel before apple happened. Might stretch to the graphics card on top of your recommended build.
 
Maybe an alternative if you didn't want an AMD build and also a case that takes a DVD drive if required.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £562.19
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​


With the saving from £600 you could probably up the graphics card a bit further or other areas.

What games is your son wanting to play?
 
To be honest i am not against an AMD build at all, just not read or seen much online until recently with the ryzen release. However with the price difference between the ryzen and lower intel chips i could almost buy a graphics card.

How does the 1060 with 3072mb stand against the rx480 8192mb as there is only a few pounds difference.

Not too fussed about an optical drive as i cannot remember the last time i used a cd/dvd or blueray.

Thanks again guys for this, not so embarrassing when i can hid behind a laptop making these basic errors and asking probably very basic generic questions.
 
Fifebloke said:
How does the 1060 with 3072mb stand against the rx480 8192mb as there is only a few pounds difference.
Click to expand...

Don't get the 3Gb version of the 1060 - it's a crippled 6Gb version (not the same card). The Rx 480 is a far superior card than the 3Gb 1060 - and great value.
 
the rx 480 would be better, the 1050ti probably be better than the 1060 i chose if its 'crippled' as the person above says, but it depends what level of performance your sons after as you havent stated games??

i know i didnt include a dvd drive in the last build or this build, but you can picked decent used ones for a fiver or less or get a brand new one if you shave off a tenner at least from the processor, but i chose the more recent intel and the better 1060 version in the sense of memory, its also the cheapest on this site.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £601.15
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​
 
pastymuncher said:
I agree, with the G4560 having HT and only costing £65, it makes a mockery of the i3 prices and they shouldn't even be considered now. Either Pentium or bite the bullet and go i5/i7.
Click to expand...

My brother in-law has asked me to build them a cheap PC once he comes back from holiday and with his budget its the Pentium range I will be looking at for them.
I wouldn't even look at an i3 now that the Pentium has HT
 
i take it back, my haswell or the skylake/kabylake i3 7100 are pretty much like for like with the only real differences are price, base clocks, instructions and intel memory clocks.

pentium dual cores come a long way it seems then, so get the G processor, my i3 is brilliant, would only change it just to have a true quad.
 
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a celeron will never better a pentium, we know this as a fact for years, but if they can make quad core celerons then they should make HT models too for the single and dual cores, they did it with the atom which isnt a processor used just in mobility devices.

makes no odds to me as my i3 was the system of choice and was no pentium setup at the time, but seeing the spec sheets i would agree with you the i3 is looking to be a waste if it offers no more than just a couple digits in the title. they had hit a brick wall with the i3 as they couldve made a quad version if they actually havent, but it be no point now unless it was priced less than tha i5 non K models.
 
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