Son wants a gaming computer...
- Thread starter Nic123
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Jun 2021
- Posts
- 4,281
- Location
- Oxon
Tell him to save up pocket money and get a paper round, a pc is an expensive item, even a basic one.
Yeah I did a paper round in the 80s to save up for a Commodore 128, my mum bought me an Amiga 500 for Christmas 1989. It was used a lot!
If you give us a vague budget and tell us what he has now, we can help you a lot better. Otherwise we're just messing about.
This is the minimum I'd be buying for a new 1080p gaming PC:
My basket at OcUK:
- 1 x Intel Core i3-12100F 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AS-IN) = £89.99
- 1 x Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AH-GI) = £129.95
- 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £59.98
- 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AD-PC) = £200.00
- 1 x MSI SPATIUM M450 1TB SSD PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-MSI-00812) = £44.98
- 1 x AeroCool Trinity V2 Mini Tower PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-23J-AE) = £29.99
- 1 x Phanteks AMP 550W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09P-PT) = £79.99
Total: £634.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)
£90
(incl. VAT)
£74
(incl. VAT)
MY-0AJ-TG
£80
(incl. VAT)
£48
(incl. VAT)
£210
(incl. VAT)
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2007
- Posts
- 5,371
Often if you look at the game websites they will give recommended minimum specs for a PC running them. Search for "[game name] system requirements".
Unfortunately then he won't be able to transfer what has across. So this won't work.
v
he is already putting towards it. He has been saving for the last 4 years!
CPU intel 15 - 9400f 2.9ghz intel ryeon 5 2600x AMD GPU GTX 1050Ti, Radeon R7 370. But non of this matches anything I can find! It is a totally foreign language!!
Please give us a ballpark budget, and does he need a monitor and keyboard etc? It's almost impossible to advise otherwise. Tetras has already given you a good minimum.
The reason you're having trouble finding the hardware you've listed is because it's all very old tech now, and as such isn't worth buying.
Those are all from 2016/17 or there abouts. And fairly low end at that. Basically means any current gen cpu with at least 8 threads and any gpu from the last couple generations at least.
Its a little awkward as the best way to put together a low budget gaming pc that would be ideal for your use case is to grab an old office machine from about 4 or 5 years ago and throw in a decent graphics card. But boy are there a lot of shady sellers out there putting out machines that look like that on the surface but are basically scams designed to separate kids from their pocket money. So navigating that space even with our suggestions is going to be harrowing.
Tetras spec above is pretty solid for the money and if you get in touch with oc customer services they can put it together for you for a nominal fee
Its a little awkward as the best way to put together a low budget gaming pc that would be ideal for your use case is to grab an old office machine from about 4 or 5 years ago and throw in a decent graphics card. But boy are there a lot of shady sellers out there putting out machines that look like that on the surface but are basically scams designed to separate kids from their pocket money. So navigating that space even with our suggestions is going to be harrowing.
Tetras spec above is pretty solid for the money and if you get in touch with oc customer services they can put it together for you for a nominal fee
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Sep 2007
- Posts
- 5,371
It's just giving you:
- the minimum processors needed for Intel chips or AMD chips.
- the minimum GPU/graphics cards needed for GeForce or Radeon products.
You need to choose a computer with a fast enough processor and a powerful enough graphics card.
Have a look at entry level gaming PCs from Overclockers, and if anything fits you budget, it's likely to fit your requirements, but someone here will be able to confirm it.
Entry-level Gaming PCs at Overclockers Perfect for Getting into Gaming
Our extensive range of entry-level gaming PCs are perfect for getting into PC gaming on a budget and feature ideal performance for 1080p gaming.
www.overclockers.co.uk
In his specific use case, Minecraft and Valorant, I would agree with this. If however, he is going to expand his library or use case, @Tetras has set you on the right path.
The only way cheaper is second hand and you best know what you are doing when reading the specs. You can always ask here but unless it is significantly cheaper (like £200-£300) allowing you to add a part when something blows up (like the PSU) or proves inadequate like the "AAA High FPS Gaming" APU or Nvidia 1030 you will be suckered.