So need advice for a teenager gaming PC

[jtmcglothin]

I bought a cheap bundle off of Facebook and replaced the GPU and power supply with better ones and added a SATA ssd. It’s not anywhere near the top of the line, but does more than I need it to and still outperforms a console for gaming. Let someone else take the loss on a new pc that will be outdated in 6 months and buy one that’s a little older, upgrade the few parts you want to, and save some money in the process. The parts aren’t nearly as hard to replace as you would think and it’s a good learning experience.

If you do want to buy a new one though Sams Club usually has some decent deals on them.

 

[HoLeChit]

For some of the games I play, $1600 would be adequate. Not cutting edge, though - some corners would have to be cut

Any games I play are typically 10 year old RTS titles, or space spreadsheets, lol. Not too demanding. I'm served well with my used budget setup, which is actually a workstation PC that I slapped a gaming graphics card in. I'm about $700 in on my old Xeon e5-2697v3 with 224gb of ddr4 ram and a GTX1080. I can run a half dozen virtual machines while playing some Red Alert 3, with plenty of overhead to spare.

 

[Perplexed]

Any games I play are typically 10 year old RTS titles, or space spreadsheets, lol. Not too demanding. I'm served well with my used budget setup, which is actually a workstation PC that I slapped a gaming graphics card in. I'm about $700 in on my old Xeon e5-2697v3 with 224gb of ddr4 ram and a GTX1080. I can run a half dozen virtual machines while playing some Red Alert 3, with plenty of overhead to spare.

 

[OkieMoe]

For some of the games I play, $1600 would be adequate. Not cutting edge, though - some corners would have to be cut

My video card would eat up more than half of that. Thankfully I bought my rig off a guy that spared no $$ building it. Then realized that car wouldnt pay for itself.

 

[nic6]

Wow, thanks all, so much info.
1. Sure, electricity is bad everyone beat your clothes on rocks to clean them.
2. He currently has a PS5 with the vr2 and a gaming monitor.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Told my son to read, join forums, learn, build his own. I paid for parts.
It worked. Idk what he knows now but he built my last 2 desk pc's.
Good luck!

 

[Rez Exelon]

When it comes to building a PC, the worst possible descriptor is "gaming PC". That term gets abused and watered down greatly. Playing the latest AAA titles on ultra high 4k requires a much different rig than medium settings at 1080p. Even then, a lot comes down to what your frame rate target is. Planned longevity is also an important factor that goes along with that --- the last build I did, had I paid full price, would have topped around 3200. Why would I go that nuts? Because I know based on my collection of games and desired titles, it'll cover them, and serve as a workstation for around 10ish years.

 

[HoLeChit]

Wow, thanks all, so much info.
1. Sure, electricity is bad everyone beat your clothes on rocks to clean them.
2. He currently has a PS5 with the vr2 and a gaming monitor.

If it were my kid, my plan would look something like this:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/q3wLJy
Crucial and PNY are US based, US manufacturing companies, which is good, and really hard to find in the computer hardware business. Teamgroup is a good quality Taiwanese owned, Taiwanese manufactured company.

This setup will give your son all the power he needs to game and do what he wants, with lots of expansion options and a good 10ish years of future upgrade life down the way, assuming he doesn't need to be on the absolute bleeding edge of technology. All he needs is to go pick out a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

WAIT! HoLeChit, you didn't include an operating system! I know. He can download linux for free, or, being a student, I bet there's a program with his school, votech, or college he may be concurrently enrolled in to get Windows 11 education edition for free. Worth an ask, and its free. Or, he can download a free windows trial and use it indefinitely. There's a ton of ways to skin that cat.

Learning how to build this PC will not only save money, but just like working on your first car, it will give him some pride in what he has and explore what he wants to do with his life. Going through Udemy to gain the knowledge needed to know how this computer will work and assemble it is gonna be a valuable lesson that can lead him into a very high demand, high paying career field down the road. I used these exact videos to get my CompTIA A+ certification. Its marketed to get that certification, but it also is geared towards someone who just wants to know how these fancy computers work and the basics of assembly and troubleshooting. Its all videos, so its easy to follow and kids love that crap, so should be easy for him to knock out. He can also reference those videos at any time after completing the course. Just tell him its what he needs to get that fancy computer and that if he likes it, he could apply himself and with a little luck make $100K/year without going to college by the time he is 25. They have apps for the phone and Ipad as well to make learning on the go easy, getting through this course took me a month.

https://www.udemy.com/course/total-comptia-a-certification-220-1101/
https://www.udemy.com/course/total-comptia-a-certification-220-1102/
I also have a like new, up to date version of the test prep book if getting certified is something that would interest your kid. it has to be renewed every 3 years, so I wouldn't get that cert until he's almost ready to start working though. Buy me a 6 pack of coors light and its yours.

 

[HoLeChit]

If it were my kid, my plan would look something like this:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/q3wLJy
Crucial and PNY are US based, US manufacturing companies, which is good, and really hard to find in the computer hardware business. Teamgroup is a good quality Taiwanese owned, Taiwanese manufactured company.

This setup will give your son all the power he needs to game and do what he wants, with lots of expansion options and a good 10ish years of future upgrade life down the way, assuming he doesn't need to be on the absolute bleeding edge of technology. All he needs is to go pick out a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

WAIT! HoLeChit, you didn't include an operating system! I know. He can download linux for free, or, being a student, I bet there's a program with his school, votech, or college he may be concurrently enrolled in to get Windows 11 education edition for free. Worth an ask, and its free. Or, he can download a free windows trial and use it indefinitely. There's a ton of ways to skin that cat.

Learning how to build this PC will not only save money, but just like working on your first car, it will give him some pride in what he has and explore what he wants to do with his life. Going through Udemy to gain the knowledge needed to know how this computer will work and assemble it is gonna be a valuable lesson that can lead him into a very high demand, high paying career field down the road. I used these exact videos to get my CompTIA A+ certification. Its marketed to get that certification, but it also is geared towards someone who just wants to know how these fancy computers work and the basics of assembly and troubleshooting. Its all videos, so its easy to follow and kids love that crap, so should be easy for him to knock out. He can also reference those videos at any time after completing the course. Just tell him its what he needs to get that fancy computer and that if he likes it, he could apply himself and with a little luck make $100K/year without going to college by the time he is 25. They have apps for the phone and Ipad as well to make learning on the go easy, getting through this course took me a month.

https://www.udemy.com/course/total-comptia-a-certification-220-1101/
https://www.udemy.com/course/total-comptia-a-certification-220-1102/
I also have a like new, up to date version of the test prep book if getting certified is something that would interest your kid. it has to be renewed every 3 years, so I wouldn't get that cert until he's almost ready to start working though. Buy me a 6 pack of coors light and its yours.

There’s a lot here, and the world of computers is pretty intimidating. I know, 14 months ago the only thing I used computers for was email, internet surfing, and once or twice every 6 months a few hours of playing old games. I was a heavy equipment mechanic for 14 years before deciding to change careers, and I’m 13 months into that transition. I’m no expert, but I’m happy to help if you guys have any questions.

 

[Rez Exelon]

There’s a lot here, and the world of computers is pretty intimidating. I know, 14 months ago the only thing I used computers for was email, internet surfing, and once or twice every 6 months a few hours of playing old games. I was a heavy equipment mechanic for 14 years before deciding to change careers, and I’m 13 months into that transition. I’m no expert, but I’m happy to help if you guys have any questions.

You say you're no expert, but that's definitely a solid overall build for the budget and information available. I might opt for a z690 board and drop the MX500 in favor of a second m.2/2TB drive and then use the savings to get a 7700XT or slightly higher graphics cards. IIRC the 7700XT is supposed to release today or soon and be under 500 after all.

Also, I've had good luck finding PSU's half off on Amazon warehouse deals. I'm also pretty happy with my MSI AIO water cooler which was around $90ish. I paid new on mine but they're also fairly common on Amazon Warehouse deals.