Son's first gaming pc
Discussion
Evening guys, it's my son's 15th birthday coming up and he's been wanting a decent gaming pc, he's been saving up for a while and has accumulated a decent chunk I've offered to make up the difference to get him something that will last. Can anyone point me in the right direction with what spec to get, where are the best places to order from and anything to avoid.
That's a good amount for a young man to have saved up.
Does he currently have anything parts wise in an old machine and is he likely to save more?
I ask as you have a decision at that price point to build a capable mid range machine or build something that's got the legs to be very capable but needs another upgrade or two.
Route 1 involves carefully picking a package that is balanced well and choosing well priced components (used graphics card will help no end) but will seriously limit upgrades in the future.
Route 2 is to future proof the motherboard primarily and the processor, then cheap out on graphics card to an extent (ideally using his old one) with an eye for an upgrade in the short to medium term to gain a huge jump in performance.
Route 1 would result in instant happiness but a shorter .aching life till he's doing it again. Route 2 would be a bit meh till it's fully upgraded but then would last longer till a complete system change is needed.
Does he currently have anything parts wise in an old machine and is he likely to save more?
I ask as you have a decision at that price point to build a capable mid range machine or build something that's got the legs to be very capable but needs another upgrade or two.
Route 1 involves carefully picking a package that is balanced well and choosing well priced components (used graphics card will help no end) but will seriously limit upgrades in the future.
Route 2 is to future proof the motherboard primarily and the processor, then cheap out on graphics card to an extent (ideally using his old one) with an eye for an upgrade in the short to medium term to gain a huge jump in performance.
Route 1 would result in instant happiness but a shorter .aching life till he's doing it again. Route 2 would be a bit meh till it's fully upgraded but then would last longer till a complete system change is needed.
OP, the first question really is "does he want to build a gaming PC or buy a gaming PC?"
If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
grumbledoak said:
OP, the first question really is "does he want to build a gaming PC or buy a gaming PC?"
If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
This. my son built his first PC at 16, had around £1k. He is now 23 and still uses it, a couple of small upgrades only. He also has a gaming laptop now as well. The only mistake he made in selection of parts was not to include an internal DVD, for initial software load. Simple to lend him mine for that.If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
MustangGT said:
grumbledoak said:
OP, the first question really is "does he want to build a gaming PC or buy a gaming PC?"
If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
This. my son built his first PC at 16, had around £1k. He is now 23 and still uses it, a couple of small upgrades only. He also has a gaming laptop now as well. The only mistake he made in selection of parts was not to include an internal DVD, for initial software load. Simple to lend him mine for that.If he does want to build it then the build guides on PC Part Picker will be a good place to start
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/
pick a build he can afford and change the case etc. as preferred. The "builder" will do a decent job of keeping the parts compatible.
If he just wants to buy one he can choose between the box shippers like Dell, HP etc and the more niche like https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/gaming-pc/ The offerings from Dell etc will work and have a dependable warranty but they will usually be less upgradable in the future due to the use of custom parts.
I use an ancient ThinkPad t450 for a lot of my day to day stuff. No one in their right minds would accuse it of being a powerful machine either when new or now. When new though it would have run most available games to some degree. Now no chance. Your son's computer is going to some degree be the same, at 1k even then it wouldn't have been an out and out power machine, but had it been it would be coughing on A grade gaming now and be of very limited use for intensive productivity work like rendering videos. But as a general computer it will likely as not still be perfectly functional for the next ten years too.
But a proper gaming pc is not a cheap thing to build. I'd argue that while you don't need the absolute top echelon processor available at the time you do need to be in the upper half of performance processors and the graphics card needs to be a good couple of rungs up the ladder too just to really consider it a gaming machine.
It's the little bits that get you, I'd disagree you need a dvd drive, it's so easy to just load your first windows install off a usb stick now there really is no need, it's only really legacy programs and even then a lot have downloadable versions that come on cd/dvd now.
I would consider building it yourselves, it's not hard, and is good fun.
Just having had a quick look as the last machine I built was a few years ago the Ryzen 8000 series is just launching by the look of it (get more guidance on this as this is me looking for 5 mins) and there is an 8700g chip with on board graphics. Get a decent am5 mother board. Chuck that chip in it. Stick some memory and an drive on board and for 700-800 ISH your a long way towards a machine. Buy a future proof case (good airflow and plenty of room for a GPU) and a future proof power supply with lots of headroom for GPU in the future.
I went with a bequiet case with good airflow and quiet fans. Noisy pcs are fun for a few minutes then the jet engine on your desk gets on your nerves. It has a glass panel but there is the minimum of lighting inside it (just a bit on the high end mb I used) due to cost and knowing I would get bored of it. I wanted all my money to be used for performance not looks.
I went with an older version of the noctua nh-d15 CPU cooler. It performs on a level with water cooling at the expense of not being quite as silent (it's not noisy) but with a lot less hassle. No matter what I do to my machine it doesn't get hot.
The power supply can be a nasty sting in the tail. You just don't expect to have to spend what you could do with spending. The more you spend to a point anyway the more efficient and powerful it becomes. I think from memory I used a Corsair 1000w supply. It might be overkill for your son's build, you definitely want some headroom on a PSU, but be realistic about it, if he is only ever going to need 750w you don't need a 1000w supply. At the same time a used PSU has very little value, so for the small uplift in price at this end it's worth it rather than ending up buying 2.
I don't know where the amd Vs intel battle is at the moment. When I built mine amd were leagues ahead of intel, then intel were gaining ground, in reality I don't think you will be unhappy in either camp, historically amd have been better at holding on to processor sockets, meaning buy a decent motherboard and chances are it will be good for a few processor upgrades potentially. Mine was the last of the am4 chips so on am5 now. it's likely that will stick around for a fair while.
Hope that incoherent ramble helps a little.
wildoliver said:
It very much depends on what the machines being used for.
I use an ancient ThinkPad t450 for a lot of my day to day stuff. No one in their right minds would accuse it of being a powerful machine either when new or now. When new though it would have run most available games to some degree. Now no chance. Your son's computer is going to some degree be the same, at 1k even then it wouldn't have been an out and out power machine, but had it been it would be coughing on A grade gaming now and be of very limited use for intensive productivity work like rendering videos. But as a general computer it will likely as not still be perfectly functional for the next ten years too.
But a proper gaming pc is not a cheap thing to build. I'd argue that while you don't need the absolute top echelon processor available at the time you do need to be in the upper half of performance processors and the graphics card needs to be a good couple of rungs up the ladder too just to really consider it a gaming machine.
It's the little bits that get you, I'd disagree you need a dvd drive, it's so easy to just load your first windows install off a usb stick now there really is no need, it's only really legacy programs and even then a lot have downloadable versions that come on cd/dvd now.
I would consider building it yourselves, it's not hard, and is good fun.
Just having had a quick look as the last machine I built was a few years ago the Ryzen 8000 series is just launching by the look of it (get more guidance on this as this is me looking for 5 mins) and there is an 8700g chip with on board graphics. Get a decent am5 mother board. Chuck that chip in it. Stick some memory and an drive on board and for 700-800 ISH your a long way towards a machine. Buy a future proof case (good airflow and plenty of room for a GPU) and a future proof power supply with lots of headroom for GPU in the future.
I went with a bequiet case with good airflow and quiet fans. Noisy pcs are fun for a few minutes then the jet engine on your desk gets on your nerves. It has a glass panel but there is the minimum of lighting inside it (just a bit on the high end mb I used) due to cost and knowing I would get bored of it. I wanted all my money to be used for performance not looks.
I went with an older version of the noctua nh-d15 CPU cooler. It performs on a level with water cooling at the expense of not being quite as silent (it's not noisy) but with a lot less hassle. No matter what I do to my machine it doesn't get hot.
The power supply can be a nasty sting in the tail. You just don't expect to have to spend what you could do with spending. The more you spend to a point anyway the more efficient and powerful it becomes. I think from memory I used a Corsair 1000w supply. It might be overkill for your son's build, you definitely want some headroom on a PSU, but be realistic about it, if he is only ever going to need 750w you don't need a 1000w supply. At the same time a used PSU has very little value, so for the small uplift in price at this end it's worth it rather than ending up buying 2.
I don't know where the amd Vs intel battle is at the moment. When I built mine amd were leagues ahead of intel, then intel were gaining ground, in reality I don't think you will be unhappy in either camp, historically amd have been better at holding on to processor sockets, meaning buy a decent motherboard and chances are it will be good for a few processor upgrades potentially. Mine was the last of the am4 chips so on am5 now. it's likely that will stick around for a fair while.
Hope that incoherent ramble helps a little.
Yes, nowadays no need for an internal disk drive, back then there was. His spec was really good, enabled all the games and school work.I use an ancient ThinkPad t450 for a lot of my day to day stuff. No one in their right minds would accuse it of being a powerful machine either when new or now. When new though it would have run most available games to some degree. Now no chance. Your son's computer is going to some degree be the same, at 1k even then it wouldn't have been an out and out power machine, but had it been it would be coughing on A grade gaming now and be of very limited use for intensive productivity work like rendering videos. But as a general computer it will likely as not still be perfectly functional for the next ten years too.
But a proper gaming pc is not a cheap thing to build. I'd argue that while you don't need the absolute top echelon processor available at the time you do need to be in the upper half of performance processors and the graphics card needs to be a good couple of rungs up the ladder too just to really consider it a gaming machine.
It's the little bits that get you, I'd disagree you need a dvd drive, it's so easy to just load your first windows install off a usb stick now there really is no need, it's only really legacy programs and even then a lot have downloadable versions that come on cd/dvd now.
I would consider building it yourselves, it's not hard, and is good fun.
Just having had a quick look as the last machine I built was a few years ago the Ryzen 8000 series is just launching by the look of it (get more guidance on this as this is me looking for 5 mins) and there is an 8700g chip with on board graphics. Get a decent am5 mother board. Chuck that chip in it. Stick some memory and an drive on board and for 700-800 ISH your a long way towards a machine. Buy a future proof case (good airflow and plenty of room for a GPU) and a future proof power supply with lots of headroom for GPU in the future.
I went with a bequiet case with good airflow and quiet fans. Noisy pcs are fun for a few minutes then the jet engine on your desk gets on your nerves. It has a glass panel but there is the minimum of lighting inside it (just a bit on the high end mb I used) due to cost and knowing I would get bored of it. I wanted all my money to be used for performance not looks.
I went with an older version of the noctua nh-d15 CPU cooler. It performs on a level with water cooling at the expense of not being quite as silent (it's not noisy) but with a lot less hassle. No matter what I do to my machine it doesn't get hot.
The power supply can be a nasty sting in the tail. You just don't expect to have to spend what you could do with spending. The more you spend to a point anyway the more efficient and powerful it becomes. I think from memory I used a Corsair 1000w supply. It might be overkill for your son's build, you definitely want some headroom on a PSU, but be realistic about it, if he is only ever going to need 750w you don't need a 1000w supply. At the same time a used PSU has very little value, so for the small uplift in price at this end it's worth it rather than ending up buying 2.
I don't know where the amd Vs intel battle is at the moment. When I built mine amd were leagues ahead of intel, then intel were gaining ground, in reality I don't think you will be unhappy in either camp, historically amd have been better at holding on to processor sockets, meaning buy a decent motherboard and chances are it will be good for a few processor upgrades potentially. Mine was the last of the am4 chips so on am5 now. it's likely that will stick around for a fair while.
Hope that incoherent ramble helps a little.
I don't have any specific recommendations for what he "should" get, but I recently bought myself a gaming PC from Scan, one of their 3XS systems.
I went with them because they're a known quantity for me, and I've had experience putting in a warranty claim, so I know their backup is solid if I need it (warranty is 3 years, 1st year on site, then RTB).
I went with them because they're a known quantity for me, and I've had experience putting in a warranty claim, so I know their backup is solid if I need it (warranty is 3 years, 1st year on site, then RTB).
I went through similar with my son last year. Research all the usual suspects for a while and ended up going with Scan.
Couldn't fault the service or the PC.
https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/gami...
Edited to add the previous poster also mentioned Scan.
Re PS5 vs PC, there really is something much, much cooler for the kids about being a PC gamer with keyboard and mouse than a console one...
Couldn't fault the service or the PC.
https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/gami...
Edited to add the previous poster also mentioned Scan.
Re PS5 vs PC, there really is something much, much cooler for the kids about being a PC gamer with keyboard and mouse than a console one...
Another project said:
Thanks for all the help so far, I think I'd rather an off the shelf PC but I quite like the link posted earlier to pcspecialist.co.uk as it seems like a middle ground between buying an off the shelf and building your own.
I've had three from them... Always been brilliant to deal with. And even out of warranty you can send back for a fix a reasonable price. Funnily enough, my two year old one from them was picked up on Monday as it has fault which has me and their help line stumped.
My son wants his own - March birthday - and is also saving hard like yours. We'll get that from pcs.
Another project said:
Last night we ordered my boys PC, this is his spec
We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
Good choice using PCS. We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
They've just fixed mine - I would never have found the problem as it turns out it was a failing cpu - it hadn't shown up in the tests I'd done, and hours on Internet hadn't helped either.
Hope your lad enjoys it!
Another project said:
Last night we ordered my boys PC, this is his spec
We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
Looks like a pretty nice mid-range setup. We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
Only thing I'd say is that in this day and age a 512 GB SSD is going to fill up pretty quick with 50-100 GB a game being the norm.
However a new SSD is one of the easiest things to install.
Another project said:
Last night we ordered my boys PC, this is his spec
We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
Is there a reason for the extra gaming keyboard? As it looks like one is included in the Asus peripherals bundle promotion.We went slightly over budget by the time we added his accessories but hopefully he's got something decent that'll last
BTW, remember to completely uninstall Norton when you receive it - and not by the built-in Windows apps uninstaller, but the official Norton uninstaller...otherwise it won't remove all its tendrils.
The built-in Windows 11 security is better and won't cause instabilities.
Edited by mmm-five on Thursday 7th March 11:58
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