Gaming PC parts shopping

smuggler.ie

Got request from bro to source parts and assemble gaming PC from scratch for 12 old nephew.
This intended to be his personal as sharing PC with father no longer feasible. Has to be completed before mid May.
I am aware about current challenge getting GPU's hence no budget specified, but obviously need to keep low, however, plan for all other components to be mid and above spec range.

Not consider gamer myself and away from current trends, so thanks in advance for suggestions.


1. What is your budget? ???

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes 24-27

6. Do you need any peripherals? Yes

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Card

9. When are you purchasing? Mar-Apr

Coyler

Look at the Dell G series. The Dell Alienware builds are not too bad either once you go over €2,000. Under that price the G series makes a lot more sense.

As it stands while you might get CPU, Mobo and RAM at reasonable prices but GPUs and PSUs are overpriced to an eye watering extent. The system integrators like Dell have the supply and are not motivated to price gouge (too much). And even if you decide not to go with a pre-built, it will be a useful reference point to work out total value.

Now that all said, you could buy all the parts and sit down with the kid and show him how to build it. Maybe the premium for paying for all the parts is worth the knowledge transfer to the kid and help in troubleshooting or upgrading in the future. So think of the opportunity cost there as well. Insert "Give a fish and teach how to fish" as appropriate. With that in mind, here is a good build with a few extras like headset, monitor (with speakers) and RGB mouse and keyboard. Note that is is without a GPU.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (€369.38 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard (€119.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (€79.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€159.88 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Toshiba P300 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€63.84 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Lian Li LANCOOL 215 ATX Mid Tower Case (€104.78 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€171.10 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Monitor: Asus VG278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor (€279.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Keyboard: Corsair K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard (€104.54 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Mouse: Corsair HARPOON RGB PRO Wired Optical Mouse (€36.76 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Headphones: SteelSeries ARCTIS 7 2019 Edition 7.1 Channel Headset (€139.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1629.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-03-06 18:02 CET+0100

Once you go add the GPU you are literally unable to make a good choice. You are going to be price gouged for paying double or triple the msrp and that is even if you can find one. Once there, you are certainly trading blows with this Alienware and I've included a 27" monitor in with that as well. Nice keyboard a mouse comes as standard. Would have to get a headset and do recommend the Arctis 7 as a really good all round product.

And it's doesn't get better if you go down the stack. Probably worse as the GPU and PSU prices take up more and more of your budget.

Long story short and with everything being equal I'd buy the parts and show the kid and his father how to put them together. Anything goes wrong you show him how to RMA devices. Good experience for all. But given that we are limited in our interactions and there is and a silicon shortage which impacts on the price it's really up to you to judge is that worth it or even viable before May.

Hope this all helps.

smuggler.ie

Coyler wrote: »

Hope this all helps.

Indeed.
Thanks for starting point

Aodhan5000

Don't go with the 5600X. It is not worth it over the 3600 which bangs much better for the buck. Take that money and put it into a GPU/1440p 144hz monitor/save it.

I'd also drop the 3TB hard drive as 1TB is plenty imo and you can always add more. No gaming takes advantage of PCIe Gen 4 drives yet so I'd probably go with a standard PCIe Gen 3 for now and possibly upgrade to a PCIe 4.0 drive when they become cheaper and more mainstream and more useful although that drive is pretty good bang for the buck so wouldn't be the worst buy.

Don't know enough about monitors to say much about that one other than it seems like a lot for a 1080p 144hz panel but I could be wrong there.

Lumen

smuggler.ie wrote: »

What is your budget? ???

You're going to have to do better than that unless you're fine with paying thousands for a spec that goes way into diminishing returns. There is no need to spend 3k.

When I was looking pre-Christmas, approx €600+GPU+monitor +mouse+keyboard would give a perfectly acceptable gaming experience, and decent pre builds with OK GPU were around €850.

If I was looking now I'd probably start with a total budget of 1.5k and see what I could get for that.

Coyler

Just to be clear, I was merely being instructive in trying to compare builds with like for like (or close to) and showing where value might lie.

Aodhan5000, the monitor in my list is a bad choice. Thanks for pointing that out. Trying to find something with speakers and high refresh rate. Didn't notice the resolution. The only reason for my storage options is I"m thinking long term. Trying to get to a situation where the only upgrade needed over the next 4-6 years would be a GPU. If I'm paying €2,000 for a 12yo I don't want to be swapping parts too soon. Just to explain my thinking.

That said, I'm with Luman here. We need a budget to really dial in an option.

Aodhan5000

That's fair reasoning Coyler. One thing we can definitely agree on is that if a budget is given it will be much easier to nail down a parts list. We're on all the same page here just tryna help each other. Over to you now OP

smuggler.ie

Thanks folks, keep it coming.
Meanwhile i am in process of negotiation regard budget, its not that simple to explain to "PC illiterate" person, that computer can cost ~2k or even more...

Danftant

Intel should be better for gaming and in stock and cheaper
And less problems than
Amd as for video card buy cheap one then upgrade.later .look at prebuilt at the moment with new rtx3700 installed it's cheaper to buy prebuilt than look for card yourself

Coyler

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Thanks folks, keep it coming.
Meanwhile i am in process of negotiation regard budget, its not that simple to explain to "PC illiterate" person, that computer can cost ~2k or even more...

Again, you don't have to go that high. He's 12. Take the lower tier G-Series for roughly €850, throw in an extra stick of RAM and a 24" 1080 monitor. The 10400F/1660 Super combination will get you up and running and play 99% of games at 1080@60+. That should be around €1,100 all in.

Of course it will mean upgrading arrives a litter sooner but he'll be 14-15 soon enough and nothing like a summer for a young lad.