Gaming Desk Top Computer for novice

good one

Hi,

Just looking for some advice, one of the kids (13y) has declared that they want a gaming desk top for christmas.

We have a monitor, and we're trying to be as economical as possible, so any thoughts on what would be a good buy?

Have looked at Curry's but just wondering anywhere else ?

Any advise appreciated.

GO

Spear

What games are they targetting? The stuff that's popular with kids, Fortnite, Roblox, that kind of thing, isn't that demanding.

What model of monitor is it as well?

good one

Hi Spear,

Thanks for the swift response. The monitor is a Philips LCD Monitor 27" Model 272V8. I think its Full HD 1920 x 1080p, refresh rate 100HZ, response time 1ms, currys last xmas to go with a laptop.

He's mentioned Siege and Minecraft, but he's going to check out what other games his friends are currently playing.

Thanks

GO

Spear

And what kind of budget are you thinking of?

good one

say up to about 1k??

as cheap as I possibly can…….

Not sure, as I don't know what I'm looking for…

Don't want it to be another expensive dust catcher.

thanks

GO

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122699795#Comment_122699795

I presume you'll want something pre-built and not open to building it yourself?

good one

I do, he wants to build one, but I would't know where to start……

Safest option would be to buy one pre-built.

C.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122704044#Comment_122704044

Building can save some money, plus it's good for education and instilling a sense of appreciation into kids. Where are you based (broadly)?

good one

Louth, but work in Dublin city, 2 day a week

good one

Any advice going…..

Spear

Louth is too far for me, and I was hoping someone up that way would chime to offer to help.

If there's no-one about to build, then you're back buying a pre-built.

A popular name for that is pcspecialist.ie.

They have a model that almost perfectly fits your budget:

https://www.pcspecialist.ie/view/Fusion-LX/

If you drop off the Windows 11 licence, it comes in at €975. And you can buy a licence from a key seller for €25 instead. But that does mean you'd need to do the Windows install yourself. It's a 10 to 15 minute thing normally. Otherwise it's €1098 with the licence.

good one

Thanks Spear, very very much appreciated.

This may seem like a stupid question but the desktop you are suggesting would be significantly better than similar priced gaming PC's from Currys?

Would it allow him to upgrade should he acquire the necessary skills?

HP Victus 15L Gaming Desktop PC, AMD Ryzen 5, RTX 3050 8GB, 512GB SSD €919

MSI MAG Infinite S3 Gaming PC - Intel® Core™ i5, RTX 3050, 1 TB SSD €959

Do you know if there is better value to be had purchasing in the UK/NI ?

Again Thanks for your advice.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122730050#Comment_122730050

The RTX 3050 is pretty poor. For the same price, a Radeon 6600 is about 40% faster. It's hard to advise more precisely on the rest, as it doesn't give any details on the CPU or RAM involved.

good one

Also does it need anything extra to connect to Internet?

Just a case of installing Windows and then we'd be good to go?

Thanks again

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122730078#Comment_122730078

There's an onboard ethernet connection, so just an ethernet cable to your router should be all it needs.

Esel

Do those PCs have wireless?

Homelander

That PC Specialist one seems not very good value to me. €1,100 and it has a weak processor, it's Ryzen 5th gen but it's a cut-down part so it's really same performance as Ryzen 3rd gen.

This PC for example is €200 cheaper and it's faster. Faster CPU, faster graphics card. Not saying buy this one, but I don't find PC Specialist competitive on most pricing.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OVERCLOCKERS-UK-Gaming-NVIDIA-GeForce/dp/B0DCKPVRT5/ref%3Dsr_1_4?crid=1ZQLNCLEQ3RH3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pnp3RDYooXQjwQUDonXH363y0Tsq1Up9ArjTcsu8KP7qbAUOyHAwIsWkgAT2f3h_MVZH6Mhrm--jPqEWAG8c48013mHaobfRUF9uxxZGmwMPKRamuupPhYMvNPH3IB1gIhXMzVVfIrHNBbQPO4L0X7gJ6zMm2Wnsi83ApslptZgbQVnCB57_2E_hLAawt5U6ldA1a_0_IVwtm9COjgdbv2dr2q6YQkfmVFWnCyESlzQ.U9XenG8k4VkUBPU90K6Q1-msoTJNgx5YgxBjtfZEYvg&dib_tag=se&keywords=gaming+pc&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1729191741&sprefix=gaming+pc+%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.d7e5a2de-8759-4da3-993c-d11b6e3d217f

Homelander

Also this is a very cool little PC, I have one, smaller than an Xbox Series S and very decent GPU power, 1080P in games like Siege will run ultra zero problems. Only drawback is it can't be upgraded, but it'd last a few years well enough for stuff like that.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MINISFORUM-Neptune-HX77G-Computer-xHDMI2-1/dp/B0C3B9RQB1/ref%3Dpd_ci_mcx_di_int_sccai_cn_d_sccl_4_1/258-1473020-8673220?pd_rd_w=29cXb&content-id=amzn1.sym.6448d24d-f04d-4e11-90e5-10165d266aa2&pf_rd_p=6448d24d-f04d-4e11-90e5-10165d266aa2&pf_rd_r=KKWQ7W2FMHZMDJKT723E&pd_rd_wg=C8bBk&pd_rd_r=5a44fb2a-0d08-4df0-995d-d41e37ee6319&pd_rd_i=B0C3B9RQB1&psc=1