Gaming PC help for a clueless father!

[Snowy90]

Morning Gents,

My boy wants a gaming pc, i know very little about pc's i am of the camp where i just want a pc to work when i need it, i can mess with settings down load apps and install programs I have changed the odd hard drive and graphics card but not programming etc.. and never built a pc although i would like to some day.

Looking around there is a wide choice from £300 to £2000 and up.

What makes a gaming pc so special? from what i can see its just the graphics cards??

He is only 12 and mainly plays Minecraft Fortnight etc...

He already had monitor keyboard etc that he uses with his x-box

Would a £300 unit suffice? or am i better off upgrading a PC with a new graphics card or building one with plug and play components.

Any insight or help would be VERY much appreciated.

 

[mike os]

you need to know what games the games requirements are really

generally fast processor, lots of ram and a stupidly specced graphics card

 

[Morrisman]

I’ve seen some gaming computers with massive processing power, huge coolers on etc, as some of the more complex games take hideouts amounts of power to run. Your lad will progress onto those sort of games in due course.

 

[Snowy90]

Useful thanks.

So a quick google comes up with this for fortnight.

Recommended System Requirements​

Video Card: Nvidia GTX 960, AMD R9 280, or equivalent DX11 GPU
Video Memory: 2 GB VRAM
Processor: Core i5-7300U 3.5 GHz, AMD Ryzen 3 3300U, or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM or higher
OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Minimum System Requirements​

Video Card: Intel HD 4000 on PC; Intel Iris Pro 5200
Processor: Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz
Memory: 4GB RAM
OS: Windows 7/8/10 64-bit or Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6

And this

Epic Quality Presets Specifications​

Video Card: Nvidia GTX 1080, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, or equivalent GPU
Video Memory: 4 GB VRAM or higher
Processor: Intel Core i7-8700, AMD Ryzen 7 3700x or equivalent
Memory: 16 GB RAM or higher
Hard Drive: NVMe Solid State Drive
OS: Windows 10 64-bit

I suppose i worry that the next BIG game will need more spec?

 

[Snowy90]

I’ve seen some gaming computers with massive processing power, huge coolers on etc, as some of the more complex games take hideouts amounts of power to run. Your lad will progress onto those sort of games in due course.

Thanks, thats kinda what i am thinking, tech moves on so quickly i guess its the ability to upgrade over time?
The huge power thing bothers me, i know i am bad at leaving the pc running 24/7

 

[Onoff]

Had my lad's first gaming pc built here. Basically tweaked one of their packages. I sort of understood it then. Really good service from them, went on recommendation.

Custom Built PC Specialist | Custom PC Builder in UK | Arbico

Winner of Multiple award and leading custom built PC manufacturer in UK offers top specs custom computers. Buy pre-designed PC, workstation or build your own pc

www.arbico.co.uk

SWMBO now has his old one as he's now built his own new one with water cooling, blah, blah etc.

 

[gaz1]

are you saying 300.00 all in for a pc gaming system

or 800.00 all in for a pc gaming system upwards

all in i mean tv screan pc base unit keyboard and mouse

i also presume you want upgradability

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

This simplifies things.

Pick parts. Build your PC. Compare and share. - PCPartPicker

uk.pcpartpicker.com

Get the best CPU you can justify. If going Ryzen go for an x570 board.

Ram. 8 is minimum but games are using more and more so 16 would be more comfortable

Psu. Dont skimp. Gpu upgrades will require more power. Get a decent brand 750 watt modular supply.

Gpu. Not the best time. If you can find a 1080 for sensible money it's still a very valid card



Building them is easy. Mobo manuals are very clear and saves a lot of pennies.

 

[marlinspike]

I don't think £300 will get you a decent gaming PC. I think that would only get you an i3 processor. It might just about be ok for now but you will find yourself upgrading it as he progresses to the bigger online games.

I'm not up to speed enough on pc's anymore to recommend a particular one - there are so many variables with gaming tech, including monitor quality, but keep an eye on Hotukdeals as they often have good PC deals posted, with good info in the comments too.

hotukdeals - Your No.1 Deals & Discounts Community

hotukdeals ▶️ Your Shopping Community ☑️ The best place for Deals, Discounts & Freebies ☑️ Find daily great offers and voucher codes on hotukdeals.

www.hotukdeals.com

Also, Amazon Black Friday coming up.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Another thing to consider is buying a mobo/ram/CPU bundle. Usually need to grab an aftermarket cooler to go with it

 

[Snowy90]

Had my lad's first gaming pc built here. Basically tweaked one of their packages. I sort of understood it then. Really good service from them, went on recommendation.

Custom Built PC Specialist | Custom PC Builder in UK | Arbico

Winner of Multiple award and leading custom built PC manufacturer in UK offers top specs custom computers. Buy pre-designed PC, workstation or build your own pc

www.arbico.co.uk

SWMBO now has his old one as he's now built his own new one with water cooling, blah, blah etc.

Thanks for the recommendation.

What's a sensible budget? i had hoped to get away with this for under £500!

Basics AMD or Intel?
Graphics cards i have no clue but most seem to suggest Nvidia GTX?? then the numbers after that baffle me.
RAM 8gb or higher
Water cooling wtf! That doesnt sound sensible ha ha.

im feeling like a dinosaur!

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Thanks for the recommendation.

What's a sensible budget? i had hoped to get away with this for under £500!

Basics AMD or Intel?
Graphics cards i have no clue but most seem to suggest Nvidia GTX?? then the numbers after that baffle me.
RAM 8gb or higher
Water cooling wtf! That doesnt sound sensible ha ha.

im feeling like a dinosaur!

If on a budget Facebook sales pages can often turn up a reasonable system than can be upgraded in bits and bobs as time goes on.

Minecraft and fortnight aren't too challenging to run

 

[Snowy90]

are you saying 300.00 all in for a pc gaming system

or 800.00 all in for a pc gaming system upwards

all in i mean tv screan pc base unit keyboard and mouse

i also presume you want upgradability

Just the base unit, he has a big screen/monitor and gaming keyboard and mouse.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

This simplifies things.

Pick parts. Build your PC. Compare and share. - PCPartPicker

uk.pcpartpicker.com

Get the best CPU you can justify. If going Ryzen go for an x570 board.

Ram. 8 is minimum but games are using more and more so 16 would be more comfortable

Psu. Dont skimp. Gpu upgrades will require more power. Get a decent brand 750 watt modular supply.

Gpu. Not the best time. If you can find a 1080 for sensible money it's still a very valid card



Building them is easy. Mobo manuals are very clear and saves a lot of pennies.

Decent SSD or nvme SSD (motherboard mounted stick) is a must. Speed increase is a huge upgrade

If he's already got a pc you might be able to mix and match parts to shave pennies too.

 

[mike os]

my current pc was built from 2nd tier components (ie 1 spec below the best available at the time), water cooled etc in 2013, it did well for 6 or so years, now it hasn't got a hope... but i also don't play games anymore. cost then was best part of 2K. Still handles cad better than my 9 month old i9 laptop that was specced for running NX

Bottom line is buy for the next 2 years and pay a lot, or spec for the next several years and pay even more... gaming computers are not cheap and are never upgradeable in the long term.... 3 years tops imo

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

my current pc was built from 2nd tier components (ie 1 spec below the best available at the time), water cooled etc in 2013, it did well for 6 or so years, now it hasn't got a hope... but i also don't play games anymore. cost then was best part of 2K. Still handles cad better than my 9 month old i9 laptop that was specced for running NX

My last upgrade cost me 800.

New case. X570 Modo Ryzen 7 3700x 32gb ram. Used old GPU rx480 8gb old SSD HDD. Power supply was near new.
Reasonably cheap upgrade. Paid the same for the new GPU and nvme recently but made a huge difference.

Currently looking into rebuilding the kids pc to similar specs less GPU

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Thanks for the recommendation.

What's a sensible budget? i had hoped to get away with this for under £500!

Basics AMD or Intel?
Graphics cards i have no clue but most seem to suggest Nvidia GTX?? then the numbers after that baffle me.
RAM 8gb or higher
Water cooling wtf! That doesnt sound sensible ha ha.

im feeling like a dinosaur!

Water cooling is simple these days. Come as a set with mobo mount and radiator already piped up. Just connect and plug in. Fill and go

 

[AndersK]

Buy as good you can afford and hope it's good enough for a few years.

Son built a 3k gaming rig a few months ago, graphics around 1k, latest Battlefield beta wouldn't run on max graphic settings anyway. That's how fast they run out of spec...

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Son-in-law spent £1700 on a custom made gaming computer as his old, around £1000, computer wasn't fast enough !

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Buy as good you can afford and hope it's good enough for a few years.

Son built a 3k gaming rig a few months ago, graphics around 1k, latest Battlefield beta wouldn't run on max graphic settings anyway. That's how fast they run out of spec...

Yup
If I could go back in time a year I'd have bought a better CPU. Mines no slouch but will be a bottleneck for my new GPU.

Though I'm running cyberpunk 2077 maxed out with a steady 50fps with rtx on so can't complain too much.

Bf5 isn't well optimised. I turn the settings down a bit for smoother gaming.so imagine 2042 will be harder