Question $500-600 Build

[zi0n.]

Hi all,
Mainly looking to build my son a new pc for Fortnite and school related stuff...

Won't need a monitor, kb or mouse..

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mainly fortnite and school stuff

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$500-600

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA-DE, no tax.

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.
N/A

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Nope.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I have an extra HD for secondary drive.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1080p.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.
Xmas gift, so building it soon.

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
No.

Thanks for any input!

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

There's two ways to approach this. One way is to get an APU setup with a lot of upgrade room for the future as your young gamer gets into things. Another is to sort of scrape the barrel to get the best GPU you can afford in there to game with (spending 1/3rd to half your budget on the GPU alone, minimum, leaving next to nothing for the extra system, so this is hard to do).

Here's what I would do, for a kid getting into games. The APU approach. The 3400G APU can run games with the Vega 11 onboard Radeon GPU. It's not a top shelf GPU, but for an APU (CPU & GPU combo chip) it is crazy that this thing can actually play modern games at 1080p with decent settings. It will play Fornite at 1080p (you can find YouTube videos of this and how it looks, around 50~70 fps depending on what's going on, that's totally playable).

Here's a video of 1080p performance in Fortnite using a Ryzen 3400G APU:

Ryzen 5 3400G APU ($150)
MSI MPG x570 Gaming Plus ($160)
TeamGroup T-Force Dark Za (Alpha) 16Gb (8x2) 3600Mhz DDR4 Memory ($63)
EVGA BQ 600W 80+ Bronze Semi-Modular PSU ($75)
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD ($130)
NZXT H510 Mid-Tower Case ($70)

$648 shipped. The guts are good, not just low end stuff. This can be expanded to Ryzen 5000 series in the future and take any version GPU in the future. The memory is fast, the SSD is fast and large capacity for installing huge games, the chipset on the motherboard can handle everything, has good VRM and can handle better CPUs in the future. Lots of years on these bones as a system. The CPU is a solid CPU too just used as a CPU, let alone an APU. In the future, simply add a GPU (nVidia 2060, etc) for getting serious. The PSU is ready for both the system and a solid GPU since a budding gamer will always be seething to "upgrade" something. It will game most everything out of the box like this at 1080p with fair quality settings. The only way to do better is to buy a dedicated mid-tier GPU ($300~500 minimum right now, seller's market) with lower end components as a system (which means when you go to upgrade, everything needs to be upgraded to an extent).

You can get Windows 10 Home on Ebay for $30 (you get the DVD and OEM key in the mail; chuck the disc, use the microsoft windows 10 download tool and make a modern USB installer; then feed it the OEM key and you're set). Unless you already have a Win 10 key.

I'll leave the super budget gear with a mid-tier GPU build to someone else as I'm not familiar with the ultra-low-cost-low-end stuff from AMD, Intel, etc.

Very best,

 

[In2Photos]

If you are willing to purchase new, but older parts you can save enough money to purchase a dedicated GPU over integrated graphics.

I put together a quick build on Newegg using their PC Builder.

R5 2600
B450 Motherboard
16GB 3200 RAM
GTX 1650
500GB M.2 SSD since you have a HDD you can use for storage
Case (it comes with 2 fans, but isn't the prettiest of cases)
550W 80+ Bronze PSU

Right at $600

Are you a human?

newegg.io

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you're open to used parts, I can hook you up with an i5-6500 (Skylake), 16GB DDR4, and an SSD and a (full-height) GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5 card, and an RGB keyboard and mouse, under-budget.

Basically, the idea is to get a clean refurb HP ProDesk mini-tower with an i5-6500 and a Windows 7 or 10 COA, and add a 2x8GB kit of DDR4, a 512GB-class SATA SSD, re-use included SATA HDD, and a (potentially refurb) GTX 1650 that's slot-powered, and re-install a fresh copy of Win10, and BINGO, gaming PC.

Should run you around $500, plus tax/ship.