Question Building a New Computer for the Kids

[Ketchup]

Currently the kids a playing on my former build, with a 2500k and a GTX 660. As the kids are getting older and games are getting more demanding, this is not cutting it. I was originally considering giving them my rig and upgrading, but that is not going to work for us right now. I would like to see if there is something cheap but dramatically more powerful that will last them until they can pull money and buy something of their own.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. - The rig will be used for school work and gaming. They do some gaming with a VR headset, however they usually come out and us my PC for those as their PC can't handle it. Here is a list of some games they have been playing lately:
asseto corsa
bomber crew
Elder Scrolls 5
Fallout 4
Muck
Team Fortress 2
Terraria
Unturned

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread - OK. This is a problem. I don't have a budget for this. I don't need something high end (you can see in the intro what they are working with now). Probably barely mid range. Looking for something at least at fast at my 4790k and GTX 1060. It is helps, I was taking a quick look at the Ryzen 5 5600G and that chip seems pretty impressive for the price. I also like the fact that it has integrated graphics (even though I would like to have a separate card for this build).

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. - USA

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. - For CPUs and video cards, no. For Motherboards, I have had good success with Gigabyte and Asus boards, and would prefer to stick with those if possible. I don't need a lot of features on the board, just plenty of USB ports (if that is even a concern with modern boards).

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. - Current SSDs, case, and peripherals will be used

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. - No overclocking

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? - 1920x1080

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. - if we decide to go with this, within the next couple weeks

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? - Windows 10 (and I hope I don't regret this, but I really don't like Windows 11, Like Vista and 8 before it, hoping it will just die).

Thanks for any input.

 

[Tech Junky]

Windows 10 (and I hope I don't regret this, but I really don't like Windows 11, Like Vista and 8 before it, hoping it will just die).

Well, if you keep it under 9th gen CPU you won't worry about W11 upgrade automatically unless MSFT changes the system requirements to allow ALL CPU gens to upgrade w/o tricking the installer into doing it.

First place to start would be https://pcpartpicker.com/ as this will give you current pricing on components. The issue right now though is legacy parts are creeping higher to the point it makes more sense to just go with current 12/13th gen options. The secondhand market though is where you might be able to save some cash on a slightly older build.

Looking at things like the 5600G or any Intel non-F CPU though and relying on a iGPU might not cut it long term but could be sufficient until you can grow your war chest to buy a dGPU. If you're not afraid of the Intel ARC A770 @ $350 and them still working on the drivers for older DX9 games it might be a good option with 16GB of RAM on it. The other option while not quite as cheap would be looking at the AMD cards as they're giving NVIDIA a fight for their lunch at this point with the latest releases.

There's a lot of variables here though that aren't apparent in the quick quiz template for your situation though.