Question gaming build for 13yo son. he's paying for it!

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
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So for my sons 13th birthday was a week a go and he received mostly cash from family and friends. With this money he wants to build a new pc or at least get some parts to start the build going. Due to his age funds are tight. Right now he has around $450 saved and we will be reusing some components so that will help. Anyway, now onto the questionnaire.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mostly gaming and general surfing. Games played vary but include Dying Light, Blade and Sorcery, and Rainbow Six Siege newest one.


2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$450-$600MAX

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
US

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.

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.
Just the best bang for the buck. no fanboys here.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Case, monitor, mouse, PSU, 480gb SSD, 1tb HDD, and kb.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default speeds, no oc'ing.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1920x1080 60hz

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
He wants to start buying parts right away. He has $450 burning a hole in his pocket so I thought maybe start with the essentials. Mainbaord, CPU, and RAM.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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Ryzen R5 1600 "AF" $100

MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX $115 + $4 ship

OLOy 32GB kit of DDR4-3000 $105 (Hurry on this one)

$325, leaving $125 or so for an RX 570. Maybe you ould help him "stretch" to a GTX 1650 Super or RX 580 8GB card (both approx. $160 new).


Consider this headset, it's fairly decent, assuming QC is OK (always a question with Rosewill) for $50 on sale. (I own one.)
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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126
There was also recently a combo for a Ryzen R5 3600 CPU, and an ASRock Phantom Gaming 4 X570 mobo, for like $278. That's a little more money than my original suggestion, but it would have more "legs" for gaming, longer-term. The Ryzen R5 1600 is acceptable for gaming, but not spectacular like the R5 3600 is.

Edit: Just checked my saved links, it appears that those combos are no longer available @ Newegg right now.
 

bbhaag

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2011
6,604
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Awesome! Thank you for the advice.
I should have mentioned this in my previous post but I didn't.
His current PC uses a i7-3770k, 12gb ram, and a RX580 8gb in conjunction with the other parts listed above.

Will the R5 1600 be any better than that or is there other options that are better?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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Hmm, glad that you mentioned his existing system, I thought that this was going to be his first PC, starting from scratch.

Seeing that he ALREADY has an RX 580 8GB card, honestly, I don't think that he would see all that much difference with a R5 1600, aside from those few new games that need more than 4T, and his current CPU is a 4C/8T unlocked model.

So I'm going to reverse my suggestion, and say, that with only $450, and that system, no, there's no options in that price range that will net you noticeable improvements in games. Keep saving. Then get a Navi2/RDNA2 card, with RT support, when they come out. After all of that, consider a Zen3/4-based DDR5 platform.

Edit: You could try to buy an i5-9400F-based pre-built unit with a pitiful stock GPU, and transfer over your RX 580 to that box. (Make sure that it uses a standard ATX PSU!) I think that I've seen them for $600-650 on sale.

Edit: Or keep your eyes peeled for an R5 3600 + X570 mobo combo from Newegg that you like, and add DDR4 RAM to suite. I recommend 3600 RAM, and 32GB if the budget will swing it. Since you don't need a new GPU really, then that might be an option.

Also, what monitor / res / refresh / sync is he using? Maybe upgrading the display might be in order first, then GPU or CPU/mobo/RAM.
 
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Crystal_Chrome

Junior Member
Mar 24, 2020
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Seeing that he ALREADY has an RX 580 8GB card, honestly, I don't think that he would see all that much difference with a R5 1600, aside from those few new games that need more than 4T, and his current CPU is a 4C/8T unlocked model.

So I'm going to reverse my suggestion, and say, that with only $450, and that system, no, there's no options in that price range that will net you noticeable improvements in games. Keep saving. Then get a Navi2/RDNA2 card, with RT support, when they come out. After all of that, consider a Zen3/4-based DDR5 platform.

That sounds like good advice. The RX 580 8GB is a decent mid-tier video card, are there any games he wants to play and he isn't able to? If so, apart from waiting for those video cards, something like a Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB Nitro+ could be a reasonable update, again, only provided he isn't able to run some games he wants to. Then the CPU sounds like the next reasonable update, but since I am not familiar with his current one I am not sure how much the fact that it's an i7, albeit an old one, can seriously have an impact on the games he wants to run so don't take my word for it. However:

I recommend 3600 RAM, and 32GB if the budget will swing it.

With all due respect, I couldn't help but wonder, isn't that an absolute overkill for surfing and gaming? That's something I'd suggest for audio production or even video editing (content creator level, not editing the next blockbuster obviously).
Provided he is not into these, imo he'd be more than covered with something like 16 GB / 3000 Mhz, hell even his 12 GB sound completely fine to me, I'd rather spend those money on an SSD. I'd only suggest that RAM if he was covered in pretty much every other part and he just wanted to spend some extra money OR If there was a dramatic Black Friday deal or something where you could get that RAM for the money of what I've suggested.
But of course this is just my opinion and I could be completely wrong. :) Happy building!