$1500 Gaming PC for Fake Nephew

[manzooka]

Oh hi guys,

I’m getting twitchy fingers and butterflies in my stomach, which I can only assume is my biological clock telling me it’s time for a new build. That’s how biology works, right? Thing is, I don’t need a new rig yet so I’m going to have to build one for someone else to keep my hormones in check.

I came up with this fun idea. I’m going to bring all the parts to my best friend’s house and have his 11 yo kid (my fake nephew) assist me with “my” new build step-by-step. Then, when we’re done I’m going to be all like, “Oh btw, enjoy your new comp ya little bastard! Woot!” And he’s going to be like, “Aww for reals? You’re the best fake uncle ever!” Sweet plan, eh?

Technically this is for their whole fam, otherwise his little brothers will get butt-hurt about the whole situation (psst, it’s not really for the whole fam, screw those guys). He will be gaming on this rig or I will disown him as a fake nephew. Also, I told my best friend that if he ever got a comp that can handle VR I’d give him my Oculus Rift for games (porn), so now I’ll be giving them a comp and an Oculus Rift. I’m a pretty great guy, I guess.

So with all that said, I guess I’m looking for
1. A gaming rig
2. … that’s VR capable
3. … that can handle a bit of video editing in case I deem him worthy of Premier and After Effects
instruction
4. … that's probably going to be running 2K monitor.
5. … that has some lighting because he’s 11 and still likes that childish flashy stuff. (So uh, totally unrelated, but have you seen my recent builds?

I'm guessing I can get by on a $1500 budget minus all the peripherals that I will be making his dad buy (shh, he doesn't know yet) but I can stretch it a bit if need be. Coming in under budget wouldn't be bad either, and might even allow me to feed my wife that week.

One of them there pcpartpicker guides gave me something like this, though I left out the case because I'm sure there's something way cooler out there with a window at the very least.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VMmpyf

Would appreciate any help you could offer a fake uncle.

 

[Bob125484]

I will change to the follow components: Cryorig H7 instead Gammaxx 400, 8700K if you plan for overclock, change 1T SSD to 240G SSD and 3T hard drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Agree with the above changes.

And when you build this, have him help you.
I did this with my eldest grandson a couple of years ago. He was 11 at the time.
Soooo satisfying, watching him assemble it.

 

[manzooka]

I will change to the follow components:

Thanks very much. I made some changes based on your advice, but I wanted to keep a larger SSD because I love having mine so much. Any reason aside from cost to drop to the 240GB?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DsTxnn

have him help you[/i].

Absolutely! That's the whole point, really. He's a techy little fella and I'd love for him to get some early experience on a build. His father is an absolute luddite so he won't get any help there, lol.

 

[manzooka]

Oh, I forgot to ask about cases. I know there are generally some favorites out there. I've always preferred Silverstone and Corsair myself, but those might be a little too utilitarian for a kid his age. That being said, with some mobo lights, internal lighting and a Darth Maul sticker any old case would probably do the trick.

 

[Bob125484]

OS definitely need to be on SSD so window will boot up fast but it requires only 30G so 240G is more than enough. 1T SSD will load everything up faster include game but it will not improve gaming performance. You will find out soon that 1 Terabyte is filled up fast with games. My son has 240G SSD and 3T HDD but HHD already filled up 97% so he got another 5T HDD . If you decide to keep 1T SSD, atleast buy one HDD also. My son's case Phantek P400S B/W which can take 2 SSD and 2 HDD, all hiding away. I think you should get something similar and there are many like this case. Your fake nephew will be amazed by full tempered glass where they can see everything inside. You can check it out on youtube of many case with temper glass.

 

[manzooka]

Thanks for the Phanteks case recommendation. Those cases look pretty "fun" and I think he'll like them.

As for the SSD's, you're certainly right about them filling up quickly. I'm always having to manage the 1T SSD is my own comp. That said, one relatively significant advantage I've found in online gaming with an SSD is the ability to jump into matches and/or choose characters before everyone else. For example, when I'm playing Overwatch I'm almost always the first person at the character select screen. When they launch a new character I get to play that character every round if I want to. Uh, not that I would do such things But will any of that matter to an 11yo at this point? Yeah, probably not.